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Vienna, Toulouse – Because a business jet had no radio connection to civil airspace control on Saturday lunchtime, an alarm was activated for the Eurofighter crew. The two interceptors flew into East Tyrol at supersonic speed due to the distance. Its sonic boom could be heard in the East Tyrol area and in the Gastein Valley. After contact was made, the mission ended.
The alarm started at 12:06 pm, the alarm riot is stationed on Zeltweg. It was an “alpha priority” mission. Aircraft flying into Austrian airspace or aircraft not in radio contact are intercepted and identified. To get to the scene quickly, the two Eurofighters flew at supersonic speed. The plane, which was heading from Athens to London, was contacted via East Tyrol. One Eurofighter is positioned diagonally behind the plane and the other to the side, Army spokesman Michael Bauer said at the request of the APA. The pilot was then contacted and the mission ended.
The sonic booms could be heard from afar. Especially in mountain valleys, these can be heard relatively far and loud, Bauer said.
Between 30 and 50 assignments per year
According to Bauer, there are between 30 and 50 “priority alpha” missions a year. In these cases, the Eurofighters mount armed and make visual contact with the aircraft. Supersonic operations are “quite rare”, only necessary when the distance is so great that this is only possible with supersonic, said the spokesman for the armed forces. There is one once a year.
Sound travels in air at 340 meters per second. That’s roughly 1200 km / h and supersonic speed. This means that an airplane flies faster than sound propagates. If an airplane approaches this speed, shock waves are produced in the machine. These are perceived as a sonic boom on the ground. The volume depends, among other things, on the altitude, the structure of the terrain and the weather conditions. (THAN)
