Coffee spill diverts United Airlines flight

January 6th, 2011 - 1:55 am ICT by Aishwarya Bhatt  

Chicago, Jan 5 (THAINDIAN NEWS) An United Airlines which was scheduled for Frankfurt from Chicago made an abrupt stop in Canada after some spilled coffee triggered a hijacking alert.

The Canadian authorities confirmed that the plane landed safely at the Pearson International Airport on late Monday. When the plane landed, Canadian law enforcement agents were told that the alert was probably due to communication error.

The Canadian authorities later told reporters that the Federal Aviation Administration in the United States have notified them that the alert was triggered when a pilot on the United Flight 940 “had inadvertently squawked a 7500 code after spilling coffee on the aircraft’s radio equipment, which interfered with the communications equipment.”

One of the pilots in the cockpit had his coffee spilled when the plane experienced turbulence shortly after it took off. The spill caused some issues with the plane’s communication system. However throughout the period, the pilots were in contact with the air traffic control.

The plane had 241 passengers on board with 14 crew members. The pilots chose to land in Canada and rectify the problem before crossing the Atlantic Ocean.

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