Plane from Karachi deviates from path while entering India, forced to land at Jaipur airport

A Georgian cargo plane which was coming from Karachi to New Delhi took a detour and deviated from it's scheduled path while entering the Indian air space through North Gujarat sector at 3.15 PM on Friday afternoon. According to Defence Ministry, the aircraft didn't follow ATS route and didn't respond to radio calls. This lead to activation of IAF Defence aircrafts regarding possible foul play and the plane was forced to land at Jaipur airport. 

#WATCH: Indian Air Force fighter jets force an Antonov AN-12 heavy cargo plane coming from Pakistani Air space to land at Jaipur airport. Questioning of pilots on. pic.twitter.com/esuGbtu9Tl

— ANI (@ANI) May 10, 2019

Since ATS routes in the area were closed due to the current geopolitical situation, and the aircraft entered Indian Air Space from an unscheduled point, the Air Defence interceptor on operational readiness was scrambled and vectored towards the unknown aircraft for investigation. On visual contact, the aircraft was identified as Georgian An-12 flying at twenty seven thousand feet. The aircraft neither responded on international distress frequency nor to visual signals during interception. However, when challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non scheduled An-12 aircraft that had got airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi. The aircraft was shadowed and forced to land at Jaipur for necessary investigation.

 The aircraft was successfully intercepted by highly alert IAF Air Defence aircraft and was forced to land at Jaipur airfield. The pilot is being questioned and securitymen are sweeping the plane for any possible red alerts. The plane was escorted by two Sukhoi pilots.