It must be such a terrible feeling to relax in your pilot seat, have your eyes wander to the left, and see a fighter trying to get your attention. All because you forgot to check your radio.
As a military member who worked in one of the Air Defense sectors the amount of stress and paperwork that gets involved when international pilots "forget" to switch their codes, or roll the wrong way going over some very key numbers, is to this day one of my most hated memories.
@@pilotavery Is 'rolling over' a problem? You'd think it wouldn't squawk within, say, 10 seconds of a change... brief mis-squawks could cause a lot of problems (not just the 7x00s), as the number shows up at ATC till it's refreshed or times out.
There was some accident with fighters breaking sound barrier over Slovakia while intercepting civil airliner and people calling emergency due to hearing huge explosion which was strong enough to trigger car alarms.
I wonder if the fighter jets can crush into another aircraft below or on top of the airliner, as skies like European airspace are often every crowded if you look at flightRadar app
I was a passenger in a small 5 seat private plane which was intercepted by 2 F-16s. The F-16s were doing parade flybys over several parades that day and they needed our attention to tell us to ascend 1000 feet to give them enough room to perform their flybys without having to worry about flying too close to us. It was fun watching them rocket up into the sky and then dip down for different flybys. Saw them visit at least 4 parades before we lost sight of them.
You missed one reason for intercept: during my flight trainig my instructor and myself got intercepted in our C172 by F16's for which ATC gave us a heads up in good time. They acutally asked us if it was okay to use us to practice an interception.
I once got intercepted when I had a medical emergency mid flight (hypoxia and also other issues). The fighters helped me more than anything especially with navigation, but also monitoring my actions and helping me land the plane. Cause by the time they intercepted me I was way further than I thought I was and I was very unaware of the severity of the situation (even got a low fuel alarm prior to landing).
I had a coworker who was copilot on a restored B-17. On the way to Oshkosh every year, they would almost always get escorted through MOAs even when they had clearance because the fighter pilots loved flying alongside an old warbird.
@@DorkVader26 in addition to what you said it is also helpful to have an aircraft there to be able to physically check if the airplane is in distress. I have researched a few NTSB crash reports for my Aeronautics class, and there was one rather horrifying example of fighter-jet intercepting a private jet. Upon interception, the pilot of the fighter-jet only saw frost covered windows from what can be assumed a sudden decompression event. They actually had to have the fighter-jet fly close to one of the wings (and therefore decrease the wing's lift) to turn the private jet away from a major city and then they just waited for the private jet to run out of fuel and crash into an empty field. Needless to say, there were no survivors.
@@Keeps25 even if anyone survived the decompression, and managed to put their masks on, they would have ran out of oxygen eventually, they're only good for about 15 minutes.
Me: Has never flown a plane, will never fly a plane Mentour: Uploads a video explaining how to handle being intercepted Me: Watches it twice just in case
When I was 22 I went on vacation in the Philippines with my GF. Didn’t maintain contact with my mother and she called the US consulate, they were one day from sending Marines to do a welfare check on me when I finally called her. So, ya....
I've messed up at work and had the feeling of having to "go to the principal's office", but I can't imagine the gut check an airline pilot would have when a couple of fighters rolls up on them.
I was intercepted once when I accidentally strayed into military airspace, and they escorted me out without any hassle. Didn't even threaten me, just warned me I was in restricted space and asked me to follow them out.
How was that mistake made? Was it a temporary controlled airspace that you were not aware of? Was there anyway you could have avoided it or was it one of those things where there was nothing you could have done to avoid it?
@@Devyn_LV My dad “mistakenly” coursed for area 51 in an Air Force training flight, after being escorted away and upon landing, he got a “royal ass chewing” by his wing commander, followed up by a quieter “so, did you see anything?” To this day he swears up and down the fighters intercepted before he could get eyes on area 51
Fighter pilot: "Pull over. License and registration? You know you ran an international border back there? I clocked you at 510 knots. That's 10 over. You can't do that buddy, I don't care if you took off late. I'm gonna have to cite you."
Brilliant video, I'm an old retired air force pilot, I've performed two of these interceptions during my career, I laughed at 6:50, that's so true "HEY, WAKE UP". and we couldn't shoot you down if we wanted to, he's right about the flares, but other than that the aircraft was unarmed, admittedly this was back quite a few years before the 9:11 terrorist attacks. (why waste time & fuel carrying a lot of weight that you can't use?) Even on this video, look closely at 7:38 & notice the fighter carries only a fuel tank, no weapons & even the wing rails are empty.
@@DrLimeGreen A cannon would be extremely dangerous. Those rounds don't just all hit the target, and missing could be disastrous on the ground. We're talking over civilian populations possibly, would have to think any chance of missing would be a no go. I remember one of the 9-11 scramblers said they weren't armed because they didn't know the situation, but they were ready to put their F-16 into the plane if they had to.
@@abandonedlife9416 You make a good point about the cannon, but, you don't need to fire a cannon long to take down a civilian aircraft. a .01 second burst would be enough to shear the wing off, or disable the engine, forcing it to land or crash. A missile would be just as, if not more disastrous. A missile hitting into a plane, creating a fire ball in the air, with parts, engine pieces, and plane pieces exploding hundreds of miles in every direction would in my opinion potentially be far more disastrous than a very short cannon burst aimed at the wing, or engine. Aiming in fighter jets is not difficult, especially for a trained pilot shooting at a slow, large target like that. The aiming is computer controlled, always showing you where your shot is going to go, and the cannons of fighter jets is extremely accurate, a 0.01 burst from the cannon, you'd have a high chance that 90% or more of those bullets would hit the target, especially since the fighter would have the ability to get in close enough to ensure direct hits, resulting in a virtually 100% hit chance with every bullet impacting the target.
Eternally Angelic Hmmm... yeah, I think aiming for the tailfin is one of the best ways of shooting down a big airplane and you can do it at an angle from slightly above so any misses will spray the back of the fuselage, few to no misses and besides, you’re probably flying above fields or some other kind of empty terrain unless it’s already over a city, in which case you probably wouldn’t shoot it down unless there’s a very high value target like the White House around.
F-16 shoots 20mm rounds. Plenty enough power to travel straight through the entirety of a 747 and still cover a extreme distance. Next thing you know you have the casualties of the flight,and a neighbor hood raining lead. Never mind missiles.
@@theaceofspades485 again, a very short aimed properly is far better than a missile, which makes the plane explode, and send thousands of pieces of shrapnel at the speed of sound in every direction... Which is better? I'd say a few handful of 20mm bullets in as short of burst as possible into the engine making the plane come down is far better.
The fighter pilots could also be really pissed since thy had to interrupt their poker game due to some civilian pilot that forgot to ask for clearance.
I think if your are a figher jet pilot - every time you clime into the cockpit it is happy hour for you. So i think they dont mind at all. :) It;s not like You are being called to change toner in the office :)
@Agent J That's the part they don't show you in all of the Air Force commercials, only when they get to fly planes and VTOLs but never at a desk doing paperwork afterwards.
Pilots love getting their flight hours in. Flight hours for a modern fighter jet are about 10 to 18 thousand dollars depending on fuel and maintenance cost. A twin engine fighter with stealth coating is probably 18k per hour an f15 12 to 14 k per hour. Fighter pilots live to fly.
Every few years Apaches practice landing on my hospital roof helipad, which is in the centre of a city. My department is directly below (although about 7 floors down). The difference between an Apache and Airbus H145 air ambulance is incredible. The air ambulance makes a bit of noise and rattles the windows, but the Apache makes you think the building is falling down.
And then you hear a v22 osprey and wonder why God even gave you ears if your species was destined to create such a loud machine. Those fat bastards could drown out an approaching Chinook. I've never been near one while it was landing (and I'm pretty sure they can't land on most building-mounted pads), but my hometown has a few amphibious bases and you'd see them flying once in a blue moon, but when it does you're 110% sure it was an osprey.
thats gotta be the best thing ever, you sign up to fly and you fly all the time? If you hate that job, you should not have signed up for the airforce, maybe skipped on the pilots license. Imagine not having to pay for that gph...
I got the chills a few times watching this. I was a private pilot as a kid and then lived in the penthouse of a big building in a major metropolitan area on 9/11, and the corporations were evacuated- while I stood out and watched fighter aircraft circle the downtown area. I'll never forget that feeling- the streets were dead and the only noise came from the twin-engine fighters that seemed to be using my street as a visual... People under 40 just don't understand how the world has changed.
