ICYMI – A small airplane landed in an airfield in Bulgaria after being chased by air defense, wherein the mystery plane’s pilot mysteriously vanished.
The aircraft had been discovered by the Hungarian and Romanian Air Force and flew through Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Lithuania, according to The Sun.
After the aircraft landed it was found abandoned with a still-warm engine.
It is unknown why the plane flew over the majority of Europe to land in Bulgaria or whether the missing pilot was alone or had passengers with them.
Military officials are now left baffled by the incident.
Authorities chased the plane after it had not responded to radio transmissions, where the Hungarian Air Force picked up the trail, followed by Romanian fighters accompanied by two U.S. F-16s.
The Drive reported that the plane was flying incredibly low to the point that the jets couldn’t intercept it.
The plane’s route moved to Serbia before flying to Bulgaria and landing in the abandoned airfield.
Bulgarian Ministry of Defense official Dragomir Zakov said the plane entered Bulgarian airspace on June 8.
The pilot of the mysterious Lithuanian plane that flew over Poland, Slovakia,Hungary, Romania, after which he landed in Bulgaria is untraceable: the Bulgarians have been looking for him for 24 hours, according to AFP pic.twitter.com/v6KyenFTEe
— Global Anti Terrorism (@RemusGlobal) June 9, 2022
Latest updates on the Mystery Plane from the Romania Journal report:
The case is getting even more interesting, as journalists from Hungary report that the plane came from Lithuania and landed forcibly, without permission, on an aerodrome near Debrecen, writes Dehir.hu Specifically, the plane landed without approval at the aerodrome of an aeronautical club in Hajdúszoboszló. The passengers in the plane got off and allegedly refueled the plane with canisters removed from inside. Until the Hungarian police could intervene, the aircraft took off again. A few minutes later, the plane was intercepted by Hungarian fighter jets.
Meanwhile late on Friday, new information about the strange plane surfaced. The Lithuanian press says that it had a registration number that is no longer valid and that it was bought a week ago by unknown people, one of whom spoke Russian. The pilot who sold the device says that it is an organization and that its documents were written in a foreign language, reports the public radio and television station in Lithuania, LRT.
The Lithuanian flight monitoring authority, Oro Navigacija, said that the registration number of the aircraft was LY-LOO. This number is owned by the aircraft manufacturer Piper 1962 PA-23-250 Aztec, but is no longer valid. “We did not receive the flight plans for the aircraft, and the crew did not establish any communication with the Oro Navigacija operators,” said Ingrida Daugirde, the institution’s representative.
The twin-engine plane was sold last week by Bronius Zaronskis, pilot and director of Nida Air Park. According to him, the plane was bought by foreigners. He said three men came to inspect the device.
“They were not Lithuanians. I can’t say which country they were from, maybe Ukrainians, maybe Romanians or Bulgarians. I communicated with a man in Russian. I don’t know the names of those men. I wasn’t interested,” Zaronskis told LRT.lt.
According to him, the plane was bought by an organization. “I sold it and said goodbye to that plane. I’ve been trying to sell it for many years. I had nowhere to keep it, so I’m glad they bought it. I don’t remember which organization bought it. The documents were written in a foreign language,” Zaronskis said.
Sources: Westernjournal, The Sun, RomaniaJounal, The Drive