AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS – 6 November 2019 – A pilot of Air Europa accidentally pressed the hijack button in an airplane causing a major security action at the Schipol airport in Amsterdam today.
Dutch military police made a statement that they are investigating a “suspicious situation” at Schipol airport.
Amsterdam’s airport is one of the busiest European airports that faced a prospect of disrupting air travel in Europe. However, only part of the airport was closed off due to police response to the threat.
After an hour, Air Europa announced that a pilot had accidentally triggered the alarm.
“False alarm. In the flight Amsterdam-Madrid this afternoon was activated, by mistake, a warning that triggers protocols on hijackings at the airport,” the airline tweeted.
Regulation documents published by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) explain that pilots can use a special transponder beacon code, typing 7500, to raise an alert for unlawful interference in the case of a hijacking.
