avia.wikisort.org - Event

On September 11, 2001, Korean Air Flight 085 (originating from Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea) was en-route to Ted Stevens International Airport in Anchorage, Alaska, when information about the September 11 attacks was relayed to the crew. The pilot in command's ACARS message reply included the letters "HJK", a prompt interpreted as a distress signal indicating that the flight had been hijacked. When ordered to squawk 7500 (a "hijack" code), the pilot complied, despite miscommunication that implied he would disregard the instruction.[2][3]

Korean Air Flight 085

HL7404 (Boeing 747-400)
Occurrence
Date	September 11, 2001 (2001-09-11)
Summary	Suspected hijacking, false alarm
Site	Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport, Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 747-4B5
Operator	Korean Air
Registration	HL7404
Flight origin	Incheon International Airport, Incheon, South Korea
Stopover	Anchorage International Airport, Anchorage, Alaska, United States
Destination	John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, New York, United States[1]
Passengers	215
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	215

Flight 085 was ordered to divert to Whitehorse International Airport in Canada's Yukon territory. U.S. officials and Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien authorized the aircraft to be shot down if it did not cooperate.[4] The airliner pilots complied and the 747 landed safely in Whitehorse, with U.S. F-15 military jets escorting it. The suspected hijacking turned out to be a false alarm.

Incident

After the September 11 attacks, a call went out for all international planes to return to their airports of origin (or if they did not have enough fuel, to land in Canadian territory). While discussing the day's events with the Korean Air office, the pilot of Flight 085 included the letters "HJK" (the code for "hijacked") in an airline message.[1] When the pilot sent his message, the text messaging service company, Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC) noticed the "HJK" code.[1] ARINC officials, worried that the South Korean pilots might be sending a coded message for help, notified North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Taking no chances, NORAD scrambled F-15 jets from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage to intercept the 747, with Alaska Air Traffic Control (ATC) asking the pilots coded questions.

ATC instructed the flight to change its transponder code to 7500, the universal signal for hijack, expecting that, if they had not been hijacked, the pilots would respond to that same effect. Instead, they simply complied with the instruction, which ATC took as confirmation that the flight had indeed been hijacked.[2][5] Worried that a possible hijacked plane might strike a target in Alaska, Governor Tony Knowles ordered the evacuation of large hotels and government buildings in Anchorage. At nearby Valdez, Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard ordered all tankers filling up with oil to head out to sea. Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was in charge of the NORAD planes that scrambled to shadow Flight 085, told reporters in 2001 that he was prepared to order the South Korean airplane to be shot down before it could attack a target in Alaska.[1]

With NORAD telling Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center (AKA: Anchorage ATC) that it would shoot down the airliner if it came near any potential targets, these controllers informed Flight 085 to avoid all population centers and head out of the U.S. to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. NORAD promptly called Canadian authorities seeking the go-ahead to shoot the plane down over Canada:

I said, 'Yes, if you think they are terrorists, you call me again but be ready to shoot them down.' So I authorized it in principle, It's kind of scary that ... [there is] this plane with hundreds of people and you have to call a decision like that. ... But you prepare yourself for that. I thought about it – you know that you will have to make decisions at times that will [be] upsetting you for the rest of your life.

— 2001 Prime Minister Jean Chrétien[4]

Ninety minutes after the South Korean pilots changed their transponder signal to the 7500 hijacked code, the plane landed safely in Whitehorse. Canadian officials evacuated all schools and large buildings before the plane landed.[6] On the tarmac, Flight 085 was met by armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, who, after interrogating the pilots, learned the whole ordeal was caused by a translation error.[6] The South Korean pilot stated that he had been ordered by Air Traffic Control to change the transponder signal and Air Traffic Control confirmed having done so.[2] A second Korean Air 747, a cargo plane, was also diverted to Whitehorse that day.[7] The incident coincided with Operation Yellow Ribbon, the operation that Transport Canada created to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights following the attacks.

