The mystery of the (Piper) Aztec? (LY-LOO)

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TomcatViP

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In an incredible journey, 3 months after the onset of a new major military phase in the Ukrainian conflict that led the majority of NATO members to strengthen their defenses and augment their readiness with supplementary aircraft and patrols, a lone Piper Aztec, a civilian General Aviation aircraft, taking off from Lithuania in northern Europe flew down the entire eastern NATO flank down to Bulgaria and the Black sea shores without flight plans, border crossing authorization and with its transponder shut down while, incredibly, being chased by Gripen and F-16 from the Hungarian, US and Romanian air forces, forcing its way into airport to land and refuel from onboard reserve transferred into its tanks before landing on a deserted former airbase in Bulgaria and its occupant vanishing.

Here is the story:,
https://www.avweb.com/aviation-news/twin-riles-military-in-seven-country-tour-of-eastern-europe/
And on a more exhaustive account found in the French press:
https://www.lepoint.fr/monde/un-avi...n-sans-autorisation-14-06-2022-2479469_24.php
Notice how none of the rotarywing assets were brought-in for the interception, assets that can, more appropriately, exercise coercive measure in the form of a well placed, non-lethal sniper shot than what can do a 30 or 20mm high rate fire Canon salvo from a fighter aircraft.

How this could have happened and for what purpose? This is a major event reminiscent of Mathias Rurst exploit that landed on the Red Square in Moscow during the Cold war and, I am sure, worth a deep down, detailed, account.


MysteryAztec_FPSketech1.jpg

1979 Piper Aztec F Performance and Handling Specifications​

Cruise Speed (Kts)​
Stall Speed (kts) (Flaps up)​
61​
75% @ 4,000 ft​
177 knots​
Stall Speed (kts) (Flaps down)​
55​
55% @ 10,000 ft​
152 knots​
Service Ceiling (ft)​
19,800​

https://aviatorinsider.com/airplane-brands/piper-aztec-guide/
Registration number: LY-LOO
Serial Nbr: 27-2250
Owner history (country): France, Switzerland, Lithuania

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The War zone take on the story:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...-european-air-defenses-then-its-crew-vanished
And two slightly more informed ones:

https://mentourpilot.com/mystery-aircraft-flies-illegally-over-seven-countries/
Piper-Aztec-hypothetical-track.jpg



https://lansinginstitute.org/2022/0...entral-europe-baltic-region-and-the-balkans/
And Hungarian press report on the story with point of passage and time of entry and exit of their territory (with a one hour hiatus resulting in giving Eastern European time (EET for entry and Romanian time (EET+1 for exit) :

https://dailynewshungary.com/uniden...corted-out-of-hungary-intercepted-in-romania/
 
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Notice that the destination airfield is close to Constenta where French president Macron would land 5 days later to visit the French army contingent stationed there. Given the presumed takeoff airfield, the necessity for the crew to have carried their own extra fuel onboard, hence the relative nimbler cargo load left available, it wouldn't be irrational for that flight to have presumably carried a courier... Or worst! But let's Robert Ludlum takes the story over from there!
 
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It's nearly two months that those incredible events happened... Yet, there isn't any single update posted in the press from journalists, usually well inclined to investigate military espionage or breathtaking criminal actions that I can find.

Where are those intrepid journalists gone now?! C'mon guys, it's summer holidays and there isn't a single vacationer that wouldn't be entertained by the whereabouts of those mysterious reckless pilots and the story behind...
 
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Still no update anywhere to this day.

Nobody seems concerned anymore with a real story that has all the fragrances of military espionage. I guess that all journalist feel better digging into Netflix for their next story...

For those that didn't get it yet, LY-LOO, the registration number of the plane, originally owned by a French Owner under a different registration before being misteriously sold in Lithuania, is the French spelling name of the famous Fifth element movie character, Leeloo, from French movie maker, Luc Besson. The character impersonates the power of love in doomsday...

Hope that this will kick some butt back to their Remington...

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“How this could have happened and for what purpose? This is a major event reminiscent of Mathias Rurst exploit that landed on the Red Square in Moscow during the Cold War”

Rurst wasn’t shot down because things were likely a bit slow.

Here, the opposite was the case—so much going on to where folks saw the Piper and said “our drone? Theirs?”

“Ah..just let it go for now…”
 
The Piper was seen intercepted by fighter jets. Everyone was aware it was not a drone but a low flying penetrating aircraft that did not bother requesting any authorization to cross borders.
 
To me it bears the scent of smugglers. Cheap, abandonable twin-engine aircraft with no flight plan and the crew nowhere to be found. Having bought the plane but not waiting around to formalize the deal with paperwork tells me they didn't want anyone to know who they really were and they had no interest in resale (i.e. an interrupted paper trail for registering and aircraft can be a nightmare).

Their last position was Bulgaria. Their track looks like they avoided a known warzone and the Carpathian Mountains and were headed for Turkey when the plane was abandoned. My thought, migrant smuggling in private aircraft has been an issue in Turkey for the last few years. This event could possibly be a couple of Russians who are planning to use the aircraft as part of a smuggling ring or handing the aircraft over to those that do, then got too much attention from authorities and fled.
 

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