Incident Overview
On October 10, 2019, at 12:15 UTC, the crew of a Diamond DA-20 aircraft, registration SP-NDE, departed from Dęblin airfield (EPDE). The flight was conducted according to the filed flight plan, with the crew maintaining communication with their own aerodrome flight manager.
Sequence of Events
At 12:25 UTC, military aircraft operations commenced, with those aircraft maintaining contact with Dęblin Tower (TWR). The DA-20 crew was unaware that Dęblin TWR had resumed operations at 12:45 UTC. Consequently, the aircraft entered the Dęblin MCTR (Military Control Zone) airspace without establishing radio communication with the tower. Despite attempts to contact the aircraft on various frequencies, the crew did not respond and continued to carry out their planned flight. The aircraft subsequently landed at the departure aerodrome without any further consequences.
Cause
The cause of the incident was the lack of communication with the aircraft crew due to a damaged transmit button and the crew's failure to notice light signals transmitted from the Dęblin TWR tower. No contributing circumstances were identified. No additional safety recommendations were issued.