Pakistan air traffic controller guides Jaipur-Muscat flight to safety after pilot sounds 'Mayday' alert due to bad weather

Islamabad: An air traffic controller from Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority saved a plane flying from Jaipur to Muscat, the capital city of Oman, after its pilot sounded alert due to bad weather. Sources in the aviation authority have said that the plane encountered abnormal weather conditions near the Chor area of the southern Sindh province.

According to a report in The News International, the plane, carrying 150 passengers, was flying over Karachi region on Thursday when it got caught in the middle of lightning and dropped down from an altitude of 36,000 feet to 34,000 feet almost immediately. As a result, the pilot initiated emergency protocol and broadcast “Mayday” to nearby stations.

The air traffic controller from Pakistan responded to the call of pilot and directed it through the dense air traffic in the vicinity for the remaining journey in the Pakistani airspace. Pakistan on 16 July opened its airspace for India after some five months of restrictions imposed in the wake of a standoff with New Delhi earlier this year. Following the Balakot airstrikes, Pakistan had closed its airspace on 26 February.

Pakistan last month denied India’s request to allow Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s VVIP flight to use its airspace for his visit to Saudi Arabia over the Kashmir issue. Pakistan downgraded diplomatic relations with India after New Delhi on 5 August revoked special status given to Jammu and Kashmir and bifurcated it into two union territories.