Hundreds of workers evacuated the Sears Tower in Chicago

September 20, 2001 5:31 PM

Hundreds of workers evacuated the Sears Tower in Chicago due to a rumor that another plane had been hijacked in Milwaukee.
posted by andre_111 (5 comments total)

Why do people start rumors like this?
posted by andre_111 at 6:08 PM on September 20, 2001

Some people have no soul?
posted by Mark at 6:39 PM on September 20, 2001

It wasn't a rumor. According to a controller I know at Chicago Center, there was a passenger with a health emergency (heart attack?) requiring immediate landing. The pilot thus set the transponder to 7500. The controller working his plane called out, "Receiving 7500, can you confirm?" The pilot confirmed, then there were some other changes to the transponder including signaling loss of radio communications.

7500 isn't the code for an in-flight emergency, it's the code for a hijacking.

Two weeks ago this would have been hilarious.
posted by dhartung at 10:27 PM on September 20, 2001

The view from my bedroom (as it is for many here in Chicago) is dominated by the Sears Tower. Since the attacks, I find myself checking on it every morning.

Last Tuesday, I must have looked over my shoulder hundreds of times - praying that what happened in New York didn't repeat itself here.

Thank God this was nothing more than a miscommunication.
posted by aladfar at 11:03 PM on September 20, 2001

I don't know that it would have ever been construed as hilarious, to be honest. Rumors of a hijacked plane have never struck me as particularly funny.
posted by evixir at 11:23 PM on September 20, 2001