Hijack alarm sparked on Singapore Airways flight after technical glitch

A Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) flight from Los Angeles to Singapore accidentally sent out a false hijacking alarm after suffering a technical glitch. The flight transmitted a transponder code indicating a possible hostile takeover of the aircraft.

Shortly after taking off from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on June 10, 2022, flight SQ37 sent out a 7500 transponder code, according to flight tracking site ADS-B Exchange.

In international aviation, a 7500 transponder code indicates that an aircraft has been hijacked and needs emergency support.

However, the aircraft, an Airbus A350, continued on its normal course, the emergency signal stopped and was no longer being received, which meant that it was a false alarm.

The Daily Mail, who first reported the incident, received confirmation from Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) that there was no emergency onboard flight SQ37.

“Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) is in contact with the pilots on board SQ37, operated on an Airbus A350-900, which departed Los Angeles International Airport on 10 June 2022 at around 2355hrs local time,” a spokesperson for Singapore Airlines (SIA1) (SINGY) said.

“The pilots have confirmed that there is no emergency on board. The flight is enroute to Singapore, and is scheduled to arrive on 12 June 2022 at around 0750hrs local time,” the spokesperson added.

Based on information from FlightRadar24, SQ37 arrived in Singapore on June 12, 2022 at 07:35AM, 15 minutes earlier than expected.