Advertisement

Hijack alert sees Turkish plane's jet escort

The Local Austria
The Local Austria - [email protected]
Hijack alert sees Turkish plane's jet escort
Turkish Airline's Boeing 737. Photo: David/Wikimedia

A Turkish Airlines pilot's mistaken activation of a hijack alarm triggered a high-octane security deployment at Vienna airport on Friday, Austrian police said.

Advertisement

The error -- coupled with a depressurization warning and then unexplained radio silence from the cockpit -- led to two jet fighters being scrambled to escort the Boeing 737 to land at Vienna's Schwechat airport.

The passenger plane had been flying from Frankfurt to Istanbul when panicked passengers saw oxygen masks fall from the ceiling after it was hit by a pressurization problem.

The pilot -- who had asked to make an emergency landing  -- apparently inadvertently activated the hijack alarm as he responded to the problem, police said, confirming a report on the website of the daily Kurier newspaper.

Authorities stepped down from their hijack alert status 40 minutes after the plane landed, Kurier said.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also