A recent aviation report has shown how German fighter planes were scrambled to make contact with a flight from Larnaca to Luton after the pilots failed to establish contact with ground control.

The incident occurred in the days leading up to Christmas Day during Blue Air’s 0Β-5131 flight to Luton Airport from Larnaca.

According to the report, the Boeing 737-700 had departed from Cyprus without any problems until it reached Germany air space. It was then – and with the plane at 40,000 feet – that the cockpit failed to respond to repeated calls from ground control in Germany, that was seeking to contact the plane due to the increased air traffic at the time.

Just as the plane was about to enter Belgian air space and after 20 failed attempts by ground control to contact the Flight 0Β-5131, two fighter jets were scrambled to the aircraft whilst the security in both Belgium and Germany went on high alert.

The pilot finally responded after being intercepted by the fighter jets and – according to the report – apologised for the communication problems, which have been attributed to a fault in the system.

The plane landed without further incident in Luton one hour later.

Cyprus Weekly