Psychological training may be mooted -- Alliance Air crew over-reacted during `hijack'

Ashok Dasgupta

Ashwini Phadnis

NEW DELHI, Nov. 2

WAS it a hijack bid aborted, a `mock' hijack enacted or a `comedy of errors' show on the Alliance Air night flight from Mumbai to Delhi on October 3 which had the Prime Minister, his senior Cabinet colleagues and bureaucrats wide awake and on their toes till the wee hours of the morning.

None of these. It was over-reaction, plain and simple. Over-reaction on the part of the pilots and the cabin crew. That is the firm conclusion drawn up by the committee headed by Mr S.B. Mohapatra, Special Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs, which was set up at the instance of the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to look into the high drama hoax show and recommend measures so that such incidents do not recur in future.

According to informed sources, the draft report of the Mohapatra Committee, which is now under preparation and is to be submitted to the Home Minister, Mr L.K. Advani, some time next week, is likely to recommend inclusion of psychological training in the curriculum for personnel being recruited as pilots and cabin crew.

Such a training schedule is considered essential as the cabin crew members should have the presence of mind as also be level-headed to react in good time under stress and such trying circumstances without losing their cool. In this regard, the report is also understood to have suggested a close study of the recruiting process of leading airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, so that such incidents do not occur again.

On October 3, it may be recalled, there was absolute confusion over the status of the Alliance flight with initial reports suggesting - and later the pilot confirming - that the aircraft had been hijacked. This had led to the Prime Minister, and the Crisis Management Group (CMG) comprising the Home Minister, several other senior Cabinet Ministers and bureaucrats staying up for the better part of the night to tackle the situation.

By around 4 a.m. on October 4, however, in typical Hollywood style, while NSG personnel `stormed' the aircraft, the drama ended in a spoof with no sign of the hijackers and the passengers getting off the aircraft without any untoward incident.

The first draft of the report is said to have gone into minute details of the various actions of the crew. And what has come to the surface is its overreaction which snowballed into people believing that an actual hijack had taken place. Detailed analysis of the tapes and extensive debriefing of the passengers and crew by the committee has "conclusively proved" that the passenger in question did not carry any hand baggage at all. Moreover, the blanket which is supposed to have been used to conceal the weapons had actually been provided by the crew.

Initial reports had indicated that the crew became suspicious of a passenger who was fidgeting in his seat, covering his hands with a blanket and kept opening his hand baggage.

The action of the cockpit crew to press the transponder switch for transmitting the hijack signal despite there being no hijacker in the cockpit is also being viewed by the committee as another instance of overreaction.

``There were no demands by the hijackers, there was no hijacker in the cockpit asking to be flown to a particular destination. The plane had been incapacitated with a bowser stationed in front on the runway to prevent the aircraft from taking off. Besides, the plane had landed at its destination. What then made the crew think that there was a hijack,'' the committee wondered.

However, despite the incident causing a furore, the committee is said to have stopped short of making any specific suggestions on what should be done to prevent such incidents in future. Explaining the reason for this, sources said that after the September 11 incidents in the United States, international aviation bodies were looking into this matter.

``We will wait for their reports and then see how we can incorporate them here. However, that does not mean that we will not do anything towards preventing such incidents in the future,'' sources said.

However, the committees terms of reference are not being broadened to include a recent security lapse on an Air India flight which allowed two Afghan nationals to travel from India to London without proper documents and seek asylum there.