Captain_Gossip
December 29, 2000, 10:55 AM
Just read this unbelievable article on the net:
Terror in the Sky
N A I R O B I, Kenya, Dec. 29 —A Kenyan man broke into the cockpit of a packed British Airways jumbo en route to Nairobi today, sending the aircraft plunging to the ground as he made for the controls.
Passengers screamed and prayed for their lives as the Boeing 747-400, with 398 people on board, reeled and dived while the air crew wrestled with the man, described as “hysterical” by one passenger.
A passenger revealed how the pilot had later explained that if the struggle had lasted another few seconds, the co-pilot would have been unable to regain control as the airliner was about to flip upside-down.
“Suddenly the plane went into this violent, violent dive — like shuddering—and went very, very steeply downwards and everyone was woken up by this screaming—grown men basically screaming—and it was quite a violent situation,” Benjamin Goldsmith, a passenger, told Sky News by telephone from Nairobi where the plane finally landed at 10:10 a.m. local time.
“Then the plane just stopped diving and went into another dive at a really weird angle, going down to the left...then the engine cut out altogether.”
Man’s Motive Unclear
British Airways said the airliner’s automatic pilot disengaged during the cockpit struggle, sending the plane into a series of violent maneuvers. One crew member suffered a broken ankle and several passengers were slightly injured.
Kenyan police said they had detained a 27-year-old Kenyan man but declined to say where he lived or what his motive may have been.
“We are holding him for purposes of investigation,” police spokesman Dola Ndidis told Reuters. “We don’t want to speculate on whether he will be charged or not. Investigations might show he was a sick man.”
Goldsmith said the pilot told passengers over the speakers that “a very nasty man just tried to kill us all.”
“This was a scene of an airplane that was about to crash,” said Goldsmith, who was travelling with his sister and her two young children.
Passengers Remained Calm
He described how total silence descended on the plane for around 30 seconds after the crew had subdued the intruder and regained control.
BA said a number of the passengers sustained minor injuries. A total of 379 passengers, three flight crew and 16 cabin crew were aboard the London Gatwick to Nairobi flight.
“The passengers are fine, remarkably calm,” said Bob Dewar, a BA spokesman in Nairobi. “One member of the crew has a broken ankle. There was a bit of a scuffle.”
Emergency services were in attendance at Nairobi airport as a precaution and BA staff were looking after the shaken passengers there.
Goldsmith described the atmosphere during the struggle as one of “total panic.”
“I don’t think there’s a single person on that airplane that did not believe that we were about to crash. There were grown men screaming, people praying aloud,” he said, adding that he understood the plane had plunged 10,000 feet.
“I consider ourselves very, very lucky to have survived.”
Terror in the Sky
N A I R O B I, Kenya, Dec. 29 —A Kenyan man broke into the cockpit of a packed British Airways jumbo en route to Nairobi today, sending the aircraft plunging to the ground as he made for the controls.
Passengers screamed and prayed for their lives as the Boeing 747-400, with 398 people on board, reeled and dived while the air crew wrestled with the man, described as “hysterical” by one passenger.
A passenger revealed how the pilot had later explained that if the struggle had lasted another few seconds, the co-pilot would have been unable to regain control as the airliner was about to flip upside-down.
“Suddenly the plane went into this violent, violent dive — like shuddering—and went very, very steeply downwards and everyone was woken up by this screaming—grown men basically screaming—and it was quite a violent situation,” Benjamin Goldsmith, a passenger, told Sky News by telephone from Nairobi where the plane finally landed at 10:10 a.m. local time.
“Then the plane just stopped diving and went into another dive at a really weird angle, going down to the left...then the engine cut out altogether.”
Man’s Motive Unclear
British Airways said the airliner’s automatic pilot disengaged during the cockpit struggle, sending the plane into a series of violent maneuvers. One crew member suffered a broken ankle and several passengers were slightly injured.
Kenyan police said they had detained a 27-year-old Kenyan man but declined to say where he lived or what his motive may have been.
“We are holding him for purposes of investigation,” police spokesman Dola Ndidis told Reuters. “We don’t want to speculate on whether he will be charged or not. Investigations might show he was a sick man.”
Goldsmith said the pilot told passengers over the speakers that “a very nasty man just tried to kill us all.”
“This was a scene of an airplane that was about to crash,” said Goldsmith, who was travelling with his sister and her two young children.
Passengers Remained Calm
He described how total silence descended on the plane for around 30 seconds after the crew had subdued the intruder and regained control.
BA said a number of the passengers sustained minor injuries. A total of 379 passengers, three flight crew and 16 cabin crew were aboard the London Gatwick to Nairobi flight.
“The passengers are fine, remarkably calm,” said Bob Dewar, a BA spokesman in Nairobi. “One member of the crew has a broken ankle. There was a bit of a scuffle.”
Emergency services were in attendance at Nairobi airport as a precaution and BA staff were looking after the shaken passengers there.
Goldsmith described the atmosphere during the struggle as one of “total panic.”
“I don’t think there’s a single person on that airplane that did not believe that we were about to crash. There were grown men screaming, people praying aloud,” he said, adding that he understood the plane had plunged 10,000 feet.
“I consider ourselves very, very lucky to have survived.”