'I thought we were going to die': Passengers terrified as police storm plane

Passengers have described the terrifying moment police officers stormed the aisle of a plane after an alarm was sent to the airport tower.

People on a Tuesday night JetBlue flight from New York to Los Angeles were told to put their hands in the air as heavily armed police boarded the aircraft after a radio issue stopped crews from being able to communicate.

During the technical incident an alarm was sent to the JFK airport tower, prompting police to storm the aircraft.

The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed on Twitter the Airbus A321 experienced the radio issue while departing JFK Airport about 8pm local time.

Passengers described scenes from inside the plane as “scary” as police swarmed the aircraft.

JetBlue confirmed to CBS it experienced a radio issue impacting crew’s ability to communicate and an alarm was sent to the JFK tower which proved to be a false alarm.

“I’ve never been told to put my hands up on any plane, but this happened on our JetBlue plane back to LAX,” Daniel Cruz tweeted.

“Super scary moment as the swat-like team came down the aisle, guns out.”

Passenger Alexa Curtis said it was her worst nightmare.

“Honestly thought we were going to die,” she said in a tweet.

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She told CBS Los Angeles passengers were crying.

“Everyone’s texting their family, and we were on ground, so usually this would happen in the air if it was gonna (sic) happen,” she said.

JetBlue said the police response was a precautionary reaction to a breakdown in radio communication.

“While communication was re-established via alternate channels, authorities responded out of an abundance of caution,” JetBlue said.

Yahoo7 has contacted JetBlue for comment.