southeastern Tirana (Albania) at 7.10pm local time on Thursday without identifying itself and pilots did not respond to repeated calls by controllers from Italy and Greece for at least an hour, an official said on Sunday, confirming Greek media reports.
Following military protocol, at 7.49pm two F-16 fighter jets intercepted the Delta plane while it was flying near the Aegean island of Santorini.
That is a long time to be silent on ATC when crossing many FIR's. Bells ringing? It would to an EU pilot.
A Delta Airlines spokesman said: "While transiting to Greek airspace, the flight crew of Delta flight 8957, a charter operation from Hahn, Germany to Kuwait, was unable to establish radio communications with Greek air traffic control for a short period.
"This occurred during a handoff between air traffic control agencies and communications were expeditiously reestablished.
This sounds like great spin compared to what is reported by other sources. It diverts some blame to ATC and converts 1hr into expeditiously. Ho-Hum.
To those being the 'fatigue' drum we need to know the previous roster. A 17.00 departure and sleeping 2 hrs later in unfamiliar territory does not sound plausible to me. However, I'm sure the Delta guys enjoyed F16's rather than Migs.