Plane enters restricted Sydney air space as APEC summit ends

SYDNEY: A light plane entered restricted air space over Sydney on Sunday as world leaders wrapped up a regional summit, aviation officials said, but denied the incident posed any security risk.

Earlier a witness told commercial radio that Australian fighter jets fired flares at the plane after it entered restricted airspace over the western suburb of Penrith just before 3.00 pm (1030 IST).

A spokesman for air traffic control body Airservices Australia said the incident was not being recorded as a breach of security but confirmed that the military had been contacted.
   
The Cessna aircraft was flying an approved flight from the town of Bathurst in central New South Wales state and was on its way to an airport in Bankstown in western Sydney.

The pilot apparently was not aware of the heightened security surrounding the summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, which concluded on Sunday, the spokesman said.

"The pilot, obviously, was not listening up at that particular time and because of the situation in regard to APEC, defence was advised by Air services," the spokesman said.

"Two FA/18s went out to check the aircraft. They did make radio contact and as I understand it the aircraft has landed."

The spokesman said he was not aware of any flares being fired and the fighter jets have since returned to their bases.

At about the same time as the incident occurred 20 Asia-Pacific leaders, including the presidents of Russia and China, were gathering on the lawns of Government House with Australian PM John Howard for the closing of the summit.