In every issue of ASI we record incidents
of hijacks, attempted hijacks, air rage, sabotage and airport
attacks. Scroll down into history.
|
| An Alliance Air flight landed in New Delhi with
both passengers and crew believing the flight had been hijacked.
Air traffic control advised the crew that they had received
reports that a hijack was in progress. The problem started with
a hoax call but was exacerbated by miscommunication. |
| A Siberian Airlines Tu-154 en route from Tel Aviv
to Novosibirsk in Siberia exploded over the Black Sea. At the
time this issue of ASI went to print it is believed that all 76
passengers and crew were killed, 51 of whom were Israelis.
Whilst there is speculation that this was a terrorist act, most
believe that a stray missile fired by the Ukranian military
during a training exercise was the actual cause. |
| Air France suspended all flights in and out of
Paris-Orly airport following anonymous threats. The terminals
were evacuated until police established the threat was a hoax |
| The airport was closed following a bomb threat. |
| Shortly after Air Canada flight AC 792 departed
for Toronto, Javid Naghani, an Iranian citizen resident in the
US, was apprehended smoking in the toilet. The passenger became
verbally abusive and uttered an anti-American threat, causing
the aircraft to return to Los Angeles under escort by the US Air
Force. |
| According to Russia's Interfax news agency, 9
tons of explosives and 594 detonators were found, in Moscow, on
a cargo plane bound for Kazakhstan from Vienna, Austria. The
cargo was allegedly sent by Spain's Union Espanol to the
Kazakhstan Corporation |
| A passenger sent a friend a joke text message on
his mobile phone indicating that he was on a hijacked Japan
Airlines flight en route to Seoul from Kansai. The friend,
believing the message, contacted the authorities who met the man
off the flight in Seoul |
| A Kenya Airways plane, en route to Dar es Salaam,
returned to Nairobi following a telephone bomb threa |
| An American Airlines flight bound for Mexico City
was turned back to Los Angeles International Airport after the
FBI received a threat |
| A British passenger aboard a Cathay Pacific
flight en route to Hong Kong via Kuwait was arrested following a
threat he made, when refused additional alcohol based on his
intoxicated state, that a bomb was on board the aircraft |
| A Virgin Airlines flight en route from Heathrow
to New York diverted to Newfoundland following a bomb threat. 4
Canadian jet fighters escorted the aircraft to Goose Bay, Canada |
| A Singapore Airlines flight returned to Frankfurt
following the discovery of a note in the toilets warning that a
bomb was on board |
| A 21-year-old Australian, Sinan Safett Acar,
travelling to Paris on Air France was arrested in Toronto after
joking he had a bomb in his suitcase. He was later given a 60
day gaol sentence. |
| A 21-year-old Australian, Sinan Safett Acar,
travelling to Paris on Air France was arrested in Toronto after
joking he had a bomb in his suitcase. He was later given a 60
day gaol sentence |
| 20 explosive-laden boats with suicidal Tamil
Tiger guerillas on board attacked a ship, carrying 1,200 Sri
Lankan soldiers, off the coast in Trincomalee, northeast of
Colombo. 6 guerillas were killed and 40 soldiers were wounded |
| Constantinos Carpis, aged 36, was arrested having
told American Airlines ticket agents at Houston that he had a
nuclear bomb in his baggage. He was travelling to his home in
Australia. |
| A 55-year old employee of New Zealand's prison
service was arrested as he boarded a flight at Auckland for
Palmerston North. He had allegedly joked with a friend about
having a bomb in his bag |
| A man was arrested at Teeside International
airport, having claimed that he had Semtex explosives in his
pockets. He was travelling to Tenerife |
| Orlando International Airport was evacuated
following a bomb threat. The fire department's bomb squad
examined bags left in the terminal and determined there was no
bomb |
| A Singapore Airlines flight routed to
Johannesburg from Singapore was delayed following the receipt of
a hoax bomb threat. The threat was allegedly sent by e-mail from
a New Zealander employed by IBM |
| 11/09/2001 |
BOSTON/NEW YORK
|
| American Airlines flight AA 11, a B-767, departed
Boston at 0745 for Los Angeles. Following a hijack by suicidal
terrorists, it crashed into the north tower of the World Trade
Center at 0845. 92 passengers and crew were killed, together
with thousands at the World Trade Center |
| 11/09/2001 |
BOSTON/NEW YORK
|
| United Airlines flight UA 175, a B-767, departed
Boston at 0758 for Los Angeles. Following a hijack by suicidal
terrorists, it crashed into the south tower of the World Trade
Center at 0905. 65 passengers and crew were killed, together
with thousands at the World Trade Center |
| American Airlines flight AA 77, a B-757, departed
Dulles at 0810 for Los Angeles. Following a hijack by suicidal
terrorists, it crashed into the Pentagon at 0939. 64 passengers
and crew were killed together with hundreds at the Pentagon |
| 11/09/2001 |
NEWARK/PENNSYLVANIA
|
| United Airlines flight UA 93, a B-757, departed
Newark at 0842 for San Francisco. Following a hijacking by
suicidal terrorists, it crashed in Stony Creek Township,
Pennsylvania at 1003. It is believed the aircraft was headed for
the White House, yet a passenger action taken against the
hijackers caused the aircraft to crash. There was some
speculation that the aircraft had been shot down by the US Air
Force. 45 passengers and crew were killed. |
| Patrick Dolan Critton, aged 54, was arrested at
his home in Mount Vernon for allegedly hijacking an Air Canada
flight in 1971. Armed with a gun and a grenade he had demanded
to be taken to Cuba, although he allowed the passengers to
deplane in Toronto. Critton is believed to have stayed in Cuba
for 3 years, then moved to Tanzania until he returned to New
York in 1994, where he has been a teacher ever since |
| Various conflicting reports emerged as to the
reason an Aero Lloyd Airbus diverted to Naples. The flight was
routed from Catania, Sicily to Berlin. Some agencies reported
that a man had tried to hijack the flight to Tunisia, his native
country, using wax candles that he said were sticks of dynamite.
