False alarm at Schiphol after plane accompanied by F-16s lands
Wednesday 29 August 2012
A plane flying from Malaga to Amsterdam was intercepted on Wednesday afternoon by two F-16 fighter jets after radio contact with the pilot could not be established.
The Veuling Airbus A320 with 183 passengers was accompanied by the F-16s to a remote runway at Schiphol airport.
'When there is no contact with the pilot that is reason for us to take action,' a spokesman for the counter terrorism organisation NCBT told the Nos. He spoke of a 'calamity'.
The immediate suspicion was that the plane had been hijacked. However, passengers and the Spanish airline said there was nothing wrong on board.
According to press reports, the passengers had no idea what was going on. 'First we circled, then we landed and the pilot said there was no problem in the plane, but that there was a problem at the airport,' one passenger said.
After a short wait on the runway, the Airbus was allowed to taxi to a gate.
© DutchNews.nl
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