I can imagine quite a few horror scenarios onboard an aeroplane. Looking outside your window and seeing fighter jets is definitely at the very top of that list. That was the reality this week for passengers aboard an Indian Jet Airways flight bound for London that lost contact with air traffic controllers in Cologne, Germany, leading German Air Force Eurofighter Typhoons to scramble and intercept the plane.
Video of the incident was captured by a trailing British Airways plane, which comes to us from the Facebook page of CirrusPilot:
That’s something you don’t see every day.
The Times of India reports the plane, a Boeing 777-300ER flying from Mumbai to London, did not respond to air traffic control in Cologne due to some kind of communications failure.
Luckily, Typhoons scrambled to intercept the plane were able to reestablish communications between it and air traffic control, and once that happened it safely continued its flight to London, the newspaper reports. It later landed and an investigation is underway.
Here is a statement from Jet Airways:
Contact between Jet Airways flight 9W 118, from Mumbai to London Heathrow, of February 16, 2017, and the local ATC, was briefly lost while flying over German airspace. 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 without incident. Jet Airways has duly reported the matter to the concerned authorities including the DGCA. As part of the standard process, the flight crew of 9W 118 has been de-rostered pending investigation.
Be glad that ended as well as it did. In the meantime, we have some pretty mind-blowing video of what such an incident actually looks like from the air.