Simviation Forums

Canadian fighter jets are currently shadowing Virgin Atlantic flight 45 after the jet, which was headed from London to JFK, broadcasted a hijacking attempt.

Virgin Atlantic has claimed that a faulty piece of equipment is to blame, but the Canadians are taking no chances and will be escorting the aircraft into Canadian airspace.

I hope so. Sure they aren't taking chances!

SO, did they inadvertantly squawk 7500, or did the transponder just give up alltogether...

...Ah well, brightened up the day of a couple of pilots then

Virgin Atlantic has claimed that a faulty piece of equipment is to blame...

A food cart attempted to take controll of the aircraft...

Not many details are available right now...it's literally taking place right now.  The aircraft is in the air over the Atlantic, and is being brought in.  I'm sure once it's on the ground and maintenance checks out the ship, they'll know more specifically what happened.

The plane has landed and it's being called a false alarm (thankfully).  

Oh dear... SO a mechanical error made the transponder squawk 7500 then...

he might have been trying to set it and it malfunctioned at that exact moment. whaaat? it could happen

Like any of us know what happened.  It could have been any of a million different things.  It's really not fair of us to judge without knowing what happened up there.

Don't panic Mr Mainwaring......! A false alarm always seemed the most likely explanation to me. Things tend to go wrong at the most inconvenient times. At least it proves the system works & gave the RCAF something to do. As for being able to switch it off once it's been set off surely that defeats the whole object.

I have to wonder what would happen if Canada had refused it permission to land.

PS. Don't think I'm being flippant. My favourite niece is cabin crew on Virgin Atlantic & it's quite possible she was on this flight. She might just as easily be sitting at home with her feet up, I really don't know. The media loves this sort of thing & will inevitably get all the mileage out of it that they can. I'm sure they will find whatever caused it without their help.

[quote]Like any of us know what happened.

*Closes transponder-hacking program*
*Rubs hands*
Excellent!

*Closes transponder-hacking program*
*Rubs hands*
Excellent!