Dutch plane escorted out of Swiss airspace

The two F/A-18 fighter jets triggered sonic booms Keystone / Anthony Anex

The Swiss air force guided a small propeller aircraft without radio communication to Italian airspace on Sunday. A flight without radio contact is always a potential danger for the public, the army said.

At 10.53am the aircraft, which had taken off from Kempen in the Netherlands, crossed the German border near Waldshut, the Swiss army said in a statement on Sunday. Switzerland had been informed 12 minutes earlier by the French authorities that an aircraft without radio contact was in the airspace over Colmar, in eastern France.

At 11.01am two F/A-18 fighter jets took off from Payerne in canton Vaud, the army said. The patrol reached the Dutch aircraft a short time later over Samedan in southeast Switzerland and successfully got the pilot to establish radio contact. The aircraft was eventually escorted to Italian airspace west of Lake Garda. This “hot mission” resulted in sonic booms.

The army assumed it was a question of pilot error, army spokesman Daniel Reist told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA. However, a flight without radio contact is always associated with dangers for the population, he said. For example, air traffic control can’t tell the pilot if he is flying too low. “It’s important to intervene quickly so that there’s no accident,” Reist said.

The aircraft in question is a Pilatus PC12, a single-engine, multi-role aircraft. The reason for the flight is unknown.