Other reports indicate that a mentally disturbed man had a panic
attack that necessitated the diversion |
| Mekhti Guseinli, a member of one of Azerbaijan's
main opposition parties, was sentenced to 9 years imprisonment
for attempting to hijack a domestic flight last November. His
attempt failed as he was quickly overpowered by security staff
on board |
| A grand jury indicted a London-based Algerian, Dr
Haydar Abu Doha, on charges of plotting to bomb Los Angeles
airport on the eve of the millennium. It is alleged that he is a
prominent member of al-Qaeda. Abu Doha is currently in custody
in London awaiting extradition to the US |
| A bomb placed in a white Renault 19 at Madrid
Barajas Airport's Terminal 2 exploded. No injuries were caused
as a warning had been received. ETA is thought to be responsible |
| A Canada 3000 flight, en route from Ontario to
Britain, landed at St John's International Airport after an
83-year-old Canadian woman became unruly |
| Scotland's High Court announced that Abdel Baset
al-Megrahi, the Libyan secret agent found guilty of the
Lockerbie bombing, could appeal against his conviction. The
first hearing will be on October 15th |
| A 37-year-old Australian was arrested for having
groped a stewardess' buttocks. The man was travelling with his
girlfriend from Sydney to Kuala Lumpur on Malaysian Airline
System. |
| Earl Quincey Washington, 54, was taken into
custody for allegedly threatening to punch a 10-year-old girl
and her grandmother on a Northwest Airlines flight en route from
Detroit to Osaka |
| A China Eastern Airlines flight from Los Angeles
to Beijing diverted after a 36-year-old passenger stripped to
his underwear, threatened passengers and the flight crew, and
attempted to open one of the doors. It later became apparent
that he was ill and had probably overdosed on his medication |
| 10/08/2001 |
KEY WEST, FLORIDA
|
| A Fly Key West Piper Cherokee, normally chartered
by customers wishing to have sex in an aeroplane, was hijacked
by an elderly Cuban couple. The plane crashed into the sea
following a fight in the cockpit. The pilot, Thomas Hayashi,
survived but the hijackers were killed. The pilot told
investigators that once airborne the male passenger held a knife
to his throat and demanded to be flown to Cuba |
| A 28-year-old Australian resident, Johnson Ty
Damon, had to be restrained with handcuffs on a Malaysian
Airline Systems flight from London to Kuala Lumpur. He threw his
food tray on the floor, threatened a flight attendant with a
knife from his meal tray, and then pushed him to the floor,
injuring his forehead and hand. Damon was later gaoled for 12
weeks and fined $540 |
| Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Ze'evi,
spoke out against El Al's privatisation on security grounds. He
also opposes setting up a joint IsraelJordan airport for Eilat
and Taba. The project began soon after a peace treaty was signed
between the two countries, has yet to be implemented. Ze'evi
believes that Israel should concentrate on operating a single
independent airport in Eilat, since unexpected developments on
the diplomatic front are liable to shut down a joint airport. |
| A car bomb was defused close to the passenger
terminal at Belfast International Airport. Security forces
discovered 20kg of home-made explosives in a stolen Volvo at the
long stay car park. Two warnings were received, the first by a
Belfast newspaper and the second by a Catholic priest. It is
believed the act was perpetrated by the Real IRA. |
| The FAA announced it is seeking $99,000 in civil
penalties against American Airlines for allegedly failing to
apply appropriate security measures on six flights on June 25
2000, including the improper transportation of unaccompanied
bags, the failure to perform a passenger ID checks and the
failure to ask appropriate security questions regarding checked
bags. Upon notification, American took immediate correctitive
action at the airports where violations were found in order to
bring the airline's security measures into compliance. |
30-Jul-01
|
HAOLIFAX, CANADA
|
| A British Airways B-777 flight from Atlanta to
London diverted when William Kay Cummings became aggressive to
stewards, Smoked in the toilets and made comments about bombs on
aircraft. He complained about his seating arrangement in economy
class and demanded to be moved to the roomier business class
because of his size. Mr. Cummings, head coach of a U.S. team
headed to Scotland for the World Highland Games, blamed his
actions on a combination of alcohol and medication to curb his
fear of flying. |
| Spanish police deactivated a car bomb in a
parking lot at Malaga airport. The Peugeot car bomb, containing
50 to 60 kilograms of explosives, was planted by the Basque
separatist group ETA. Bomb disposal experts found the vehicle
loaded with explosives 15 minutes before it was set to explode,
as warned by an anonymous voice calling San Sebastian's fire
department on behalf of ETA. |
| Separatist rebels, firing guns and mortars,
attacked Colombo's Bandaranaike International Airport and air
force base on the anniversary of 1983 riots seen as the start of
the country's civil war. Sri Lankan Airlines said five of its 12
Airbus passenger planes have been knocked out of service, with
two Airbus A340s and an A330 being destroyed and the others
damaged. After six hours of explosions, automatic weapons fire
and pistol shots, police said that all 9 guerrillas had been
killed, along with 5 government soldiers. 12 troops, a Russian
flight engineer for Sri Lankan Airlines and a Sri Lankan
journalist were wounded. Most passengers and airport employees
were evacuated to nearby hotels. |
"An Air India pilot reported the firing of a
missile in the direction of his A310 when the aircraft was in
Somalian airspace at 33,000 feet en route from Nairobi to
