Luxair E145 near Luxembourg on Feb 8th 2013, loss of communication

Last Update: February 9, 2013 / 19:05:43 GMT/Zulu time

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Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 8, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Luxair

Flight number
LG-8852

Departure
Vienna, Austria

Destination
Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Aircraft Registration
LX-LGZ

Aircraft Type
Embraer ERJ-145

ICAO Type Designator
E145

A Luxair Embraer ERJ-145, registration LX-LGZ performing flight LG-8852 from Vienna (Austria) to Luxembourg (Luxembourg), was descending towards Luxembourg near Bitburg (Germany), about 30nm northeast of Luxembourg, when two F-16 fighter aircraft were dispatched from Belgium to intercept the airliner due to loss of communication and check the situation, the fighter aircraft exceeded speed of sound and caused a lot of emergency calls in the city of Liege, when citizens on the ground around the city until the border of Germany and Luxembourg mistook the sonic boom for the sound of an explosion. Soon after the fighters reached the Embraer radio contact was re-established and the Embraer continued for a safe landing on Luxembourg's Airport at 11:09L (on schedule 11:10L).

The communication with the aircraft had already been lost upon hand off from Wien Radar to Rhein Radar at the Austrian-German border. The aircraft maintained FL320 across Germany but never selected the loss of communication squawk.

The airline confirmed the incident stating neither passengers nor cabin crew became aware of the occurrence.

Belgium's Air Force confirmed two F-16 were dispatched to assist a Luxair Embraer ERJ-145, that had lost radio contact. The F-16s reached and exceeded Mach 1 at high altitude near Liege at about 10:30L.
Incident Facts

Date of incident
Feb 8, 2013

Classification
Incident

Airline
Luxair

Flight number
LG-8852

Departure
Vienna, Austria

Destination
Luxembourg, Luxembourg

Aircraft Registration
LX-LGZ

Aircraft Type
Embraer ERJ-145

ICAO Type Designator
E145

This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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