Two loud bangs startled many people from Münster to Hanover this afternoon. Two Bundeswehr fighter jets had broken the sound barrier over Hanover, as the Luftwaffe announced on Twitter. The two Eurofighters rose from Laage Air Base in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
A spokesman for the Air Force said the Eurofighters of the Quick Reaction Alert were alerted at around 12.55 p.m. because a passenger plane en route to Amsterdam lost radio contact. In order to reach the civil aircraft as quickly as possible, the Eurofighters went into so-called supersonic mode via Hanover. The machine was finally caught up south of Münster.
According to the Air Force spokesman, the lack of radio contact was due to pilot error. The civil plane has meanwhile landed safely in Amsterdam.
According to the spokesman, the double bang could be heard in Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia – “from Hanover to Münster”. Numerous emergency calls were received by the police, and many people speculated on Twitter about the cause of the bang.
Air Force tweet