Mumbai. According to Air India officials, the commander said he
""switched off the
aircraft Lights and accelerated to get out of the territory as
fast as possible"" : The crew of a Kenya Airways
flight from Mumbai to Nairobi passing through the territory at
the same time confirmed the explosion." |
| 50 security guards employed by Group 4 Securitas
staged a strike at Ansett Australia's Melbourne Airport terminal
A spokesperson for the Liquor, Hospitality and Miscellaneous
Workers union said that the 24?hour action was taken after the
company withdrew a pay offer. Ansett said that the security
company had put contingency plans in place and that passenger
movement was not be affected. |
| The government ordered troops to reopen Fiji's
international airport after a strike disrupted schedules and
left passengers stranded. Troops manned emergency rescue posts
and police tightened airport security after striking
firefighters and 280 other staff members covered by the Fiji
Public Service Association had walked out. |
| Mokhtar Haouari, an Algerian national, was
convicted of "conspiracy to supply material support to a
terrorist act" in respect of his pivotal role in a plot to
detonate a suitcase bomb at Los Angeles International Airport in
the days preceding January 1st 2000. The prosecution case hinged
on the testimony of two co-conspirators, Ahmed Ressam and Abdel
Ghani Meskini, both already convicted. The bombing plot was
foiled when Ressam was arrested crossing the Canadian border in
a car laden with explosives on December 14th, 1999. |
| Amir Amirsaleh, a 45-year old Iranian, was
arrested in Maui after he allegedly pinched or otherwise touched
a flight attendant on a SunTrips harter flight from San
Francisco to Maui via Honolulu. It turned out that Amirsaleh,
who was living in Los Angeles, apparently had overstayed his
tourist visa by about two years and is likely to be deported
rather than charged. |
| It emerged that many European carriers, including
British Airways, KLM, SAS, Swissair and the Belgian carrier
Sabena, have stopped shipping hivalue cargo through Brussels
National Airport following a spate of robberies and security
breaches at the airport. |
| Parts of Ben Gurion airport were evacuated
following receipt of a warning that a suicide bomber would
infiltrate the airport in a vehicle. |
| In advance of Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qadafi's
arrival in Zambia for the Organisation of African Unity meeting,
Libyan security personnel physically checked the rifles of
soldiers mounting the guard of honour at the airport to ensure
none had live ammunition! |
| Two drug couriers who are believed to have ties
with the Abu Sayyaf were arrested by the Aviation Security Group
at the Manila Domestic Airport today just before they were about
to fly off to Cebu City. It is believed that the drug couriers
would sell narcotics in order to earn money for the Abu Sayyaf
to purchase more firearms. |
| A bomb was found near Caracas' Maiquetia Airport
ramp, four hours ahead of President Hugo Chavezs arrival to the
airport. |
| A bomb threat was made against a LOT Airlines
B?767 at Krakow airport following its arrival from Toronto. |
| An EgyptAir flight bound for Cairo was delayed
for 10 hours at JFK following the receipt of an unspecified bomb
threat against the flight. |
14-Jun-01
|
YEREVAN, ARMENIA
|
| According to Armenian sources, two Yerevan-based
British Airways employees, and the wife of one of them, refused
to leave a BA plane they were servicing at Yerevan's Zvartnots
airport. They asked for political asylum and finally managed to
get permission from the British embassy in Yerevan to fly to
London. British Airways flatly denied that the air company's
employees had asked for political asylum in Britain and insist
that the delay to the flight was due to a technical problem. |
| "A stowaway on an aircraft coming in to land
at Heathrow fell to his death in a Homebase (shop) car park
yesterday. Staff at the store (less than 1km from ASI's offices)
in Richmond, West London, discovered the man's body as they
arrived for work at lam. It is thought that the stowaway fell as
the pilot of an unidentified jet lowered the aircraft's landing
gear. Police said the man was of Mediterranean or Middle Eastern
appearance, in his late twenties or early thirties. He was
wearing black jeans and a shirt and carried no
identification." |
| A Cyprus Airways Flight, en route from Moscow to
Larnaca, was diverted to Salonica following an incident
involving four drunken Russians. The group was drinking heavily,
behaving nappropriately, disturbing fellow passengers, making
gestures to a stewardess, throwing food about and smoking in the
aisle. The steward confiscated five empty bottles of vodka and
other alcoholic drinks that they had smuggled on board. |
| Boeing notified federal authorities that it had
found potential sabotage to wires on 10 new undelivered B-737
aircraft. The Seattle office of the FBI said it had launched an
investigation into the incidents at Boeing's Renton, Washington,
aircraft assembly plant. |
| The U.S. Department of Transportation began
surveying passengers in an effort to determine whether racial
profiting is a problem at U.S. airports. Federal officials
require passengers on certain outgoing Northwest Airlines
flights to complete surveys that ask questions about race,
religion, national origin, gender and citizenship. By the end of
the survey the department expects to have answers from about
40,000 passengers on more than 400 flights. Arab-American
leaders said that the government chose Metro airport to be the
test model for its national policy on screening for security
threats because metro Detroit has the highest concentration of
Arab Americans in the country. The Transportation Department
says the information from the surveys will be used to see if the
