Mauritania pilot outwits hijacker (Slick move.)

BBC NEWS ^ | 2/16/07 | BBC News

[Sax]

Over the intercom the pilot tells all the French speaking folks on the plane his plan, slams down hard upon landing, after falling down, the perp gets boiling water to the face to go along with his beat down. Nice.

[trillabodilla]

More than one way to skin a cat.

[jiggyboy]

Make him serve his sentence strapped into a United coach seat for five hours at a time.

[wastedyears]

If that was done pre-9/11, in most major countries, that might be considered cruel and unusual punishment. I know it would have been here.

Stupid PC rules *shakes fist*

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

More than one way to skin a cat.

Yup. And the dogs always love to watch.

[Ramius]

Well played.

I think it's really interesting that the old "conventional wisdom" of just going along with hijackers (or muggers for that matter) has turned out to be entirely wrong.

When every planeload of passengers can be counted on to react violently to a hijack attempt, pretty soon hijacking becomes more trouble than it is worth. Hijackers need a certain assurance that they can actually take control, and when that probability gets lower and lower... they won't bother.

I think the same thing works with street thugs looking for the easy mark. Or burglars. Same psychology.

[Squawk 8888]

(((.)))

[trimom]

Now that is just cruel! LOL

[verum ago]

This makes me recall a story about a FedEx flight 705, where an employee who had applied for pilot status and had been denied had become suicidal and decided to go jumpseat on a flight, murder the flight crew, and crash the plane so his family would get the insurance money. The copilot, despite this maniac beating him, the pilot, and the flight engineer in the head with a hammer (to be consistent with crash injuries), flew the plane through various radical maneuvers to keep the attacker off his feet until the others could overpower him. In the end the plane got down safely, but all four men were critically injured and when the police opened the cockpit door they found the interior covered in blood and were amazed that they were alive.

Wikipedia article on flight 705

[3AngelaD]

I love a happy ending, but too bad they didn't accidently kill him when they took him down with the hot water and the abrupt landing. The instant death of a few of these cretins would discourage such activity.

[reagan_fanatic]

the perp gets boiling water to the face to go along with his beat down. Nice.

I hope it boiled some of the skin off of his face.

Kudos to the crew and passengers for taking down this slime.

[Manfred the Wonder Dawg]

I'm amazed that French speaking people knew how or were willing to subdue anyone!

[Aeronaut]

[george76]

bttt

flight attendants threw boiling water at him

/

[GovernmentShrinker]

VERY impressive. To concoct a plan like that in a very short time frame under extreme pressure, involving multiple groups of people and a lot of unpredictable variables, and the execute it so flawlessly, is really awesome.

There really ought to be a high profile "Let's Roll!" award for people who do stuff like this (the pilot, and all the passengers and crew who caught on quickly and helped implement the plan).

[bwteim]

FYI followup

[Thermalseeker]

More than one way to skin a cat.

I've always wondered why the airlines would not use "Vomit Comet" manuevers to incapacitate a thug in the cabin. Basically, you pin the guy to the ceiling, then the floor, then the ceiling and repeat until he is either dead or unconcious. Yes, some passingers might also be hurt in the process, but at least you wouldn't loose all souls on board.

[Doctor Raoul]

Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine

What's with these Mormons anyway?

[End Times Sentinel]

When every planeload of passengers can be counted on to react violently to a hijack attempt, pretty soon hijacking becomes more trouble than it is worth.

Whoa, hold on there, cowboy!  You're talking like it might be incumbent upon a person to take responsibility for their own safety!  Any "enlightened" person knows we've outsourced this to "the authorities" (you sound like one of them "gun nuts").

That's the great thing about a modern, progressive society, we've put all adult responsibility on the state, and we can just stand around like sheep (or infants), so long as a Rambo type like you (or Todd Beamer) doesn't do anything irresponsible.

Owl_Eagle

If what I just wrote made you sad or angry,
it was probably just a joke.

[Turbopilot]

Great work on the parts of the crew and passengers.

Not to take anything away from their acts of bravery, but am I the only one who had to laugh a little when I read that a pilot named Mohamed combined forces with Francophones to defeat a hijacking?