DA 40-180 D-ESKT is based on “Hahnweide” (Kirchheim unter Teck) close to Stuttgart. Wolf Hirth Flying Group. Hope someone speaks French and can tell the police what a fantastic aircraft the Mirage (or Rafale) is in order to be released from endless questioning …
What might the consequences be for the pilot?
As I read the link Ted posted:
-) if the conclusion is that it was accidental, an administrative fine (couple of 100 € ?) and this seems the most likely – but it is not (as yet) clear on what grounds
-) otherwise, no end, including the full cost of the interceptor flight, and more than likely the plane will be seized until full payment
There have been many stories about the €10000 fines and/or aircraft confiscation, but I have never come across someone who could tell me first hand it happened to them, or they knew somebody personally who it happened to.
But clearly they need to be taken very seriously – unlike much of French airspace where clearances seem to be given without any communication 
I busted one in 2003 and was treated with extreme arrogance by the French authorities. That would have never happened in the UK, for example.
This is also why, when I used to rent out my TB20 in the early years, when somebody came along and proudly announced he flies with a compass and a stopwatch (the “proper WW2 Royal Air Force way”), I politely told him to take a walk, because no way was I going to have the plane stuck in France, with some huge fine, while this “real pilot” flies back home on Ryanair…
we had this a while ago on April27th 2013 http://www.euroga.org/forums/flying/704-incident-at-calais?page=3#9197
Has anybody actually been done for anything like these amounts? I recall asking this question in various places over the years and nobody had turned up any data.
and I wrote
Peter,
I know of a case in Germany where someone on a VFR flight busted a D-area. The prosecutor and his lawyer agreed upon 15.000€ as a fine. He told me he was never going to switch on his mode S again below 5000ft (not mandatory) …
It happened about 2 years ago that the guy busted that D-area and he is still flying at our airport. As airspace violation is considered as a criminal act in Germany, a judge or in the forefront of a trial the prosecutor will fine you or offer you a fine that is depending on what you earn as income. So dish washers pay less but with a decent income you will reach those 15000€ fines.
I’d like to know what they think a little GA plane can to do to a nuclear power station. Seriously. We’ve all seen pictures of GA planes fly into houses and the planes come off worst!
Can a little plane carry enough explosive to be made into a viable targeted kamikaze bomb that can cause any serious damage to such a nuclear establishment?
It does seem a bit odd… obviously a rule designed with something different than a single engined light aircraft in mind.
The same rules don’t typically apply to nuclear power ships in harbor, minus utility style containment vessel.
Perhaps not, but we don´ t know do we? And the “crash and blow it up” scenario is perhaps not the only one they want to avoid. Detailed study from the air being one, as well as air delivery of “goods” to personal unable to get it through the security screening. Same thing applies to other types of protected airspace in some countries. (Prisons, weapons establishments, nuclear storage, petrochemical industry etc)
As far as the “bored fighter pilot” bit…..well, they never have a say in the launching :) (And most NATO QRA flights are launched almost every day on training scrambles if no “trade” is forthcoming)
It occurs to me that “Report over the prison” is the most common initial instruction from a nearby airport tower.
