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Virgin Australia pilot first to sight China military live fire exercises off east coast Australia
February 26th 2025
Australia’s air navigation service provider, Airservices Australia, has told a parliamentary hearing it was first informed of the China military’s live fire exercises in international waters off Australia’s east coast by a Virgin Australia (VA) pilot. Read More » The live-fire drill conducted by three China Navy warships on February 21 forced 49 commercial flights to divert their flight plans to avoid the area. “It was in fact a Virgin Australia aircraft that advised one of our air traffic controllers a foreign warship was broadcasting it was conducting live firing 300 nautical miles east off our coast,” Airservices Australia CEO, Rob Sharp, said. “At 10.00am, our air traffic control commenced what we call a ‘hazard alert’. It basically alerts all flights in the area there is a hazard. That was done within two minutes.” Airservices Australia deputy CEO, Peter Curran, said the message from the China Navy’s warships was picked up on an emergency radio channel monitored by pilots but not by air traffic control.
