BREAKING: Police Surround Jet Blue Aircraft at JFK

a reply to: IAMTAT

Told you.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: IAMTAT

Told you.

a reply to: EchoesInTime

They have pills for that don't they?

Video/commentary from passenger on flight.
SWAT came aboard...passengers had to raise hands in air.
twitter.com...

a reply to: IAMTAT

Police picking up their Cocaine shipment perchance?

originally posted by: Zaphod58
Electrical failure. Simple answer. Police response is standard when no one is talking on the radio and it's on the taxiway. They aren't going to take anyone's word until they board and check.

I don't like hearing "electrical failure" when I'm on a plane 😳

a reply to: KansasGirl

Better on the ground than in the air.

The reason they responded like this is because all the tower knows is that there's a plane on the ramp that is no longer responding. So they alert the police, who call for reinforcements. They have to verify that there's nothing wrong on board, so they send armed officers on board top search the aircraft.

The crew, meanwhile, is busy trying to figure out why they suddenly can't talk to anyone, and if it's a more serious problem, or something they can fix fairly easily. Even if they weren't that busy, they can't just call up the tower and say, "hey, I'm the pilot on flight x, our radio is out". Even if they have the tower number handy, the tower doesn't know that it's coming from that aircraft, and even if it is, they don't know if there's someone standing behind them with a weapon making them say everything is fine.

The same response happens in the air if a plane stops talking, only in that case, they send fighters to check things out first, then meet them on the ground with police. This was a perfectly normal, SOP response to a non-communicating aircraft.

a reply to: KansasGirl

Pilots don't like saying electrical failure on a plane.

originally posted by: skunkape23

genius...

glad everyone's okay - we could go for some good news for once

a reply to: Cancerwarrior

Oh there's a story.
A strain of a rare virus being secretly transported as a small bottle of mouthwash is accidental broken by the operative. The virus is extremely fast acting and is 99% fatal.
The crew cannot be reached and when the cabin is breached the virus will escape into Queens.

false alarm

The story has changed:

Pilot mistakenly called in hijacking, plane forced back to JFK terminal. A JetBlue pilot accidentally radioed in that his plane was being hijacked at JFK, triggering a massive response of cops and firefighters who surrounded the craft on the tarmac, officials said. The pilot of Flight 1623, bound for Los Angeles, reported a problem with the plane’s radio equipment to the tower — but inadvertently used the...

nypost-24.com...

This would certainly explain the SWAT team on board.

"Accidentally called in a hijacking" sounds unlikely.

originally posted by: Skyfloating
"Accidentally called in a hijacking" sounds unlikely.

Yes. I don't suppose that happens very often.
Accidentally reporting a hijacking...combined with radio failure at the same time...seems a little suspect.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Easy mistake to make if you don't have your glasses on. Here's some of the list of codes they're talking about;

a reply to: Skyfloating


We don't get many plane hijackings, like in the 70's/80's. Or maybe they're just not newsworthy any more?