I believe there's also the _"headbutt"_ ... interceptors use their wake to cause turbulence and get the PICs attention. Causing much swearing... and a sudden new-found eagerness to communicate. There's also a bee-like system of wiggles and waggles, to let the interceptors know if you have some communication failure, or are somehow navigationaly constrained. But, thinking on all those costly interceptions... It's a shame that intercept aircraft / ground stations cannot broadcast a "wake-up" packet on the squawk frequency of the aircraft, causing audible and visible alert in the cockpit - on any aircraft squawking the matching ID. The beauty of such a scheme, is that it would be fully independent of the radio configuration. Since the transponder equipment is always on proper frequency and can be identified and has a known individual address, it would appear to be an excellent backchannel to the cockpit systems when voice contact cannot be made. Buzzing the transponder for attention would allow early abandonment of a LOT of those intercepts. I believe there are also other text and telemetry systems on board... so, really, it should be almost impossible to find an airliner without working comms that are configuration independent. But the transponder seems to be the obvious radio to use as a backchannel - it should also be fitted with a backup battery to ensure it's squawking is not interrupted by power bus problems. So, should all transponders have a 'doorbell' function ? I may be naive, but it seems like a good idea : )
I'm sure there's a whole lot more stuff the transponder could do. Up to and including automatically requesting clearances. I get the impression they don't want to fix what isn't broken though so it would be a separate system?
If a fighter jet doesn't get the pilot's attention a light sure as hell won't. This is really in cases where the pilots have no radio or there's been a hijacking or the pilots are incapacitated anyway
@@xdragon2k Correct, you have made the fighter your bitch at that point, now you go and steal their seat. Little known fact: The Boeing 727 rear stairs can catch an arresting cable on the carrier.
That's why there are rules that say "7-6, radio fix" meaning that in case of radio failure you turn your transponder to the 7600 squawk and they know that you have such a problem.
@@chistinelane no doubt about it. But what is the point for such a person to do it if their intentions are different, lethal? Besides, in most cases as soon as an aircraft is emmiting anything else than its normal code there will be a lot of reaction, including scrambling fighters to check if there's something suspicious up there. And this is not just imagination. There's a ton of procedures, which are not open to bublic (fortunately), that initiate a whole chain of people in order to determine the cause and decide for further action. Aviation is not the safest transport by accident. There are rules and every one has to follow them no matter what. That's why its very easy to identify the problem very quickly.
well i can believe that it wont be fun getting that wake up call XD.. i once slept during class at high school, the teacher was so annoyed that he kicked the desk i was sleeping on.. not just like soft kick, but literally kicked the desk up in the air...... my friends still bully me for that even today XD
Cyber: I send in a question a while ago what happens if the pilots see a flying object that flies beyond normal speed or has out of the ordinary shapes (could be a test of a new military plane e.g.) do they report this as an UFO and will that harm their carreer. Hope he brings that subject up.
The most useful channel on aviation. The presenter is amazing at explaining things in a very clear and concise manner and the topics are interesting. I've watched several videos so far and now subscribed. Thank you.
Small addition, a) at the Helios case, HAF pilots had a green light to prevent the 737 of going down το a populated area (using deadly force to make that happen of course), b) according to the investigation, the aircraft was still in auto mode, circling east of LGAV right up to the point of fuel starvation which was the cause of the crash.
i’m surprised there isn’t some kind of remote interception to tell the autopilot to navigate to an airport and land (seeing as most modern planes with autopilot can auto-land)
I rode submarines most of my career, but my last tour was on a carrier; I watched Tomcats launch at night sometimes (from vulture's row) and i have to say those afterburners are amazing to look at
This happened on a Ryanair flight from Stansted UK to Pisa Italy. Exactly on the left side of our aircraft, somewhere above the swiss alps. Fighter pilot mstve made contact with our aircraft crew after about 5 minutes as the single fighter i saw lowered his altitude and accelerated away under us and off to the right, eventually our aircraft changed heading and then no more sightings of the jet and we landed at Pisa with no problems.
Your videos are always so interesting and informative. Thank you for taking the time to make them. You and a certain 747 pilot are my "go to" for breakdowns of all things flying related. Whether it's accident related or just general information....👍
It was the day after 9/11 and while walking outside (at the time, I was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan) I was struck by how quiet it was without any aircraft in the sky. (Ann Arbor is very near to Detroit International Airport.) But, then...I heard something which stuck out precisely because of the lack of air traffic: the sound of a single engine propeller driven airplane. I looked up and spotted the small craft circling in the sky. Suddenly, the sky was filled with the roar from two F-15 fighters streaking in to intercept the small plane. It was amazing. I'm sure most of us are fairly used to what conventional commercial jets sound like, but the sound of military jet aircraft, especially when nearby, is almost deafening and you can feel the thunder of their engines in your body cavity. Anyway, the fighters circled (as well as such fast aircraft can "circle") around and the propeller plane started flying in a fairly tight circle. The fighters made another pass before finally heading off in the direction they came from. I don't know if it turned out that the small plane was authorized to fly or not, but it continued flying. At any rate, it was a fairly alarming experience from the ground. I can't imagine what it would be like to get buzzed by military aircraft while flying in a small plane, let alone an airliner.
CybershamanX I was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria last year. One of the neighbours of the race track is an Austrian Air Force Base (idk what it's called) and two Eurofighters took off. One was then performing maneuvers overhead. Absolutely stunning...
+Alex Thurner Indeed. Military aircraft being, obviously, for the most part exempt from excessive noise regulations, they are awe inspiring to experience up close. Even older aircraft like the B-17 Flying Fortress from World War 2 are stunning to behold. I have one locally that flies overhead every summer for the airshow. I couldn't imagine a few _thousand_ of them flying overhead. Definitely in the "shock and awe" category. ;)
I lived in the european countryside near one of the low altitude practice lanes in the 70s and 80s. This was when the cold war was still in full swing and military excersizes were a frequent thing. I've seen all sorts of fighter planes pass by and it was awesome (F16, F15, Tornado and what not). Sometimes they were so low you could see the pilots.
Come to switzerland and travel into the alps where the fighters of the swiss military do the training flights. Sometimes they follow the terrain quite closely and the sound, amplified by the echo from the mountains can be deafening. Definitely very impressive! A few images that might give an idea what this sounds like in this video (at the Start those are F/A 18 Hornets)
I work near a couple of Air Force bases on the regular, and am an aviation nerd, I love the sound of military jets. Ah, B-1s taking off ... (it's like a pair of F-15s in very close formation at full scoot, but with a third more power).
Thank you so much for pointing out that just because as a middle school or high school student people are saying that you are not capable of being a pilot that you might really have the ability and just not been able to apply yourself. There are plenty of late bloomers who just figure out their potential late in life. If you are 30, 40, or 50 and still have the PASSION to fly, follow your dreams. I don't care if it is FAA part 103. You will have a giant smile on your face every time that you fly, guaranteed.
Very interesting episode :) btw Swiss Air Force has "STBY 121.500" painted in red on their QRA fighters external fuel tank, which imo is quite clever...
funny suggestion in my feed, explaining what I have been wondering for about 20 years now. I can add one piece of information to the story: when a jet is intercepting a very slow plane like a Cesna, they will do 2 fly-by maneuvers, one indeed coming up from left in the same direction, then one perpendicular to the flight path, and a third approach from head-on. In our case, this final approach from head-on was aborted about 1 mile in front of us (scarily close from what I remember), by a sharp left and upward maneuver, just like explained in this video. There were a few electronic issues with our plane and some components were in repair. The transponder was not in the airplane and only the pilot had a radio set. (I think we also weren't monitoring 121.5 because we were trying to stay outside of restricted airspace after an earlier event...) We were probably picked up by the NATO radar with whom we did not have any contact. I'm assuming that because the interception was not performed by local air force, but by jets from a USAF base near SHAPE (NATO military headquarters). My buddy was flying to rack up hours as PIC for his next promotion, and we were doing just some flights for fun. Still made for an interesting flight and a good story :) (some other interesting things happened that flight, but none were related) He was (is) a genius pilot who can fly through storm like a Russian ice skating ballerina... Good times =))
I once read a story of a couple of British interceptors who asked if they could do a practice intercept on a Concorde that was going from London to New York. The pilot knew he was coming up on the acceleration point (he's not allowed to fly full speed over populated areas), so he said yes. They were being vectored towards the airliner, when it reached the end of the speed limit and started accelerating. "Target in 15 miles". "Target in 14 miles". "Target in 13 miles". "Target in 14 miles". "Target in 15, 16, 17 ah forget it..." I think it was a pair of Tornados, who had no chance to get even close to the Mach 2 speed of Concorde, nor even get near the altitude it was climbing to...
My favorite video yet!!! I needed this in particular to answer many questions I’ve had for 21 years. Your knowledge is precise and thorough. Thank you (love your accent). I’ll have to watch this again and take notes 📝. I know I have questions.✌🏽
Marc its considered a violation of airspace that had to be cleared or a violation of radio procedure. If the owner (defined by the tail identification number) is commercial senior management will definitely not be happy when the pilot reports it to them.
File an A.S.A.P. (Snitch on yourself) Get out of jail free card. It allows other pilots to learn from your mistake. They would rather that, then to "get" a pilot.