Computer-Assisted Passenger Prescreening System
disproportionately targets minorities. |
| Six inter-island Hawaiian Airlines flights were
delayed at Maui's Kahului airport following the receipt of a
bomb threat telephoned through to the airport manager's office. |
| The Japanese Red Army guerrilla group is to
disband and reinvent itself 30 years after it was formed. The
organisation's founder, Fusako Shigenobu, ordered the
dissolution and has said that the group would pursue its cause
Legally. "This will be the last statement from the Japanese
Red Army," Shigenobu is quoted as saying in a statement
faxed from jail. The Red Army's move is being linked to the
arrest of many of its members in the past few years, including
five in Beirut in 1997, as well as a shrinking support base. |
| As part of a series of organised demonstrations,
hundreds of flag-waving workers from Aerolineas Argentinas,
fearing job and wage cuts, marched onto the runway at the
country's busiest domestic airport, Aeroparque, and stopped
flights for two hours. The next morning, the protests continued
in passenger terminals at both Ezeiza and Aeroparque airports,
with the unions planning to continue to disrupt flights. |
| 28 MAY 2001 |
FEFLAVIK, ICELAND
|
| A united Airlines B-747 made an emergency landing
after a passenger discovered a bomb threat written in lipstick
on the aircraft's bathroom mirror. The plane en route to
Chicargo from Germany took off again ten hours later following a
detailed search of the aircraft |
| 25 MAY 2001 |
SAN FRANCISCO
|
| A US court accepted that Peter Bradley was
"temporarily insane" and that he had suffered from a
rare outbreak of encephalitis when, on March 16th 2000, he had
entered the cockpit of an Alaska Airlines plane, lunged for the
controls, causing the pilots to temporarily lose control. He was
placed on 18-months of "pre-trial diversion" under
which he must not fly, and has to receive mental health
counselling and continue with medical treatment for the
condition. If Bradley complies with those conditions and others,
the government will dismiss the charges. |
| A judge has ordered the retrial of 11 Afghan
nationals charged with the hijacking of a plane to London in
February 2000. It follows the discharge of a jury last week that
failed to agree on verdicts after 40 hours of deliberations at
the end of a three‑month trial which has cost in excess of
£10 million. Around 77 people on the plane, including members
of the defendants families, are still in Britain seeking asylum.
The defendants were granted conditional bail with many housed in
bail hostels. |
| An SAS flight was evacuated prior to its take off
for Oslo, following the receipt of a telephone bomb threat at a
Braathens office. |
| Two British flights en route to Mexico (one BA
from Heathrow and one Britannia from Manchester), diverted to
Bangor following unruly passenger behaviour on board. |
| 18 MAY 2001 |
MALAGA, SPAIN
|
| A drunken tourist who smashed a bottle into the
face of an air stewardess has been jailed for four years in
Spain. Steven Handy, from Dover, was also ordered to pay £6,000
to his victim, Fiona Weir. Ms Weir, 33, was Left scarred for
life when Handy attacked her with a vodka bottle in November
1998 at the end of an Airtours International flight to Malaga.
The bottle broke and he pushed the jagged glass into her face.
Weir now flies with Flying Colours. |
| A 28 year old man on a KLM flight from Amsterdam
to Newark spat at a flight attendant, threatened passengers and
tried to open the emergency exit while in flight. The friction
started when he ignored requests from crew to turn off his
mobile phone. He then ripped up his passport and said he would
hit passengers and flight attendants. He then took a seat in
business class, claiming he suffered from claustrophobia. He was
handcuffed by the captain and upon arrival in the US, he was put
on the next flight back to Amsterdam where he was arrested and
charged with attempting to endanger the lives of passengers |
| The Danish co-pilot of an aircraft chartered by
the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was killed
in-flight whilst flying over a government-held area of Sudan, en
route to Khartoum. The aircraft was struck twice by objects that
detonated upon impact, damaging the aircraft's cockpit and right
wing. The aircraft's other pilot, who was not injured, flew the
aircraft to the town of Lokichokio, which is a common base for
humanitarian organisations operating in Sudan. |
| Zoe Campbell, 27, was sentenced to nine months
imprisonment for attacking three cabin crew members on a flight
from Florida last May. She had lashed out when told not to smoke
on board. Supervisor Valerie Martinez's nose was broken when she
was head-butted, and two other attendants also needed hospital
treatment. It took 9 people, including passengers and the
Captain to control Campbell, who was restrained in plastic hand
and ankle cuffs. |
| 02 MAY 2001 |
MOGADISHU, SOMALIA
|
| A Somali gunman carrying a U.S. made hand grenade
boarded a light aircraft at Mogadishu's Jazira airport and
threatened to detonate the device unless he was given US$30,000
and flown to another Mogadishu airstrip. He eventually
surrendered and was Later determined to be mentally ill. |
| 26 APRIL 2001 |
BAHR DAR, ETHIOPIA
|
| Five hijackers, four men and one women, burst
into the cockpit of an Antonov 12 plane shortly after take-off
from Bahr Dar in the north-west Ethiopia. They demanded to be
taken to Saudi Arabia, but as plane was not carrying sufficient
fuel, they agreed to be flown to Sudan where a nine-hour
stand-off occurred. According to the Captain, two men knocked on
the cockpit door and said a passenger was sick. They entered the
cockpit supporting a very sick young woman and, as the Captain
turned back to Bahr Dar, two others stormed in waving a pistol.
