Bulgaria confirms “ghost plane” that flew over Romania and two other NATO countries landed on its territory

The information was released on Thursday by the Bulgarian Ministry of Defense.

The plane, which had two people on board, had taken off from Hungary without an approved flight plan.

In the Hungarian airspace, the Beechcraft aircraft was escorted by Gripen planes of the Hungarian forces, and in Romania, by Romanian and American F-16 planes.

Bulgarian air forces were alerted at the entrance to the country’s airspace, Sofia authorities were quoted as saying by local media.

The intrusion into Bulgarian airspace took place “under complex hydro-meteorological conditions”.

“It was established that the plane landed in our country and, with the assistance of the Ministry of Interior, the landing site was located. The case is being investigated,” the Bulgarian institution said.

On Wednesday afternoon, the NATO Joint Operations Center ordered the take-off of two Hungarian military aviation Gripen aircraft to intercept a small civilian plane, registered in Lithuania, flying from Slovakia to Romania.

The information was transmitted on Wednesday evening by the Hungarian news agency MTI, which quotes the Ministry of Defense of this country.

The source said that the plane landed in the Hajdúszoboszló area for refueling and took off again shortly.

The two Gripen aircraft escorted the small plane until it was taken over by two US F-16 aircraft in Romanian airspace.

The Hungarian press quotes the Ministry of Defense’s statement issued on Wednesday, in which it is said that the unknown device had stopped the transponder – a transmitter that allows the electronic identification of the aircraft.

Also, the plane, which was not “dangerous or hostile”, did not respond to radio and visual calls from the air police.

According to the Bucharest authorities’ statement, the Beechcraft aircraft spent more than an hour in Romanian airspace, transiting Serbia’s airspace for a short time before entering Bulgaria.

The Ministry of National Defense also announced on Wednesday that the Bulgarian authorities were investigating, on the ground, the last known area where the suspicious device had been detected by radar.

Photo: Beechcraft aircraft