A new day dawns...
As the sun began to warm the plane the heat became unbearable. My terrifying 50th. Birthday had come and gone and I decided to take matters into my own hands and saying "Do you want everyone on board to die ?" I strode out of the cockpit and released the two overwing emergency exit windows so that they fell out. This did not go down at all well with the two men but it was a " fait accompli ". They now had to keep the two girls near the wing exits and ,as they kept opening and shutting the main entrance door, one of them had to guard this leaving just one in the cockpit. Communication also became much more difficult between them as it meant one of them leaving their position to contact the others.
A new problem arose. Hundreds of curious Israelis had parked their cars along the main Tel Aviv - Jerusalem road that ran parallel to the runway to watch the "goings on " and, especially during the night, their lights and movements had unnerved our hijackers who swore that it was an IsraelI ruse to move troops into position. We had to insist to the Tower that they had to be moved and this was eventually done but it took a deliberately long time.
Despit their demand that the Airport be closed ,the Israelis kept it open. A poignant moment was when a Sabena 707 roared closely overhead. It was captained by John Deleu whose Wife, Monique , was one of the Stewardesses aboard our plane and he had been allowed to pilot the plane bringing the Sabena and Government officials from Belgium.
Up to now no demands had been made by the hijackers despite repeated requests from the Israelis. Suddenly the leader produced sheets and sheets of paper on which were written over three hundred names. They told me to tell the Israelis that these were the names of Palestinian prisoners in nearby Ramla prison and that they...and they named themselves as Black September.... would blow themselves and everyone on board the aircraft , up if their demands were not met
to release these men and to provide air transport to Cairo for them all. The Israelis kept playing for time saying that there was no one at the Airport who could possibly deal with such a demand and that it would take time to find responsible members of the Government. The two men became furious and one of them started screaming into the microphone. The younger one rushed out and returned with the two girls. The older one said something to them and I saw their faces turn white. They shook their heads but he was insistent. The girls began to cry and the men embraced them. I knew that they had decided to blow the aircraft up with everyone, including themselves, on board ; the younger man left the cockpit and I saw my opportunity. Whilst the other, who was holding the gun in the hand nearest to me , was looking at the girls, I grabbed his hand and bent it back to his body. His finger was on the trigger and I had my finger over it but he had his thumb pressed on the safety catch. and the gun could not fire. All this took only seconds and the younger man came running back into the cockpit, his face contorted with rage and beat me back into my seat. I was told, later , by my Wife that she could hear me crying out "You promised that no one would be hurt." and she became terribly worried for my safety. They began talking furiously and it was obvious that the younger one wanted to kill me there and then but the other one would not let him. What probaly saved my life was, at that moment the Control Tower called us up and told us that the Red Cross representative had arrived and wanted to talk to the hijackers. This completely defused the whole taut situation and the relief on their faces was plain to be seen. They had obviously been waiting for some message to be passed to them by the Red Cross-completely unknowingly, I hasten to add,- containing a code word passed by the Black September movement to the Red Cross which would innocently be included in the message. Fortunately, I learned afterwards ,Peter Dils, our ex Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot D.F.C., Operations Manager in Brussels, had thought of just such an eventuality and was adamant that only the Israelis should be allowed to speak to us. The Israelis stalled again and told us that the Red Cross representative was standing by but was not permitted to use the R/T. Once again the hijackers were furious. They were arguing amongst themselves when I tried a desperate move. To this day I do not know why I suggested it but I found myself saying. "It is obvious that the Israelis don't believe that you mean to blow up the plane. Why don't you let me go and persuade them to to negotiate with you as it is the lives of myself and my passengers that are at stake ?. " To my eternal amazement they agreed on the condition that the Red Cross would send their representative to collect me and bring me back. I could hear the disbelief in the voice of the Air traffic controller when the news was passed to him.
It is a good moment to stop and wonder to myself...... regle