The first two then took grenades from the boots of the young
woman. The hijackers were identified as military pilot trainees
who had dropped out of flight school. The Antonov was carrying a
crew of 7 and 44 passengers, who were air force personnel
and their families, including 5 children. The hijackers asked to
speak with representatives of the Red Cross, Amnesty
International, and the United Nations after landing in Khartoum,
eventually agreeing to speak with six Sudanese Cabinet ministers
who had arrived at the airport. They then requested political
asylum. Ethiopian officials plan to request their extradition. |
| Garin Noel Mcgeough, a 17 year old Australian,
caused a Singapore Airlines flight to Fankfurt to divert to
India. He swore at the crew and kicked the aircraft wall and a
window when he could not get more alcohol during the flight. He
was Later gaoled for two months. |
| Alexandre Stolerman, aged 52, of Moscow allegedly
got drunk and fought with passengers on an Aeroflot flight from
Moscow to Los Angeles was arrested on a federal charge of
interfering with a flight crew. About three hours into the
flight Stolerman had grabbed a passenger by the throat and then
took a Lighted cigarette from his mouth and pushed it into
another passenger's face. Flight attendants then restrained him
for the remaining nine hours of the flight. |
| Guitarist Peter Buck, who plays with rock group
REM, was arrested at Heathrow and charged with two counts of
assault against British Airways crew members, Mario Agius and
Holly Ward, during a transatlantic flight from Seattle. He is
further accused of being drunk on an aircraft, of damaging a
quantity of crockery belonging to British Airways and of using
threatening behaviour. |
| Examination of a laptop computer that had shown a
positive identification of explosive material resulted in the
authorities evacuating the concourse serving Southwest Airlines
and America West flights. The area remained dosed for 6 hours.
No explosive device was discovered. |
| Identical twins, Crystal and Cynthia Mikula,
aboard a United Airlines B-747 en route to Shanghai from San
Francisco caused the flight to divert to Anchorage. Travelling
to a modelling competition, the girls had a few drinks and then
started screaming and swearing at each other and, eventually,
fighting. One of the twins then said she wished to open the door
for some fresh air and, when a crew member tried to calm her
down, lashed out. Eventually Cynthia was restrained by crew, but
as they did so, her sister attacked them. |
| 16 APRIL 2001 |
COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
|
| Security was increased at Bandaranaike airport
following a report that Eealam was preparing to target tourists
and foreign business travellers. |
| 12 APRIL 2001 |
LARNACA, CYPRUS
|
| An Air Malta flight operating from Tel Aviv to
Luqa landed following a bomb threat to the airline. |
| Weapons, shipped from Austria to the Thai Air
Force, were stolen during a raid at Bangkok Airport by 7 armed
men. A security guard was forced to open the shipment and hand
over the contents before the men escaped in two waiting
vehicles. |
| 9 APRIL 2001 |
CALGARY, CANADA
|
| A Sky West Airlines flight set to depart for Salt
Lake City was searched following a bomb threat made by an
unidentified woman to their reservation office in Los Angeles. |
| 9 APRIL 2001 |
PORT OF SPAIN, TRINIDAD
|
| A BWIA flight was delayed as a result of a bomb
hoax telephoned in to Piarco Airport. |
| 4 APRIL 2001 |
CALI COLOMBIA
|
| An Arrow Air DC-8 en route to bound for Miami was
forced to make an emergency landing when the landing gear failed
to retract. On the ground it emerged that there were two
stowaways hiding in the wheel bay; they were killed. |
| Armed men cut through the perimeter fence and
managed to get as far as a Sabena aircraft, from which they
attempted to steal a cargo of valuables as it was being off
loaded. |
| 29 March 2001 |
SAN FRANCISCO
|
| A federal appeals court upheld the 10-month
prison sentence of a 35-year old Bolivian man, Flavio David
Mendoza, who called in a phony bomb threat to San Francisco
International Airport, hoping to delay a Korea-bound plane so
his girlfriend could catch the flight |
| 28 March 2001 |
LOS ANGELES
|
| A British citizen was arrested for allegedly
hitting a flight attendant while aboard a United Airlines jet
flying from Sydney to Los Angeles. Fraser Alexander Thomas Lonie,
34, appeared to be intoxicated. |
| An American Airlines flight from Dallas to Tokyo
diverted to Anchorage when a passenger, 53year old Motohiro
Suzuki, became unruly. According to the FBI, Suzuki walked
around the plane, striking combative, martial-arts-type stances,
used Japanese profanities and said he wanted one of the other
passengers dead. |
| 23 March 2001 |
PUERTO ORDAZ, VENEZUELA
|
| Tacks began between Colombian leader Andres
Pastrana and Venezuela's President Chavez on the extradition to
Colombia of Jose Maria BalLestas, an alleged guerrilla, wanted
for the hijacking of an Avianca flight in April 1999. Venezuela
admitted that it had captured and then released BaLLestas.
