F-16 Fighting Falcon News

June 18, 2004 (by Stefaan Vanhastel) - Two Belgian Air Force F-16 fighter jets intercepted an airliner in Belgian airspace on June 17th. The aircraft was feared hijacked after all communication had been lost. However, this turned out to be caused by defective radio equipment.
Two F-16 Fighting Falcons were scrambled from Kleine Brogel airbase on June 17th, in the afternoon. A passenger aircraft had broken all radio contact with ground stations for several minutes, and the reason for this was unclear. As a precaution, two F-16 fighters were vectored onto the airliner to visually ID the aircraft. It was soon determined that the lack of communication was caused by defective radio equipment.