Virgin 747 under escort to Canada
 

...a virgin 747 from London to JFK, have been intercepted and is under escort at this time to Halifax Canada, after squanking the code for Hijack...

Flight Diverted Due to Hijack Alarm

The Associated Press
Friday, June 3, 2005; 10:40 AM

WASHINGTON -- Canadian fighter jets intercepted an airliner over the Atlantic on Friday after the aircraft emitted a signal indicating a hijacking was in progress. The pilots later said there was no hijacking.

Homeland Security Department spokeswoman Katie Montgomery said that Virgin Airlines Flight 45 was en route from London's Heathrow Airport to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, when the aircraft becan emitting code 7500, which indicates a hijacking is in progress.

"Communications have been made with the pilots," Montgomery said. "The pilots are indicating there is no hijack."

Homeland Security is checking other indicators to confirm the pilots' information, she said.

The plane will land in Canada, Montgomery said.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...060300539.html

VS045 is operated by A340-600...

Looks like they are almost on the ground at Halifax, landing at 1513Z...

CNN now report a/c landed at Halifax 1506

From www.bbcnews.com:

Plane diverts after hijack error
A US-bound passenger plane has been diverted to Canada after wrongly transmitting a hijack warning.
The Virgin Atlantic airliner, carrying 273 passengers, was heading from London to New York when US aviation officials asked it to divert to Halifax, Canada.

Virgin confirmed it had spoken directly to the crew and they were safe.

It said the plane's transponder, which sends information to radar stations and air traffic control, had inadvertently sent code used to warn of a hijack.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4607657.stm

Surely a 7500 squawk would need some kind of human input?? but hey, i'm just a controller.

Comments???

JB

Looks like a quick turn (for a long haul airliner) they are proposed off YHZ at 1620Z, ETA JFK at 1748Z...

On Sky news.
"Problem caused by mechanical fault".

would that be the mechanics of a dodgy index finger.

Anyway,
Thankfully the Canadians intercepted him. Could have been a bit interesting if the yanks had had a go.

;)

It is not that unknown for the kit to give the wrong squawk - so don't condemn the operator - maybe blame the parrot!

BBC radio report this afternoon said the crew were aware that the transponder was sending 7500 but could do nothing to stop it.

It will be interesting to get the story from the horses mouth when they can do so.

There are otherways than actually typing in the code to activated it. Customer choice if they are fitted but should one of these devices fail then yes it's quite possible the pilots did not select the code and could not subsequently change it.

Hmm, I wonder what this guarded switch does..................

tech glitch and acknowledged as such whilst still feet wet

nice of NBC to broadcast the actual 'words' of ATC/Pilot RT exchange steps to establish a 'noduff'...

:mad: idiots (media - not crew, airbus or ATC)

BBC Radio 5 news at 5am (Radio 4 doesn't open until 0530, so I have a lawful excuse) referred to the aircraft as a 'Boeing 340'.

Excuse the basic nature of my question, but....

In an incident such as this, what would happen?

So, ATC see the airliner has squawked 7500, would they not take this up with the pilots? or would they not do so, on the assumption that if the pilot could verbally communicate the fact they had been hijacked, they would have done so in addition to squawking 7500?

So, jets are scrambled, and at this point ATC, or the pilot of the chase jet, informs the Virgin airliner they must now proceed to an alternative airport.

At which point the pilot would surely inquire why this is required? would the confusion not be cleared up at this point? or is it then standard procedure to continue with the escort on the basis that they may no longer be talking to the pilot?

Thanks
EGLD

Jet feared hijacked diverted to Halifax
Faulty beacon

Richard Dooley
The Daily News

June 4, 2005

HALIFAX - A British jet was diverted to Halifax yesterday after a glitch in its transponder sent out a false hijacking alarm.

The Virgin Atlantic Airbus 340-600 landed at Halifax International Airport just before noon Atlantic Daylight Time under escort of two CF-18 fighter jets from Bagotville, Que.

It was met on the runway by police and fire trucks and kept on an isolated runway away from the terminal.

The plane was boarded by an RCMP emergency response team, but it was quickly determined the alarm was triggered by a mechanical failure.

"We talked to the captain and the passengers and we've now turned the plane over to the airport authority," said Halifax RCMP spokesman Constable Joe Taplin.

The plane spent about four hours on the runway before being cleared to take off shortly before 4 p.m.

The incident didn't affect other flights in and out of Halifax International Airport.

It's not clear if Canada's Transportation Safety Board will conduct an investigation or if the incident will be investigated by transportation authorities in the United States or Britain.

The plane, carrying 289 people from Heathrow Airport in London to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, sent out the false hijacking in progress code over the mid-Atlantic.

The signal was picked up by Canadian air traffic controllers, who notified NORAD command in Winnipeg. NORAD scrambled two fighter jets to intercept the Airbus over the Atlantic Ocean.

But after talking to the pilot of the plane, Virgin Atlantic decided it was a false alarm.

"The aircraft was diverted purely as a precautionary measure," said airline spokeswoman Brooke Lawer. The jet landed in New York around 5:30 p.m.

Air traffic controllers, NORAD and the pilot of the plane decided to land in Halifax.

"The final call on where to land was made by the government of Canada," said NORAD spokeswoman Lieutenant Jennifer Jones.

Lieut. Jones said NORAD has flown more than 40,000 sorties and intercepted 2,000 planes since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

© National Post 2005



EGLD

Read between the lines the U.S. was not going to allow any aircraft who had transmitted an hijacking alarm to land in the U.S. until it had been checked. Period. No one considers this to be a game.

EGLD

If the hijacking were for real then the crew would try to type in the code without being noticed. ATC asking "are you are being hijacked??" would not go down well. I guess also that even if the pilolts said that everything was ok, they could be saying that because they have a gun in the back of their heads. Much better to get the thing on the ground and check it out.

SW

Presently Squaking 6503. Change to 7207. Wind first no to 7 then last no to 7 via in decreasing nos 32107. Presto! at a moment you have 7500. 7500 locked in on NORAD's. :O Wonder Canada will send intecept bill to Virgin, like SIA got billed 3 million by US for Pacific A340 intercept. Ah, shud have known - Airbus. :p

So put the XPDR to STBY when changing the squawk?

No No No! This has been done to death before on Pprune. We have been told ALL transponders have a 'pause' function when codes are being changed so it is deemed not to be necessary.

It WAS SOP in the RAF in the 70-80's but things have moved on since then.:rolleyes: