The MEDIA has done it to us again guys, I think they should change the "trip" reference and go with something new. What do you think guys??
I don't want a hijacker blowing a hole in the side of my head just because I transmitted a "trip" to ATC.
We NEED a new secret word!! THIS IS BAD, REALLY BAD!
The terrorist read this board too, you know. It would be naive to think otherwise
-Suzy
Future airline capt'
Pilot miscommunication trips interception in N.C.
CHARLES HURT
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Linthicum, Md -- In what turned out to be a high-profile false alarm, fighter jets screamed into North Carolina on Tuesday to intercept a US Airways flight authorities believed had been hijacked after taking off from Charlotte, officials said.
Flight 1814 and its 45 passengers and five crew members left Charlotte at 8:07 a.m. and landed at Baltimore-Washington International Airport at 9:31 a.m. Passengers and crew members disembarked about 11 a.m. after the authorities determined that no threat existed.
The troubles began, according to federal officials, when the pilot of the Airbus 319 switched radio frequencies to leave the Southern air control space and enter the Eastern air control space. He told flight controllers he was "taking a trip to flight level 2-3-0," meaning an altitude of 23,000 feet.
The word "trip" was a poor choice because it is a code word for hijacking.
"It really was as simple as that," said one official with the Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation. The code word is not a closely held secret, the official said.
The plane continued on its normal route with the pilot likely unaware of what he had set off.
Within minutes, two armed F-16s -- dispatched from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington D.C. -- swooped in beside the jetliner, close enough for some passengers and the crew to see them.
Two more fighter jets were sent to patrol the skies over Washington.
Upon touchdown, the plane was met by officials from several Maryland and federal agencies, who escorted it to an unused part of the airfield.
For most passengers, that was their first indication something was wrong.
Arthur Ramsey of Greenville, S.C., who was flying to Baltimore on a business trip, said about 30 minutes after the plane landed, the pilot told passengers there had been a miscommunication and the crew was trying to take care of it.
"The pilot was really nervous. He didn't have a clue -- you could hear it in his voice," Ramsey said.
Two FBI agents boarded the plane and went directly to the cockpit, Ramsey said. Other agents and police officers appeared to be searching the baggage compartment.
"At first we were all kind of joking about it," Ramsey said. "But the more cop cars that showed up, we knew it was serious. A lot goes through your head in a situation like this because they weren't giving us a lot of information."
It's hardly the first time fighter jets have been dispatched since Sept. 11.
Air Force Maj. Ed Thomas, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said jets have been dispatched to escort passenger planes about 500 times since Sept. 11 because of everything from a broken radio to a miscommunication.
Such actions were extremely rare before Sept. 11.
"It's the force of last resort," Thomas said. "But we're leaving nothing to chance anymore."
The fighter jets are prepared to shoot a hijacked plane down if ordered to do so by the president or the secretary of defense.
LaTease McAllister, visiting family in Baltimore from Los Angeles, said the event "was no big deal, really."
"The only thing is, I guess I don't have to contact anyone to tell them I'm here," she said, lugging her bags through the crowd of news reporters and television cameras.
I don't want a hijacker blowing a hole in the side of my head just because I transmitted a "trip" to ATC.
We NEED a new secret word!! THIS IS BAD, REALLY BAD!
The terrorist read this board too, you know. It would be naive to think otherwise
-Suzy
Future airline capt'
Pilot miscommunication trips interception in N.C.
CHARLES HURT
Knight Ridder Newspapers
Linthicum, Md -- In what turned out to be a high-profile false alarm, fighter jets screamed into North Carolina on Tuesday to intercept a US Airways flight authorities believed had been hijacked after taking off from Charlotte, officials said.
Flight 1814 and its 45 passengers and five crew members left Charlotte at 8:07 a.m. and landed at Baltimore-Washington International Airport at 9:31 a.m. Passengers and crew members disembarked about 11 a.m. after the authorities determined that no threat existed.
The troubles began, according to federal officials, when the pilot of the Airbus 319 switched radio frequencies to leave the Southern air control space and enter the Eastern air control space. He told flight controllers he was "taking a trip to flight level 2-3-0," meaning an altitude of 23,000 feet.
The word "trip" was a poor choice because it is a code word for hijacking.
"It really was as simple as that," said one official with the Federal Aviation Administration. Aviation. The code word is not a closely held secret, the official said.
The plane continued on its normal route with the pilot likely unaware of what he had set off.
Within minutes, two armed F-16s -- dispatched from Andrews Air Force Base near Washington D.C. -- swooped in beside the jetliner, close enough for some passengers and the crew to see them.
Two more fighter jets were sent to patrol the skies over Washington.
Upon touchdown, the plane was met by officials from several Maryland and federal agencies, who escorted it to an unused part of the airfield.
For most passengers, that was their first indication something was wrong.
Arthur Ramsey of Greenville, S.C., who was flying to Baltimore on a business trip, said about 30 minutes after the plane landed, the pilot told passengers there had been a miscommunication and the crew was trying to take care of it.
"The pilot was really nervous. He didn't have a clue -- you could hear it in his voice," Ramsey said.
Two FBI agents boarded the plane and went directly to the cockpit, Ramsey said. Other agents and police officers appeared to be searching the baggage compartment.
"At first we were all kind of joking about it," Ramsey said. "But the more cop cars that showed up, we knew it was serious. A lot goes through your head in a situation like this because they weren't giving us a lot of information."
It's hardly the first time fighter jets have been dispatched since Sept. 11.
Air Force Maj. Ed Thomas, with the North American Aerospace Defense Command, said jets have been dispatched to escort passenger planes about 500 times since Sept. 11 because of everything from a broken radio to a miscommunication.
Such actions were extremely rare before Sept. 11.
"It's the force of last resort," Thomas said. "But we're leaving nothing to chance anymore."
The fighter jets are prepared to shoot a hijacked plane down if ordered to do so by the president or the secretary of defense.
LaTease McAllister, visiting family in Baltimore from Los Angeles, said the event "was no big deal, really."
"The only thing is, I guess I don't have to contact anyone to tell them I'm here," she said, lugging her bags through the crowd of news reporters and television cameras.
