What happened
On March 10, 2020, at approximately 10:39 LMT, an air traffic controller at the Rzeszów Tower observed an aircraft with registration SP-CLG entering the Rzeszually-Jasionka controlled zone (CTR EPRZ) via radar. The aircraft, an Aero AT-3 R100, approached from the direction of Mielec without having established any radio contact with the Rzeszów tower.
At the time of the observation, the Kraków Flight Information Service (FIS) had not notified the Rzeszów controller regarding the flight's presence. After the controller contacted the Mielec Aerodrome Flight Information Service (AFIS) by telephone, it was learned that the aircraft had been handed over to Kraków FIS. However, Kraków FIS had not yet received a call from the pilot. The controller subsequently established contact with the aircraft via Kraków FIS and instructed the pilot to switch to the Rzeszów Tower frequency.
By 10:41 LMT, the pilot of SP-CLG established direct communication with the Rzeszów Tower, reporting their position at VFR point "W". The controller informed the pilot that radar indicated they were actually circling south of VFR point "K". After confirming their position, the pilot continued the flight following instructions provided by the controller.
The investigation
The PKBWL investigation examined the sequence of events involving the communication handover between Mielec AFIS, Kraków FIS, and Rzeszów Tower. The investigation focused on why the aircraft entered the CTR without prior radio contact and why the flight information was not proactively communicated by the Kraków FIS to the Rzeszów controller.