Transponder Malfunction?

ANN REAL TIME NEWS -- 1555 EDT: A Virgin Atlantic Airbus A340-600 landed safely at Halifax, Nova Scotia on Friday after its transponder somehow emitted a code indicating the plane had been hijacked. There was no immediate word on what activated the alarm -- only that the crew and nearly 300 people on board were safe.

"There was no threat associated to the plane," RCMP Constable Joe Taplin told the Canadian Press.

The perception of threat by Canadian authorities was relatively short-lived, Taplin said. The aircraft was intercepted at 1010 local -- approximately two hours before it landed in Halifax. The Airbus was cleared by means of a secret communication between the intercepting Canadian warplanes and the inbound passenger flight.

When asked how the intercepting CF-18 pilots knew the pilot aboard the A340 was all right, one Virgin official told ABC News, "We have ways of knowing he is OK, which we cannot let know."

Once on the ground, the aircraft was boarded by black-clad members of a local emergency response team to ensure there really was no trouble aboard the flight. They interviewed both crew members and passengers.

"We had our emergency response team go on the airplane to determine what was actually taking place," Taplin told the CP.

The A340-600 carried 271 passengers and a crew of 16, according to Virgin. The London-New York flight was to be processed in Halifax before departing late in the day for its original destination.

FMI: www.virgin-atlantic.com