A number of years ago a couple of friends were flying in for hunting trip. One of them had a wonderful, expensive new rifle that he was very, very proud of. The other was the pilot.

While over someplace like North Dakota they developed some trouble with the transponder and the pilot radioed the tower. Unfortunately, he used the wrong code for a broken transponder; he used the one for "I am being hijacked."

The tower immediately diverted the small plane to a nearby Air Force Base and handed them over to the USAF. The guys in the plane thought it a touch odd that the Air Force would fix the transponder, but hey! a fix is a fix.

The tower directed them to land near a remote hanger...they did, and the owner of the rifle took his rifle with him...he walked slightly behind the pilot...until they passed into the hangar, when he was flattened beneath about 10 Air Police.

I understand that it took several days to get it all straightened out.