CIVILIAN AIRCRAFT INTERCEPTED BY THE RSAF
-
This morning, two Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) A-4 fighters were scrambled to intercept a civilian aircraft which was heading towards Singapore air space, after air traffic control authorities could not establish communication with the pilot. The aircraft was then escorted to land at Seletar Airport.
The civilian aircraft was a Portuguese-registered Beechcraft 33. The aircraft was piloted by a Portuguese national, Mr Faria E Mello. The pilot had filed flight plans to Seletar Airport. However, there was a total electrical failure on board and the aircraft had lost radio contact with air traffic control.
Mr Mello has been released after questioning by the police.
In the current security environment, the Republic of Singapore Air Force would continue to maintain a high state of readiness.
-- source MINDEF -
hhmmm....not F-5 or F-16?
A-4SU?.....but still great 
-
may i know where did you get your source from?
-
u can read the news at www.mindef.com.sg
-
this evening about 6:30pm, i happend to saw a few f-5, a-4 and a f-16d landing at paya lebar. i look up to scan the sky and found a fighter in formation with a larger aircraft. it was soon join by a c-130 and 4 fighters which took off from paya lebar. i think the large aircraft most probable was the kc-135. i think they were doing some refueling exercise at 10000ft.
-
u can read the news at www.mindef.com.sg
-
oic
-
http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/latest/story/0,4390,205550,00.html?
By Vikram Khanna
SINGAPORE -- Two fighter jets forced a small civilian plane to land on Tuesday after air traffic controllers lost contact with the aircraft, the Ministry of Defence said. Singapore is on heightened alert fearing terror attacks.
Two A-4 Skyhawk fighters escorted the Portuguese-registered Beechcraft 33 plane, piloted by Portuguese Fario Mello, to land at Seletar Airport.
The statement said that there was total electrical failure on board and the aircraft had lost radio contact with air traffic control.
The fighter jets were deployed because the aircraft was 'heading towards Singapore air space'.
The statement said the airplane was scheduled to land at Seletar airport, a civilian facility close to a military air base. It did not say where the plane was coming from.
Mr Mello was released after questioning by police, the ministry said.
Singapore is on alert after the arrests of over 30 alleged operatives of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror network since 2001.
The group, said to be the South-east Asian wing of al-Qaeda, had plotted to bomb the US embassy, a US Naval base and the main Changi Airport.
The ministry said: 'In the current security environment, the Republic of Singapore Air Force will continue to maintain a high state of readiness.' -- AP -
Theres a heightened level of flying in Paya Lebar since late last week. The RSAF is rehearsing for the Open House Flying Display item. A-4SUs, F-5s, F-16s and C-130s have been involved.
As for why it was the A-4SU and not F-5/F-16 thats involved in today's intercept, its not hard to figure out. This week's standby fighter unit is 142 or 145 (if it hasn't disbanded) Sqn, hence they were the ones scrambled. -
Pecking Order Chart...somewhere in a locker room in tengah abOriginally posted by duotiga83:hhmmm....not F-5 or F-16? A-4SU?.....but still great
Unknown fighter jet - Scramble the vipers
Straying commercial jetliner - Scramble the tigers
Propeller plane intruder and below - Scramble the skyhawks
-
I wonder what the scene was like at seletar after the plane landed...were there troops surrounding the plane, waiting for the pilot to alight?
"Come out slowly with your hands up!"
i bet that mello fella will never forget this experience...something to tell the grandkids
-
In order to reach Singapore, the aircraft would have to pass through Malaysian or Indonesian airspace first.How is it no alarms where raised when all comms failed, and the aircraft not intercepted by our neighbours?
-
oic....thanksOriginally posted by IAF:Pecking Order Chart...somewhere in a locker room in tengah ab
Unknown fighter jet - Scramble the vipers
Straying commercial jetliner - Scramble the tigers
Propeller plane intruder and below - Scramble the skyhawks -
i also notice also......been hearing jets flying near my place also.....which is very rare indeedOriginally posted by Viper52:Theres a heightened level of flying in Paya Lebar since late last week. The RSAF is rehearsing for the Open House Flying Display item. A-4SUs, F-5s, F-16s and C-130s have been involved.
As for why it was the A-4SU and not F-5/F-16 thats involved in today's intercept, its not hard to figure out. Todays/This week's/This month's standby fighter unit is 142 or 145 (if it hasn't disbanded) Sqn. -
the guy already file a flight plan to singapore, so we know that he was coming, the intercepting skyhawks would have recognise his aircraft registration number and know he must have technical problems and cannot contact anyone. most probably he could have been straying towards tengah so they have to scramble to keep him out. that also explains why he landed at seletar and not paya lebar where they are rps to arrest him not airport police at seletar.Originally posted by IAF:I wonder what the scene was like at seletar after the plane landed...were there troops surrounding the plane, waiting for the pilot to alight?
"Come out slowly with your hands up!"
i bet that mello fella will never forget this experience...something to tell the grandkids -
I wonder whether the A4s are used because of their better low-speed performance. It must have been hard-pressed for supersonic jets like F16s and F5s to keep pace with a propellor driven a/c.
It is quite surprising that there are A4s on alert. I always thought that only F5s and F16s are on alert.
Maybe this is the SOP. If slow unknown a/c and unlikely to be fighters, use A4s.
A eye-witness who lives in Teck Whye claims that he saw two fighters surrond and escort the plane away. If that is true die liao as that means that our air defence can only intercept the a/c within visual sight of Singapore. I thought they can intercept them from far away.
