Air traffic controllers at Miami Airport feared an incoming American Airlines flight had been hijacked due to a cock pit error.

The regular radio frequency and frequency alert for a high jacking are very close together and the transmitter on Flight 535 from San Juan, Puerto Rico was accidently put on the wrong one, sparking a full scale emergency.

Two fighter jets were scrambled from a nearby airbase, while fire fighters and police swarmed the tarmac as the plane came in to land at Miami Airport.

No-one was hurt in the incident and it is believed that passengers were not even aware of the unfolding drama until police boarded the plane upon landing.