Flight SK1755 to Poznan (Flightradar24)
Swedish authorities reported that a civilian airliner had to stop its climb to avoid coming close to a Russian aircraft that was flying in the area to the south of Sweden without using a transponder.
SAS Scandinavian Airlines Flight 1755 took off from Copenhagen’s Kastrup Airport in Denmark on Friday December 12, 2014 at 11:12 hours local time. The flight was performed by Canadair CRJ-200, registration OY-RJK. Destination of the flight was Poznan, Poland.
It proceeded in a southeasterly direction while in contact with Sweden Control. According to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper, an unidentified aircraft was observed on military radar, in the proximity of flight 1755. Sweden Control was warned and an air traffic controller radioed at 11:21: “Scanair 1-7-5-5, initial stop climb flight level 2-2-0, is due to unidentified traffic in the area.” Sweden Control then informed the flight that the unidentified traffic was flying between FL230 and FL250 and that it would cross the airliner from right to left. The altitude was later specified to be FL250. At 11:23 hours the unidentified traffic passed behind and flight 1755 was cleared to continue climb. The flight crew of SK1755 reported that they did not have visual contact with the other airplane.
At the same time a Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter was scrambled to investigate the unidentified aircraft. According to the Swedish defense minister, it turned out to be a Russian Ilyushin IL-20 SIGINT aircraft. Russia is known to operate aircraft in the area, sparking an EASA investigation into repeated flights in international airspace without flight plane or use of transponder.
More information:
- Audio of radio contact between flight 1755 and Sweden Control (MP3, from Liveatc.net)