Personally I’d just find it pretty cool if being on a flight and seeing a fighter jet outside the window because I know they’re just there to check on the situation and making sure everyone is safe. The piloting skills of a fighter pilot has always been fascinating me too, ever since I saw The Red Arrows at an air show in 1996 when I was about to turn 11. Been loving the sounds and smell of airplanes ever since that day! Needless to say, I didn’t have a problem with living a couple of minutes away from Kastrup airport for some time, though it was eerily quiet when all flights were grounded in 2010 due to the volcano ashes from Eyjafjallajökull. So nah, seeing a fighter yet outside the plane wouldn’t worry me, if it was truly hostile we’d likely not even see it but be shot to pieces instantly, and looking at the statistics, an event like that is very very unlikely to happen anyone, and even less likely to happen to YOU. I’m more afraid of getting out of bed in the morning, or taking a drive to a nearby town, than I am when boarding a flight somewhere. Was on a flight from China the very same day that the Malaysian airplane disappeared and crashed, but uneasy when hearing about it the day after, then remembering that accidents like that are extremely rare. Flying is the safest way of traveling over long distances, any fighter jets are there for everyone’s safety, and there’s just no reason to be like Stig Helmer and his ”Jag kan flyga, jag är inte rädd”
Really dating yourself there with the Stig Helmer quote. 😂 Most people don't think twice about crossing a street on foot, even though it's much more dangerous than being a passenger on a commercial jet.
I was on a flight that was intercepted by the US Air Force. This was in ‘77 and lasted for 4 hours and was a recognition of my parents and me being transported from our home on a base until Copenhagen. I was a 10 weeks too early premie and was an emergency flight and they wanted to make sure that the flight was protected and had no issues with getting me to the hospital in Denmark. The other passengers sure got a ride for their money that day. As I’m writing this it went perfectly well and I know that my parents was incredibly grateful for the support and safety brought with us in our fight for my life. Although I am not prone to drama at all.
Quite funny actually to think of it if you listen to Shannon Control on liveATC. they handle most of the atlantic flights over there from Ireland and yet don't have a modern air force...
Wait a minute! You mean the Irish cannot intercept an airliner with a well thrown mug of Guinness? I've just lost all respect for my Irish heritage. What little of it I have anyway.
I've actually listened to the online ATC talk with the guy (Rich) on the Dash-8 and it was a sad case. The guy said many times he did not intended to land the plane ... he snapped ... and killed himself. Sad day.
Wow ... now that was a event no doubt ... Sad day day tho ... hope all is fine with you and your house/neighbors ... the news reported other then Rich no one else was injured ...
Good video. Intercept often occurs because the airliner wants to change final destination due to a in-flight disturbance such as an unruly passenger. This has occurred frequently over North America and for some reason, flights across the Pacific Ocean. This ratio is more than 10% of all intercepts. It's pretty rare communication breakdowns occur over North America. Have a nice flight! U.S. or Canadian Air Force Jets will scramble to analyze the situation and sometimes, escort the aircraft to the airport or International border and be handed off.
@@mzahra1 The flight deck crew would advise ATC of a flight plan change (reverse course, request nearest airport if company policy requires it or conditions demand it). The flight deck crew advises ATC the reason why the flight plan and course change is required. ATC then alerts NORAD or appropriate military liaison (country specific) based on threat level / gvt policy. Have a nice flight ✈️
Me, sees fighter: dispense flares and chaff, select sidewinder ready to acquire lock, commence evasive manuvers My copilot: Um.... we are in a 737 without any of that....
Glad to see you are wearing 4 stripes. I seem to recall you wearing 3 on earlier videos. Great explanation! This has happened to me many times but always because the controller I was working with failed to hand me off in a timely manner and I flew out of his frequency range.
Mentour if u see this I believe you flew me from luton to Girona 1 week ago we was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes and I recognised the voice but didn’t know where from then iv realised it was you
Well if it was you I would love to thank you as we were told it was going to be a very bumpy flight but the pilot kept us low until over the channel then climbed and it wasn’t as bad as cabin crew advised us
@@martialme84 I fly alot and one of the smoothest landings I encountered was by a French easyjet captain. I did not realise that we were on the runway. I spoke with cabin crew as I disembarked to pass on a compliment. The stewedess said she would but it wil go to his head 🤪
I have watched a lot of videos of yours man you have got a great channel keep it up!! But that fighter jet cruising next to the wing is freaking AWESOME!!! I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS!!
Mv bro (Used to be Cpt. on a BA146) got intercepted over France on a scheduled flight from BSL to LCY about 20 years ago. Just a sidenote: When taking off in BSL you are already in french airspace, so no need to further identify yourself. Turned out to be a pure training session by the french airforce. Impressive to see two Mirages so close by your side. He filed a report complaining about not being informed about it beforehand. So there is actually another reason. These guys scared the shit out of some passenger and it wasn‘t funny at all. Vive la France!
I remember as a young teenager (1987) onboard Adria airways (Yugoslavian / Croatian airline) on way to Split airport (then in Yugoslavia), when we entered Yugoslavian airspace we were shadowed by a grey Yugoslavian fighter jet for around 15 minutes. It then lost its altitude and went below the clouds.
I had to take a flight out of St.Louis,Mo. to Dallas,Tx. right after 911 incident. We were escorted by the Mo.Air Guard all the way with F-15s. You could see them out the window. I had no problem with that being done and could understand fully why it was done. I'm sure the jet jock wasn't too thrilled of that duty. Some folks freak out. Just go to sleep, don't worry.
I also got learned in flight school, that the fighter pilots would also show their belly with their weapons if you didn't respond to the gentle turn with the wings
@@matthewdinola1422 Their, there, they're is ingish isnt dat badd grammar nazi. How about you learn his language so he can shit on your minor mistakes.
The passengers in the back « wow so funny a fighter jet saying hello to us » The pilots in the cockpit: incapacitated Haha I swear I would have a panick attack if I saw fighter jets checking on us
I wouldn't worry to much about the fighter on the left wing scoping it out (he's looking for standing ppl with guns, window visors up or down, and pilot situation). You should really be worried about the second jet that is on the planes six, armed and locked. lol
I would have a panic attack too bc I kno something is wrong. Just like the Helios Flight Attendant. What was he thinking!? "Im ok, the other flight attendants & passengers arent but me & the pilots- we good" for 2 hrs of holding pattern. I think anyone else would have checked in on the cockpit. If he had entered 20 min sooner he cld have landed the plane.
This happened to a flight I was on from Scotland to Malaysia in the mid 90s. Always wondered to this day why they were there. Thank you. Just after that we asked if we could get in to the cockpit to see it. They let us in (just over india) and let us take the pilots seat. Something we will never get again since 9/11
One thing he forgot to mention is that fighters are also "rarely" deployed as a courtesy, for instance when an airline is flying to a new country, or when a government head is travelling, and so on. It's similar to the fire truck ceremony on airport.
Do you have any idea what it costs to scramble a fighter jet? the fuel consumption of these beasts? The maintenance required per flying hour? How many man hours of personell are required to keep them in the air?
An F16 costs about $20k per flying hour. And you bet the airline is going to be paying it. That said, no amount of money justifies not making sure people are safe up there.
It's nice your ignoring your cell phone ringing... Then a all mightly cell service finds you then checks your situation... 😬 Actually its can be done with a triangular signal monitoring... ⚠️
I’m so glad you posted this video cuz that’s one of my biggest concerns as a student pilot: to accidentally fly vfr into an airspace I didn’t get clearance for 😂😂😂 and get intersepted and arrested and fined 😂😂
The issue at hand there was that the aircraft had mis-navigated over Soviet military airspace, where there weren't supposed to be any planes, period, and the Soviets mis-identified it as an American spy aircraft. Some spy aircraft are basically glorified passenger airliners filled with sneaky computer gadgets, and allegedly America had sent real spy planes towards this area before, so the Soviets were on high alert for unfamiliar jumbo jets. Poor visibility, poor communication, and chain of command issues tragically meant the Soviets didn't realize the true identity of the aircraft until too late. A horrible event to be sure, but also an event that was the result of a series of pretty unlikely circumstances. A normal procedural interception is extreeeeemely unlikely to play out that way.
When I was learning to fly over 34 years ago at Old Sarum England I was regularly intercepted by Fighter Jets from Boscombe Down ..one Fighter Pilot visited our Flying Club said to me "Aah it was you ...got you " although I was doing nothing wrong !
11:08. The air pressurisation system had no problem on Helios 522. The ground mechanic had set it to manual to test the system because a flight attendent had seen ice around the rear passenger door. So the mechanic manually pressurised the plane on the ground in manual mode to see if there was a leak. However, the ground mechanic did not change the pressurisation system back to auto like he should have. The pilots didn't notice and they started to become incapacitated without realising it. The flight attendent on the flight (the one who was at the controls and seen by the fighter jet pilots) had training scuba diving (I think). So he was able to stay conscious for longer than everyone else. Additionally, he had a portable oxygen tank, however, this ran out before he could figure out what was wrong.
@@MentourPilot There was a widely spoken scenario when Helios 522 crashed. The scenario was that when the air force understood that it was inevitably going to crash and to avoid this happening in populated area they used a certain method to change it's course and crash it "safely" into unpopulated area. This method has something to do with flying in front of the plane and creating air vortexes to make it stall. Is that possible and have you ever heard about this being applied in other incidents ?