Following the negative publicity, he was then rearrested. |
| A Vnukovo Airlines flight, with 174 people on
board, was hijacked shortly after take off from Istanbul en
route to Moscow. The hijackers demanded an end to Russia's
military campaign in Chechnya. The aircraft diverted to Medina
in Saudi Arabia, although the hijackers requested the aircraft
fly to Qandahar, Afghanistan. Saudi forces eventually stormed
the aircraft. Three people were killed, including flight
attendant Yulia Fomina, a passenger and one of the three
hijackers. |
| A man was arrested for having made a bomb threat
against a Saudia flight en route from Riyadh to Amman. The
search of the aircraft, on its arrival at Queen Alia Airport,
revealed no explosives |
| 13 March 2001 |
SACREMENTO, CALIFORNIA
|
| An armed man managed to board an aircraft in the
Cessna Citation maintenance area of Sacremento Airport and
demanded to be flown to Washington. He was arrested once an
airport employee had persuaded the man to give himself up to the
police. |
| Two telephoned bomb warnings from someone
claiming to represent an Islamic extremist group resulted in a
Pakistan International Airways B747 being grounded at Manchester
following its arrival from Karachi via Lahore. The flight
eventually departed for New York following a search of the
aircraft and the luggage in the hold. |
| An airline steward was killed and seven crew and
ground staff were injured in a blaze resulting from a bomb blast
aboard a Thai Airways International aircraft at Bangkok's Don
Muang airport. The B-737-400 had been due to carry Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, his son and more than 140 other
passengers to the northern city of Chiang Mai. The blast reduced
the jet to a blackened metal hulk with a collapsed roof. Motives
included an assassination attempt, a rift between airline staff,
the disguised murder of another passenger and an attempt to
discredit the airline. |
| According to Expressen, the Swedish cabinet's
gender equality expert harassed airline hostesses and vomited in
the lap of his boss, Sweden's female equality minister, on a
flight to New York. |
| A Spirit Airlines flight was delayed when a
passenger on board the Washington-bound aircraft made a joke
about a bomb. |
| An Air India plane, flying from Mumbai, diverted
to a military base in Singapore after a bomb threat. |
| 27 February 2001 |
PRETORIA
|
| A gunman held nine people hostage on board a
light aircraft at Wonderboom Airport in Pretoria. |
| 26 February 2001 |
TENERIFE
|
| A man aboard an Iberworld Airbus A-320, en route
from Manchester to Tenerife, brandished a bible and told fellow
passengers they were about to meet their maker. Four men tackled
him to the ground and tied his hands and feet using belts. |
| A drunk Norwegian passenger aboard an Air Shuttle
flight struck a passenger and a flight attendant, en route from
Kristiansund to Bergen. The man had spent the time waiting at
the airport drinking half a bottle of vodka. He was friendly and
calm when he boarded the plane, but then drank another beer once
on board. |
| 20 February 2001 |
SAN FRANCISCO
|
| A man, wearing a Gatwick Airport ground crew
overall, was found dead in the wheel well of a US Airways
aircraft at San Francisco. The plane had flown to San Francisco
from Gatwick, via Pittsburgh. A man matching the stowaway's
description had been arrested at Gatwick the previous Sunday for
breaching airport security. |
| 19 February 2001 |
KUALA LUMPUR
|
| A Pakistani passenger stabbed a security guard,
before being shot and arrested. |
| 10 February 2001 |
CALCUTTA
|
| An official shot and killed two police officers
and injured three others before shooting himself in an attack of
rage at Calcutta Airport's immigration counter. |
| A 43-year old Toronto man was arrested and
charged with the alleged sexual assault of a flight attendant on
board a Sky service Flight en route to Acapulco, Mexico. The
incident took place on January 20th but Peel Police arrested the
man on his return from Acapulco. |
| A Nicaraguan priest, 34-year old Father William
Gonzalez, tried to break into the cockpit of a VASP Airlines
flight. He was restrained by other passengers and crew, yet died
in his seat from a heart attack. |
| A Saudi court has sentenced an army officer to 70
lashes for using his mobile phone on a domestic flight, despite
warnings from the crew. |
| Jaber Yehya Satar, who hijacked a Yemenia flight
on 23rd January, was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment. He had
threatened to blow up the plane unless it diverted to Baghdad,
but was overpowered by crew members after it landed in Djibouti.
The motive for the hijacking remains unclear, although the
hijacker said earlier that he was a supporter of Iraqi President
Saddam Hussein. Satar was quoted by the French AFP news agency
as saying that the sentence was "unjust" but that he
accepted it because he was expecting the death penalty. |
| UNITA rebels allegedly shot down an Antonov AN26,
killing all 22 people on board, as it was landing at Luena in
the eastern province of Mexico. |
| 1 February 2001 |
BANGOR, MAINE
|
| Chennelle Perrott, a 20-year old mother,
travelling with her 4-year old son and his grandfather, was
arrested when the Britannia Airways flight on which they were
flying from Orlando to London was diverted to Bangor. Perrott
allegedly assaulted a passenger who tried to quieten her
argument with the grandfather. |
| 31 January 2001 |
CAMP ZEIST
|
| In the verdict on the Lockerbie trial, one of the
accused was found guilty and sentenced to a minimum of twenty
years imprisonment in Scotland; the case against the other was
not proven and he returned to Libya. |
| 30 January 2001 |
SINGAPORE
|
| A 27 year old Indian man was found guilty of
having groped a woman on a Singapore Airlines flight in
September. He was sentenced to three strokes of the cane and a
year in jail. The woman covered herself with a blanket before
dozing off, but was awakened by Das's right hand resting on her
groin. She pushed his hand back thinking it was an accident,
only to be woken 30 minutes later when she felt his fingers
slipping into her underwear. |
| A SATENA aircraft was commandeered whilst on the
ground in the heart of the rebel-held demilitarized zone, and
the lone hijacker, armed with a 9mm pistol, demanded it fly to
Bogota. Family members of those on board attempted to run onto
the runway in front of the departing plane. Once in Bogota, the
hijacker demanded to speak with Amnesty International and to be
put on a flight to Europe. The pilot managed to overpower the
man and all 30 passengers and crew were released. |
| 27 January 2001 |
ABU DHABI
|
| Gulf Air crew members overpowered an Iraqi
national who had threatened to hijack the aircraft with a knife
in his hand. The incident took place three hours prior to
landing in Abu Dhabi, on a flight from Hong Kong via Bangkok.
