Two US fighter jets patrolling the skies over Chicago intercepted a passenger airliner because it had radio problem and could not contact the military pilots, aviation officials told the Chicago Tribune.
The F-16 jets chased a Los Angeles-bound American Airlines plane after its takeoff from O'Hare International Airport Tuesday, authorities told the newspaper.
The radio failed after the takeoff and the pilots could not respond to queries from the F-16s, which moved up to the passenger plane and flew near.
The pilots had to activate a numerical beacon code on the aircraft's transponder, indicating their radio had failed, the officials said.
The American Airlines plane had to return back to the airport to fix the problem, according to the Wednesday edition of the newspaper.
US President George W. Bush has authorized the US military to shoot down planes that pose immediate danger to civilian installations in the wake of terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon building outside Washington.
The terrorists used hijacked planes on September 11 to crash them into the buildings -- CHICAGO (AFP)
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