JetBlue Flight Boarded By Authorities After A 'Radio Equipment Problem'

When authorities received a special transponder code from JetBlue Flight 1623 lined up on a taxiway at New York's JFK Airport Tuesday indicating that the flight was being hijacked, police, including a SWAT team, quickly surrounded the aircraft.

But CNN reports that, according to the FAA, the hijack code was transmitted in error. The agency said in a statement that the airplane "experienced a radio equipment problem" as it waited to depart on its flight to Los Angeles. Air traffic controllers were unable to contact the pilot of the aircraft, compounding the problem.

The aircraft was inspected, and it was determined that there was no security threat, according to a Port Authority spokesperson. Passengers were not told why their airplane had been surrounded by police, but were taken to a new airplane once the incident was resolved, according to the report.

In a statement, JetBlue said "while communication was reestablished via alternate channels, authorities responded out of an abundance of caution."

(Image from file)

FMI: Original report