How do you force a passenger plane down, they can’t just shoot a civilian aircraft if the pilots refuse?
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You start by having the control tower order them to land. They’re supposed to follow instructions and land. If they do, you don’t have a problem, so I’ll assume they don’t.
You then send military fighter jets to intercept it. The pilots of those jets radio the airliner and order him to land. (There are standard frequencies for stuff like that, and airliners are supposed to listen to them.) If he doesn’t, they can do various things to intimidate him, such as flying by at high speeds, flying close above him, dropping flares, or firing their guns in front of him. If he still doesn’t land, they can try to shoot to disable his engines, but at that point they’re likely to do enough damage to bring the plane down. And yes, they can shoot him down. It’s very easy to shoot down a target that big and slow, and if he’s in your airspace and not responding to instructions, you have every right to do so.
If he’s not in your airspace, that’s a matter for the respective governments to deal with, and it might come down to whether either or both countries want to go to war over it.
Usually, they’ll land when the tower orders them to land, because few pilots are going to risk their career, not to mention their passengers and their lives, by refusing to follow the orders of the tower.
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