NORAD Dispatches Fighters to Escort Suspicious Aircraft

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, Oct. 29, 2010 – The North American Aerospace Defense Command ordered four fighter jets today to escort a civilian aircraft with suspicious cargo.

NORAD diverted two Canadian CF-18s to track the aircraft as it flew into and over Canadian airspace, NORAD officials said in a statement. The civilian aircraft was passed to two U.S. F-15s as it transited into U.S. airspace and its ultimate destination at John F. Kennedy International Airport, they added.

NORAD dispatched the fighters “out of an abundance of caution,” the statement said.