• We have updated the guidelines regarding posting political content: please see the stickied thread on Website Issues.

Elusive Plane Puzzled European Air Defences—Then Its Crew Vanished

Yithian

Yithian

Parish Watch
Staff member
Joined
Oct 29, 2002
Messages
36,444
Location
East of Suez

Elusive Plane Puzzled European Air Defenses, Then Its Crew Vanished​

The anonymous plane is making headlines for its mysterious expedition, and European air defenders still aren’t exactly sure what to make of it.​

BY EMMA HELFRICH JUN 10, 2022 7:51 PM

An unidentified aircraft flew through airspaces belonging to multiple countries, almost all of them NATO members, without any official dispatch or approved flight plan. The illegal journey, which began in Lithuania, was monitored closely by all nations involved without any communication from the pilot. The plane was eventually found in Bulgaria covered in canvas without any trace of its crew.

The plane is reported to have initially departed from an undisclosed airport in Lithuania and then proceeded to fly over Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania before entering Bulgaria through the northern city of Vidin. With the exception of Serbia, all of the nations are part of the NATO alliance.

The plane reportedly finally landed in a small abandoned Bulgarian airfield known as the Targovishte Airport near the village of Buhovtsi between Targovishte and Shumen. The airport is purported to have not accepted a plane for many years, and locals have begun utilizing it in the summer months for agricultural purposes. European news source Euractiv states that when the plane was discovered, its engine was still warm.

[...]

Dehir, a Hungarian news source, spoke with Janos Vajda, managing director of Debrecen International Airport in Hungary, who said that although the plane was recorded to have taken off from a nearby area, he insisted that it was not from the Debrecen Airport. It was later confirmed by Istvan Juhos, director of Aero Club Hajduszoboszlo, who operates a flying club in Hajduszoboszlo, Hungary, that a plane coming from Lithuania did land in Hajduszoboszlo without authorization and a number of people then exited the plane and are presumed to have refueled it. Because of the illegality of the situation, airport officials contacted local police who attempted to respond but failed to arrive before the plane departed the airport.

Before ultimately touching down in Bulgaria, though, the plane is said to have been escorted by up to six fighter jets until it entered Bulgarian airspace. The U.S. Air Force, Hungarian Air Force, and Romanian Air Force were alerted of the unauthorized flight over Europe, and each is said to have deployed two fighter jets to intercept the plane. Two USAF F-16s, two Romanian F-16s, and two Hungarian Gripens chased the plane down at various points in its flight path, however, it purportedly did not respond to radio calls or visual signals...

Continued in more depth with a variety of illustrative images:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-european-air-defenses-then-its-crew-vanished
 
Flying a plane at low altitudes across such a distance is usually not part of civilian pilot training. I'd suggest that the pilot was military or ex-military. That said, it could be a criminal operation - a one-way trip - and they've abandoned that plane.

The name 'Targovishte Airport' seems familiar to me. I remember driving past that place on the way from Veliko Tarnovo to Varna, years ago.
 
Last edited:
Mythopoeika said:
Flying a plane at low altitudes across such a distance is usually not part of civilian pilot training. I'd suggest that the pilot was military or ex-military. That said, it could be a criminal operation - a one-way trip - and they've abandoned that plane.

The name 'Targovishte Airport' seems familiar to me. I remember driving past that place on the way from Veliko Tarnovo to Varna, years ago.
Click to expand...
Reminds me of that young German lad who at the height of the Cold War flew his light aircraft from Germany to Moscow and landed in Red Square, thus evading the Soviet Union’s air defences
 
Cool find!

Though the skeptic in me focuses on this:
Yithian said:
when the plane was discovered, its engine was still warm.
Click to expand...
Which makes me think of all the ghost/abandoned ships which were found with meals laid out ready for dinner or some such. I seem to remember an article I read a while back that totally debunked that.
 
Yithian said:
An unidentified aircraft flew through airspaces belonging to multiple countries, almost all of them NATO members, without any official dispatch or approved flight plan. The illegal journey, which began in Lithuania, was monitored closely by all nations involved without any communication from the pilot. The plane was eventually found in Bulgaria covered in canvas without any trace of its crew.
Click to expand...

