A beeping credit card reader sparked a bomb scare Thursday night aboard an airliner preparing for takeoff from New York’s LaGuardia Airport, authorities said. Passengers aboard Boston-bound US Airways Flight 2138 reported hearing a suspicious ticking sound inside the cabin area, according to an airline spokesman.
The pilot asked the tower to taxi the plane — scheduled to go into the air at 6:00pm local time — to a remote area and authorities were dispatched.
“Yeah, we need to leave the runway to investigate a possible bomb,” the pilot told the control tower, according to radio transmissions.
Rescue workers evacuated 99 passengers, transported them to the terminal and then searched the cabin area and cargo hold, said a Port Authority spokeswoman.
The culprit turned out to be the low battery indicator on a portable credit card reader, the spokeswoman added.
The passengers were to be re-boarded and the flight was expected to take off later Thursday night.
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