Very interesting video, thanks. A few years ago I flew from Dallas Fort Worth to Tel Aviv and prior to landing in Israel the flight attendant made an announcement telling everyone to remain seated. She said that if anyone got out of their seat before landing, fighter jets would be scrambled and the plane would be diverted to a military airport in southern Israel. She added that if anyone was up walking around, they would assume that they were having a potential hijacking incident, and that is why the fighter jets would be called to divert us. That sounded pretty ridiculous to me and it was the only time that I’ve ever heard an announcement like that on an international flight. I found your channel last night and I am a new subscriber. Thanks for your very interesting videos - I hope you have a wonderful week.
I not plan on being a pilot. But I like to think you for all the useful information. Even someone that fly's time to time as a passenger. can learn alot from your Channel. And I would like to think you alot. I think I ready to fly a Airbus now. I got this 😎 And as always I'm hoping you are having a fantastic day.
99,99% of the cases it all ends up well, but in at least two occasions the interception ended with the downing of the plane, both times a South Korean plane invading Soviet airspace (Korean Air Lines 902 in 1978 and Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983). In times of political tensions, those things can happen. My advice is, if Russia invades Ukraine, stay clear of that airspace and the entire region. Actually, stay clear if tension mounts.
There was really never a question of IF Russia would invade Ukraine! It was just a matter of when they would invade, because Putin is one, very crazy, MF. (And Russia has started their invasion yesterday! ) ( Question: What is the largest country in Europe?) (Ukraine!)
Very very welldone and understantable Video, thank you! Just a comment of a pediatrician (children‘s doctor) on the sponsoring: Maybe it was just BECAUSE you were struggeling, but didn‘t give up and found out that it is worth the effort that you came as far as you did ... just guessing ... there are children in need that really need help, but like most flights are safe most children are able to adapt do difficulties ... with our own three wonderful and healthy children, it never bothered me when it was sometimes difficult, as long as I had the feeling that they are not suffering for months or so ... just to get you thinking ...
what if the fighter jets do not react to radio? I wonder how many you can gather up there... :) also: if the fighter jet is spitting out flares, the appropriate way is to throw out carry on bags from business class
That was precisely the situation before 9/11 - no US base had a fighter jet on standby for any incidents so it took them a while to respond. Now every US air base has a jet on standby 24 hours a day.
It must be such a terrible feeling to relax in your pilot seat, have your eyes wander to the left, and see a fighter trying to get your attention. All because you forgot to check your radio.
Definitely a good time to have a spare set of pants and a new job lined up
Not radio NOTAMS
That's the least of your troubles.
But the phone number is when the real terror begins.
As a military member who worked in one of the Air Defense sectors the amount of stress and paperwork that gets involved when international pilots "forget" to switch their codes, or roll the wrong way going over some very key numbers, is to this day one of my most hated memories.
thanks for sharing the other side . . . it´s always good to have multiple viewpoints
Does the airline have to pay the costs of scrambling?
Don't roll over 7500 7600 or 7700, if possible, do the digits in reverse as this makes it nearly impossible to hit it.
@@pilotavery Is 'rolling over' a problem? You'd think it wouldn't squawk within, say, 10 seconds of a change... brief mis-squawks could cause a lot of problems (not just the 7x00s), as the number shows up at ATC till it's refreshed or times out.
if a "pilot "forget about codes is a human ERROR,.....but if military planes intercept an UFO is an ALIEN ERROR....and is a hell of paperwork.......
Fighter jets, the most expensive alarm clock in the world.
yes, i've woken up several times in my bed as not too far away military base sends out fighters
Yep about 40k a hour.
There was some accident with fighters breaking sound barrier over Slovakia while intercepting civil airliner and people calling emergency due to hearing huge explosion which was strong enough to trigger car alarms.
I wonder if the fighter jets can crush into another aircraft below or on top of the airliner, as skies like European airspace are often every crowded if you look at flightRadar app
😂😅😅
I was a passenger in a small 5 seat private plane which was intercepted by 2 F-16s. The F-16s were doing parade flybys over several parades that day and they needed our attention to tell us to ascend 1000 feet to give them enough room to perform their flybys without having to worry about flying too close to us. It was fun watching them rocket up into the sky and then dip down for different flybys. Saw them visit at least 4 parades before we lost sight of them.
You missed one reason for intercept: during my flight trainig my instructor and myself got intercepted in our C172 by F16's for which ATC gave us a heads up in good time. They acutally asked us if it was okay to use us to practice an interception.
‼️
This is hilarious! 😂😂 So cool 😎
I would have felt dignified😂😂 Yeah you can practice it as long as I have minimum fuel for a safe landing!
I once got intercepted when I had a medical emergency mid flight (hypoxia and also other issues). The fighters helped me more than anything especially with navigation, but also monitoring my actions and helping me land the plane. Cause by the time they intercepted me I was way further than I thought I was and I was very unaware of the severity of the situation (even got a low fuel alarm prior to landing).
Glad you made it safely
Hypoxia will kick your ass without you even realising you’ve been owned. Glad your are safe
When he wiggles his wings. You do the same. Then you commence the dogfight although he shoots you down while you just scream "pew pew"
Oof
You made my day
Oof cuz it's roblox death sound
Exactly
PEW PEW PEW PEW
BRRRT BRRRRRRT
PEW PEW PEW
BRRRT
MAYDAY MAYDAY, WE'RE GOING DOWN
BRRRT
BOOM
I had a coworker who was copilot on a restored B-17. On the way to Oshkosh every year, they would almost always get escorted through MOAs even when they had clearance because the fighter pilots loved flying alongside an old warbird.
That's awesome
that never happend but cool story.
@@lenseofanomad Prove it, with detailed documentary or it did
"Turn off your engine and step out of the vehicle, NOW"
Good one !
*slowly*
😁
LOL
RIP to all people on board.
Wow, that is one expensive way to alert a person of an incoming call.. lol
@@DorkVader26 Cheaper?? Yeah thats gotta be the reason!
And sometimes the only way
@@DorkVader26 in addition to what you said it is also helpful to have an aircraft there to be able to physically check if the airplane is in distress. I have researched a few NTSB crash reports for my Aeronautics class, and there was one rather horrifying example of fighter-jet intercepting a private jet. Upon interception, the pilot of the fighter-jet only saw frost covered windows from what can be assumed a sudden decompression event. They actually had to have the fighter-jet fly close to one of the wings (and therefore decrease the wing's lift) to turn the private jet away from a major city and then they just waited for the private jet to run out of fuel and crash into an empty field. Needless to say, there were no survivors.
@@Keeps25 even if anyone survived the decompression, and managed to put their masks on, they would have ran out of oxygen eventually, they're only good for about 15 minutes.
@@Keeps25 that was the guy that played golf!
why am I watching this?, I don't even have a bicycle
You don't have one and you can't even spell it.
@@mukkasaurus right, sorry I'm not a native speaker.
@@mukkasaurus Looks correct for me. Correct as in as correct as possible you could spell words in a non-phonetic creol like English.
@@mukkasaurus it's correct??
@@ebukaobi2098 You must be unfamiliar with the feature that allows you to EDIT comments
Me: Has never flown a plane, will never fly a plane
Mentour: Uploads a video explaining how to handle being intercepted
Me: Watches it twice just in case
lolol I'm the same!
Lmfaoooooooooo
I thought your not gonna fly?
dixiescents since I wrote that comment, things have changed. I plan to put myself through flight school after I graduate college!
@@Volkswagenitalia. pog
When you get called by your mom and you don't answer so she sends fighter jets
Bad Cattitude yes lol
@@gamersite99 always listen to mom*
When I was 22 I went on vacation in the Philippines with my GF.
Didn’t maintain contact with my mother and she called the US consulate, they were one day from sending Marines to do a welfare check on me when I finally called her.
So, ya....
Didn't answer that text within 10 minutes.
What if that same fa 18 with that same maverick missile hits ya in yer face
After binge watching your videos, being a pilot seems like a VERY stressful job. Attention to detail is a must!
Not if you are normally a person who is awake, alert and paying attention constantly.
Sleepy ppl should not sign up to be a pilot.
I've messed up at work and had the feeling of having to "go to the principal's office", but I can't imagine the gut check an airline pilot would have when a couple of fighters rolls up on them.
Your girl checking to see if you’re really on the plane or not.
Justin Valedon underrated comment
Legendary 100
SPEECH 100
So she gets the chance to cheat
@@mysticprophecy5395 fr, my dad's cousin was cheating with this unknown man when we went to the same McDonald's they were in 😂
I was intercepted once when I accidentally strayed into military airspace, and they escorted me out without any hassle. Didn't even threaten me, just warned me I was in restricted space and asked me to follow them out.
Damn that’s crazy
How was that mistake made? Was it a temporary controlled airspace that you were not aware of? Was there anyway you could have avoided it or was it one of those things where there was nothing you could have done to avoid it?
Well that's pretty nice of them! Now I want to get intercepted
@@Devyn_LV My dad “mistakenly” coursed for area 51 in an Air Force training flight, after being escorted away and upon landing, he got a “royal ass chewing” by his wing commander, followed up by a quieter “so, did you see anything?”
