Korean Air Flight 85 - Incident

Incident

After the September 11 attacks, a call went out for all 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 85 included the letters "HJK" (the code for "hijacked") in an airline text message. When the pilot sent his message, the text messaging service company, Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated (ARINC) noticed the "HJK" code. ARINC officials, worried that the Korean pilots might be sending a coded message for help, notified North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). Taking no chances, NORAD scrambled two F-15 jets from Elmendorf Air Force Base to intercept the 747, with Alaska air traffic control (ATC) asking the pilots coded questions. Civil airline pilots are trained to answer these questions in a coded way if hijacked.

The Korean pilots, following direct instructions to do so by ATC, declared themselves hijacked by changing their transponder signal to the four-digit universal code for hijack, 7500. 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, (also in 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 85, told reporters in 2001 that he was prepared to order the Korean plane to be shot down before it could attack a target in Alaska.

With NORAD telling Anchorage ATC that it would shoot down the airliner if it came near any potential targets, these controllers informed Flight 85 to avoid all population centers and head out of the country to Whitehorse, Canada. NORAD promptly called Canadian authorities seeking the go-ahead to shoot the plane down over Canadian soil:

"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... 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 upsetting you for the rest of your life". —2001 Prime Minister Jean Chrétien

Ninety minutes after the Korean pilots changed their transponder signal to the 7500 hijacked code, the plane landed safely in Whitehorse, Canada. Canadian officials evacuated all schools and large buildings before the plane landed. On the tarmac, Flight 85 was greeted by armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who, after interrogating the pilots, learned the whole ordeal was caused by a translation error. The Korean pilot stated that he had been ordered by Air Traffic Control to change the transponder signal while Air Traffic Control denied having done so.

Korean Air still uses Flight 85 on its Seoul-Incheon to New York-JFK route. However, the flight no longer stops in Anchorage.