Around-The-World Flight Was Brought To A Stop For Violating Indonesian Airspace

Building your own airplane, in this case a Swearingen SX300, and then flying around the world would certainly top off your bucket list. But, that’s apparently what retired Swiss airline pilot Heinz Peier had in mind when he started his around the world flight in February 2012.

Since Peier started his journey 2 years ago he’s managed to take in 6 continents including Antarctica and has landed at more than 100 different cities divided among 30 countries. In his blog about his trip it’s obvious his flight is part of the adventure but he also takes time at each location to get a sense of the people, the culture, and the sites.

Planning a flight like this certainly requires skills in navigation and the ability to deal with questionable weather and airport conditions. But as has been shown by other world travelers in general aviation aircraft, the airspace being flown through and the politics that controls the airspace can be as dicey as bad weather or low fuel.

Last week Peier was forced down by military jets while flying over Indonesia and landed at Soewondo, according to a report from the NY Daily News and other sources. It’s reported that his original flight was planned from Sri Lanka to the Philippines and he was not planning to stop in Indonesia. So much for plans! After landing he was “greeted” by armed military forces and was placed under arrest for violating Indonesian airspace.

According to the Jakarta Post newspaper, Indonesian Air Marshall Sungkono is quoted as saying, “Based on his statement, it seems the pilot did not know the country's territory. As yet, there seems to be no threat to our territorial sovereignty. He appears to be guilty only of not having a permit, which he should have had before entering our territorial air space. But we are still investigating the incident.”

ANN will keep you posted when we find out more information about this incident.

(SweaSwaeringen SX300 Image from Heinz Peier's Facebook Page)

FMI: www.facebook.com/hpeier