Pantauan wartawan, Heinz dibantu petugas mempersiapkan pesawat Swearingen SX 300 sejak pagi. Mereka juga mengisi 1 drum avgas yang dibeli dari Pertamina.
Pesawat Swearingen SX 300 yang dipiloti Heinz Peier lepas landas dari runway Lanud Soewondo sekitar pukul 9.45 WIB. Dia terbang menuju Bandara Seletar, Singapura.
Heinz Peier dilepas setelah menjalani sejumlah proses, termasuk yang terkait dengan urusan diplomatik, keimigrasian dan administrasi bandara. Dia sempat menjalani pemeriksaan kesehatan dan menandatangani sejumlah dokumen di dalam terminal VIP bekas Bandara Polonia.
Kepala Dinas Logistik Lanud Soewondo yang ditunjuk sebagai Wakil Sementara (WS) Komandan Lanud Soewondo, Letkol Tek Yani Prasetyo, memaparkan bahwa Heinz dibenarkan terbang karena sudah mengurus semua dokumen yang diperlukan. Izin yang dilengkapi di antaranya dari Kemenhub maupun Kemenlu. Dia juga sudah membuat surat pernyataan tidak akan mengulangi perbuatannya.
"Karena dia telah mengurus perizinan dan memenuhi kewajibannya kepada negara, sesuai perintah, kami membolehkannya terbang," jelasnya.
Yani memaparkan, pihaknya sudah memeriksa Heinz sejak dipaksa mendarat di Lanud Soewondo, Kamis (10/4). Dari proses itu, laki-laki yang mengaku pensiunan pilot sipil itu diketahui berencana keliling dunia. Penyidik pun memastikan tidak ada hal yang membahayakan dari aktivitasnya.
"Sebenarnya dia (Heinz) juga dijadwalkan singgah di Bandara Kualanamu, tapi seharusnya pekan depan, karena vendornya masih mengurus dokumen perizinan. Namun, dia langsung terbang ke sini, dengan harapan izinnya rampung saat dia sampai," jelas Yani.
Seperti diberitakan, 2 unit pesawat F-16 memaksa turun pesawat Swearingen SX 300 yang memasuki wilayah udara Indonesia di sekitar pantai barat Pulau Sumatera, Kamis (10/4) siang. Pesawat dipiloti Heinz Peier pun harus landing di Lanud Soewondo, Medan. Setelah mendarat pesawat itu dikepung petugas bersenjata lengkap, termasuk puluhan personel Pasukan Khas TNI AU.
http://www.merdeka.com
Swearingen SX-300, N54JX
http://registry.faa.gov/N54JX
A foreign aircraft was forced to land Thursday by two Indonesian Air Force (TNI-AU) fighter jets at the Soewondo Airbase in Medan, North Sumatra, after the plane entered Indonesian airspace without authorization.
The red civilian aircraft, with registration number N54JX, was intercepted by two TNI-AU F-16 jets at 12:44 p.m. Armed Air Force personnel, assisted by sniffer dogs, examined the plane after landing at Soewondo Airbase.
They did not find anything suspicious inside the plane, only three jerry cans of fuel and a bicycle.
As of Thursday afternoon, the plane was being tightly guarded by TNI-AU personnel, as the pilot, identified as Heinz Pieter, was being questioned at the airbase.
National Defense Sektor III commander Air Marshal Sungkono said that the Air Force fighter jets were conducting an operation over Sumatra, when suddenly an unauthorized foreign plane was detected on their radars.
Sungkono added that the two F-16s immediately intercepted the plane.
“The foreign aircraft was intercepted 80 nautical miles west of Meulaboh, Aceh. The plane was then forced to land at the Soewondo Airbase,” Sungkono said at the airbase in Medan on Thursday.
He added that the authorities were still questioning the pilot. Sungkono said that based on initial questioning, the plane was en route from Colombo in Sri Lanka to Singapore. He added that the pilot had claimed he was unaware he had entered Indonesia’s airspace.
“Based on his statement, it seems the pilot did not know the country’s territory,” Sungkono said, adding that Pieter was a retired commercial airline pilot from Switzerland. Sungkono said his command had not discovered any indication of threat from the foreign aircraft.
“As yet, there seems to be no threat to our territorial sovereignty. He [Pieter] appears to be guilty only of not having a permit, which he should have had before entering our territorial airspace. But we are still investigating the incident,” he said, adding that the Swearingan SX-300 civilian plane was personally owned by the pilot.
Pieter, 65, has told authorities at the airbase that he was flying his private plane to travel solo around the world and that he was not aware that he had entered Indonesian airspace.
Story and comments/reaction: http://www.thejakartapost.com
Former Swiss airline pilot Heinz Peier, 65, has been flying around the world almost non-stop since February 2012. According to his blog, he was planning to fly between Sri Lanka and the Philippines when the arrest happened.
Swiss national Peier now lives in Daytona Beach, Florida after retiring from his career as an airline pilot.
The Indonesian Air Force forced a Swearingen SX300 aircraft to land at Soewondo Air Force Base in Medan, North Sumatra, on Thursday for entering Indonesian airspace without permission.
