Mid-air scare: Jet flight intercepted by German planes

MUMBAI In a major scare, a Jet Airways aircraft from Mumbai to

London

with 330 passengers on board was intercepted en route by two German fighter jets near Cologne after the airline pilots failed to respond to all the calls made by the local air traffic control to establish contact.

A military jet intercepts a civilian aircraft when it flies into their airspace without a filed flight plan (unidentified aircraft) or when it deviates from its planned route without permission from the air traffic control or, as was the case with Jet Airways, when the pilots go incommunicado. Post 9/11, military pilots of several countries are trained to follow extreme and horrifying rules of engagement when sent to intercept a rogue aircraft.

The incident, which involved flight 9W-118, occurred last Thursday when the Jet Boeing 777-300 aircraft was cruising at 36,000 feet. According to media reports, radio contact (used for communication between pilots and the ATC) was lost when the Jet aircraft was about to enter the

Czech Republic

from

Slovakia

. The aircraft didn’t deviate from its flight path, but since the pilots didn’t respond to the air traffic controller, the international standard procedure was followed and two fighter jets were despatched to intercept the Jet aircraft.

Soon after the fighter jets were airborne, the Jet Airways pilots established contact with the air traffic control on emergency distress frequency 121.5 MHz.

The Jet pilots were informed about the intercept and so were the pilots of other aircraft in the vicinity. When the Jet aircraft was at about 37km north of Cologne, it was intercepted by a German fighter to its left, only to be joined minutes later by a second jet. The Boeing 777 was escorted by two jets for about ten minutes.

According to reports, the contact between air traffic control and Jet pilots failed as they had erroneously keyed in wrong radio frequency decimals when moving from one air traffic control to another. The Jet pilots later used the emergency frequency to establish contact with the air traffic control.

A Jet Airways spokesperson confirmed the incident. “Contact between Jet Airways flight 9W 118... and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. Communication was safely restored within a few minutes. As a precaution, the German Air Force deployed its aircraft to ensure the safety of the flight and its guests.’’ The spokesperson added that the airline had duly reported the matter to the concerned authorities including the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “As part of the standard process, the flight crew of 9W 118 has been de-rostered pending investigation,” the airline official added.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation has laid down a set of standard procedures for the intercepting aircraft and the intercepted aircraft. The interception manoeuvres are split into different phases and begins with the military aircraft intercepting the suspicious aircraft on its left flying from behind at a higher altitude. In this case, the Jet pilots re-established communication with the air traffic controller even before the interception exercise began.