CX382 ZRH-HKG intercepted over Hungary today
 

Cathay B-777 (B-KPF) operating flight CX382 ZRH-HKG had been intercepted by two Hungarian Gripens today after failing to contact Austrian/Hungarian ATC. Reportedly (as the aircraft did not deviate from the flight plan route) they were "handed over" to Romanian ATC after "visual identification". The case made it to the news in Hungary to explain the sonic boom which was caused by the fighters proceeding to catch the Triple.

Looks like the DFO will learn a few more aviation "terms and procedures" today. Be nice if someone could explain the "Senior Fleet" concept to her at the same time.

Oops, headsets back on...

"Senior Fleet".
Reminds me of The Village People song "In the Navy".

I wonder who they'll send the fuel bill for the jets to?

Hey, at least this way they get to pay cheap non-hedged fuel for once.

Oops.........

How come the 777 seems to be crewed by the biggest bunch of misfits in CX. Or is it just the standard of training that is "guaranteed to be upheld" slipping as the Trainers suggested?




In the senior fleet! you cant take off your headsets!


In the senior fleet! you .......!

Seems CX are not the first...

British Airways flight to London Heathrow intercepted by fighter jets over Hungary

In my opinion incidents like these are inevitable and will increase as CX continue to lower the experience level on the flight deck and also fly those lesser experienced crews to the legal limits of fatigue.

If they were coming from ZRH they would have been handed off by Wien or Bratislava and squawking a discrete code. It seems a bit extreme of the Hungarians, an EU country, to fire off a couple of supersonic fighters for what is clearly an airliner, especially when coming from continental Europe rather than, say, Ukraine/Russia?

Anyway guys listen out, and keep 121.5 turned up to an audible level too!

The scramble was ordered by the NATO CAOC TJ.

Re-reading the OP carefully, if they hadn't contacted Wien either, then Budapest would be the second FIR they were flying through without R/T contact. Did they miss their handover from Swiss/Langen?

In any case, I suppose at some point one does have to make sure that the airliner hasn't been hijacked... cue another "listen out" NTC.

As an F/O who will be applying for "training officer" position, I take this kind of thing very serious and will do all in my power to remedy such.

Just my way of giving back

What's the chance they where asleep ?

1.) Take out the CFP and monitor your position, track changes, and upcoming FIR's.
2.) Take out the Enroute Chart and monitor your position, track changes, and upcoming FIR's.
3.) Listen out on the active frequency.
4.) Approachng an FIR, query ATC if handoff does not occur prior to next FIR.
5.) Pre-call any THIRD WORLD FIR PRIOR TO ENTRY.
6.) Google shoot down of KAL 007.

Feel free to add....

Mr AV - maybe read the NTC again - FO 's not invited to apply - thank god...

If they had a halfway decent EFB ( ie Jepp) the next FIR is so obvious you can't miss it .
did no ATC unit call them in 121.5 to check ,
did no other aircraft in the vicinity make a call
Or was the volume of the speaker turned right down , who knows? but it's easy enough to be caught out by this
But the total lack of RT comms should have been a clue

Errrmmmm..... it's called "controlled rest".

Please be guided accordingly.

Controlled rest at 3pm Europe time - a bit early, no?!

Maybe after take off from Colombo at 2am but not after a good layover in ZRH unless the cheese fondue was a but heavy.

Yet let's hire experienced DEFOs on to the airbus fleet rather than the hapless tripla. 120 sectors in 10 years before command on that circus.