
Full Answer
What is the meaning of intercept in aviation?
, Airline pilot. Interception is the act of intercepting another aircraft. The aircraft which initiates the intercept is called the intercepting aircraft and the other is referred to as the intercepted aircraft. Interception is always done by military fighters.
What is the meaning of interception?
, Airline pilot. Interception is the act of intercepting another aircraft. The aircraft which initiates the intercept is called the intercepting aircraft and the other is referred to as the intercepted aircraft.
Can civilian aircraft be intercepted?
Civilian aircraft While interception of civilian aircraft is a last resort, interception is often the only means available to identify an aircraft that have not filed a flight plan and/or have no transponder and can not be contacted.
How do you contact an intercepted aircraft?
The intercepting aircraft should try to contact the intercepted aircraft using 121.5 MHz, using the call signs Interceptor <call sign>, Intercepted aircraft and Intercept control. If that fails the intercepting aircraft should try the ATC frequencies or try to contact the intercepted aircraft through the ATC.
What does it mean for a jet to intercept?
INTERCEPTING Aircraft Signals DAY or NIGHT-An abrupt break-away maneuver from the intercepted aircraft consisting of a climbing turn of 90 degrees or more without crossing the line of flight of the intercepted aircraft. Meaning You may. proceed. INTERCEPTED Aircraft Responds AEROPLANES: DAY or NIGHT-Rocking wings.
How do fighter jets intercept aircraft?
Typically two fighter jets approach from the rear. One fighter flies around to make visual contact with the pilot. This may also be conducted with a law enforcement helicopter. A slow turn by a fighter jet indicates that you should follow in the same direction.
Why do they scramble jets?
In military aviation, scrambling is the act of quickly mobilising military aircraft. Scrambling can be in reaction to an immediate threat, usually to intercept hostile aircraft.
What do fighter pilots say when intercepting?
To make initial contact, the intercepting aircraft will rock its wings and flash its navigation lights at irregular intervals. This means "you have been intercepted, follow me". To respond, the pilots of the intercepted aircraft must also rock their wings, flash their lights and then proceed to follow the military jet.
Why do fighter jets fly next to planes?
The most common reason for sending, or "scrambling," fighter jets to follow a passenger plane is a loss of communication. On the small chance that ground controllers can't communicate with an aircraft despite repeated attempts, they will request that the military quickly send in fighters to communicate air to air.
Why are military jets so much louder than commercial jets?
These aircraft use the same type of engines used in commercial aircraft and, under normal circumstances, use commercial airline take off and landing procedures. In contrast, military fighter jets use low-bypass, turbo-jet engines which are generally noisier than commercial aircraft engines.
How long does it take to scramble a jet?
At 08:46, just as Flight 11 struck the North Tower of the World Trade Center, the two F-15s were ordered to scramble (an order that begins with engine start-up, a process that takes about five minutes), and radar confirmed they were airborne by 08:53.
How much faster is a fighter jet than a commercial plane?
The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird is the fastest jet aircraft in the world, reaching speeds of Mach 3.3--that's more than 3,500 kph (2,100 mph) and almost four times as fast as the average cruising speed of a commercial airliner.
Does USA have Qra?
Quick Reaction Alert (QRA) is state of readiness and modus operandi of air defence maintained at all hours of the day by NATO air forces. The United States usually refers to Quick Reaction Alert as 'Airspace Control Alert'. Some non-NATO countries also maintain QRA, either full-time or part-time.
Why do pilots rock their wings?
A wing rock can be used to help other aircraft in the pattern, or the tower, see the plane. Additionally, the pilot might use a wing rock to clear airspace before a turn or to check ground reference points.
What do pilots say when they drop a bomb?
“FOX 2” is a brevity code used by fighter pilots to declare a weapon's release (sorta like “bomb's away” from WWII).
Why do pilots say angels?
