An accidental flyover into Italy

[Zager]

Two Polish F-16Es, piloted by members of the Polish Air Force were seen taking off this evening from Kraków John Paul II International Airport. They were shown to be unarmed, carrying only fuel tanks and no actual missiles. Polish radar shows the flight path of the aircraft to be an almost perfect direct southwest line, headed straight for Italian soil. The aircraft were never given permission to take off, yet they managed to do so. Numerous attempts to reach the two pilots led to nothing but wasted breath and wasted words. Running low on fuel, the aircraft entered an orbiting path over northern Italy at around 20,000 feet. The pilots had not initiated or attempted to initiate any form of contact with Italian aviation authorities.

 

[Logan]

A pair of F-16Es, piloted by Pilots of the Regia Aeronautica were placed on alert on the tarmac at Ghedi Air Base. While they weren't expected to launch, perhaps this pair of F-16s was just a lost flight who had run into technical issues or something, they were still sitting on the ramp, pilots geared for a combat sortie, fueled and armed with 2 IRIS-Ts and 2 AMRAAMs each. However, right now, they weren't ordered up, yet.

The ATCs were scrambling around the radar room, trying to get ahold of the Early Warning radars that had picked the F-16s up, and trying to figure out whose they were - they were broadcasting military signals, but the transponder codes seemed to be encrypted or jumbled. Finally, they broke through on channels internationally recognized as the channels that all planes would have keyed up for emergencies.

"Incoming Unknown Military Aircraft, this is Padua Center. Identify your callsign and country of origin, as well as the intention of your current heading. Repeat, please identify our callsign, country of origin, and intention of current heading. How Copy?"