KLM and SWISS passenger jet put in collision danger by U.S. Airforce

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A KLM Dutch Airline Boeing-777, and a SWISS passenger plane were put in danger over the Sea of Japan by an US Air Force spy plane over in international airspace over the between Japan and Russia.

A KLM Dutch Airline Boeing-777, and a SWISS passenger plane were put in danger over the Sea of Japan by an US Air Force spy plane over in international airspace over the between Japan and Russia.

This was reported by Interfax.

In response a US defense attache has been summoned by Russia’s Defense Ministry after an incident over the Sea of Japan near Russia’s eastern borders, where an American spy plane was detected flying too close to civilian aircraft.

Russia’s air defense detected an RC-135 spy plane belonging to US Air Force on Sunday, the ministry said in its statement. The plane was on an air reconnaissance mission with all of its transponders having been shut off, it added.

The US crew had not provided any information regarding its flight to air traffic controllers in the region, despite it flying at the same altitude as scheduled civil aviation flights.

As the result of the actions of the American plane crew, the hazard of a collision with civil aviation planes was created, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, adding that it asked the US official to take measures to prevent such incidents from happening near Russia’s borders in the future.

The “unknown aircraft” was flying at the altitude of some 11,000 meters (36,000 feet) and did not respond to air traffic control, the agency said citing its source. Russian air controllers had to immediately change the flight path of a KLM Boeing-777, which was in the same region en route from Japan to Holland.

Pilots from another airplane, operated by Swiss airlines, heading to Switzerland from Japan, even reported “visual contact with a large four-engine aircraft, which was in direct proximity to their plane” and sent no recognition signals, the source said. The flying altitude for the Swiss jet also had to be changed by the air traffic control.

About the author

Avatar of Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen T Steinmetz

Juergen Thomas Steinmetz has continuously worked in the travel and tourism industry since he was a teenager in Germany (1977).
He founded eTurboNews in 1999 as the first online newsletter for the global travel tourism industry.

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