To this day he swears up and down the fighters intercepted before he could get eyes on area 51
@@drewpac1765 There are no Aliens/UFOs at Area 51 (or anywhere else on Earth).
What do your airplane looks like?
Me “Big tube with long wings, white?”
Like a big Tylenol!
*AVIATION CHEAT CODES*
7500-fly in formation with jets
7600-atc mute button
7700-priority landing anywhere
*edit omg thanks for the likes
ahahahaha good one!
Haha
LMAO
7500 means that my aircraft is hijacked
7600 means that my radio is not working
7700 I have to do an emergency landing
To remember it is
75man with a knife
76 I need my radio fix
77 I am falling from heaven
Short answer: It's airforceproud95
Tower, requesting clearance to ALT + F4.
Dacino Holhe That is approved as requested!
(User Disconnected From Your Channel)
Davion Hoihe [hot air ballon spawns on CA Terminal]
Sounds like a personal problem. Blog it.
I like that a $60 million aircraft gets turned into a glorified highway patrol vehicle
60 million dollar jet that costs $40k an hour to operate
Well, you won't see a Cessna catching up an airliner
Usa wasting money i guess lol
FaKa 2.0 every country across the globe does it
@@oneofone53 no
Long Story Short:
Fighter Jet Interception is the equivilant of the Traffic Cop.
Thanks so much.. I watched through 5 mins of the clip and I got sick of the bs... All I wanted was to see the fighter jet not the bs... Thanks lad
$40k an hour traffic cop
With a much bigger ticket.
@@LordBaldur Ticket to death...
Mentor flew to Scotland from Spain return - then gets home and makes a video. Amazing work ethic.
Fighter pilot: "Pull over. License and registration? You know you ran an international border back there? I clocked you at 510 knots. That's 10 over. You can't do that buddy, I don't care if you took off late. I'm gonna have to cite you."
Lol
"I'm not a pilot, I'm a traveller!!"
If you make even one mistake, you'll be flying rubber dog shit out of hong kong!
XD ROFL
License passport and registration please.. What the h.. I smell fuel!! Did y'all hide the bong??
Brilliant video, I'm an old retired air force pilot, I've performed two of these interceptions during my career, I laughed at 6:50, that's so true "HEY, WAKE UP". and we couldn't shoot you down if we wanted to, he's right about the flares, but other than that the aircraft was unarmed, admittedly this was back quite a few years before the 9:11 terrorist attacks. (why waste time & fuel carrying a lot of weight that you can't use?) Even on this video, look closely at 7:38 & notice the fighter carries only a fuel tank, no weapons & even the wing rails are empty.
@@DrLimeGreen A cannon would be extremely dangerous. Those rounds don't just all hit the target, and missing could be disastrous on the ground. We're talking over civilian populations possibly, would have to think any chance of missing would be a no go. I remember one of the 9-11 scramblers said they weren't armed because they didn't know the situation, but they were ready to put their F-16 into the plane if they had to.
@@abandonedlife9416
You make a good point about the cannon, but, you don't need to fire a cannon long to take down a civilian aircraft. a .01 second burst would be enough to shear the wing off, or disable the engine, forcing it to land or crash.
A missile would be just as, if not more disastrous. A missile hitting into a plane, creating a fire ball in the air, with parts, engine pieces, and plane pieces exploding hundreds of miles in every direction would in my opinion potentially be far more disastrous than a very short cannon burst aimed at the wing, or engine.
Aiming in fighter jets is not difficult, especially for a trained pilot shooting at a slow, large target like that. The aiming is computer controlled, always showing you where your shot is going to go, and the cannons of fighter jets is extremely accurate, a 0.01 burst from the cannon, you'd have a high chance that 90% or more of those bullets would hit the target, especially since the fighter would have the ability to get in close enough to ensure direct hits, resulting in a virtually 100% hit chance with every bullet impacting the target.
Eternally Angelic Hmmm... yeah, I think aiming for the tailfin is one of the best ways of shooting down a big airplane and you can do it at an angle from slightly above so any misses will spray the back of the fuselage, few to no misses and besides, you’re probably flying above fields or some other kind of empty terrain unless it’s already over a city, in which case you probably wouldn’t shoot it down unless there’s a very high value target like the White House around.
F-16 shoots 20mm rounds. Plenty enough power to travel straight through the entirety of a 747 and still cover a extreme distance. Next thing you know you have the casualties of the flight,and a neighbor hood raining lead. Never mind missiles.
@@theaceofspades485
again, a very short aimed properly is far better than a missile, which makes the plane explode, and send thousands of pieces of shrapnel at the speed of sound in every direction...
Which is better? I'd say a few handful of 20mm bullets in as short of burst as possible into the engine making the plane come down is far better.
The fighter pilots could also be really pissed since thy had to interrupt their poker game due to some civilian pilot that forgot to ask for clearance.
I think if your are a figher jet pilot - every time you clime into the cockpit it is happy hour for you. So i think they dont mind at all. :) It;s not like You are being called to change toner in the office :)
@Agent J They make fighter jet pilots do hours of paperwork after chasing down a bunch of hooligans with ADD? Really?
@Agent J That's the part they don't show you in all of the Air Force commercials, only when they get to fly planes and VTOLs but never at a desk doing paperwork afterwards.
@Agent J yep, ive been working with plant anatomy research, 90% of the jog is filling excel sheets
Pilots love getting their flight hours in. Flight hours for a modern fighter jet are about 10 to 18 thousand dollars depending on fuel and maintenance cost. A twin engine fighter with stealth coating is probably 18k per hour an f15 12 to 14 k per hour. Fighter pilots live to fly.
Man I wish I followed my dream to become a pilot when I was younger, now I found this channel and I'm hyped again about this kind of stuff
You know, you can still do it. It's never too late..
Unless you're 80+, then maybe forget about it.
When you fill up your stars in GTA
LimitedWard Facts😂🤣😂
That pilot clearly had a 6 star wanted level.
When you fly over fort zancudo in gta5.
@@joshuahh5782 fort zancudo is crazy, they shoot u down the next nanosecond after they tell u to divert , like wtf😂
"AEZAKMI" problem solved 😂
Every few years Apaches practice landing on my hospital roof helipad, which is in the centre of a city. My department is directly below (although about 7 floors down). The difference between an Apache and Airbus H145 air ambulance is incredible. The air ambulance makes a bit of noise and rattles the windows, but the Apache makes you think the building is falling down.
And thats BEFORE they fire that 20mm gatling at the front. Apache go BRRRRRRRR
@@BazzFreeman AH-64 has a single barrel 30mm... You are thinking about AH-1 "Cobra"
@@engelbert42 Correct, Sir. I blame age...
And then you hear a v22 osprey and wonder why God even gave you ears if your species was destined to create such a loud machine. Those fat bastards could drown out an approaching Chinook. I've never been near one while it was landing (and I'm pretty sure they can't land on most building-mounted pads), but my hometown has a few amphibious bases and you'd see them flying once in a blue moon, but when it does you're 110% sure it was an osprey.
Imagine being a fighter pilot who signed up because he saw Top Gun only to do traffic stops his whole career
Expectations vs reality.
thats gotta be the best thing ever, you sign up to fly and you fly all the time? If you hate that job, you should not have signed up for the airforce, maybe skipped on the pilots license. Imagine not having to pay for that gph...
Imagine not needing to go to war. How boring.
You omitted the final step in the procedure: A change of underwear when you land the aircraft :D
Lack of Gravitas - and a towel to wipe the sweat off your head and palms while you wait for that call from your manager!
Lack of Gravitas haha, lots of wet underwear 🤣
I think after changing underwear, dusting off the resume is probably the next step.
😂😂😂
Especially as you call the phone number they gave you.
I got the chills a few times watching this. I was a private pilot as a kid and then lived in the penthouse of a big building in a major metropolitan area on 9/11, and the corporations were evacuated- while I stood out and watched fighter aircraft circle the downtown area. I'll never forget that feeling- the streets were dead and the only noise came from the twin-engine fighters that seemed to be using my street as a visual... People under 40 just don't understand how the world has changed.
I believe there's also the _"headbutt"_ ... interceptors use their wake to cause turbulence and get the PICs attention. Causing much swearing... and a sudden new-found eagerness to communicate.
There's also a bee-like system of wiggles and waggles, to let the interceptors know if you have some communication failure, or are somehow navigationaly constrained.
But, thinking on all those costly interceptions... It's a shame that intercept aircraft / ground stations cannot broadcast a "wake-up" packet on the squawk frequency of the aircraft, causing audible and visible alert in the cockpit - on any aircraft squawking the matching ID.
The beauty of such a scheme, is that it would be fully independent of the radio configuration.
Since the transponder equipment is always on proper frequency and can be identified and has a known individual address, it would appear to be an excellent backchannel to the cockpit systems when voice contact cannot be made. Buzzing the transponder for attention would allow early abandonment of a LOT of those intercepts.
