Yesterday evening, two interceptor fighters Euro Fighter of the 4th flock of Grosseto intervened to identify an A319 airliner that took off from Palermo and headed for Milan that had lost radio contact with the national civil air traffic bodies during the route.
Soon after 21pm, the immediate take-off order - in technical jargon "scramble" - was issued by the CAOC (Combined Air Operation Center) of Torrejon in Spain, the NATO body responsible for the area, in coordination with the Aero Operations Command -spatiali (COA) of Poggio Renatico and the bodies of the Armed Force responsible for the surveillance of national and NATO airspace
Once the aircraft was reached, thanks to the coordinates and information provided by the "fighter guide" personnel on the ground, the required "visual identification" (VID) procedure was carried out to ensure that there were no emergency conditions or security threats. . After having carried out all the necessary checks with the air traffic control bodies and restored radio contacts, the two fighters returned to Grosseto, resuming the ground readiness shift as part of the national airspace surveillance service.
