1. MISSION (IM) POSSIBLE TO BEIRUT
1. There was never a dull moment while I was undergoing my aircrew tenure as a Flt Signaller in
one of the premier transport squadrons of the IAF. I was indeed enjoying the adventure involved in
flying in the mighty IL-76 aircraft where one sortie could not define what you were going to experience
in the next. Many interesting missions within and outside India were discussed in the crew room which
was not probably thought necessary or important enough to be documented in any Aviation magazine
or in a Flt Safety Journal. The maturity in the squadron was remarkable and the atmosphere was one of
thorough professionalism.
2. One late afternoon on 10 Aug 06, the Flt Cdr called up and asked for an immediate assembly in
the Sqn briefing room to announce preparation of an aircraft and 2 sets of crew for an Op mission for
relief mission to Beirut, Lebanon which was actually to evacuate Indians stranded there in the wake of
massive Israeli bombing in the region. My immediate thought went to cancelling my planned leave
which was slotted during the same period. No doubt, the mission was not one of routine nature and
involved a lot of risks as the first hand information gave an impression that all the three runways at Rafic
Hariri International airport in Lebanon had been bombed by Israeli fighters and to add to the confusion,
there was no refueling facility or Ground Power Units at the so-called airport and the entire region
surrounding Lebanon had been declared a no-flying zone by the Israelis. NOTAMs issued indicated that
those aircrafts that still felt adventurous enough to venture into this air space would compulsorily have
to be carrying an Emergency Locator Transmitter on-board and to be ready to transmit on the
International distress frequency, giving one the feeling that a trigger-happy fighter pilot could use you as
target practise on the flimsiest of reasons. It looked like something straight out of a Hollywood war
movie.
3. Mission planning regarding route, load, refueling halts, communication, aircraft preparation,
crew etc. started off immediately. As expected, our friendly neighbour and her neighbours would not
permit an Indian military aircraft to overfly their air space and so a longer route had to be planned. The
STO and his team got on to preparations for the arduous task
knowing fully well the odds that were stacked against this
mission going through without a glitch. Before we knew it,
the aircraft took off at 4:00 AM fully loaded with medical aid,
blankets and tents on 19 Aug 06 from Delhi airport with 2
sets of fully qualified crew. One refueling halt at Muscat and
then, airborne again for Cairo. After all, time was at a
premium and we wouldn’t want to be bringing back body
bags.
Wg Cdr PJ Thomas (22026-N) was commissioned in the AE(L) branch of IAF in 1992 and is
presently Directing Staff in Aero(L) Faculty at AFTC, AF.

2. 4. Knowing that the mission was suicidal in nature, only one set of crew were to undertake the
mission into Beirut from Egypt. However, the picture still wasn’t clear as to how much of the bombed
runways were available for landing. The DA at Cairo who was a Naval Officer was tasked to gather as
much information regarding the runway availability and any other facility that would be available at
Beirut. The only information that could be gathered was that the DA (Col Ajay Talwar) and the
Ambassador (Mrs. Nengcha Lhovum) from Turkey would arrive and receive us at Beirut and were
personally coming there to coordinate our move and that of the stranded Indians. And yes, we did
manage the contact number of Col Ajay. The satellite phone given to me at the start of the mission came
as a life saver. It later turned out to be the most important link in the mission.
5. Col Ajay Talwar was indeed hard to contact at Beirut, but then that was expected knowing that
Beirut was in turmoil. Finally, just before take-off I could get through on the satellite phone to Col Ajay
at Beirut and asked him to find out about the physical runway availability of all 3 runways, weather
conditions, offloading arrangements and any other ground support that may be available like refueling
and Ground Power Units. Take-off took place on time as planned with only one briefing that we head
north, intercept radial 270 from Beirut and turn right as instructed by the Israeli authorities, make one
attempt to land if there is any runway available and if unsuccessful, we head back to Cairo as we
wouldn’t have sufficient fuel. 15 minutes after take-off we were on course and after a few attempts, I
got the call through to Col Ajay on the satellite phone. He confirmed that there was one runway 16
which had a huge crater but had about 2000 mtrs available and that the other 2 runways were totally
unusable. He said not to expect any ground support facility other than help for off-loading. He described
the weather as per his own understanding and it seemed that at least the weather gods were on our
side. I announced all this information on the intercom for all the other crew members and everyone
looked at each other with various calculations going through their minds.
6. The information on the runway given by Col Ajay was
the most critical one, since as per the conditions that day, the
aircraft would require around 1800 mtrs of runway to come to
a complete halt. Although there was pin drop silence in the
cock-pit, it could easily be seen that there was only one thought
racing in their minds that ‘We have to make this work!’ The vast
expanse of ocean beneath us seemed calm and serene and in
the distant horizon we could see land. Instructions were being
received on R/T both from the Rafic Hariri ATC and the Israeli
ATC. Soon, RWY 16 projecting into the sea was looming large in front of us and the concentration levels
in the cockpit were at its peak. Everyone knew that there was only one shot at this. Despite the slight
tail wind, the touch down was pin point accurate, after all it was the country’s reputation at stake here.
As the aircraft rolled to a halt, everyone’s eyes were glued onto the huge crater in the runway about 50

3. to 100 mtrs in front of the aircraft. If the aircraft had glided just a little bit before touch down, we would
have filled that crater with an IL-76 aircraft! The dare devilry had paid off.
7. The aircraft cleared off the nearest taxi link to the
tarmac where we were greeted by the Ambassador and the
DA with huge smiles of relief. One engine was kept running
for a quick turn-around. The satellite phone once again
came in handy to transmit messages to all concerned. In
about 2 hrs time, the aircraft was off-loaded and the 34
anxious stranded Indians were boarding with a big thank
you to all the crew members. The IL-76 aircraft majestically
lifted off the same runway without a glance back. It slowly
started sinking in as to what we had just done!
8. On the way back, we landed at Cairo, changed over to the 2nd
crew, refueled and then it was no-
stop flying through the night back to India via Muscat. At Delhi, we were greeted by various senior
officers and the media. The whole episode was executed without even a single glitch and every single
action took place as planned or as trained. Every technical and aviation function of the squadron proved

4. itself beyond doubt with a sense of pride. Hats off to all the men that worked behind the scenes and the
many unsung heroes that made this mission happen.
9. The next day in the squadron, the IL-76 aircraft took off at 06:00 AM on a routine air
maintenance sortie and life continued as normal not even giving anybody the slightest hint that this
aircraft could have been filling a crater half way across the world or that it could have been lying at the
bottom of the ocean!