I believe there are also other text and telemetry systems on board... so, really, it should be almost impossible to find an airliner without working comms that are configuration independent. But the transponder seems to be the obvious radio to use as a backchannel - it should also be fitted with a backup battery to ensure it's squawking is not interrupted by power bus problems.
So, should all transponders have a 'doorbell' function ?
I may be naive, but it seems like a good idea : )
I'm sure there's a whole lot more stuff the transponder could do. Up to and including automatically requesting clearances. I get the impression they don't want to fix what isn't broken though so it would be a separate system?
Are there any signaling cues with the aircraft lights? Morse code? I keep thinking about that cutscene from Ace Combat 5
If a fighter jet doesn't get the pilot's attention a light sure as hell won't. This is really in cases where the pilots have no radio or there's been a hijacking or the pilots are incapacitated anyway
“They’re not there to shoot down the aircraft”...
Fighter Pilot: I’ve got good tone...
Theres no chance you will be shot if the plane is not hijacked, its just pointing gun on you but on safety
Biliary Clinton Splash one... Splash one
Biliary Clinton you can paint an airliner silhouette on your plane now! Only four more for ace status!!!
@@svm6916
--------------------- the joke ----------------------------------------
You
@@VirtuelleWeltenMitKhan honestly speaking your name is a lot more a joke
The proper procedure is to go inverted and give them the bird at two meters.
Do you mean the fighter jet or the airliner?
@@kombirat Airliner, that way the fighter knew who is boss. lol
Then land on aircraft carrier?
@@xdragon2k Correct, you have made the fighter your bitch at that point, now you go and steal their seat. Little known fact: The Boeing 727 rear stairs can catch an arresting cable on the carrier.
@@michaelmckay niiice idea about the 727 rear stairs to stop on Carrier!
One of my friends, had the radios fail in the plane and was intercepted. This was about 6 months after 9/11, so they made an early landing.
That's why there are rules that say "7-6, radio fix" meaning that in case of radio failure you turn your transponder to the 7600 squawk and they know that you have such a problem.
@@iliasmardakis2714 wouldn't a hijacker know this too? They study planes as much as pilots do.
@@chistinelane no doubt about it. But what is the point for such a person to do it if their intentions are different, lethal? Besides, in most cases as soon as an aircraft is emmiting anything else than its normal code there will be a lot of reaction, including scrambling fighters to check if there's something suspicious up there. And this is not just imagination. There's a ton of procedures, which are not open to bublic (fortunately), that initiate a whole chain of people in order to determine the cause and decide for further action. Aviation is not the safest transport by accident. There are rules and every one has to follow them no matter what. That's why its very easy to identify the problem very quickly.
"Two pilots nosediving into the radio" haha
well i can believe that it wont be fun getting that wake up call XD.. i once slept during class at high school, the teacher was so annoyed that he kicked the desk i was sleeping on.. not just like soft kick, but literally kicked the desk up in the air...... my friends still bully me for that even today XD
Next week: "I was intercepted by a UFO"
Week after: "I was reassigned to ground staff"
In all seriousness, I would like to hear about the procedures involved when encountering an unknown object. :)
wp r 🤣
Cyber: I send in a question a while ago what happens if the pilots see a flying object that flies beyond normal speed or has out of the ordinary shapes (could be a test of a new military plane e.g.) do they report this as an UFO and will that harm their carreer.
Hope he brings that subject up.
@@RS-Amsterdam there is already established procedure for that....pilots what they do is "shit their pants" and say oooohhhh shitttttt
So if it gets smelly down the isle near the cockpit you should watch out for UFO's ;-``)
The most useful channel on aviation. The presenter is amazing at explaining things in a very clear and concise manner and the topics are interesting. I've watched several videos so far and now subscribed. Thank you.
Black hawk intercepting a Cessna was the highlight of the video
Small addition, a) at the Helios case, HAF pilots had a green light to prevent the 737 of going down το a populated area (using deadly force to make that happen of course), b) according to the investigation, the aircraft was still in auto mode, circling east of LGAV right up to the point of fuel starvation which was the cause of the crash.
i’m surprised there isn’t some kind of remote interception to tell the autopilot to navigate to an airport and land (seeing as most modern planes with autopilot can auto-land)
I rode submarines most of my career, but my last tour was on a carrier; I watched Tomcats launch at night sometimes (from vulture's row) and i have to say those afterburners are amazing to look at
6:44 actually woke me up from my midday nap god damn
Same lol
Slow down to five knots above stall speed so they have to keep flying circles around you they really like when you do that
This happened on a Ryanair flight from Stansted UK to Pisa Italy. Exactly on the left side of our aircraft, somewhere above the swiss alps. Fighter pilot mstve made contact with our aircraft crew after about 5 minutes as the single fighter i saw lowered his altitude and accelerated away under us and off to the right, eventually our aircraft changed heading and then no more sightings of the jet and we landed at Pisa with no problems.
Your videos are always so interesting and informative. Thank you for taking the time to make them. You and a certain 747 pilot are my "go to" for breakdowns of all things flying related. Whether it's accident related or just general information....👍
It was the day after 9/11 and while walking outside (at the time, I was living in Ann Arbor, Michigan) I was struck by how quiet it was without any aircraft in the sky. (Ann Arbor is very near to Detroit International Airport.) But, then...I heard something which stuck out precisely because of the lack of air traffic: the sound of a single engine propeller driven airplane. I looked up and spotted the small craft circling in the sky. Suddenly, the sky was filled with the roar from two F-15 fighters streaking in to intercept the small plane. It was amazing. I'm sure most of us are fairly used to what conventional commercial jets sound like, but the sound of military jet aircraft, especially when nearby, is almost deafening and you can feel the thunder of their engines in your body cavity. Anyway, the fighters circled (as well as such fast aircraft can "circle") around and the propeller plane started flying in a fairly tight circle. The fighters made another pass before finally heading off in the direction they came from. I don't know if it turned out that the small plane was authorized to fly or not, but it continued flying. At any rate, it was a fairly alarming experience from the ground. I can't imagine what it would be like to get buzzed by military aircraft while flying in a small plane, let alone an airliner.
CybershamanX I was at the Red Bull Ring in Austria last year. One of the neighbours of the race track is an Austrian Air Force Base (idk what it's called) and two Eurofighters took off. One was then performing maneuvers overhead. Absolutely stunning...
+Alex Thurner Indeed. Military aircraft being, obviously, for the most part exempt from excessive noise regulations, they are awe inspiring to experience up close. Even older aircraft like the B-17 Flying Fortress from World War 2 are stunning to behold. I have one locally that flies overhead every summer for the airshow. I couldn't imagine a few _thousand_ of them flying overhead. Definitely in the "shock and awe" category. ;)
I lived in the european countryside near one of the low altitude practice lanes in the 70s and 80s. This was when the cold war was still in full swing and military excersizes were a frequent thing. I've seen all sorts of fighter planes pass by and it was awesome (F16, F15, Tornado and what not). Sometimes they were so low you could see the pilots.
Come to switzerland and travel into the alps where the fighters of the swiss military do the training flights. Sometimes they follow the terrain quite closely and the sound, amplified by the echo from the mountains can be deafening. Definitely very impressive!
A few images that might give an idea what this sounds like in this video (at the Start those are F/A 18 Hornets)
I work near a couple of Air Force bases on the regular, and am an aviation nerd, I love the sound of military jets. Ah, B-1s taking off ... (it's like a pair of F-15s in very close formation at full scoot, but with a third more power).
Thank you so much for pointing out that just because as a middle school or high school student people are saying that you are not capable of being a pilot that you might really have the ability and just not been able to apply yourself. There are plenty of late bloomers who just figure out their potential late in life. If you are 30, 40, or 50 and still have the PASSION to fly, follow your dreams. I don't care if it is FAA part 103. You will have a giant smile on your face every time that you fly, guaranteed.
Very interesting episode :) btw Swiss Air Force has "STBY 121.500" painted in red on their QRA fighters external fuel tank, which imo is quite clever...
As if a fighter jet on your 9oclock needed some further explanation :) I wonder why they are so close, do they fancy our new livery?
It should be yeah
"if you can read this, you will not get any chocolate!!"
I mean, if the pilot(or the one hijacking the plane for ransom maybe) doesn't know the frequency it would need further explaination, yes.
Ahmed Maalej I do believe 121.5 is international by ICAO rules, at least it's used in EU, US and Asia... Never heard of 101 being used for that...
funny suggestion in my feed, explaining what I have been wondering for about 20 years now.
