Earlier today, an accidental transmission of the hijacking squawk code onboard a Norwegian Air flight from Barcelona to Oslo resulted in the scrambling of Danish Air Force F-16s.
The Incident Involving A Norwegian Flight from Barcelona to Oslo…
A Norwegian flight from Barcelona on Thursday afternoon was intercepted by Danish F-16 fighter jets after what appears to be an accidental squawk code setting.
The alleged incident took place onboard a Boeing 737-800 registered LN-NOD on the service from Barcelona around 16:00 local.
The Danish Air Force reportedly sent two F-16 aircraft to assess the situation.
The aircraft was well underway with flight DY1741 from Barcelona to Oslo during the event, and has, according to Radarbox.com, continued on the original flight path, as well as landed at Oslo without further disruptions.
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As mentioned, the incident appears to be a mistakenly set squawk code. However, this remains unconfirmed.
In reports from Norwegian newspaper VG.no, Norwegian’s Communications Advisor, Anna-Lena Nordling, commented on the flight from Barcelona to Oslo:
“It was a wrongfully transmitted message about a hijacking initiated by the aircraft, which was corrected immediately upon recognition by the pilots. The message is then received by Norwegian’s operation controls center. Thus, routines are followed and resulted in a fighter jet escort of the aircraft.”
Nordling further commented to VG.no that the entire situation was sorted within nine minutes after the message was wrongfully delivered. There was no reported drama around the situation.
Briefly explained – what is a squawk code?
In commercial aviation, operating aircraft must be equipped with a transponder, a piece of equipment that carries altitude, speed, and general aircraft information.
In the world of aviation, three specific squawk codes are used for distress calls, these being;
- 7500 – Hijacking
- 7600 – Radio communications failure
- 7700 – General Emergency
This is a developing story.
