India B788 over Hungary, Slovakia and Czechia on Mar 10th 2017, loss of communication

Last Update: March 16, 2017 / 21:49:56 GMT/Zulu time

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Photo of Air India VT-ANT, Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — Air India VT-ANT, Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner (Photo credit: Alec BHX/KKC / Flickr / License: CC by-sa)

Incident Facts

Date of incident
Mar 10, 2017

Classification
Incident

Airline
Air India

Flight number
AI-171

Departure
Ahmedabad, India

Destination
London Heathrow, United Kingdom

Aircraft Registration
VT-ANT

Aircraft Type
Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner

ICAO Type Designator
B788

An Air India Boeing 787-800, registration VT-ANT performing flight AI-171 from Ahmedabad (India) to London Heathrow,EN (UK) with 231 passengers and 18 crew, was enroute at FL400 entering Hungarian Airspace at about 08:42Z, the crew however did not report on Budapest Center. While the aircraft continued along its planned flight track across Hungary and Slovakia Czech fighter aircraft were dispatched to intercept the aircraft and met the aircraft over Czechia at 09:22Z. However, the aircraft re-established contact with ATC still in Hungarian Airspace and continued normally, Czech ATC reported that the crew reported normally at 09:07Z upon entering Czech Airspace. After the aircraft was handed off to Germany Germany's, Belgium's and UK's Airforce escorted the aircraft for the remainder of the journey to a safe landing in London Heathrow at 10:57Z.

The occurrence aircraft remained on the ground in London for 3:15 hours, then departed for the onward leg to Newark,NJ (USA) with a delay of about 45 minutes.

Operators of German nuclear power plants reported they were instructed to evacuate three nuclear power plants in Germany due to the loss of communication between DFS (Deutscher Flugsicherung) and AI-171.

Military sources in Czech Republic and Germany reported that contact with the aircraft was lost at about 08:42Z while the aircraft entered Hungarian Airspace and was not heard thereafter, Czech and German fighter aircraft were dispatched. After Czech fighter aircraft intercepted the Boeing 787 at 09:22Z the captain of the B788 hand signalled that the flight and flight crew was okay, they were experiencing technical trouble. The fighter aircraft escorted the Boeing 787 through Czech Airspace, German fighter aircraft took over to escort the aircraft through German Airspace as the aircraft entered German Airspace. The B788 crew manged to restore radio communication at 09:36Z (loss of communication for 54 minutes) already in German Airspace, Germany's, Belgium's and UK's Airforce escorted the aircraft for the remainder of the journey to a safe landing in London Heathrow at 10:57Z.

Hungarian Military reported however that Hungarian Fighter Aircraft intercepted the Boeing 787 at about 09:00Z, contact with Hungarian ATC was restored thereafter (which amounts to a loss of radio communication for 18 minutes).

On Mar 14th 2017 Czechia's ANS (Air Navigation Services) reported that the crew reported normally on Czechia's frequency 134.590MHz upon crossing from Slovakia's Airspace into Czech Airspace at 09:07Z, military services were immediately notified of the established contact, NATO decided to continue the intercept however, the reasons are unclear, possible scenarios could have been a misunderstanding between NATO units or perhaps NATO had information about a person under suspicion on board of the aircraft. The crew responded normally to several calls by ATC throughout flying through Czech Airspace. One of the crew members was heard on the emergency frequency obviously talking to an unknown station located most likely located in Hungary trying to explain that they were now in contact with Prague Center. At 09:21Z the crew confirmed communication quality was 5 by 5. At 09:33Z the aircraft was handed off to Rhein Radar, the crew acknowledged correctly. There had been no problems communicating with the aircraft on either frequency, the intercept by Czech and subsequent air forces therefore remains mysterious.

On Mar 16th 2017 The Aviation Herald received information that Hungary's military aircraft were dispatched when VT-ANT was still in Romanian Airspace and became airborne when VT-ANT was about above Cluj (Romania).