Homebuilt Mistakenly Lands At US Airbase In Germany | Aero-News Network
Aero-News Network
RSS icon RSS feed
podcast icon MP3 podcast
Subscribe Aero-News e-mail Newsletter Subscribe

Airborne Unlimited -- Most Recent Daily Episodes

Episode Date

Airborne-Monday

Airborne-Tuesday

Airborne-Wednesday Airborne-Thursday

Airborne-Friday

Airborne On YouTube

Airborne-Unlimited-04.22.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.16.24

Airborne-FlightTraining-04.17.24 Airborne-AffordableFlyers-04.18.24

Airborne-Unlimited-04.19.24

Join Us At 0900ET, Friday, 4/10, for the LIVE Morning Brief.
Watch It LIVE at
www.airborne-live.net

Fri, Apr 02, 2004

Homebuilt Mistakenly Lands At US Airbase In Germany

Pilot "Lucky" Not To Have Been Shot Down

It probably wasn't until after he'd landed that a 68-year old German retiree learned how close he'd come to being shot out of the sky.

Police in Bitburg say the unidentified pilot, flying a Super Dimona "homebuilt" had radioed his intentions to land at the town's commercial airport. But after closing to within about eight miles of the airport, authorities say he turned off his navigational aids and apparently became a bit disoriented.

Instead of landing at Bitburg, the man flew right into the pattern at the huge American airbase at Spangdahlem. The base is home of the 52nd Fighter Wing, the single biggest fighter operation in all of Europe, equipped with F-16s and A-10s.

Did he notice the military aircraft lined up on the tarmac? Well... no.

Did he notice the warnings from the Spangdahlem tower? Er... nope.

But you can bet he sure noticed the MPs who were out on the field to greet him.

Police say he was lucky not to have been shot down. Bitburg authorities were quick to praise the "prudent" reaction by US forces tracking the civilian flight.

FMI: www.spangdahlem.af.mil

Advertisement

More News

Airbus Racer Helicopter Demonstrator First Flight Part of Clean Sky 2 Initiative

Airbus Racer Demonstrator Makes Inaugural Flight Airbus Helicopters' ambitious Racer demonstrator has achieved its inaugural flight as part of the Clean Sky 2 initiative, a corners>[...]

Diamond's Electric DA40 Finds Fans at Dübendorf

A little Bit Quieter, Said Testers, But in the End it's Still a DA40 Diamond Aircraft recently completed a little pilot project with Lufthansa Aviation Training, putting a pair of >[...]

ANN's Daily Aero-Term (04.23.24): Line Up And Wait (LUAW)

Line Up And Wait (LUAW) Used by ATC to inform a pilot to taxi onto the departure runway to line up and wait. It is not authorization for takeoff. It is used when takeoff clearance >[...]

NTSB Final Report: Extra Flugzeugbau GMBH EA300/L

Contributing To The Accident Was The Pilot’s Use Of Methamphetamine... Analysis: The pilot departed on a local flight to perform low-altitude maneuvers in a nearby desert val>[...]

Classic Aero-TV: 'Never Give Up' - Advice From Two of FedEx's Female Captains

From 2015 (YouTube Version): Overcoming Obstacles To Achieve Their Dreams… At EAA AirVenture 2015, FedEx arrived with one of their Airbus freight-hauling aircraft and placed>[...]

blog comments powered by Disqus



Advertisement

Advertisement

Podcasts

Advertisement

© 2007 - 2024 Web Development & Design by Pauli Systems, LC