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BYOD
4th May 2004, 14:09
SIA airbus 345 landed with F16 up its a*se at LAX with SWAT team storm boarding. Why? Finger trouble. ACARS hijack squawk code. Oops! 18 hrs of boredom. Give the yanks half a chance. :O

Airbubba
4th May 2004, 14:51
Jetliner Greeted in Force at LAX

Authorities board the flight from Singapore after a hijacking alarm is mistakenly transmitted.

By William Wan
Times Staff Writer

May 4, 2004

Minutes after landing at Los Angeles International Airport on the final leg of her round-the-world tour, Nouritsa Biberian, 19, had her first American experience: Armed guards boarded her Singapore Airlines plane and shouted orders.

"Put your hands up!" a SWAT officer told the 126 passengers and 18 crew members of Flight 20.

Terence Lee, a Singapore dentist flying in for a convention, said he "thought it was some new anti-terrorism thing." Lee said that a third guard arriving in the cabin said, "It's OK, put your hands down; it doesn't matter anymore."

As it neared the end of its 18-hour flight, the plane had been transmitting the signal for a hijacking. The alarm code has to be manually entered by the pilot. Air traffic controllers in Los Angeles had seen the alert and contacted the pilot, who assured them that the transponder was malfunctioning, said Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Donn Walker.

But officials on the ground took no chances.

An F-16 military jet was dispatched to accompany the plane, a long-range Airbus A340-500, into the area. SWAT and hostage negotiation teams from the FBI and LAPD rushed to the scene.

The plane landed in a remote section of the airport at 5:25 p.m., a few minutes before its scheduled arrival and about half an hour after local and federal law enforcement agencies had been alerted about the possible threat.

Within minutes of the landing, FBI agents determined the alarm to be false — something they said they could not know for certain until the plane was boarded and investigated.

"We had a complete rapid response team in place, as well as our counterparts," said FBI spokeswoman Laura Bosley. "In that sense, it keeps you sharp."

On board the plane, however, passengers on the longest nonstop flight into Los Angeles said that at first they had no idea anything was awry.

"We landed on a remote landing strip almost empty, then all of the sudden there was a ladder and the military police or someone came up on the plane with big guns and heavy equipment," said Dr. Chusilp Charn.

Charn also had been at the airport on July 4, 2002, when a gunman went on a shooting rampage at the ticket counter of El Al Israel Airlines.

"I don't know why it keeps happening with me," he said.

Biberian, a British teenager, said she had heard that fear of terrorism was so high in Los Angeles that some people didn't want to go to the mall.

"Now," she said Monday night, "I'm not sure what to expect next."

For at least one passenger, the incident seemed to be an authentic Hollywood experience.

When she saw the men with guns, Christine Herrin, 19, said she thought: "Oh, cool, it's a SWAT team just like in the movies." Herrin, who is from the Philippines, said she put her hands in the air as instructed, but wasn't scared.

"But the guns were really big," she said. "Bigger than they show on TV."

For Albert Ng, 41, of Singapore, the delay was unexpected and unwelcome. Ng, vice president of a semiconductor company, was waiting at the airport for two colleagues to arrive. He said they had flown the airline because it is known for being on time.

When his co-workers made it out of customs shortly after 7 p.m., Ng rushed them through the terminal doors to face a more predictable hazard: freeway traffic.

"We have to drive to Orange County for a business dinner," Ng said. "It's good they're safe, but we're going to be very, very late."


http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-singapore4may04,1,4024290.story

MidnightSpecial
4th May 2004, 15:09
I am glad that the crews throats' weren't slashed and that the plane didn't pile into one of the towers of downtown EL Lay.

All's well that ends well.

MS

fesmokie
4th May 2004, 15:17
Hopefully the TSA didn't get to the Pax Baggage afterwards and destroy it like they usually do.

davethelimey
4th May 2004, 16:03
How did it manage to land in a remote area of the airport? Surely it used a runway like everyone else.

To be honest, would rather see accidental squawks followed up in this way, even if assurances are given.

Basil
4th May 2004, 19:13
BYOD,
May I respectfully suggest that you remove the code?

Out Of Trim
4th May 2004, 23:43
BYOD - Acars Squawk - Errr I don't think so!

Try Transponder!

You know the code that's shows on ATC secondary radar..:p

BYOD
5th May 2004, 05:05
Oops! Basil u are absolutely right. :eek:

cfijacho
5th May 2004, 07:11
Apparently SIA A345 has a remote hijack alert button that once 'accidently' depressed in the air cannot be reset untill after landing . For the 17 hours flight just one wrong button, not bad ... :ok:

golfyankeesierra
5th May 2004, 11:18
cfijacho
If that's true... wouldn't you call that classified? And not so ready available as the squack?
Nice to see it in the papers tomorrow.

Lithgow
7th May 2004, 10:18
Secret/classified hijack codes and/or buttons? Pah!

Just for fun, why don't you guys go to Google.com and try the following keywords:

hijack squawk code

For those of you too lazy to do that, just click here:

http://www.google.com/search?q=hijack+squawk+code&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&start=20&sa=N

These are just some of the many industry documents found:

http://www.honeywelltcas.com/support_pages/whitepapers/honeywellsolutionsfortranspondermandates020814.pdf

http://asrs.arc.nasa.gov/directline_issues/dl7_say.htm

http://www.aviationnow.com/content/publication/awst/2002outlook/aw203.htm

and by the way, here is the "official" explanation on the cause of the code:

http://www.todayonline.com/articles/18876print.asp

Crew member set off SIA hijack alarm by accident

Friday • May 7, 2004

THE hijack alarm that had a United States F-16 jet scrambling to escort a Singapore Airlines flight into Los Angeles on Tuesday was accidentally set off by a crew member.

Flight SQ20 was escorted into LA airport and stormed by US police, in response to the alarm transmitted by the plane's transponder.

The US Federal Aviation Administration spokesman, Mr Don Walker, said investigations so far showed that the device was switched on by mistake. SIA confirmed that one of the cockpit crew had activated the alarm inadvertently.

The crew realised the mistake but the signal could not be deactivated while the plane was in flight.

SIA is conducting an internal investigation to establish how the mistake occurred and how to prevent it from happening again. — NewsRadio 93.8

Copyright MediaCorp Press Ltd. All rights reserved.

flyhardmo
7th May 2004, 21:07
SIA confirmed that one of the cockpit crew had activated the alarm inadvertently.

New F/O: Ooh! I wonder what this button is for??? Oh F:mad:
:p

jtr
8th May 2004, 00:35
Those pesky Malaysians at it again.

422
8th May 2004, 06:38
I caution the fella with such racist comments.

Let us refrain from such comments that serve no

purpose.

I am sure no one likes to be ask about their " mothers"

Peace, bro

:D

stable approach
8th May 2004, 07:38
422,
I think you missed the point.
Any problem and the SQ management immediately look for the foreign crewmember to blame it on.