The A340 landed as scheduled. |
| 23 January 2001 |
SANA'A YEMEN
|
| A Yemenia flight, on a domestic routing, was
hijacked by a man armed with a Pen-shaped pistol. He claimed to
be a supporter of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and threatened
to blow up the B-727 if it was not diverted to Baghdad. The
plane landed in Djibouti to refuel, and most of the passengers
were released. The crew members remaining on board eventually
overpowered the hijacker. The hijacker had been sitting in first
class and commandeered the plane 10 minutes after take off. A
bag, which the hijacker had claimed contained explosives, was
later found to be filled with toys. |
| 22 January 2001 |
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
|
| Four armed men boarded a shell oil tanker as it
was berthed on the island of Manus, Police, called to the scene,
struggled with the mend and fired warning shots, yet the
hijackers jumped over the side and escaped in a small dinghy |
| The trial began of the 12 Afghanis accused of
threatening to blow up an Ariana Afghan plane, that they had
hijacked to London in February 2000, unless they were granted
political asylum in Britain. The prosecution stated that the
defendants were opposed to Afghanistan's ruling Taliban movement
and deliberately sought international publicity. |
| 16 January 2001 |
SRINAGAR, KASHMIR
|
| Armed militants, wearing police uniforms, threw
grenades at the main entrance to Srinagar airport, prompting a
gun battle that resulted in 11 people being killed. The
Lashkar-e-Toyeba group issued a statement claiming
responsibility. |
| Two Polish women were arrested after a Condor
Airlines plane with 113 passengers on board was forced to land
in Malaga en route from Germany to the Canary islands, The two
women, under the influence of alcohol, had become angry, thrown
food tray's on the ground and started smoking in non-authorized
areas |
| A United Airlines flight, en route from Chicago
to Hong Kong, was diverted to Anchorage when a passenger
screamed obscenities at crew and passengers. The perpetrator was
subdued and handcuffed. |
| A small bomb exploded in the freight area of
Paris' Charles de Gaulle airport. The blast caused damage to the
building but no injuries. |
| A bomb exploded at Ninoy Aquino International
Airport, being one of five bombs to explode almost
simultaneously around Manila that together claimed 14 lives and
injured more than 100. |
| A British Airways B-747, en route to Nairobi from
London Gatwick, plunged 10,000 feet and almost span out of
control when a deranged Kenyan man entered the cockpit and
attempted to seize the flight controls. Jemima Khan and Bryan
Ferry were passengers on board the jet. The crew wrestled the
man to the ground and he was bound up for the remainder of the
flight. The man had been interviewed at Gatwick, where he was in
transit from Toulouse, at his own request. He was deemed safe to
fly. |
| A stewardess on a Go flight to Prague was, upon
arrival, punched in the stomach by a woman who was angry that
the flight had been delayed |
| Donald MacQuarrie, a Toronto drama professor, is
alleged to have been disruptive on baord an American Airlines
flight from Toronto to Dallas. The plane diverted to Detroit
when MacQuarrie, under the influence of alcohol, kicked the
pilot in the chest. He also threatened and bit the police
officers who had to remove him from the aircraft. |
| Alberto Vazquez, 17, and Maikel Fonseca, 16, hid
in a British Airways B-777's wheel well. They both died from
freezing temperatures and lack of oxygen, and their bodies were
later discovered in Britain, one in a Surrey field, after
falling out of the aircraft when the landing gear was lowered,
and the other at London's Gatwick airport. |
| 22 December 2000 |
CALCUTTA
|
| A bomb threat was levelled at an alliance Air
flight travelling from Calcutta via Aizawl, to Imphal |
| 21 December 2000 |
COLOMBIA
|
| A man, intending to fly to Panama, was arrested
in Rafael Nunez Airport with 2kg of heroin strapped to his body. |
| During documentation checks on board a Pakistan
International Airlines transiting in Dubai, en route from
Karachi to London, an Egyptian man realised he was causing the
security officers some concern. Taking a small knife he charged
into the cockpit and tried to hijack the flight to London. The
Dubai police overpowered the man, who was later found to be
carrying a fake Belgian passport. |
| 17 December 2000 |
NEW YORK
|
| An American Airlines flight was halfway to New
York from Los Angeles when odors drifted through the cabin,
causing the passengers and crew coughing fits and burning eyes.
Flight attendants traced the smell to carry-on luggage which
contained two bottles, one of them broken and leaking a
foul-smelling liquid. The other bottle contained an
amber-coloured liquid that the bag's owner claimed was whiskey;
a police test later determined it contained liquid cocaine. The
owner was arrested for possession of illegal narcotics on
arrival. |
| Yoshimi Tanaka pleaded guilty to the charge of
having hijacked a JAL flight to Pyongyang in 1970. Following the
hijacking, Tanaka, now aged 52, was granted political asylum in
North Korea. He was arrested near Cambodia's border with Vietnam
in 1996 and charged with using counterfeit US dollars at a Thai
beach resort. He was tried in Thailand and acquitted in 1999,
after which he was extradited to Japan to face the hijacking
charge. |
| 15 December 2000 |
PHNOM PENH
|
| An American, intending to travel to Bangkok, was
arrested for money trafficking. He was found to be carrying 6kgs
of money in his luggage |
| Police officers arrested gang members responsible
for extorting money from Indian nationals arriving from Calcutta
over the past few years. it is alleged that the perpetrators
were also bribing customs officials to turn a blind eye to the
act that earned them between $30k and $80k per week |
| 12 December 2000 |
LOS ANGELES
|
| A passenger, carrying a two-inch pocket knife,
boarded an American Airlines flight from Hawaii to Dallas, the
aircraft diverted to Los Angeles where the man tried escape from
the aircraft as it taxied to the terminal |
| 4 December 2000 |
BUJUMBURA, BURUNDI
|
| A Sabena flight was shot at by Burundian rebels
as was taxing on the runway, wounding two passengers. |
| Two hijackers were prevented from stealing an
Antonov jet on which they had threatened to detonate grenades.
