After the September 11 attacks, a call went out for all international planes to return to their airports of origin. While discussing the day's events with the Korean Air office, the pilot of Flight 85 included the letters "HJK" in an airline message. When the pilot sent his message, the text messaging service company, Aeronautical Radio, Incorporated noticed the "HJK" code. ARINC officials, worried that the South Korean pilots might be sending a coded message for help, notified North American Aerospace Defense Command. Taking no chances, NORADscrambled F-15 jets from Elmendorf Air Force Base in Anchorage to intercept the 747, with Alaska Air Traffic Control asking the pilots coded questions. ATC instructed the flight to change its transponder code to 7500, the universal signal for hijack, expecting that, if they had not been hijacked, the pilots would respond to that effect. Instead, they simply complied with the instruction, which ATC took as confirmation that the flight had indeed been hijacked. Worried that a possible hijacked plane might strike a target in Alaska, Governor Tony Knowles ordered the evacuation of large hotels and government buildings in Anchorage. At nearby Valdez, Alaska, the U.S. Coast Guard ordered all tankers filling up with oil to head out to sea. Lt. Gen. Norton Schwartz, who was in charge of the NORAD planes that scrambled to shadow Flight 85, told reporters in 2001 that he was prepared to order the South Korean airplane to be shot down before it could attack a target in Alaska. With NORAD telling Anchorage Air Route Traffic Control Center that it would shoot down the airliner if it came near any potential targets, these controllers informed Flight 85 to avoid all population centers and head out of the U.S. to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. NORAD promptly called Canadian authorities seeking the go-ahead to shoot the plane down over Canada: Ninety minutes after the South Korean pilots changed their transponder signal to the 7500 hijacked code, the plane landed safely in Whitehorse. Canadian officials evacuated all schools and large buildings before the plane landed. On the tarmac, Flight 85 was met by armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers, who, after interrogating the pilots, learned the whole ordeal was caused by a translation error. The South Korean pilot stated that he had been ordered by Air Traffic Control to change the transponder signal and Air Traffic Control confirmed having done so. A second Korean Air 747, a cargo plane, was also diverted to Whitehorse that day. Korean Air still uses Flight 85 on its Seoul-Incheon to New York-JFK route. However, the flight no longer stops in Anchorage and its normal equipment is now the Boeing 747-8I.
10:10 a.m. – The portion of The Pentagon wall hit by American Airlines Flight 77 collapses.
10:28:23 a.m. – The North Tower collapses.
11:08 a.m. The pilot of Flight 85 includes the letters "HJK", a code for hijacked, in an airline message
12:00 p.m. – ARINC officials notify NORAD about the use of the hijack code
1:00 p.m. – Jets are scrambled from Elmendorf Air Force Base to shadow the plane
1:24 p.m. – The Korean pilots change their transponder signal to the four-digit universal code for hijacked — 7500
1–2:45 p.m. – Alerted that a possible hijacked plane might strike a target in Alaska, Governor Tony Knowles orders the evacuation of potential targets
2:54 p.m. – Flight 85 lands safely in Whitehorse and is met by armed Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers who determine that the plane was not hijacked
was the operation that Transport Canada created to handle the diversion of civilian airline flights following the September 11 attacks in 2001. The operation started after the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all aircraft across the United States and re-routed incoming international flights to airports in Canada. During the operation, departing aircraft, with the exception of police, military, and humanitarian flights, were canceled, marking the first time that Canada shut down its airspace. As a result of Operation Yellow Ribbon, 255 aircraft were diverted to 17 different airports across the country.
