Soon, cameras in planes to tackle hijackers

New Delhi: This could well be the most handy hi-tech tool to help tackle hijack situations in Indian skies. The home ministry has asked aviation ministry to examine if cameras can be installed in passenger cabins and cockpits of aircraft, which can be switched on by pilots and pictures beamed live to ground stations in case of emergencies like hijack situations. And since there are always chances of hijackers incapacitating or overpowering pilots, MHA also wants a system that can allow ground monitoring stations to operate the aircraft cameras.
The suggestion came from home secretary Madhukar Gupta at a meeting called by cabinet secretariat earlier this month to review the recent IndiGo hijack scare. MHA said high-end technology would be needed for this purpose along with receivers to capture the camera feed live and show it in real time to the crisis management groups. The idea — resolve the situation with a better idea of what exactly is going inside the aircraft.
24/04/09 Saurabh Sinha/Times of India

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Categories: Safety Apr 2009