Fox news is reporting that a Virgin Airline flight from Heathrow to Washington DC is emitting its hijacking signal.
This may be an equipment failure. On the other hand, IIRC Virgin's cockpit doors are not secured.
UPDATE:The source said the fighter jets had already met the flight in the air and the pilots reported not seeing anything unusual on board. The fighter jets fly along side the plane in question and the pilots are able to see both the pilots in the cockpit, as well as the passengers. No one looked particularly alarmed, the aviation source told FOX News.
As I said, this might be a random equipment failure. Or, I suppose, it might theoretically be an induced failure to test responses to an actual hijacking. Or maybe the pilot was just flying and eating and bumped the button accidentally ..... (thin smile)
UPDATE: the flight has landed under fighter escort in Canada (Halifax, Nova Scotia) and has been isolated for the initial investigation. The presumption is a technical problem in the Airbus equipment.
"The presumption is a technical problem in the Airbus equipment."
Should have gone with Boeing.