Captain Devi Sharan’s other tryst with danger with the pilot who flew IC 814 back home

NEW DELHI: Captain Devi Sharan — the captain of hijacked IC 814 in Dec 2019 — and Captain S P S Suri — the pilot flew the hijacked aircraft of erstwhile Indian Airlines back home on Jan 1, 2000, — had another tryst with danger 12 years later. This time the two and their cabin crew member colleagues got stuck in civil-war torn Libya and were waylaid by AK 47-totting youngsters on the streets of the city.Luckily, they escaped unhurt.
India had launched “Operation Safe Homecoming” in Feb 2011 to evacuate its citizens fleeing the Libyan civil war. Captains Sharan and Suri had operated an Air India Airbus A330 to Sabha in Libya which got grounded on arrival due to a snag. “The city, and the entire country, was seeing serious unrest. Somehow escorts were arranged to take us from the airport to an abandoned hotel in the city. There was no staff there and we had to search for something to eat in the kitchen,” Captain Suri, now retired, told TOI. Captain Sharan still flies for AI, now the Boeing 787.
Captain Sharan had also spoken to TOI about this episode in an interview three years ago.
“The next day, again with armed escorts, we went to the city to look for food. On the way, we were stopped by armed people and asked to lie down on the road. Our escorts explained that we were airline staff from India and had got stuck there. Then the machine gun-totting youngsters let us go,” said Suri. The food hunt did not go well either — there was only camel meat in the market which the Indian crew did not take. Indian diplomats arranged pizzas, again only tuna fish pizzas with no veg option to be found, for them.
Two days later when a replacement part was sent for the grounded aircraft and the same was fir to fly, the two daredevil pilots took off for what was to be a nonstop flight to Delhi. This journey was also not without its share of last-minute surprises.
“Enroute, Lebanon refused us overflying. We had to turn back and then took Egypt permission to overfly. Then we went to Saudi Arabia; took a fuelling halt in Jeddah and then came to Delhi,” recalled Suri. The two pilots go back a long way and their chemistry helped come out of this situation too. This had happened when the 2011 cricket World Cup, which India won, was between Feb 19 and April 2, 2011. India had won that cup.
On the fateful Dec 2019, Captain Sharan and Captain Suri had taken off almost simultaneously from Dubai (for Kandahar) and Sharjah (for Calicut), respectively, in the early hours of Christmas. “We had come to know about IC 814 hijacking while on the ground in Sharjah. While operating these flights, I spoke to Captain Sharan on RT (radio telephony) and asked him how are you. He had replied, ‘Sir, I can’t talk’,” Suri said.
On landing in Delhi from Calicut later that day, Captain Suri from the airport left for Kandahar along with a team of officials and IA staff including Captain J R D Rao whose bravery he recalls with tremendous admiration.
On Dec 31, 1999, everyone onboard IC 814 including Captain Sharan were flown back to Delhi. Captain Suri, J R D Rao and two others stayed in Kandahar as they were to fly the hijacked Airbus A330 back home, which they did the next morning in true daredevil style. The old saying luck favours the brave proved to be correct for them.
“On Jan 1, we decided to give it a try and start the engines of IC 814 without any ground power. Luckily the engine started with a growl after seven days and we started taxiing. The Kandahar air traffic control asked us to stop and told us we did not have take off clearance. There was a fuel bowser close to our aircraft and I was worried one side wing of the aircraft might hit it. Captain Rao, who had a sore throat and could barely speak, told me, ‘keep going) Suri said.
They took off from Kandahar with Afghan ATC shouting they did not have permission to do so. Shortly thereafter they entered Pakistan airspace, where also they were told they did not have the same. “I just kept saying hello, hello, can’t hear or something like that. We had butterflies in out stomach that Pakistan will scramble jets and force us to land. That did not happen.”
The four members heaved a sigh of relief when they heard from “alpha control” — Amritsar ATC welcome IC-814 D (delayed) to India and tell them they had a straight routing clear for India.