A Hungarian military helicopter took off from Pápa airbase on Tuesday after two glider pilots failed to establish radio contact with Hungarian air traffic control, Defence Minister Romulusz Ruszin-Szendi said on Facebook.
The Air Operations and Control Centre’s shift supervisor reported in the early afternoon that a glider entering Hungarian airspace from Austria had not responded to air traffic control. The Pápa search-and-rescue helicopter, which took off shortly afterward, identified two gliders in the airspace and signalled the pilots to establish contact on the emergency frequency. The pilots subsequently complied and connected with air traffic control, allowing the helicopter to return to base.
The minister noted that the gliders had initially filed Békéscsaba as their destination but turned toward Austria and left Hungarian airspace.
Ruszin-Szendi stressed that Hungarian forces effectively safeguard the country’s airspace, adding that scrambling fighter jets would have been unnecessary and costly, the Hungarian news agency wrote.
If you missed – No hesitation: Hungarians capture Russian aircraft on their first mission
Featured image: Facebook/Magyar Honvédség, illustration.
