Northern Ont. soldiers detail what happened when an aircraft strayed into the no-fly zone during the G7

Military officials in North Bay shared Wednesday how they dealt with a plane that violated a no-fly zone during the recent G7 Summit in Alberta.

Air defence crew members from North Bay, Ont., are detailing how they protected the G7 summit after a private plane ignored commands and flew into restricted airspace.

Less than two weeks ago, world leaders gathered in Kananaskis, Alta., to talk about peace, security and global economic stability.

On June 15, the first morning of the three-day annual meeting, a small civilian plane approached restricted airspace.

Operation Cadence, overseen by the Norad crew, was a joint security effort between the Canadian Armed Forces and the RCMP.

‘Trying to get him to turn away’

The monitoring and tracking started at North Bay’s 22 Wing Canadian Forces Base.

“I was synthesizing information from RCMP, from our higher headquarters in Winnipeg, coming down to us and then transferring that to the team in the weapons section,” Capt. Adam Murray, the mission crew commander, told reporters Wednesday morning.

Weapons director Lt. Glenn Butler said he saw the plane on his radar cruising in the no-fly zone. That’s when the team scrambled to get in touch with the pilot.

“We started going up with our initial compliance, trying to reach him over the radio,” Butler said.

“We were trying to tell him he was approaching restricted airspace, trying to get him to turn away.”

The incident happened just after 1 p.m. EST. The plane, a single-engine, Cessna-style aircraft, was being flown by one person.

Trained for this moment

Canadian Armed Forces members started training for the G7 five months before the summit took place. But to face what could have been a real threat was something they will remember.

“There was a slight moment where we kind of all looked at each other like ‘OK, we’re really doing this,’” Butler said.

“But after that moment, we all kind of flipped the switch and locked in.”

“Multiple steps were taken to gain the pilot’s attention,” officials said.

But when the pilot didn’t obey orders to turn away, two CF-18 Hornet fighter jets were scrambled out of Cold Lake, Alta., to intercept the aircraft.

“When that decision came down, I was on scope,” Butler said.

“I directed the fighter jets to turn to this heading, go to this altitude and go this fast to intercept the aircraft.”

The fighter jets “employed final warning measures to contact the pilot and have them safely land under their own power.”

Eventually, the pilot complied and landed in the RCMP’s intended landing location in Brooks, Alta.

Wasted resources

RCMP said it was a serious situation.

“It is every pilot’s responsibility to ensure that there are no restrictions in the airspace they intend to fly,” RCMP officials said at the time.

“These incidents take away resources that could be utilized in police work and securing the summit site.”

The RCAF said it was pleased with the dedication of the entire team, keeping a watchful eye on the sky while the politicians debated global issues.

Murray said dozens of crew members at 22 Wing were involved in some capacity throughout the summit, which ended June 17.

“It’s easy to just get focused on the people actively controlling the aircraft. They’re doing the mission from the operations floor,” he said.

“But we have techs keeping all of our systems running while it’s going on. We have support staff, as well.”

At the time, RCMP noted that it appeared to be a “wayward flier,” but the incident remains under police investigation.