But anyway, if it is a real sucide bomber, I am sure the A4 pilots can blow him away with heir 30mm guns. -
maybe the equipment failed just when it was arriving at SG?Originally posted by bcoy:In order to reach Singapore, the aircraft would have to pass through Malaysian or Indonesian airspace first.How is it no alarms where raised when all comms failed, and the aircraft not intercepted by our neighbours? -
I wonder if he's too far in for ADA to blow him to bits, instead of getting A4 to gun him downOriginally posted by spencer99:I wonder whether the A4s are used because of their better low-speed performance. It must have been hard-pressed for supersonic jets like F16s and F5s to keep pace with a propellor driven a/c.
It is quite surprising that there are A4s on alert. I always thought that only F5s and F16s are on alert.
Maybe this is the SOP. If slow unknown a/c and unlikely to be fighters, use A4s.
A eye-witness who lives in Teck Whye claims that he saw two fighters surrond and escort the plane away. If that is true die liao as that means that our air defence can only intercept the a/c within visual sight of Singapore. I thought they can intercept them from far away.
But anyway, if it is a real sucide bomber, I am sure the A4 pilots can blow him away with heir 30mm guns. -
No, like I said it was A-4s who intercepted because this week's standby unit was 142 or 145 Sqn. And its hardly surprising to me that the A-4s are on alert. After all its what combat aircraft do.Originally posted by spencer99:I wonder whether the A4s are used because of their better low-speed performance. It must have been hard-pressed for supersonic jets like F16s and F5s to keep pace with a propellor driven a/c.
It is quite surprising that there are A4s on alert. I always thought that only F5s and F16s are on alert.
Maybe this is the SOP. If slow unknown a/c and unlikely to be fighters, use A4s. -
when's the open house ?
hmmm speaking of increased flight activity... been hearing alot of fighterplanes flying around bukit batok area this week... -
6th and 7th septemberOriginally posted by Moonstriker:when's the open house ?
hmmm speaking of increased flight activity... been hearing alot of fighterplanes flying around bukit batok area this week... -
Aiya......just emergency scramble only lah.....done too many times oredi. I had also even seen a pilot praying in the cockpit during a scramble at EOR (end of runway) while the other pilot wasn't even stressed. The alert is a weekly activity so don't be shocked when u see planes chasing something in the air. My worst scramble was during 1998 Tanjong Pagar crisis with Malaysia. I won't elaborate what happen but people should know at that time, SG's relationship with MY is very bad. But luckily, nothing happened.....phew.
-
eh? whats viper ah? i forgot....Originally posted by IAF:Pecking Order Chart...somewhere in a locker room in tengah ab
Unknown fighter jet - Scramble the vipers
Straying commercial jetliner - Scramble the tigers
Propeller plane intruder and below - Scramble the skyhawks -
Flying by torchlight: pilot's harrowing flight to Seletar
By K.C. Vijayan
THREE hours after flying out of Colombo, the power failed in Captain Faria e Mello's plane.
Not only did his instruments go dead, but the cabin was in pitch-black darkness and he had to hold his torchlight in his mouth to see the instrument panel.
As he entered Singapore airspace, he decided it was safe to circle over an open area in the north-east of the island to manually engage the landing gear.
'With one hand on the controls, I reached out with my left hand to crank a lever on the cockpit floor and I had to rotate this 52 times in order to get the landing gear open,' he said. The task that would have taken mere seconds with power, took about 10 minutes manually.
What he failed to realise was that the open area he was circling over was a highly sensitive military installation - the Republic of Singapore Air Force's Tengah Air Base.
Suddenly, two fully armed A4 Super Skyhawk jets appeared alongside. The jets were scrambled because the electrical failure made it impossible for him to contact air-traffic control.
Said Capt Mello: 'I thought they were there to greet me and already knew that my plane was in distress.'
'So I did not pay much attention to them and carried on with the low level flight path to Seletar.'
He landed at about 9am, about 10 minutes before his long-time friend Capt Delfim Costa also touched down in a second plane that had been shadowing him on a round-the-world trip that has taken them from Portugal to Greece, Djibouti and Seychelles, before their last stop in Colombo.
They had been flying 10 minutes apart along the same route at about 150kmh on the Colombo to Singapore leg when the power failed on Capt Mello's single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza.
'By sunrise, we were over Sumatra. Because of the clouds, my friend's plane was not visible, so I decided to take the shortest route possible,' he said.
At Seletar Airport, Capt Mello was told to stay in the plane until the police arrived. But in any case, he couldn't have left the plane on his own since his legs are paralysed and he has had to use a wheelchair since 1977.
He has already completed one round-the-world flight and this, his second, would put him in the Guinness Book of World Records as the only physically handicapped person to do it, twice over.
He was interviewed for about 10 hours in all before he was released.
He said: 'They were very nice to me and I think they have no hard feelings either. I am sorry to mobilise so many people who have so many other things to do.'
Added Capt Costa: 'In Singapore, there are many sensitive areas and I can understand the high security measures taken in these times of terrorist threats.'
-
Military aircraft from singapore cannot go into other countries FIR (airspace) with diplomatic clearence. thats why cannot intercept from afar.Originally posted by spencer99:I wonder whether the A4s are used because of their better low-speed performance. It must have been hard-pressed for supersonic jets like F16s and F5s to keep pace with a propellor driven a/c.
It is quite surprising that there are A4s on alert. I always thought that only F5s and F16s are on alert.
Maybe this is the SOP. If slow unknown a/c and unlikely to be fighters, use A4s.
A eye-witness who lives in Teck Whye claims that he saw two fighters surrond and escort the plane away. If that is true die liao as that means that our air defence can only intercept the a/c within visual sight of Singapore. I thought they can intercept them from far away.
But anyway, if it is a real sucide bomber, I am sure the A4 pilots can blow him away with heir 30mm guns.