rokami93

Ayer volando en mi DA40 de LFKF (Figari, Corcega) dct LEMU (Muchamiel, Alicante) me ha interceptado un "Spanish Airdefense System Fighter".

He hecho mi plan de vuelo VFR en LFKF, se ha activado al despegar de alli por la Torre y al tener un viento fuerte en contra, he eligido 2500 pies como altitud initial. He seguido mi ruta, me han pasado a Marseille, pero al volar tan bajo, no habia recepción.

Estaba comprobando las 4 frequencias que tenia cada 30 minutos y al acercarme a los Baleares he podido contactar con Menorca approach, debidamente dando mis datos del vuelo. Al principio el controlador no encontraba el plan de vuelo, y corrigiendose en una transmision "ya lo tengo, acaba de llegar ahora" y me ha pasado bastante rapido a Palma approach.

Alli contestaban la radio de forma muy rara "November-Cuatro-Zero-Cinco..... ..... standby", "November-Cuatro-Zero-Cinco-...... .... go ahead". Daba de nuevo mis datos y me dijeron que mantenga altitud y rumbo y que no habia trafico afectandome. Pensaba que estaba todo bien hasta que me avisaban que cambie a 121.5.

"This is Spanish Air Defense System, maintain speed and heading, you will be intercepted by a fighter. We don't have your flightplan." En vez de contestar correctamente "Say again" solo me salia "WHHHHAAAT?"

Explicaba que SI tenia plan de vuelo y daba de nuevo todos detalles del vuelo, pero seguia insistiendo que tenia que interceptarme ya que tenian el caza acercandose:

"We have now found your flight plan, but we have launched a Spanish Airdefense System Fighter to intercept you and will now finish the mission. His name is XXXXXX and he is 10 miles behind you. Maintain speed and heading. Thank you for your co-operation."

Mientras me contactaba XXXXXX y decia que me tenia a la vista y que se iba a pasar por mi ala derecha abajo para hacer fotos. Mi copiloto y yo tambien estabamos grabando el evento

Pasaba solo unos 10-20 nudos mas rapidos por debajo de nuestro ala derecho, rodaba hacia la derecha muy bajo, apenas 200 pies por encima del mar. Volvia hacia nuestra izquierda y saludaba. Nosotros hemos saldudado con un meneo de alas y el se volvia a su base, San Javier, supongo.

En la radio su jefe nos agradecia la colaboración (ya, como voy a rechazar mi colaboración si me invitan de hacer el interceptado en sus ejercicios?), que el evento se quedaria sin cualquier efecto para nosotros y que tengamos buen vuelo. El piloto caza tambien salia pitando agradeciendo nuestra colaboracion, deseandonos un buen viaje y buen atterizaje, todo en un inglés bastante educado.

Yo hacia lo mismo agradeciendole sus servicios y que tenga un atterizaje seguro. Nos faltaba a lo mejor otra hora y pico para llegar a LEMU mientras que estabamos rompiendonos la cabeza cuanta kerosena se ha quemado para volar tan lento en configuración de atterizaje.

Hasta ahora no sé cuanto tiempo necesitan los controladores franceses de pasar el plan de vuelo a sus colegillas en España o porqué no han parado con su "intercepción" una vez que tenian comprobado que sí volaba con un plan de vuelo debidamente activado....

Harlem

Great tale!!!! Spain is different without any doubt. Where is the finantial crisis???

By the way, may you so kind to post here some of the photos that you took that day??

rokami93

Yes, Spain is different: many people whining around because of a crisis, but burning tons of fuel to intercept a GA-airplane....



(I hope "tale" didn't make any reference to "fairy tale", although I admit this is a strange encounter and maybe hard to believe....)

See this on youtube: YouTube - DA40 intercepted

LEVC

Well, the airforces in all countries, do interception exercices regularly, I wouldn´t dare to say they are wasting the money, it´s just normal they keep current and get practice, if not , no fighters would ever fly unless at war, and that is not the case. In this particular case "Spain is no diferent".

Nice picture Rokami93.

LEVC

rokami93

LEVC,

Thanks for the explanation. I wouldn't mind participating in their interception practices at all, just they made me feel like an intruder or like someone who must have done something awefully wrong darned wrong, which wasn't the case.

