1 pilot slept, other was on wrong frequency. This is what happened mid-air, on a Jet Airways Mumbai-London flight intercepted by German fighter jets

Jet Airways’ Mumbai London Flight got into trouble over German skies and was intercepted by fighter jets. The flight got itself in trouble for not responding to air traffic control (ATC) calls.

The German ATC contacted a Delhi-London flight of Jet Airways (9W 122), which was flying ahead of 9W 118 last Thursday (February 16) and then the crew of the flight from Delhi contacted Jet Airways' flight operations in India which further used the aircraft communication and addressing system (ACARS) or a satellite phone to contact the pilots of 9W 118.

Once all this was done, the Mumbai-London crew spoke to the ATC following which fighter jets flew away and the plane continued its flight.

According to sources, one of the pilots of 9W 118 was reportedly taking "controlled rest" or in easier terms was sleeping and the other had tuned into a wrong frequency and his headset volume was low and hence, the other pilot could not be reached by the German ATC or contacted on the universal emergency frequency.

In its defence, a Jet Airways spokesperson said: "This issue is being probed by the airline and the DGCA. At this stage we will not be able to say anything else."

Reportedly, Jet's Mumbai-London flight remained incommunicado for almost 33 minutes, and the issue began when it was over Czech airspace. While the flight was flying from Bratislava to Prague, 9W 118 was on correct frequency as it transmitted and acknowledged messages from the ATC but after that, the crew allegedly switched over to 132.980MHz and did not monitor the emergency frequency.

After it turned incommunicado over Czech Republic and was about to enter Germany, the Prague ATC spotted that 9W 122 (Delhi-London) was ahead of the Mumbai flight and it then asked the Rhein ATC (in Germany) to contact the flight from Delhi.

The Rhein ATC then used ACARS to get in touch with the flight from Delhi but by this time fighter jets had been scrambled for 9W 118. Finally, by the time the flight from Mumbai contacted the ATC, it had entered German airspace and contacted Rhein ATC.