‘Assalaam Alaikum! We’re proud of you’: Karachi ATC, as Air India flight doing relief work passes Pak airspace
New Delhi: It is good to see how personal enmity is put aside to fight the bigger evil. An unusual display of bonhomie by Pakistan recently in these testing times of coronavirus has shown how there’s no love lost between India and her estranged kin.
The Indian government has been working round the clock to rescue stranded civilians in other parts of the world and bring them back to their homeland after being stuck in their respective countries due to the sudden outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic.
National carrier Air India has been working day and night to ensure all Indians are brought back safely and are provided adequate relief material in such an emergency situation.
In order to ensure that, the national carrier flies to and from Europe on a regular basis and crosses the Pakistani airspace en route. As is the protocol, the country in which you enter relays details of airspace clearance through the Air Traffic Control (ATC).
During one such soiree, an Air India flight was in for a surprise as it entered the Karachi airspace. The pilots of the aircraft received an unexpected praise from an ATC controller in Pakistan.
“It was a very proud moment for me as well as the entire Air India crew when we heard from Pakistan ATC praising our special flight operations to Europe,” one of the senior captains of the special flights told news agency
‘Assalaam Alaikum’
“As we entered Pakistan’s Flight Information Region, the Pakistan Air Traffic Controller greeted us with ‘Assalaam Alaikum! This is Karachi’s control welcoming Air India for relief flights to Frankfurt,” the Pakistan ATC said, according to the senior flight captain.
Excerpts from the conversation:
Pakistan ATC: Confirm, are you operating relief flights for Frankfurt?
Air India captain: AFFIRM!
Pakistan ATC: You are cleared direct to exit point Kebud request estimate crossing Kebud (Exit).
Air India captain: Cleared direct Kebud, Thank you.
Pakistan ATC: We are proud of you that in a pandemic situation you are operating flights, Good Luck!
Air India captain: Thank you so much!
Further assistance…
When the flight captain told the Pakistan ATC that he was not getting connection to the next radar for the Iranian airspace, Pakistan relayed information of the Indian aircraft’s coordinates to the Tehran airspace.
When the special Air India flight entered Iran, the captain said this was the first time in his career as a pilot that the Middle Eastern country gave a direct route of over 1000 miles, ANI reported.
“First time in my entire career as pilot, Iran gave a direct routing for about 1000 miles a privilege guess enjoyed as special flights, in all especially in the recent tense situation in the Iranian airspace,” the AI pilot said.
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