’HIJACK’ put war jets on hot pursuit

Smarter after Kandahar, pilots took off minutes into Sunday's air scare; asked to stop plane from leaving Indian airspace

'HIJACK' put war jets on hot pursuit

Smarter after Kandahar, pilots took off minutes into Sunday's air scare; asked to stop plane from leaving Indian airspace

ON Sunday evening, as the 163 panic-stricken passengers of the Indigo flight E664 prayed to be rescued from the mid-air "hijack" drama, unknown to them, fighter jets of the Indian Air Force stealthily shadowed their aircraft. The pilots of the jets had clear instructions to keep the "hijacked" plane within Indian airspace to avoid a Kandahar-like situation.

The jets, which had flown from various air bases in western India, had started trailing the Indigo aircraft within minutes of the Air Traffic Control in Delhi relaying the message of the alleged hijack bid.u00a0

"All the regular precautionary measures of a highjack situation were taken. Details of the measures can not be revealed as that may jeopardise future operations," said the Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson, Wing Commander Mahesh Upasani.

However, highly-placed sources in the Ministry of Defence confirmed that the IAF had immediately asked the fighters to respond to any "emergency". "Clear instructions were given to the pilots to keep the hijacked plane within Indian airspace," said an IAF officer, wishing anonymity.

According to security experts, the usual precautionary measures taken by the IAF in an air highjack situation include scrambling of jets (fighters taking off in a hurry) to tail the suspected craft and prevent it from leaving the country's airspace. "The regular drill involves scrambling fighters from nearby bases.
u00a0
A plane hijacked over Delhi can take any route. It can leave the Indian airspace or can even attempt a suicide mission by targeting important sites in and around the Capital like the Parliament House. If an aircraft turns hostile it may also be shot down," said a defence analyst, Wing Commander (Retd) Praful Bakshi.

But Bakshi doubted that the fighters on Sunday were asked to shoot down the Indigo aircraft if it made a suicide attempt. "I doubt India has adopted the policy of shooting down a civil aircraft in such a scenario. Fighters are scrambled to force the plane to land and that assures that it remains within safe limits," he added.
u00a0
Senior defence analyst Major General (Retd) Sheru Thapliyal said that scrambling of fighter jets is the most important step to control a hijack bid. "Unfortunately, this did not happen when the Indian Airlines flight IC-814 was hijacked in 1999. The hijackers had managed to force the plane to cross Indian airspace. It landed at Kandahar in Afghanistan. Jets should be sent up even if there is a hijack scare," said Thapliyal.

Kandahar lessons
Dec 24, 1999: Indian Airlines flight 814, flying between Kathmandu and Delhi, was hijacked by five Pak-based terrorists. The plane flew for several hours in Indian airspace before being taken to Kandahar in Afghanistan.

Illustration: Sameer Pawar