Immediately Assisted…”: What Air Force Said On IndiGo’s Mid-Air Scare

New Delhi:

The IndiGo plane that encountered a violent hailstorm and severe turbulence en route from Delhi to Srinagar – leading to a terrifying 8,500-feet-per-minute descent, when the normal is no more than 3,000 – had been advised by the Air Force that Pakistan airspace was off limits.

The advisory came after the pilots of 6E-2142 made emergency contact with the IAF’s Northern Command, asking for permission for a flight path deviation to avoid the storm and turbulence.

This would have taken the plane briefly into Pak airspace, which has been shut to all air traffic since May 11 and amid military tension over the Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor.

In a statement issued Friday evening, the Air Force said the NOTAM, or Notice to Airmen, issued by Pak’s civil aviation authority “was in vogue up to midnight on May 23” and that it specified that Pakistani airspace was “not available to Indian-registered aircraft and aircraft operated/owned/leased by Indian airlines/operators, including military flights”