Posted on 09/09/2007 12:16:40 AM PDT by newzjunkey
The pilot behind a security scare in Sydney airspace this afternoon is being questioned by authorities.
A small Cessna aircraft had to be escorted by two F/A-18 Defence fighter jets into Sydney's Bankstown Airport, after failing to respond in restricted APEC airspace above Sydney.
A witness has told commercial radio the fighter jets fired flares at the plane.
He says shortly before 3:00pm AEST he saw the plane enter restricted airspace over the western suburb of Penrith before flares were fired at it by two F/A-18 jets.
"This light plane came over in restricted airspace because of APEC and these two fighter jets come out in the middle of nowhere and were firing flares at it," the witness said.
"Right over the top of Penrith, it was amazing. I've never seen anything like it."
The Cessna had just left Bankstown and was heading to Bathurst in the state's central west.
Residential care worker Gary Evans, who saw the whole thing above his workplace, says he saw the jet and the Cessna.
"He was flying his F/A-18 as slow as he could go, as I said almost standing on his tail a few times with his nose right up in the air and wagging his wings and rolling his plane from side to side, just to the right of this small aircraft," he said.
A spokeswoman for Bankstown Airport says the Cessna pilot is being questioned by NSW police.
The Defence Department has made no immediate comment on the incident.
Break right!
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