- It led to fears that the fake air traffic controllers wanted to sabotage the plane
Unidentified “enemy elements” reportedly attempted to hijack the communications of a passenger plane flying from Thailand to Israel last weekend – the second attempt in the past week.
Israel’s national airline El Al told local media that a flight from Phuket to Tel-Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport was threatened on Saturday when outside actors tried to divert the plane from its destination.
The pilots of El Al flight LY88, a Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner, were told in a rogue radio message that they had to deviate from their regular route to an alternative course.
This led to fears that the fake air traffic controllers wanted to sabotage the plane or land it in a dangerous location.
The source of the communications leak was reportedly traced to the breakaway state of Somaliland, although El Al did not specify whether they were able to identify the group or actor responsible.
But pilots ignored the message and managed to re-establish communications with Israeli air traffic control, who successfully guided the flight in safely.
Israel’s national airline El Al told local media that a flight from Phuket to Tel-Aviv’s Ben-Gurion International Airport was threatened on Saturday when outside actors tried to divert the plane from its destination (FILE PHOTO: El Al Boeing 787s at Ben -Gurion airport)
El Al tried to allay concerns, telling Israeli news channel Ynet: “The disruptions are not aimed at (El Al) aircraft and it is not a safety incident – the disruption did not affect the continuation of the flight.”
But another outlet, KAN Reshet B, said another flight from the Thai capital Bangkok to Tel-Aviv had suffered a similar cyber attack several days ago.
And the Jerusalem Post quoted an anonymous El Al employee as saying: “In Somalia there have been communications disruptions all week, not just for El Al planes.
“The official authorities have instructed all pilots not to listen to the instructions and switch to another means of communication as soon as this happens with a certain frequency.
“Our pilots are being instructed on how to deal with this incident, such as the problematic frequency, and how to handle the flight professionally if it happens,” the source said.