I can add one piece of information to the story: when a jet is intercepting a very slow plane like a Cesna, they will do 2 fly-by maneuvers, one indeed coming up from left in the same direction, then one perpendicular to the flight path, and a third approach from head-on. In our case, this final approach from head-on was aborted about 1 mile in front of us (scarily close from what I remember), by a sharp left and upward maneuver, just like explained in this video. There were a few electronic issues with our plane and some components were in repair. The transponder was not in the airplane and only the pilot had a radio set. (I think we also weren't monitoring 121.5 because we were trying to stay outside of restricted airspace after an earlier event...) We were probably picked up by the NATO radar with whom we did not have any contact. I'm assuming that because the interception was not performed by local air force, but by jets from a USAF base near SHAPE (NATO military headquarters). My buddy was flying to rack up hours as PIC for his next promotion, and we were doing just some flights for fun. Still made for an interesting flight and a good story :) (some other interesting things happened that flight, but none were related) He was (is) a genius pilot who can fly through storm like a Russian ice skating ballerina... Good times =))
Enjoyed your video. 29yr USAF with lots of stories here. Cheers.
I'd love to hear some of your stories man. Cheers. Thank you for your service.
Get your own channel 29 yo buddy
Could you make a video aboute the different types of controlled airspace?
And notams
Make a Video about the HAPPY SON OF GUSTAV :)
and also controlled airspaces
Here are the ones I know controlled, uncontrolled, and military
I once read a story of a couple of British interceptors who asked if they could do a practice intercept on a Concorde that was going from London to New York. The pilot knew he was coming up on the acceleration point (he's not allowed to fly full speed over populated areas), so he said yes. They were being vectored towards the airliner, when it reached the end of the speed limit and started accelerating.
"Target in 15 miles".
"Target in 14 miles".
"Target in 13 miles".
"Target in 14 miles".
"Target in 15, 16, 17 ah forget it..."
I think it was a pair of Tornados, who had no chance to get even close to the Mach 2 speed of Concorde, nor even get near the altitude it was climbing to...
My favorite video yet!!! I needed this in particular to answer many questions I’ve had for 21 years. Your knowledge is precise and thorough. Thank you (love your accent). I’ll have to watch this again and take notes 📝. I know I have questions.✌🏽
What are the consequences for a pilot that finds themselves in this situation? I would imagine their airline won't be happy about it
Marc CH oh I’d imagine getting up the courage to walk off the plane after landing wouldn’t be easy.
It’s not going to be fun....
Marc its considered a violation of airspace that had to be cleared or a violation of radio procedure. If the owner (defined by the tail identification number) is commercial senior management will definitely not be happy when the pilot reports it to them.
no water salute this time
File an A.S.A.P.
(Snitch on yourself)
Get out of jail free card. It allows other pilots to learn from your mistake. They would rather that, then to "get" a pilot.
Personally I’d just find it pretty cool if being on a flight and seeing a fighter jet outside the window because I know they’re just there to check on the situation and making sure everyone is safe. The piloting skills of a fighter pilot has always been fascinating me too, ever since I saw The Red Arrows at an air show in 1996 when I was about to turn 11. Been loving the sounds and smell of airplanes ever since that day! Needless to say, I didn’t have a problem with living a couple of minutes away from Kastrup airport for some time, though it was eerily quiet when all flights were grounded in 2010 due to the volcano ashes from Eyjafjallajökull.
So nah, seeing a fighter yet outside the plane wouldn’t worry me, if it was truly hostile we’d likely not even see it but be shot to pieces instantly, and looking at the statistics, an event like that is very very unlikely to happen anyone, and even less likely to happen to YOU. I’m more afraid of getting out of bed in the morning, or taking a drive to a nearby town, than I am when boarding a flight somewhere. Was on a flight from China the very same day that the Malaysian airplane disappeared and crashed, but uneasy when hearing about it the day after, then remembering that accidents like that are extremely rare. Flying is the safest way of traveling over long distances, any fighter jets are there for everyone’s safety, and there’s just no reason to be like Stig Helmer and his ”Jag kan flyga, jag är inte rädd”
Really dating yourself there with the Stig Helmer quote. 😂 Most people don't think twice about crossing a street on foot, even though it's much more dangerous than being a passenger on a commercial jet.
I was on a flight that was intercepted by the US Air Force. This was in ‘77 and lasted for 4 hours and was a recognition of my parents and me being transported from our home on a base until Copenhagen. I was a 10 weeks too early premie and was an emergency flight and they wanted to make sure that the flight was protected and had no issues with getting me to the hospital in Denmark. The other passengers sure got a ride for their money that day. As I’m writing this it went perfectly well and I know that my parents was incredibly grateful for the support and safety brought with us in our fight for my life. Although I am not prone to drama at all.
You will never be intercepted flying over Ireland because we don’t have anything to intercept with :-)
Jacobs_Rifles I think Ireland gets QRA coverage from the RAF
In a pinch maybe they strap a rocket on a pilatus. I know they got a few of those
Quite funny actually to think of it if you listen to Shannon Control on liveATC. they handle most of the atlantic flights over there from Ireland and yet don't have a modern air force...
Jacobs_Rifles same as New Zealand.
Wait a minute! You mean the Irish cannot intercept an airliner with a well thrown mug of Guinness? I've just lost all respect for my Irish heritage. What little of it I have anyway.
I've actually listened to the online ATC talk with the guy (Rich) on the Dash-8 and it was a sad case. The guy said many times he did not intended to land the plane ... he snapped ... and killed himself. Sad day.
John Smith me too, it’s sad. The situation was handled the best it could.
The plane actually crashed 2 miles from my house
Wow ... now that was a event no doubt ... Sad day day tho ... hope all is fine with you and your house/neighbors ... the news reported other then Rich no one else was injured ...
A real human being
And a real hero
Another great insight into the layers of civil aviation and the issues that happen. Superb.
OOOOhhhh, this looks like a cool one, I'll get my popcorn ready!
Good video.
Intercept often occurs because the airliner wants to change final destination due to a in-flight disturbance such as an unruly passenger.
This has occurred frequently over North America and for some reason, flights across the Pacific Ocean. This ratio is more than 10% of all intercepts. It's pretty rare communication breakdowns occur over North America.
Have a nice flight!
U.S. or Canadian Air Force Jets will scramble to analyze the situation and sometimes, escort the aircraft to the airport or International border and be handed off.
@@mzahra1 The flight deck crew would advise ATC of a flight plan change (reverse course, request nearest airport if company policy requires it or conditions demand it). The flight deck crew advises ATC the reason why the flight plan and course change is required.
ATC then alerts NORAD or appropriate military liaison (country specific) based on threat level / gvt policy.
Have a nice flight ✈️
Me, sees fighter: dispense flares and chaff, select sidewinder ready to acquire lock, commence evasive manuvers
My copilot: Um.... we are in a 737 without any of that....
If you ever go on tour, name it “Mentour on Tour”
Or how about “MenTOUR”
12345 TTT yes, I hope for Joe and Mentour to collab one day.
I like the new fan channel
Shippers...
Captain Mentour personally feel like Mentour Joe sounds a bit better :P
RIP SkyKing; Amazing loop my friend, tally-ho!
Glad to see you are wearing 4 stripes. I seem to recall you wearing 3 on earlier videos. Great explanation! This has happened to me many times but always because the controller I was working with failed to hand me off in a timely manner and I flew out of his frequency range.
Mentour if u see this I believe you flew me from luton to Girona 1 week ago we was delayed by 1 hour 30 minutes and I recognised the voice but didn’t know where from then iv realised it was you
That is quite possible.
Well if it was you I would love to thank you as we were told it was going to be a very bumpy flight but the pilot kept us low until over the channel then climbed and it wasn’t as bad as cabin crew advised us
Joe Wilson Wingflex That´s some class, appreciating your pilot like that.
I bet few pilots get such direct feedback from their cargo.
@@martialme84 Passengers. Not cargo. If pilots are receiving appreciation from their cargo, something is very wrong 😉
@@martialme84 I fly alot and one of the smoothest landings I encountered was by a French easyjet captain. I did not realise that we were on the runway. I spoke with cabin crew as I disembarked to pass on a compliment. The stewedess said she would but it wil go to his head 🤪
Brilliant video. I mean your channel is very good normally. But this video is really really good. Thank you.
I have watched a lot of videos of yours man you have got a great channel keep it up!! But that fighter jet cruising next to the wing is freaking AWESOME!!! I WOULD LOVE TO SEE THIS!!
gets close enough to hand a speeding ticket out the window
That will cost you an extra $4.2 million a year to sustain.
Fighter pilot next to your airplane: You have *one* missed calls.
Ah I must have gotten to the really old videos, before Petter added the green pillow for starboard. 🎄
F-15**** Hey, put the stew down and pick up that microphone!"
Mv bro (Used to be Cpt. on a BA146) got intercepted over France on a scheduled flight from BSL to LCY about 20 years ago. Just a sidenote: When taking off in BSL you are already in french airspace, so no need to further identify yourself. Turned out to be a pure training session by the french airforce. Impressive to see two Mirages so close by your side. He filed a report complaining about not being informed about it beforehand. So there is actually another reason. These guys scared the shit out of some passenger and it wasn‘t funny at all. Vive la France!
Doesn't surprise me. France became a very belligerent and nationalistic country.
Nothing like the French flexing against an unarmed civilian craft that can't hurt them
I remember as a young teenager (1987) onboard Adria airways (Yugoslavian / Croatian airline) on way to Split airport (then in Yugoslavia), when we entered Yugoslavian airspace we were shadowed by a grey Yugoslavian fighter jet for around 15 minutes.
