Mumbai: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is probing the role of an Air India pilot in setting off the hijack button of a Mumbai-bound flight from Rajkot. Airport officials went into a tizzy when Air India flight AI-656 sent out a hijack alarm on Friday evening.
The security apparatus--the police control room, Special Operations Group, Crime Branch, bomb disposal squad, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Air Traffic Control--were left scrambling after receiving a signal that a hijacked plane had landed at the airport for refuelling.
Meanwhile, the 90-odd passengers aboard the Airbus 320 were served tea and coffee and were told by pilots and cabin crew that the hijack alarm had been activated by 'default'. A CISF official said that they had detained the aircraft and conducted an antisabotage check on every passenger, as per the procedure.
A pilot from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) termed the incident as 'highly unusual'. "In most airplanes the hijack switches are guarded. It's unusual for one to be set off without intervention," the pilot said. "The hijack code 7500 is also not commonly used," the pilot said.
Aviation expert Vipul Saxena did not agree with the crew using the term 'default'. "There is no 'default' setting in the console. And even if there was, it wouldn't have the hijack code.The DGCA must conduct a detailed enquiry to find out what exactly happened," Saxena said.
Further confusing the issue, local authorities later stated that the entire scenario had been a mock drill conducted to test the preparedness of the security agencies.
18/07/16 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline
The security apparatus--the police control room, Special Operations Group, Crime Branch, bomb disposal squad, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Air Traffic Control--were left scrambling after receiving a signal that a hijacked plane had landed at the airport for refuelling.
Meanwhile, the 90-odd passengers aboard the Airbus 320 were served tea and coffee and were told by pilots and cabin crew that the hijack alarm had been activated by 'default'. A CISF official said that they had detained the aircraft and conducted an antisabotage check on every passenger, as per the procedure.
A pilot from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) termed the incident as 'highly unusual'. "In most airplanes the hijack switches are guarded. It's unusual for one to be set off without intervention," the pilot said. "The hijack code 7500 is also not commonly used," the pilot said.
Aviation expert Vipul Saxena did not agree with the crew using the term 'default'. "There is no 'default' setting in the console. And even if there was, it wouldn't have the hijack code.The DGCA must conduct a detailed enquiry to find out what exactly happened," Saxena said.
Further confusing the issue, local authorities later stated that the entire scenario had been a mock drill conducted to test the preparedness of the security agencies.
18/07/16 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror
0 comments:
Post a Comment