Swiss F-18s on intercept

beautiful pic. i didn't realize countries 'asked permission' to intercept. makes sense, though...

yeah did they have to ask permission to intercept over their airspace? Is that a courtesy thing?

I was a C-141 pilot 1990-1995 and flew C-17's 1996-1999. Over Europe, whenever the cockpit workload allowed, I would inform the military controllers that we were available for a training intercept. I never did get one, much to my disappointment.

Intercepting an aircraft (especially a civilian airliner) is about the equivalent of a police officer firing a warning shot at your car for training. They (the military radar controllers) do always ask before running an intercept for training. Flying two dissimilar aircraft in close formation poses an inherent risk--and to do so without the intercepted pilot's knowledge could cause events to spiral out of control.

Of course if an aircraft is behaving erratically, indicates a hijacking, or wanders into restricted airspace--all bets are off. Post 9/11, I'm sure most governments have changed their rules making intercepts more common than in the past.

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