Pakistan

Indonesian jets force PIA plane down

Two Indonesian fighter jets forced a PIA plane to land after it entered Indonesian airspace without authorisation.

Express March 08, 2011

JAKARTA: Two Indonesian fighter jets forced a Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) plane to land after the latter entered Indonesian air space without authorisation, the Associated Press quoted officials as saying on Monday.

However, a spokesperson for PIA said the aircraft is chartered by UN peacekeepers in East Timor and might have strayed off course due to bad weather.

Local air force chief Agus Supriatna said the Boeing 737-300 with 54 people aboard landed Monday at the Sultan Hasanuddin airport in Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi province.

He said it would be allowed to leave after arranging necessary documents.

PIA spokesperson Tajwar Mashood said that the Pakistani Embassy in Indonesia has been informed and is taking action.

PIA does not have regularly scheduled flights for passenger to any destinations in Indonesia, though it does fly to Malaysia. Agencies

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2011.

COMMENTS (14)

Ameer Hamza | 13 years ago | Reply Just a mistake. Indonesia is a huge country geography wise, so it is possible for pilots to stray a bit. As the report says, perhaps due to bad weather. Nothing else.

Talha Masood | 13 years ago | Reply Come on guys! can't we leave at least some threads free from regular india-pakistan tug-of-war?? this has nothing (or very little) to do with the original topic! We (Pakistanis and Indians) are always ready to fight with each other!....please get a life!

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Adam | 13 years ago | Reply @Cosmo He's probably a Lahori Punjabi...they tend to think like that.

bvindh | 13 years ago | Reply @Asmat Jamal: I agree with you on this one. Pakistan was diligently crafted to be the fiefdom of rich Punjabi landlords. I wonder if Jinnah, as smart as he is, anticipated it.

abraham | 13 years ago | Reply so much for the ummah understanding each other...

MS | 13 years ago | Reply ''Spokesperson for PIA said the aircraft might have strayed off course due to bad weather''..The same way Air Blue plane AB202 did and hit Margalla`Hills???

Cosmo | 13 years ago | Reply @Asmat Jamal: Ahh, there you go...yet again the INDIA reason. Get over us man and make some future for yourself.

John | 13 years ago | Reply @Rahul: @Asmat Jamal: LoL. So now it all Indian Muslims fault. Can not even understand this level of thinking.

Naeem Siddiqui | 13 years ago | Reply Asmat Jamal, I don't understand how does your comment relate to this news?? A PIA flight diverted from its path for whatever reason and Indonesian authorities took action as per their own SOP. it seems every thing happened as normal and as per SOP. Commercial flights do divert from their path because of lots of reasons and every country have their own security procedure to deal with the situation. I don't even consider it as a news.

M. Salim | 13 years ago | Reply @Asmat - skewed analogy and preceptive comments with no reference to reality on the ground which is that the illiterates from the mountains have come to the plains with no clue on civilized behaviour - evident all round -- latest from Faisalabad (better off as Lyallpur)

Rahul | 13 years ago | Reply @Asmat Jamal: Nice point, Pakistan itself was created to protect the wealth of rich Indian Muslims.

Meekal Ahmed | 13 years ago | Reply This is very bizarre. Wasn't the aircraft under radar control? Why did the pilot not call for radar assistance/vectors if he felt he was "lost"? Why didn't the pilot contact other aircraft on his radio frequency and ask for assistance? It takes extraordinarily bad airman-ship to get "lost" in a modern aircraft -- but it does happen and not only to PIA!

Asmat Jamal | 13 years ago | Reply PIA is reflective of so many things going wrong for this country. It is understood that decay when starts, is visible in all the organs. Corruption, incompetence and nepotism has wrecked PIA. As a matter of fact Pakistan started its journey on the road of nepotism from day one. The Indian Leadership that came to run the affairs of Pakistan showered lands, shops, businesses, houses on those who accompanied them. Indigenous people were kept at bay from all the privileges. What you see today is the outcome of the past.

khanman | 13 years ago | Reply Might have strayed off what? This guy is flying International flight - can't he read avionics details. Who cares if it was chartered by UN. Indonesian force did the right thing. He is required to inform the ground before entering the Indonesian airspace and ask for permission to get clearance. I hope this captain is detained by security police. This pathetic captain should be demoted to a purser.

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