Hijack Scare Grounds LA-Bound Flight At JFK

LOS ANGELES, CA — Passengers onboard a JetBlue flight bound for Los Angeles got the scare of their lives Tuesday when an accidental report of a hijacking prompted authorities to surround the plane as it sat on the tarmac at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.

The confusion was caused when the plane's pilot attempted to inform the control tower that his radio wasn't working. He accidentally keyed in a code signaling a hijacking, law enforcement sources told the New York Post. Flight 1623 was supposed to take off at 7:30 p.m., but was delayed until 11:23 p.m. while police, firefighters and ambulances scrambled to the scene to check the plane. The plane was expected to arrive at Los Angeles International Airport at 2:28 a.m. (PDT) Wednesday, The Post reported.

"Shortly before departure, Flight 1623 from New York JFK to Los Angeles experienced a radio issue impacting the crew's ability to communicate and a false alarm was sent to JFK tower," JetBlue spokeswoman Paula Acevedo said in a statement, the newspaper reported.

"While communication was re-established via alternate channels, authorities responded in an abundance of caution. The aircraft was cleared and returned to the gate for inspection."

A passenger on the plane tweeted that "10 heavily armed cops boarded plane," which spent 90 minutes on the runway before it was towed back to the gate.

Another passenger tweeted about the panic that gripped the travelers when they saw police surround the plane. "Honestly thought we were going to die," tweeted Alexa Curtis.

Woah. My worst nightmare. @Delta JFK to LAX right now, honestly thought we were going to die. I AM ALIVE THANK GOSH I MEDITATE U GUYS what is going on pic.twitter.com/6RVxy9HC4t
— Alexa Curtis (@Alexa_Curtis) June" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/Alexa_Curt... 27, 2018

City News Service contributed to this report.