Angels – Altitude in thousands of feet. "Angels two-five" means 25,000 feet. Angle of attack – The angle at which an aircraft wings meet the air stream. Despite the word “attack,” it is not related to weapons, and applies to all aircraft.
What is the difference between fighter and interceptor?
Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. An interceptor aircraft, or simply interceptor, is a type of fighter aircraft designed specifically for the defensive interception role against an attacking enemy aircraft, particularly bombers and reconnaissance aircraft.
Do fighter jets have transponders?
4 Answers. Show activity on this post. Military aircraft do have transponders that can reply to civil ATC radar and TCAS interrogations. Normally military aircraft operating in civil airspace are visible to civilian ATC and also will trigger TCAS advisories and alerts if they are getting close to airliners.
How does a jet know it's been locked on?
Many modern anti-aircraft missiles use some form of semi-active radar homing, where the missile seeker listens for reflections of the launch platform's main radar. To provide a continuous signal, the radar is locked-onto the target, following it throughout the missile's flight.
What does an air intercept controller do?
The air intercept controller can easily control multiple fixed wing aircraft and helicopters in live or simulated operations. The AIC possess broad knowledge of aircraft control procedures, basic radar theory, radio transmission procedures, terrain, aircraft capabilities and flight safety.
Why is it important to intercept an aircraft?
Intercepting the aircraft and watching the situation inside the cockpit and/or the cabin can help to assess whether there is a serious situation developing (and further actions can be taken, such as alerting emergency services on the ground, monitoring the flight path, continuing the interception procedure to try to improve the situation ).
Why do we intercept civilian aircraft?
As far as I know, interception of civilian aircraft is done to assess a situation where the safe status of a flight is uncertain.
What is intercept procedure?
a. General. 1. In conjunction with the FAA, Air Defense Sectors monitor air traffic and could order an intercept in the interest of national security or defense. Intercepts during peacetime operations are vastly different than those conducted under increased states of readiness.
What is the purpose of interception?
While interception of civilian aircraft is a last resort, interception is often the only means available to identify an aircraft that have not filed a flight plan and/or have no transponder and can not be contacted.
What is the definition of identification?
Identification. Visual identification of aircraft that can not otherwise be identified. Redirection. An aircraft may be intercepted and through visual signals or radio communication on emergency channels be requested to change route and possibly to land at an specific airport if an aircraft.
What happens if the pilot ignores the messages?
If the pilot ignores the messages, there's always the option of using force, if the risk to occupants and collateral on the ground is acceptable. As far as I know, interception of civilian aircraft is done to assess a situation where the safe status of a flight is uncertain.
Why is my aircraft not communicating with ATC?
The most common reason for interception is that an aircraft is not communicating with ATC and is somewhere that they aren't supposed to be. Often times it turns out to be unintentional with the aircraft on a VFR flight (i.e. poor flight planning or deviating for weather) and straying into a restricted or prohibited area.
What is an aircraft intercept?
Aircraft interception is when one aircraft moves up to another aircraft. Most often this relates to when a military aircraft is intercepting a civilian aircraft that is entering national airspace without a filed flight plan, entering restricted or prohibited airspace through misnavigation, aircraft having communication failures or aircraft that can not otherwise be identified. For those cases there is internationally standardised procedures.
How to intercept an aircraft?
When intercepted the pilot of the intercepted aircraft should: 1 Follow instruction given by intercepting aircraft, interpreting and responding to visual signals as mentioned below 2 Notify ATC if possible 3 Try establishing radio contact with intercepting aircraft or intercept control using 121.5 MHz or if that is not possible 243 MHz, stating the aircraft identity and the nature of the flight 4 Set the transponder to 7700 (emergency) unless instructed otherwise
What frequency should an intercepting aircraft use?
The intercepting aircraft should try to contact the intercepted aircraft using 121.5 MHz, using the call signs Interceptor <call sign>, Intercepted aircraft and Intercept control. If that fails the intercepting aircraft should try the ATC frequencies or try to contact the intercepted aircraft through the ATC.
