Just Flight & Just Trains blogs

This following incident was not reported by the media and yet it could have had serious consequences.

On June 23rd 2007, the Just Flight Archer III inadvertently flew over a restricted military area in Corsica. This triggered a response and it was immediately chased by an AS 555 AN “Fennec” helicopter of the French air force.

The dramatic series of pictures below show the dramatic events unfolding.

Picture 1: The aircraft flies into the restricted zone and is intercepted by the Helicopter. The helicopter attempts to radio the intruder but fails so the crew member at the door holds up signs saying “Restricted Area – Follow me”.

Picture 2:  The Archer fails to follow the instructions so the helicopter flies much closer to the aircraft and the doorman shows him his rifle.

Picture 3: …at which point the Archer pilot decides its time to land!

Picture 4: The helicopter comes around the front of the Archer to prevent it from taking off again.

Picture 5: The Archer is stopped and officials surround the aircraft.

Needless to say that the Archer Pilot lost his flying licence and had lot of trouble with French authorities…

This story is absolutely true and the pictures are from the real scene.

But… fortunately this action took place at an air show in Corsica and was just a great performance to show what can happen if you don’t follow your flight plan ;-).

The Archer used for this demonstration was lent by Bastia St Exupéry flying club, this is the very same aircraft that we used as reference and the model for our up-coming Flying Club Archer III – what a coincidence!

Keep safe

Marc Siegel.