The red US-registered monoplane was forced down by two F-16 jet fighters. A number of fully armed Air Force personnel and sniffer dogs inspected the aircraft after it landed at Soewondo but no dangerous goods were found.
The aircraft will be impounded by the Air Force until the questioning of pilot Heinz Pieter, 65, is complete.
The National Air Defense Sector Command (Kosekhanudnas) III chief, Air Commodore Sungkono, said during an operation in Sumatra a foreign aircraft was detected in Indonesian airspace without a valid permit.
“The foreign aircraft was intercepted at 80 nautical miles [148.16 kilometers] west of Meulaboh, Aceh. The aircraft was then forced to land at Soewondo at about 12:44 p.m.,” he said at the air force base on Thursday.
Sungkono said the pilot had explained he was flying from Colombo, Sri Lanka, to Singapore and was not aware he had entered Indonesian airspace.
“The pilot said he was not aware of Indonesia’s borders that’s all,” he said.
Sungkono added that the pilot was a retired commercial pilot from Switzerland and that so far there were no threat indications from the aircraft.
Heinz told Air Force personnel that he was on a journey around the world in his private, home-built airplane.
Source: http://m.thejakartapost.com
Ini spesifikasi pesawat asing yang nyelonong masuk Medan
Siang ini, Kamis (10/4), tiba-tiba teritorial udara di sekitar daerah Medan heboh. Ada sebuah pesawat asing yang tiba-tiba nyelonong melintas di di Kota Sibolga, Pulau Sumatera. Kota ini hanya berjarak sekitar 350 kilometer dari Medan.
Ketika pesawat itu mulai terdeteksi, tentu TNI AU tak tinggal diam. Akhirnya pesawat yang hanya berisi satu pilot itu dipaksa turun di Lanud Soewondo Medan. Pesawat latih itu sempat ditempel dan dipaksa turun dengan dua pesawat F-16 milik TNI AU.
Sekitar pukul 13.00 WIB, akhirnya pilot yang belum diketahui identitas dan kewarganegaraannya dibawa masuk ke ruang VIP bandara dengan pengawalan ketat. Sedangkan pesawat berwarna merah itu terus dijaga petugas bandara dan Paskhas TNI.
Lalu sebenarnya pesawat apa yang digunakan pilot asing itu?
Pilot asing itu diketahui menerbangkan pesawat Swearingen SX-300. Pesawat asal Amerika Serikat itu pertama kali dikembangkan oleh Ed Swearingen seorang ahli penerbangan dari San Antonio, Texas sejak tahun 1980. Kemudian pesawat ini mulai perdana diterbangkan pada 1 Juli 1984.
Swearingen SX-300 termasuk pesawat yang mempunyai performa tinggi, namun hanya mempunyai dua kursi saja di dalamnya. Pesawat ini pun mampu menjelajah udara dengan kecepatan 106km/jam (66 mil per jam).
Pesawat ini mempunyai tiga baling-baling. Dengan desain kontemporer kanopi terbuka, konstruksinya juga berada di luar kemampuan rata-rata dari pesawat amatir lainnya. Swearingen SX-300 mempunyai 300 tenaga kuda (220 kW) dengan enam mesin silinder agar mampu terbang secara maksimal di udara.
Sang pilot sudah diketahui sebagai warga negara Swiss usia 65 tahun bernama Hing Pier. Hingga kini pilot itu masih diperiksa intensif oleh TNI.
Swiss pensioner flying around the world in plane he built himself is forced to land by Indonesian fighter jet and arrested at gunpoint after entering their airspace
- Heinz Peier, 65, used to be a Swiss Air pilot but has since retired
- Since 2012 he has been flying around the world in a homemade plane
- His travels have so far taken in six continents and more than 100 cities
- He was forced to land in Soewondo, Indonesia, today by fighter jets
- Peier was arrested at gunpoint after apparently flying into their airspace
A retired Swiss airline pilot flying around the world for the last two years in a plane he built himself has been arrested after straying into Indonesian airspace.
Heinz Peier, 65, was forced to land by Indonesian fighter jets today before being surrounded by armed soldiers at Soewondo Air Base where he was arrested.
According to his blog, Peier was due to travel from Sri Lanka to the Philippines when the arrest happened, and was not planning to stop in Indonesia.
However, according to an Indonesian Air Force official, Peier was on a ferry flight from Colombo to Singapore when he entered their airspace illegally, suggesting that he may have changed his route.
In the pictures he is surrounded by soldiers who point their guns at him while he climbs out of his aircraft before being taken away.
Since then he has travelled almost non-stop for two years, taking in six continents - including Antarctica - visiting around 30 countries, and stopping in more than 100 cities.
On his travels he has toured safari parks, ridden on elephants, sailed around glaciers and even took part in a cycle race in his native Switzerland.
He flies solo, stopping only to refuel and take in some sights before jetting off again. He is sometimes joined by his two grown-up daughters, Celcilia and Bianca.
In his last post, dated two days ago in Sri Lanka, Peier says he is due to visit the temple of Kanda after staying the night in the Sri Lankan mountains.
He also discussed refueling his plane beforehand in case he needs to depart 'on a moment's notice.'
It is not clear if Peier is being held by the Indonesian authorities or if he is has been released.
Story, photos and comments/reaction: http://www.dailymail.co.uk
