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| Mystery of the Ghost Plane Flying Over 6 NATO Countries |
International Military - One unidentified aircraft that was seen flying out of Lithuania was allowed to pass through the airspace of several other NATO members without a hitch before landing in Bulgaria. The illegal flights still baffle aviation officials across the continent.
Although fighter jets were deployed to escort the mysterious plane, its crew was able to escape from the scene and they remained unidentified.
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After departing from a yet-to-be-disclosed location in Lithuania on Wednesday (06/08/2022), the plane traveled across Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Serbia and Romania which are all NATO countries, apart from Belgrade.
The plane eventually landed at an abandoned airfield in Bulgaria, according to European officials and media reports. The plane was later found abandoned with no sign of crew, although its engines were reportedly still warm when it was found.
While officials in several countries closely monitored the ghost flight, with the US, Hungarian and Romanian air forces sending military jets to follow the plane at various points, the escort stalled as it entered Bulgarian airspace.
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The small propeller plane did not have a transponder and refused to respond to radio calls, but Bulgarian officials nevertheless decided the plane did not pose a threat, despite clear alarms being set off in several neighboring countries. The Romanian military reportedly drew a similar conclusion.
Although officials thought the plane was suspicious, in the end, they didn't believe it was behaving dangerously. It remains unclear exactly what type of aircraft was involved, with conflicting reports naming it a two-engine Beechcraft, as well as the Aztec Piper PA-23.
The latter statement was first made public by Lithuanian media outlet LRT.lt, which claims to quote the plane's official (but no longer valid) registration number linking it to the Aztecs. Additionally, the plane's former owner, Bronius Zaronskis, who appears to have posted a photo of the plane on Facebook in 2017, years before it was sold, only deepens the mystery.
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He told LRT.lt on Friday (10/6/2022) that he could not provide the names of the people who bought them, or the organizations affiliated with them. “They are not Lithuanians. I can't say which country they are from, maybe Ukraine, maybe Romania or Bulgaria," he said. He explained, “A man and I communicated with each other in Russian… I didn't know the names of these people.
I am not interested in." The former owner continued, “I sold it and said goodbye to the plane. I tried to sell it for years. I had nowhere to put it, so I'm glad they bought it... I can't remember which organization bought it.
It was written in a foreign language.” The flight, which remains unexplained, comes as many European countries are on high alert due to the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, where Russian warplanes have been flying repeated air strikes since late February.
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The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) recently warned of an increased risk to civilian passenger aircraft flying in the region, citing possible "misidentification" and other potential errors resulting from confusion surrounding war zones.