An Indian Air Force plane carrying Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj lost contact with the Air Traffic Control (ATC) for nearly 14 minutes on Saturday while flying in the Mauritian air space, according to the Airports Authority of India (AAI). The Minister was enroute to South Africa for meetings of the BRICS and IBSA grouping.
“The Indian Air Force Flight IFC31 carrying Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs, departed from Thiruvananthapuram at 14.08 IST for Mauritius. Aircraft changed over from the Indian airspace to the Male ATC, which then established contact with the aircraft at 16.44 IST. However, IFC 31 could not contact the Mauritius ATC after entering the Mauritius airspace,” the AAI said in a statement.
“Later, at 16.58 IST, IFC 31 came in contact with the Mauritius ATC and landed,” the statement said.
The Meghdoot Embraer 135 aircraft was traced after the Mauritius ATC activated INCERFA, the code for a situation in which uncertainty exists over the safety of an aircraft and its occupants.
The AAI said such warnings are normally issued only after 30 minutes of losing contact with the ATC. But in this case it may have been generated earlier because the plane was carrying a VIP.
VHF failure
An IAF source, however, said loss of communication while flying long distance over seas is “normal”.
An AAI official, who termed the incident a grave security lapse, said communication can be erratic on such routes due to the poor quality of Very High Frequency (VHF) communication over the radar system.
Failure of pilots to establish contact with ATC, snag in on-board equipment and frequency issues lead to loss of contact, an air traffic controller said.
IAF pilots also do not maintain constant touch and often the ATC had to call to maintain contact while operating in Indian airspace, he said.
Ms. Swaraj was on her way to South Africa for a five-day visit for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and IBSA (India, Brazil and South Africa) meetings.
She had arrived from Delhi in the same aircraft and took off after completing Customs and other formalities, a senior AAI official told The Hindu .
