PETERSON
AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – NORAD fighter
jets launched today, September 5, 2014 to monitor an unresponsive aircraft over
the Atlantic Ocean which, according to the FAA, crashed 14 miles off the coast
of Port Antonio, Jamaica at about 2:15
p.m. EDT.
The
Socata TBM-700 light business and utility aircraft which departed Rochester,
NY, did not respond to attempts to communicate.
Initially,
at approximately 10:40 a.m. EDT, two F-16 fighter jets launched from McEntire
Joint National Guard Base in Richland County, S.C. to investigate.
They
handed off monitoring duties at around 11:30 a.m. EDT to two F-15 fighters from
Homestead Air Reserve Base, Homestead, Fla. which escorted the aircraft until
it entered Cuban airspace. At this time, they broke off with the possibility of
reconnecting with the aircraft over international waters south of the island.
The
two fighter jets had to return to base due to fuel considerations. The Socata
crashed during this time.
The
U.S. Coast Guard has initiated a search and rescue mission in the region.
NORAD's
mission – in close collaboration with homeland defense, security, and law
enforcement partners – is to prevent air attacks against North America,
safeguard the sovereign airspaces of the United States and Canada by responding
to unknown, unwanted and unauthorized air activity approaching and operating
within these airspaces, and provide aerospace and maritime warning for North
America.
As
one of NORAD's critical airspace security partners, the Federal Aviation
Administration (FAA) provides air traffic services for NORAD to safely and
effectively perform its mission and to minimize the impacts on normal air
traffic operations.
NORAD
is the bi-national Canadian and American command that is responsible for the
air defense of North America and maritime warning. The command has three
subordinate regional headquarters: the Alaskan NORAD Region at Elmendorf Air
Force Base, Alaska; the Canadian NORAD Region at Winnipeg, Manitoba; and the
Continental NORAD Region at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla.
The command is poised
both tactically and strategically in our nation’s capital to provide a
multilayered defense to detect, deter and prevent potential threats flying over
the airspace of the United States and Canada.