On Tuesday, a United States Air Force C-17 cargo plane en route from New Zealand to Antarctica was forced to turn back and head to Christchurch due to a “potentially hazardous” space activity warning. The warning was due to a Russian missile launch.
But aside from what a few breathless headlines from some quick-off-the-mark media outlets ran as headlines, the aircraft and crew were never in any danger. The missile launch was just a test flight. It wasn't aimed at the C-17, which turned around out of an abundance of caution.
The American C-17 Globemaster aircraft, using call sign ICE28, initially took off from Christchurch, New Zealand, around 9:00 a.m. local time but returned back to Christchurch less than three hours later due to a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) sent by New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).
A spokesperson from CAA told The Hill Tuesday that it was made aware of potentially hazardous activity by Russia’s state air traffic management corporation, “resulting in the issuance of a NOTAM advising pilots of the hazard.”
Yes, if there's a missile launch, apparently a test launch, aircraft tend to avoid the area around the launch, lest they end up with something called "aluminum rain." In this case, not only was this not an attack, but it was Russia that sent out the warning.
On Wednesday, the spokesperson revealed that it was made aware by Russia of a planned missile launch.
“[We were] made aware by the Russian air traffic agency of a planned missile launch and associated potential hazard to international airspace, within New Zealand’s Oceanic Flight Information Region (FIR),” New Zealand’s CAA wrote.
Now, here's the fun part: If you read some of the headlines from various outlets, you would not have been surprised to see Peter Sellers dressed up as Doctor Strangelove enter the scene from stage right. Here are a few samples:
US Antarctic Flight Turns Back Over Missile Warning
Russia missile launch warning prompts Air Force Antarctica flight to turn back
And, of course, the one cited above:
US Air Force plane turns back from Antarctica after Russian missile threat
Maybe I'm being nitpicky, but there was no Russian threat. At least, not in this instance. The Civil Aviation Authority even said that the plane may well have been able to continue, but the United States Air Force - surprise - decided to play it safe with a multi-million dollar aircraft and its even more valuable crew.
“We put in place a danger area and issued a NOTAM to alert aircraft operators to the potential hazard. This does not prevent aircraft from flying through the area; operators make their decisions based on the information available,” the agency continued.
In other words, this wasn't so much of a much. And, yes, the legacy media does sometimes seem to get most of their cardiovascular exercise by jumping to conclusions.
As a matter of fact (bear in mind I was Army, not Air Force, and the only thing I ever piloted was a bar stool), this all seems like it was handled calmly and probably according to standard procedure. The Russians New Zealand's Civil Aviation Authority of a test launch. The CAA notified the Air Force. The Air Force notified the C-17 in flight. And then, the decision was made to avoid an area where there would be a fricking rocket flying through it.
Really, some people just have to take an even strain.