THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, February 19, 1997 TAG: 9702190432
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: 60 lines
An Air Force pilot who brought his F-16 to within 1,000 feet of a commercial airliner off the New Jersey coast earlier this month violated no rules, military and civilian authorities asserted Tuesday, even as the Air Force moved to make such close encounters less likely.
The Air National Guard fighter's pursuit of a Nations Air 727 as it passed through a military training area on Feb. 7 ``was a controlled procedure . . . done in a methodical manner,'' said Greg Feith, a National Transportation Safety Board investigator.
``At no time was there a conflict'' between the aircraft that might have led to a mid-air collision, Feith said.
An Air Force report released later in the day, however, criticized the intercept, which triggered an alarm aboard the commercial jet and prompted its pilot to take evasive action.
``When faced with an unknown or unscheduled aircraft in (their) airspace, pilots have several options,'' the report said. ``While obtaining a visual identification is one of these options, it is not routinely necessary, and given the nature of (warning systems on civilian jets), not prudent.''
The Air Force said it will instruct its pilots to ask controllers for help in identifying other aircraft in military flight zones and in the future will intercept only those that can't be identified. Navy pilots will continue to have discretion to make such intercepts, however, a Navy official said.
Feith said a Navy air controller in Virginia Beach, who was in charge of military traffic in the area, did not initially give the Air Guard pilot or his wingman sufficient information about the Nations Air flight. That ``resulted in a potentially dangerous situation,'' the Air Force report asserted.
But even after the controller fully identified the plane as a civilian jetliner the F-16 continued to close in on the 727. The pilot radioed his wingman, circling several thousand feet above, to ``stay up there till this, uh, bozo gets out of the airspace.''
The Air Force said the F-16 followed the jetliner through a series of descents and climbs the Nations Air pilot initiated as a safety precaution, ending its pursuit only after the Navy controller ordered it to a new heading.
The Navy said Tuesday that controller has been assigned other duties pending its investigation of his role in the incident.
The incident began when two New Jersey Air Guard F-16s entered the restricted area for ``intercept training.'' The lead plane was piloted by an instructor; his wingman was a less experienced pilot qualifying to do mid-air intercepts.
Air Force Maj. Gen. Donald L. Peterson said the F-16 pilot ``was completely legal'' in continuing to trail the 727 after being advised of its identity. He suggested that the fighter maintained pursuit to make sure that the jetliner left the area, which had been cleared for exclusive use by the military.
``From what I know,'' there is no reason for any administrative action against the F-16 pilot, Peterson said, adding that any decision on that is up to the pilot's commanding officer.
Air Force and Navy officials said that as a result of that incident and three less serious encounters between military and civilian planes this month, pilots in both services will undergo additional training in the workings of the ``Threat Collision Avoidance System'' that civilian jetliners have carried since around 1990.