Passengers and crew-members aboard seven civil flights approaching Kolkata had a harrowing time Tuesday morning, as a freak snag hit the Air Traffic Control (ATC) communication systems severing all contact with the aircraft hovering over the city for landing and ground support.
ATC officials later claimed they managed establish contact with the pilots using alternative channels and asked them to hover till the snag was sorted out.
Media reports attributing inputs to well placed sources, however, say anything could have happened in the half hour when the seven planes became incommunicado.
All was fine till 0955 hours, suddenly, things went horribly haywire.
The very high frequency (VHF) radio, over which air traffic controllers keep in touch with departing and incoming flights, began to behave in a very peculiar manner, said a report on Times of India website.
Some reports say the VHF signals were jammed by an unidentified instrument.
The ATC says it contacted the approaching aircraft to hover over the city but make no attempt to land.
Peculiarly, through the epsode, the ATC link to an approaching Jet Airways flight from Bangkok was not broken.
The ATC decided to land the lone aircraft it was still in touch with, to decongest the airspace, the flight touched down at around 1020 hours, following which the jammed frequencies ‘miraculously’ opened up and links to the remaining flights were restored.
Relieved ATC officials later parried queries on probable causes for the jam, which after intelligence agencies expressed fear of Pakist6an based terror organisations attempting to launch air-borne attacks against the country to disrupt republic day celebrations on January 26.
ATC officials later claimed they managed establish contact with the pilots using alternative channels and asked them to hover till the snag was sorted out.
Media reports attributing inputs to well placed sources, however, say anything could have happened in the half hour when the seven planes became incommunicado.
All was fine till 0955 hours, suddenly, things went horribly haywire.
The very high frequency (VHF) radio, over which air traffic controllers keep in touch with departing and incoming flights, began to behave in a very peculiar manner, said a report on Times of India website.
Some reports say the VHF signals were jammed by an unidentified instrument.
The ATC says it contacted the approaching aircraft to hover over the city but make no attempt to land.
Peculiarly, through the epsode, the ATC link to an approaching Jet Airways flight from Bangkok was not broken.
The ATC decided to land the lone aircraft it was still in touch with, to decongest the airspace, the flight touched down at around 1020 hours, following which the jammed frequencies ‘miraculously’ opened up and links to the remaining flights were restored.
Relieved ATC officials later parried queries on probable causes for the jam, which after intelligence agencies expressed fear of Pakist6an based terror organisations attempting to launch air-borne attacks against the country to disrupt republic day celebrations on January 26.
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