Next time they want to play, I might pull the flaps, slow down to 40 kts, level off at 50 ft MSL and turn off the transponder to make it more challenging, LOL.

LH2

I believe they just enter a DEP message which should reach all the addressees in your flight plan more or less immediately and that's it. As far as I'm aware they do not usually coordinate the handover when you cross the border (in British terms, you freecall the next frequency).

However, next time I'm in LFMP I will be happy to ask the controllers.

Just a complete wild guess, but a couple of things that pop to mind are a) once the interception has been launched it might be easier to come and take a look anyhow, from a paperwork point of view, and b) they probably thought it would be good for practise, as mentioned above.

What is somewhat strange is that you should have been intercepted in the first place. I have had exactly the same problem as yours a few times when crossing South via PORBU/KANIG at low altitudes and never managed to get intercepted. I imagine that's at least partly to do with there being no issues with FPL going missing that I'm aware of, partly to do with landing in LEAP/LEGE (about 5 and 20 min into Barcelona FIR, so not a lot of time for an interception), and partly to do with flying non-N reg.

I have not had that happen to me on an aircraft yet, but I have been intercepted at sea (by the Spanish navy, coincidentally) and yes it can be a bit intimidating, but that's part of the game. To second your comment, they were very professional as well and spoke flawless English--apparently they have come a long way from their pre-NATO days.

I get the impression that the fighter pilot for one will actually love the challenge Having said that, I don't think switching the transponder off and flying at 50ft will make any difference as regards your visibility via the fighter's radar (assuming he's already got a decent enough vector to your general vicinity). Flying at 10-20ft AMSL in rough seas and preferably on a rainy day might work though, but I would not have the guts to try it--especially not on my own aircraft

In any event, it's kind of ironic that you should have gone all the way to Thailand and back only to get intercepted 30min from home

rokami93

Hello LH2, it would be interesting to know how this works. Also, for a second I hoped that maybe some Spanish controller or Airforce guy might read this and give a comment or PM me

Well, now being back in my Spanish environment I understood that the Royal Family resides in Mallorca over the Easter holidays which sets another level of alertness to the authorities.

And it is definitely not the most normal thing to cruise with a DA40 over the Med at the end of March. GA is usually asleep here at these times of year.

If you want to get intercepted in LEAP/LEGE, I would see a lot less chances. From a friend who travels with his Ultralight I have heard he never files a flightplan when crossing the ES-FR border. I am quite sure it is not legal, but he has been doing this for many years without ever being questioned, so I guess the authorities just got used to it....


Flying 10-20 ft in rough seas and rain? Good idea! If you are on a boat.

Yep, that's what I thought and that's the reason why we only had a backup-camera ready for the shots. I just didn't expect to see anything new on this leg.

AEST

It is in fact an excellent idea!

It's called Wing in Ground Effect: The WIG Page - information about Ekranoplan and Wing-In-Ground effect craft

Frank N Stein

Hola, yo trabajé en LEGE TWR y te puedo decir que los tráficos VFR NUNCA se coordinaban entre LFMP y LEGE. En el sistema informático nuestro tampoco figuraban los VFR procedentes de Francia. Es decir, que tenías conocimiento de su existencia cuando te llamaban por radio, si es que lo hacían. Hablo de hace 4 años, ahora no lo sé. (si tienes interés puedo informarme)
Saludos

samca

Tenias que haber hecho tu un vuelo lento a ver si tenia cojones a seguirte jejejee

rokami93

Frank,

me estrañaba mucho eso, pero ahora ya lo tengo claro que el plan de vuelo se pasa a unos controlodares militares que vigilan y no tienen otra función. En el momento que ellos no reciban el plan de vuelo por lo que sea y ven a alguién volanda lento, bajo y en zonas normalmente no transitadas, empiezan a preocuparse.

Solo en Alemania te pasan de un FIS a otro, mientras que en Francia y España lo tiene que hacer el piloto por su cuenta.

Samca,
yo pensaba lo mismo por un momento, pero porqué les iba a complicar su trabajo, ya que me pedian que mantenga rumbo y velocidad de forma educada y amable? Supongo si uno hace el tonto, ellos se acercan un poco mas por arriba en vez de abajo y alli te quedas en con sus "wake turbulences" y unos problemas que igual no tienen mucha solución. No hacen falta muchos cojones de su parte para pegar me un susto que no voy a olvidar en mi vida...