What is the process of getting to know your aircraft?
Getting to know your aircraft is part of the process to acquire skills used when intercepting aircraft. Military pilots have access to a flight manual that almost always include climb schedules and charts for optimum climb (usually for both fastest climb and fuel efficient climb), time to altitude, fuel to altitude and endurance for different mission profiles. By taking notes you might develop rules of thumb for those performance data.
How many phases are there in interception?
Interception manoeuvres for visual identification is split into three phases.
Where does the flight leader take up a position ahead of an intercepted aircraft?
If the intercepted aircraft have to be redirected the flight leader takes up a position ahead, above and normally to the left of the inter cepted aircraft making sure that its pilot can see the intercepting aircraft.
Where do the landing lights go on a helicopter?
Rocking aircraft and flashing navigational lights at irregular intervals (landing lights for helicopters), from slightly ahead and above and normally to the left side of the intercepted aircraft (normally to the right side of intercepted helicopters).
What happens to the crew of an intercepted aircraft?
The crew of the intercepted aircraft must continue to comply with interceptor aircraft signals and instructions until positively released.
How to prevent intercepts?
The best way to prevent an intercept is to get a thorough preflight briefing. If you use ForeFlight, there are some visual tools that can help too.
How to see airspace on a plane?
And if you want to get a closer look at complicated airspace, you can zoom in within the profile view to see more detail.
How often are pilots intercepted?
Pilots are intercepted every year by military aircraft. What if it happened to you? Here are the procedures you should know. ..
When was the FAA document on intercept procedures published?
In 2015, the FAA published this 1-page document covering intercept procedures. While you'll probably never use this in your aviation career, remembering the basics is always a good idea.
Do not adjust altitude, heading, or airspeed until directed to by the intercepting aircraft?
Do not adjust your altitude, heading, or airspeed until directed to by the intercepting aircraft. An intercepted aircraft must, without delay: Adhere to instructions relayed through the use of visual devices, visual signals, and radio communications from the intercepting aircraft.
What is intercept in regression?
The intercept (sometimes called the “constant”) in a regression model represents the mean value of the response variable when all of the predictor variables in the model are equal to zero.
Can you interpret the intercept in multiple regression?
Similar to simple linear regression, it makes sense to interpret the value for the intercept in a multiple linear regression model sometimes but not always. The following examples illustrate this.

Interception in FlightGear
- Good manners
While in real life practice interception of civilian aircraft is not supposed to be done it can be a fun challenge in FlightGear. There is a few points to consider though: 1. Be polite, other pilots are more likely to be friendly if you are friendly. 2. Don't expect other pilots to have a clue about the p…
Procedures For Interception of Civilian Aircraft in Real Life
- There is a set of standard procedures defined by ICAO that includes radio communication and visual signals both for night and day. There are procedures both for the intercepting aircraft and for the intercepted aircraft. These are defined in annex 2 to the convention on international civil aviation, Rules of the air, and are repeated in the Aeronautical information publication (AIP) for e…
Reasons For Interception in Real Life
- Civilian aircraft
While interception of civilian aircraft is a last resort, interception is often the only means available to identify an aircraft that have not filed a flight plan and/or have no transponder and can not be contacted. Apart from identification interception is as well often the only means to redirect an ai… - Military aircraft
There is of course also the case of military aircraft intercepting other military aircraft. During the Cold War many interceptions of intelligence, surveillance and spying aircraft from both the the western and eastern block where made. Interceptions where also sometimes made to redirect ai…
Some Background on Interception and Radars
- On the multiplayer mapsFlightGear anyone will see some information about an aircraft. Callsign, type of aircraft, altitude and speed are all readily available. When an aircraft is not equipped with a transponder and have not filed a flight plan, air traffic control or an air force will only see an unidentified blip moving. The only way to identify it is to get an another aircraft close enough to …
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