Easyjet flight surrounded by armed police on arrival at Palma Airport in Mallorca « Euro Weekly News

Easyjet flight surrounded by armed police on arrival at Palma Airport in Mallorca

Image of an easyJet aircraft.

Image of an easyJet aircraft. Credit: Kamilpetran/ Shutterstock.com

AN Easyjet flight that arrived at Palma Airport in Mallorca this Thursday, October 26, was immediately surrounded by armed police.

The flight arrived from Birmingham in England and was met on the tarmac by a large number of both Guardia Civil and National Police officers as it landed at the Balearic island facility.

It was reported that the aircraft’s pilot somehow accidentally activated a hijack alert, according to The Sun. The passengers were not allowed to disembark from the plane until the cops had conducted a thorough search of the plane’s interior.

Once it was established that the incident was in fact a false alarm, the security forces were eventually stood down.

What happened once the aircraft touched down?

Exactly how the hijack alarm came to be activated at around 1 pm local time has not yet been revealed. The flight’s landing path was reportedly diverted just moments before it was due to touch down.

Modern aircraft are thought to be equipped with technology that allows the pilot to relay a ‘silent alert’ to air traffic controllers in the event of any potential hijack attempt.

This is said to be done by means of a four-digit ‘unlawful interference’ code being transmitted to operators manning the control tower.

Written by

Chris King

Originally from Wales, Chris spent years on the Costa del Sol before moving to the Algarve where he is a web reporter for The Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com

Comments


    • Robert Faraday

      27 October 2023 • 14:04

      Rather strange considering the squawk codes of 7xxx series have to be individually manually entered.

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