Germany sends fighter planes after Jet Airways flight loses contact
Germany scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoon jets after the Mumbai-London Jet Airways flight 9W 118, lost contact with the Air Traffic Control tower. Contact with the air craft was re-established "a few minutes" later. In a statement, Jet Airways said "the flight crew of 9W 118 has been de-rostered pending investigation." There were 330 guests and 15 crew members on board during the incident.
What went wrong?
Officials from the DGCA are probing the matter and said it was too early to comment. However, it is suspected that the pilots failed to tune into the correct radio-frequency. When flying over multiple-territories, aircraft has to establish contact with each regions' ATC. In this incident while handing over control to the German ATC, the crew accidentally tuned-in 132.980MHz; the correct frequency was 132.890MHz.
Jet Airways makes statement
Jet Airways said "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 flight with 330 guests and 15 crew subsequently landed at London."
Has this happened before?
In March 2014, a Jet Airways flight operating from London to Mumbai lost contact with the air-traffic control for over 30 minutes over German airspace. The German air force tracked the plane, but did not scramble jets as the plane was continuing on its charted flight path. Jet Airways suspended the pilots after they found that the cockpit speaker volume was not turned up.