One hijacker was killed, the other arrested. the incident
occurred after take off from Goma, in eastern Congo, for Kindu. |
| 23 NOVEMBER 2000 |
FORT LAUDERDALE
|
| A passenger was arrested after telling a Delta
Airlines skycap that she was carrying a bomb when asked if she
was carrying anything for anybody else. Daralyn Khan, aged 40,
was charged with making a false report of a bomb. |
| 22 NOVEMBER 2000 |
COLOMBIA
|
| The last two of the 41 hostages, who had been
seized in the hijacking of an Avianca flight on 12 April 1999,
were freed by the ELN. Abner Duarte, former president of
state-run natural gas company Ecogas, and fellow passenger
Gloria Amaya, were released following the payment of ransoms by
their families. |
| 21 NOVEMBER 2000 |
CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA
|
| The airport was closed for an hour and a half
after security guards noticed a suspicious item in a passenger's
luggage. The item turned out to be a toy. |
| A drunken Japanese passenger on a Seattle-bound
American Airlines jet locked himself in the toilet and refused
to quit smoking, forcing the plane to return to Tokyo soon after
takeoff. Allegedly, after receiving a reprimand by airport
police, he submitted a written apology saying he would
"never do it again," |
| 18 NOVEMBER 2000 |
AMSTERDAM
|
| A passenger gave an SAS flight attendant a note
demanding a ransom for each of the 64 passengers on board and
threatened the detonation of an IED. The plane made an emergency
landing in Amsterdam where the man was arrested. |
| 18 NOVEMBER 2000 |
FORT LAUDERDALE
|
| Rohan and Simone Simon were arrested after they
missed their Spirit Airlines flight to New York. Rohan Simon
apparently asked what would happen if his bag exploded, seeing
as it had been loaded onto the aircraft. This was deemed to be a
bomb threat and the aircraft was recalled and searched. |
| 17 NOVEMBER 2000 |
HO CHI MINH CITY
|
| A man took flying lessons from a Thai flying
school. One aloft, he forced the pilot to fly to Ho Chi Minh
City, where he dropped anti-communist propagander |
| 17 NOVEMBER 2000 |
EAST LONDON, SOUTH AFRICA
|
| 18 approach lights and 104m of cable were stolen
from East London airport. Kalawe, the Regional Manager for the
Airports Company of South Africa, said the lights had been
stolen from the southern end of the runway after the last
security patrol at 5.40pm. He said he was considering an
electric fence together with a security camera as possible
measures to prevent further thefts. |
| 15 NOVEMBER 2000 |
NEW YORK
|
| A man aboard an American Airlines flight,
realising that he still had a handgun on his person, surrendered
the weapon to crew whilst en route from New York to the
Dominican Republic. The plane diverted to Miami. |
| 13 NOVEMBER 2000 |
BANDAR ABBAS, IRAN
|
| 23 members of four Iranian families tried to
hijack an Ariatour plane after take off from Ahvaz for a
domestic flight to Bandar Abbas. They demanded to be flown to
the United States, but sky marshals overpowered them and the air
craft landed at Bandar Abbas in any case. Once the pilots had
escaped from the cockpit, the hijackers abandoned their bid and
surrendered to ground security staff. Seven people were injured
in the incident. |
| 11 NOVEMBER 2000 |
OVDA, ISRAEL
|
| A Vnukovo Airlines Tu-154 aircraft was hijacked
on a domestic flight from Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan,
to Moscow. 27 year old Akhmed Amirkhanov, wearing a
blood?pressure gauge with the ear pieces stuck in his ears,
entered the cockpit claiming that the device was a bomb. The
aircraft refuelled in Baku, Azerbaijan and then continued to
Ovda in Israel, having been denied permission to land in Tel
Aviv. All passengers and crew were released unharmed, including
the Dagestani Finance Minister and two officers of the Federal
Security Service. A Russian embassy official said that the
hijacker gave Israeli officials a video tape and letters
addressed to the "white world" and to the
"emperor of Japan" and complained of "yellow
people trying to take over the white race". Four pistols
and an automatic rifle were found on board the aircraft, but
apparently they belonged to the crew and security staff.
Amirkhanov was returned to Russia once Israeli officials had
been assured he would not receive the death penalty. |
| 9 NOVEMBER 2000 |
VIENTIANE, LAOS
|
| A bomb, hidden in a bag strapped to a bicycle
near the entrance to Wattai Airport's domestic terminal,
exploded at 9.45 a.m., killing three people. The incident took
place two days before Chinese President Jiang Zemin was to visit
Laos. In July, bombs were found in the airport and outside the
Vietnamese embassy, and seven people were injured in an
explosion outside Vientiane's main post office. The government
has blamed the attacks on anti-government |
| 8 NOVEMBER 2000 |
COPENHAGEN
|
| An SAS jet forced to make an emergency landin
when a passenger found a bomb threat note on board the flight
from Aalborg |
| A Deutsche BA flight returned to Munich when the
pilot could not retract the landing gear. A Romanian stowaway
was hiding in the wheel well. |
| Fusako Shigenobu, the 55 year old leader of the
Japanese Red Army, was arrested in Takatsuki, near Osaka after
over 30 years on the run. The JRA is responsible for the 1970
hijacking of a Japan Airlines B?747 to Pyongyang in 1970 and the
1972 machine gun and grenade attack on passengers arriving off
an Air France flight at Israel's Lod Airport, which left 26 dead
and 78 injured. It had been thought that Shigenobu was in hiding
in Lebanon. |
| 3 NOVEMBER 2000 |
SAN FRANCISCO
|
| Police arrested a passenger aboard a KLM flight
who had allegedly bitten a flight attendant five hours into its
flight from Amsterdam. The man was restrained in his seat for
the remainder of the flight. |
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