BREAKING: Police Surround Jet Blue Aircraft at JFK

I think they took somebody off the plane.

😨

a reply to: xuenchen


Maybe somebody in a pantsuit?

a reply to: Skyfloating

Far from the first time it's happened, and won't be the last. They even had a Korean Air Cargo squawk hijacking on 9/11.

The transponder code for no communication/radio out is 7600. The code for hijacking is 7500. Easy to make a mistake while troubleshooting and doing multiple tasks at once.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Can you find a picture of the transponder which may have been used? I don't imagine it's the type I used on my brother's Travel Air, with the knobs.

a reply to: Phage

They have the older one that uses dials to set the code, or this one, which is the digital version.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Maybe they should rethink the codes.

a reply to: Phage

Personally, I've never understood why they set them so close. Hijacking, radio out, and emergency are only one number apart. I'm surprised this doesn't happen more often.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I know that Center scolded my brother at least once after I set the transponder to the wrong numbers.

a reply to: Phage

If you want a good close up look at some fighters set it to 7500.

a reply to: Zaphod58


That would be cool.

Of course, I don't have a pilot's license.

Thanks for the expert opinion, Zaphod.
It's always appreciated.

a reply to: IAMTAT

Always happy to help.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
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.

Unless it was 9/11..then no response from fighters..strange how that works

originally posted by: carewemust
a reply to: xuenchenMaybe somebody in a pantsuit?

Triggered? Again? Still?

a reply to: WalterTilley

There was a response by fighters, but there were only four in the Northeast that were armed and on alert. All four launched, but even if they had launched in time all they could do was watch. The order to shoot down any hijacked aircraft didn't come until shortly before Flight 93 crashed.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Four fighters launched in groups of two from Wright Pat that day. Two went Eastward and broke the sound barrier then quite a bit later two went Westward and broke the sound barrier. The west bound ones were later said to be headed to intercept Air Force One as escort replacements.

a reply to: Ahabstar

There m might have been s CAP flight that landed there for fuel, but the alert fighters were from Langley and Otis.

I'm suspicious about the story changing. "No radio contact" and "accidentally called in a hijacking" are not remotely compatible as explanations.

Are we sure the SWAT team didn't haul someone away with them?

a reply to: AndyFromMichigan

So now the media is accurate in what they report? It's hard to keep up. This is the same group that once put up the headline, "Experts: Boeing 777 would struggle to maintain altitude after running iout of fuel".

The change in story makes much more sense when you find out that there's not a radio code, but there IS a transponder code for a hijacking,and the two codes are one number apart.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Crap like this is why conspiracy-oriented sites like ATS exist. Somebody completely made up the "no communication" story. Pure fake news.

The official line on the Vegas shooting continues to evolve to this day, and hasn't yet come close to matching witness statements and effin video documentation!