Korean Air still uses Flight 085 on its Seoul-Incheon to New York-JFK route. However, the flight no longer stops in Anchorage and its normal equipment is now the Airbus A380-800, Boeing 747-8I, Boeing 777-300ER, or Boeing 787–9.

Timeline of events

September 11, 2001

• Flight 085 takes off from Incheon International Airport in Seoul, South Korea.
• 8:46:40 a.m. (Eastern Time Zone (ET)) – American Airlines Flight 11 is flown into the World Trade Center's North Tower
• 9:02:59 a.m. (ET) – United Airlines Flight 175 hits the World Trade Center's South Tower[8][9]
• 9:37:46 a.m. (ET) – American Airlines Flight 77 crashes into The Pentagon[10]
• 9:58:59 a.m. (ET) – The South Tower collapses.
• 10:03:14 a.m. (ET) – United Airlines Flight 93, whose ultimate target was thought to be either the United States Capitol or the White House, crashes near Shanksville, Pennsylvania[11][12]
• 10:10 a.m. (ET) – The portion of The Pentagon wall hit by American Airlines Flight 77 collapses.
• 10:28:23 a.m. (ET) – The North Tower collapses.
• 11:08 a.m. (ET) The pilot of Flight 085 includes the letters "HJK", a code for hijacked, in an airline message
• 12:00 p.m. (ET) – ARINC officials notify NORAD about the use of the hijack code
• 1:00 p.m. (ET) – Jets are scrambled from Elmendorf Air Force Base to shadow the plane
• 1:24 p.m. (ET) – Upon request from ATC, the Korean pilots change their transponder signal to the four-digit universal code for hijacked — 7500[5]
• 1–2:45 p.m. (ET) – Alerted that a possible hijacked plane might strike a target in Alaska, Governor Tony Knowles orders the evacuation of potential targets
• 2:54 p.m. (ET) – Flight 085 lands safely in Whitehorse and is met by armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who determine that the plane was not hijacked

See also

• Delta Air Lines Flight 1989

References

На других языках

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[de] Korean-Air-Flug 85

Die Piloten des Fluges 85 der Korean Air, der am 11. September 2001 von Seoul-Incheon nach Anchorage stattfand, wurden aufgefordert, in Whitehorse, Kanada, zu landen, da die Flugsicherheitsbehörde die Vermutung hatte, dass das Flugzeug entführt worden sei. Dies wurde angenommen, da ARINC eine Nachricht an die Fluggesellschaft abgefangen hatte, die „HJK“ enthielt, und die Piloten zusätzlich auf Grund der Anordnung eines US-amerikanischen Fluglotsen den Transpondercode auf 7500 setzten, den internationalen Notfallcode für Flugzeugentführung, anstatt dieser Anordnung laut FAA-Manual mit “no I’m not being hijacked” („Nein, wir wurden nicht entführt“) zu widersprechen und sie somit auch nicht auszuführen.[2] Wegen der Annahme der Behörden, das Flugzeug sei entführt worden, wurde es durch amerikanische Beamte und den Premierminister Kanadas, Jean Chrétien zum Abschuss freigegeben.[3] Die Piloten des zivilen Luftfahrzeugs kooperierten jedoch und wurden durch amerikanische F-15-Kampfflugzeuge zur Landung in Whitehorse veranlasst.

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- [en] Korean Air Flight 085

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[fr] Vol Korean Air 85

Le 11 septembre 2001, le vol Korean Air 85 est en chemin pour l'aéroport international d'Anchorage Ted-Stevens en Alaska, lorsque des informations sur les attentats du 11 septembre sont transmises à l'équipage. La réponse au message ACARS du commandant de bord comprend les lettres « HJK », un message interprété comme un signal de détresse indiquant que le vol est détourné. Lorsque le contrôle aérien leur demande d'entrer 7500 sur le transpondeur (un code de « détournement »), le pilote s'y conforme, malgré une mauvaise communication impliquant qu'il ne tienne pas compte de l'instruction[2].

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