The incident started as a routine training flight. Colonel Nikolai Skuridin, the pilot, departed from the Soviet
Bagicz Airbase near
Kołobrzeg, Poland. During takeoff, the
afterburner failed and the engine began losing power. At an altitude of 150 meters and descending, the pilot assumed he had a complete engine failure and ejected without incident. The engine had not failed completely, and the aircraft remained airborne, flying on
autopilot in a westerly direction.
[1][2] The unmanned aircraft left Polish airspace, crossing into the airspace of
East Germany and then
West Germany, where it was intercepted by a pair of
U.S. Air Force F-15s of the
32d Tactical Fighter Squadron, of the
United States Air Forces Europe, stationed at
Soesterberg Air Base in the Netherlands.
[3] As the MiG-23 crossed into Dutch airspace the F-15 pilots reported the plane having no pilot, radioing
"There is definitely no pilot in the plane" and continuing the intercept into Belgian airspace. The escorting F-15s were instructed to down the plane over the
North Sea. As the MiG ran out of fuel, it started a slow turn to the south. The French Air Force put armed
Mirage fighters on readiness in case the MiG approached French territory. After flying over 900 km (560 mi) the MiG crashed into a house,
killing a Belgian teenager.