=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- This article was sent to you by someone who found it on SF Gate. The original article can be found on SFGate.com here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=3D/c/a/2003/04/29/BA167401.D= TL ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, April 29, 2003 (SF Chronicle) Pilot error puts S.F. airport on hijack alert Chronicle Staff Report When the pilot of Mexicana Airlines Flight 976 -- bound from Mexico City to San Francisco -- began having radio difficulties Monday night, he entered a four-digit code to alert SFO authorities of the communication breakdown. But he unwittingly hit one wrong number. Instead, the alert received by authorities at San Francisco International Airport was that Flight 976 was being hijacked. And so began the three-hour ordeal for the 168 passengers of Flight 976, said San Francisco police and officials at SFO. SFO flight controllers received the hijack signal just after 6 p.m. and immediately radioed the pilot -- but couldn't get through, said airport spokesman Mike McCarron. When the plane landed at 6:45 p.m., SFO was braced for trouble. Authorities escorted the plane to a secure location and surrounded it with police who -- not knowing the plane's radio was down -- tried to make contact by radio, McCarron said. Meanwhile, buses were brought to the plane for any passengers who could be removed. More than two hours passed without contact, and when contact was finally established through an open plane door, there was a language barrier, McCarron said. It wasn't until San Francisco police brought a Spanish-speaking officer = to the scene that authorities realized what had happened and that everything was OK, McCarron said. At 9:19 p.m., the 168 passengers were set free -- at least from the plane -- and allowed to continue their journey to U.S. Customs. "This turned out to be a drill for us," McCarron said.=20 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 2003 SF Chronicle