It then lost its altitude and went below the clouds.
I had to take a flight out of St.Louis,Mo. to Dallas,Tx. right after 911 incident. We were escorted by the Mo.Air Guard all the way with F-15s. You could see them out the window. I had no problem with that being done and could understand fully why it was done. I'm sure the jet jock wasn't too thrilled of that duty. Some folks freak out. Just go to sleep, don't worry.
I also got learned in flight school, that the fighter pilots would also show their belly with their weapons if you didn't respond to the gentle turn with the wings
Maybe you should have got learned in English also
Well, I'm very good spolen English, but my grammar, as I'm from Denmark is not the best
@@matthewdinola1422 Their, there, they're is ingish isnt dat badd grammar nazi. How about you learn his language so he can shit on your minor mistakes.
@@bishop51807 no thanks 😄
@@matthewdinola1422 some people are just easily offended lol.
13:02 The confidence in the last minute with a uncomfortable silence and the "right guys" means a lot... 🤣
The passengers in the back « wow so funny a fighter jet saying hello to us »
The pilots in the cockpit: incapacitated
Haha I swear I would have a panick attack if I saw fighter jets checking on us
I wouldn't worry to much about the fighter on the left wing scoping it out (he's looking for standing ppl with guns, window visors up or down, and pilot situation). You should really be worried about the second jet that is on the planes six, armed and locked. lol
I would have a panic attack too bc I kno something is wrong. Just like the Helios Flight Attendant. What was he thinking!? "Im ok, the other flight attendants & passengers arent but me & the pilots- we good" for 2 hrs of holding pattern. I think anyone else would have checked in on the cockpit. If he had entered 20 min sooner he cld have landed the plane.
Wife checking to see who you’re on a supposed “business trip” with?
Your english is so easy to understand for a french native ! ! Awesome !
Thanks a lot for doing this video requested by me!
You are more than welcome!
This happened to a flight I was on from Scotland to Malaysia in the mid 90s. Always wondered to this day why they were there. Thank you.
Just after that we asked if we could get in to the cockpit to see it. They let us in (just over india) and let us take the pilots seat. Something we will never get again since 9/11
One thing he forgot to mention is that fighters are also "rarely" deployed as a courtesy, for instance when an airline is flying to a new country, or when a government head is travelling, and so on. It's similar to the fire truck ceremony on airport.
Now a lot more fun taken out of travelling after covidmania IF WE'RE EVEN ALLOWED TO FLY ANYMORE
This channel is SERIOUSLY addictive! Thanks for sharing!
Merry Christmas and a happy new year no matter where you’re flying.
A very expensive way of getting your attention 😅
Paxion202 nwhats expensive about it??
Do you have any idea what it costs to scramble a fighter jet? the fuel consumption of these beasts? The maintenance required per flying hour? How many man hours of personell are required to keep them in the air?
An F16 costs about $20k per flying hour. And you bet the airline is going to be paying it. That said, no amount of money justifies not making sure people are safe up there.
Additional costs to the taxpayer of broken windows for supersonic flight over land - it's good practice for the pilots but they rarely get to do it.
It's nice your ignoring your cell phone ringing... Then a all mightly cell service finds you then checks your situation... 😬
Actually its can be done with a triangular signal monitoring... ⚠️
I’m so glad you posted this video cuz that’s one of my biggest concerns as a student pilot: to accidentally fly vfr into an airspace I didn’t get clearance for 😂😂😂 and get intersepted and arrested and fined 😂😂
This deserves a follow up regarding KAL007
The issue at hand there was that the aircraft had mis-navigated over Soviet military airspace, where there weren't supposed to be any planes, period, and the Soviets mis-identified it as an American spy aircraft. Some spy aircraft are basically glorified passenger airliners filled with sneaky computer gadgets, and allegedly America had sent real spy planes towards this area before, so the Soviets were on high alert for unfamiliar jumbo jets. Poor visibility, poor communication, and chain of command issues tragically meant the Soviets didn't realize the true identity of the aircraft until too late. A horrible event to be sure, but also an event that was the result of a series of pretty unlikely circumstances. A normal procedural interception is extreeeeemely unlikely to play out that way.
Mentor Pilot is the finest pilot out there. Well, except for the pilots I am flying with tomorrow morning.
Hoping that you understand?
Mentour
I have a vision of two pilots diving frantically onto the radio and bonking heads 😂
When I was learning to fly over 34 years ago at Old Sarum England I was regularly intercepted by Fighter Jets from Boscombe Down ..one Fighter Pilot visited our Flying Club said to me "Aah it was you ...got you " although I was doing nothing wrong !
They where probably doing
training on you.
11:08. The air pressurisation system had no problem on Helios 522. The ground mechanic had set it to manual to test the system because a flight attendent had seen ice around the rear passenger door. So the mechanic manually pressurised the plane on the ground in manual mode to see if there was a leak. However, the ground mechanic did not change the pressurisation system back to auto like he should have. The pilots didn't notice and they started to become incapacitated without realising it. The flight attendent on the flight (the one who was at the controls and seen by the fighter jet pilots) had training scuba diving (I think). So he was able to stay conscious for longer than everyone else. Additionally, he had a portable oxygen tank, however, this ran out before he could figure out what was wrong.
Yes, all
Very sad.
@@MentourPilot There was a widely spoken scenario when Helios 522 crashed. The scenario was that when the air force understood that it was inevitably going to crash and to avoid this happening in populated area they used a certain method to change it's course and crash it "safely" into unpopulated area. This method has something to do with flying in front of the plane and creating air vortexes to make it stall. Is that possible and have you ever heard about this being applied in other incidents ?
@@epimenidas I believe in WW2 the RAF used a similar trick to divert the V1 'Doodlebug' away from London
I believe they knocked them off course by their wing under the wing of the V1 and flipping them.@@DanielW118
Very interesting video, thanks. A few years ago I flew from Dallas Fort Worth to Tel Aviv and prior to landing in Israel the flight attendant made an announcement telling everyone to remain seated. She said that if anyone got out of their seat before landing, fighter jets would be scrambled and the plane would be diverted to a military airport in southern Israel. She added that if anyone was up walking around, they would assume that they were having a potential hijacking incident, and that is why the fighter jets would be called to divert us. That sounded pretty ridiculous to me and it was the only time that I’ve ever heard an announcement like that on an international flight. I found your channel last night and I am a new subscriber. Thanks for your very interesting videos - I hope you have a wonderful week.
I not plan on being a pilot. But I like to think you for all the useful information. Even someone that fly's time to time as a passenger. can learn alot from your Channel. And I would like to think you alot. I think I ready to fly a Airbus now. I got this 😎 And as always I'm hoping you are having a fantastic day.
The Swiss Air Force has also an really nice Video where they show all different kinds of Intercepts ;-) great Video as always !
Link?
Does the Swiss air force take their planes home with them when they're not training?
@Shelby Shoup Arrested For Crack that's not true.. f-18 C hornets can pack a hell of a punch.
that is so cool! being Abe to fly anything is so cool! you're going to inspire many new pilots that would've been doctors or computer geeks.
99,99% of the cases it all ends up well, but in at least two occasions the interception ended with the downing of the plane, both times a South Korean plane invading Soviet airspace (Korean Air Lines 902 in 1978 and Korean Air Lines Flight 007 in 1983). In times of political tensions, those things can happen. My advice is, if Russia invades Ukraine, stay clear of that airspace and the entire region. Actually, stay clear if tension mounts.
There was really never a question of IF Russia would invade Ukraine!
It was just a matter of when they would invade, because Putin is one, very crazy, MF.
(And Russia has started their invasion yesterday! )
( Question: What is the largest country in Europe?)
(Ukraine!)
Ukraine invaded. Feb 24, 2022.
Watch out for that Adolf Hitler guy, he's a bad egg
@@dmbdmb3828 Ukraine invaded in 2014. Regime change is a form of invasion.
@uffa00001 Joke's on you, for the tension never dropped :P
That's a pretty damn expensive wake up call
Very very welldone and understantable Video, thank you! Just a comment of a pediatrician (children‘s doctor) on the sponsoring: Maybe it was just BECAUSE you were struggeling, but didn‘t give up and found out that it is worth the effort that you came as far as you did ... just guessing ... there are children in need that really need help, but like most flights are safe most children are able to adapt do difficulties ... with our own three wonderful and healthy children, it never bothered me when it was sometimes difficult, as long as I had the feeling that they are not suffering for months or so ... just to get you thinking ...
what if the fighter jets do not react to radio? I wonder how many you can gather up there... :) also: if the fighter jet is spitting out flares, the appropriate way is to throw out carry on bags from business class
S Pot....Or just throw an unruly passenger out....LOL..!!
Lol at you two!
Ah, they just want to play! We can do that!...XDXD
Should you set them on fire first?
That was precisely the situation before 9/11 - no US base had a fighter jet on standby for any incidents so it took them a while to respond. Now every US air base has a jet on standby 24 hours a day.