There is at least 2 episodes of 'Department S' which have this as a premise; an empty aircraft landing at London airport. In this case it's likely smuggling - either People or Cargo - is the probably explanation and not a need to keep the news of an ailing millionaire from the market while his nefarious board members sell off the stocks... :)
 
Oh goodie, my favorite. "Sounds like the cold open of a Bond film, and we may never find out any more information at all."
Seriously though, I am super curious and (while I suspect various parties have more information than I ever will) I would love for there to be more information.
 
Yithian said:

Elusive Plane Puzzled European Air Defenses, Then Its Crew Vanished​

The anonymous plane is making headlines for its mysterious expedition, and European air defenders still aren’t exactly sure what to make of it.​

BY EMMA HELFRICH JUN 10, 2022 7:51 PM

An unidentified aircraft flew through airspaces belonging to multiple countries, almost all of them NATO members, without any official dispatch or approved flight plan. The illegal journey, which began in Lithuania, was monitored closely by all nations involved without any communication from the pilot. The plane was eventually found in Bulgaria covered in canvas without any trace of its crew.

The plane is reported to have initially departed from an undisclosed airport in Lithuania and then proceeded to fly over Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, and Romania before entering Bulgaria through the northern city of Vidin. With the exception of Serbia, all of the nations are part of the NATO alliance.

The plane reportedly finally landed in a small abandoned Bulgarian airfield known as the Targovishte Airport near the village of Buhovtsi between Targovishte and Shumen. The airport is purported to have not accepted a plane for many years, and locals have begun utilizing it in the summer months for agricultural purposes. European news source Euractiv states that when the plane was discovered, its engine was still warm.

[...]

Dehir, a Hungarian news source, spoke with Janos Vajda, managing director of Debrecen International Airport in Hungary, who said that although the plane was recorded to have taken off from a nearby area, he insisted that it was not from the Debrecen Airport. It was later confirmed by Istvan Juhos, director of Aero Club Hajduszoboszlo, who operates a flying club in Hajduszoboszlo, Hungary, that a plane coming from Lithuania did land in Hajduszoboszlo without authorization and a number of people then exited the plane and are presumed to have refueled it. Because of the illegality of the situation, airport officials contacted local police who attempted to respond but failed to arrive before the plane departed the airport.

Before ultimately touching down in Bulgaria, though, the plane is said to have been escorted by up to six fighter jets until it entered Bulgarian airspace. The U.S. Air Force, Hungarian Air Force, and Romanian Air Force were alerted of the unauthorized flight over Europe, and each is said to have deployed two fighter jets to intercept the plane. Two USAF F-16s, two Romanian F-16s, and two Hungarian Gripens chased the plane down at various points in its flight path, however, it purportedly did not respond to radio calls or visual signals...

Continued in more depth with a variety of illustrative images:
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-european-air-defenses-then-its-crew-vanished
Click to expand...

Report suspicious behaviour at a small UK airfield and airports: Project Pegasus​


Project Pegasus is a joint law enforcement operation tackling aviation border crime around the UK.

Border crime causes immense harm to the UK, whether it is the smuggling of people, drugs or firearms, or terrorism related.

There are tens of thousands of light aircraft, helicopters and microlights in the UK, flying in and out of small UK airfields and airports across the country every day.

Because not every plane and airstrip can be monitored 24 hours a day, the aviation and local community can play a vital role in preventing border crime and maintaining a safe community.

…you should report any unusual or suspicious activity at a UK airfield or airport immediately.

This could include:

  • planes landing in unusual places or at unusual times
  • packages being dropped from low-flying aircraft or suspicious deliveries
  • someone taking an unusual interest in airport security
  • someone where they shouldn’t be
  • seeing someone flying a drone close to an airfield or airport
  • an aircraft that has been unusually modified
  • a person being evasive about passengers, flights or routes
  • a person ignoring aviation regulations or filing misleading or false general aviation reports or flight plans
  • items being handled suspiciously or concealing cargo

https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...behaviour-at-a-small-airfield-project-pegasus

Pablo Escobar and Carlos Lehder pioneered the use of “throwaway” aircraft in cocaine smuggling in the Eighties:

“A US $ 150.000 price tag for a flying DC-3 was peanuts when considering the margins that were made on flying 3 tons of Cocaine closer to the USA and getting that stuff on the market. The profits made were so extravagant that even the occasional loss of a Dakota and a couple of Cessna 180s in the effort were easily accepted as “minor collateral damage”.”

https://www.dc3dakotahunter.com/blog/war-on-drugs-against-the-real-pirates-of-the-caribbean/

maximus otter
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top