Stowaway in SIA Cargo flt

[Fatfish]

SIA Cargo operating SHJ to AMS had a unwelcome visitor onboard. At top of climb, the FO stepped back to the Galley and saw a man seating in one of the uppercabin seats. The Captain turned the aircraft back to SHJ while the FO served the stowaway with a meal and drinks. The aircraft landed uneventfully with the visitor well fed and impressed with the inflight service. So much for security. :)

[VinnieC]

They served him/her a meal......hahaha...that FO is pretty cool:ok:

[OVERTALK]

As reported to the world by whom (on what date?)

[Fatfish]

Front page Singapore 'Straits Times' 9Nov.
attached
http://travel.asiaone.com/Travel/News/Story/A1Story20071109-35486.html :)

[gengis]

Overtalk:


From the Straits Times:


Second stowaway found on SIA plane

Man was in cabin seat on cargo plane from the UAE to Holland

By Liaw Wy-Cin, Newsdesk Reporter

ANOTHER stowaway has been found on a Singapore Airlines (SIA) plane, the second in a month.
The unauthorised passenger managed to get his way into the cabin area of a cargo plane which was flying from Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates - about 30 minutes' drive from Dubai - to Amsterdam, Holland on Tuesday.

The Straits Times understands that he was caught sitting in one of the six seats, just several metres behind the pilots, after an hour into the seven-hour flight, which was forced to turn back.

It is believed that the first officer of the plane was going to the galley to prepare a meal when he saw the "burly Indian man".

The man could not speak English, did not appear drunk and was calm during the flight. He was served food and drink and was not restrained during the flight.

As a precaution, however, the pilots returned to Sharjah Airport, where the man was taken away by the police there, said an SIA spokesman when contacted. The pilots were concerned that the man would turn violent if he "saw sand instead of tulips", said sources, who added that the shade next to man's seat was pulled down so that the stowaway would not know where the plane was heading.

On Oct 11, a Palestinian fell out of the nose wheel well of an SIA passenger plane at Changi Airport after it arrived from Kuala Lumpur.

Tuesday's incident raises security concerns for pilots of cargo planes because unlike passenger jets, there is no cockpit door protecting them.

Investigations into the incident are underway.

[Andrej]

Good job on pilots part. :ok: They must be really coolheaded to distract the stowaway with an brilliant idea!

I thought that pilots/ground personnel did security checks prior the departure? Maybe they ought to do so from now on.

Cheers,
Andrej

[parabellum]

I'll bet they gave him the Biriani and not the fish!:)

[ArkPilot]

Now THAT would be a true sacrifice!!:ok:

I must admit, during my last COP the last flight I flewfrom SHJ was a double crew and not a briyanni in the bunch.:(

[Check Airman]

Tuesday's incident raises security concerns for pilots of cargo planes because unlike passenger jets, there is no cockpit door protecting them.

Never been on a cargo plane. I was under the impression that they had doors. Am I wrong or is this the usual media junk?

[Rockhound]

Check Airman,
I presume they meant a securely lockable door was absent.

Andrej,
So what exactly was the brilliant idea? Serving the stowaway lunch or pulling the window shade down? The former was a certainly a nice touch, in keeping with SIA's reputation for superior IFS. The latter, I'm not so sure. As he wasn't restrained, surely the interloper could easily have pulled the shade up and taken a peek. Anyway, when they began the descent he must have realized they hadn't already reached AMS.
Rockhound

[wrightbrother]

Even the stowaways prefer to fly Singapore over EK so its not only the pax who have heard about the Inflight service cheers!!

[HotDog]

I presume they meant a securely lockable door was absent.

I don't know about other types but the 747F has no cockpit door nor a provision for it.

[Rockhound]

Hot Dog,
That's very interesting. Truly, you learn something every day.
Still, what's the reasoning behind having an open cockpit?
Rockhound

[HotDog]

I have been trying to locate a picture of the B747F upper deck layout. Basically it is a standard 747 upper deck without the flight deck rear bulkhead that has the door fitted. Access to the main deck is by a retractable, narrow set of steps. There is no need for a flight deck door as normally, only the operating crew is on board although some carriers used to take passengers who were usually employees or dead heading crew but that was before 9/11. The only time you are likely to have pasengers on the upper deck, is on a horse charter where the grooms travel with the cargo of horses.

[parabellum]

I think this guy must have either hidden in one of the two lateral bunks, aft of the pax seats, or hidden himself down below and made the mistake of coming upstairs once airborne. On the -400F there is a door at the top of the ladder that gives access to the upper deck and flight deck but I don't remember ever locking it.

[Airbubba]

It looks like the intruder may have been a loader from an earlier stop in Bangalore.

Some years ago a UPS 747 had the ladder hatch pop open over the Nopac and a loader from ANC came up. He rode to TPE, had no documents, so he stayed on the plane for the trip back to Alaska. He was fired after he got home.

A FedEx loader fell asleep in a 727 a while back and took a domestic trip in one of the aircraft bellies. FedEx dispatched one of their bizjets to retrieve him.

[skiesfull]

There is no lock on the door to the upper deck. SIA Cargo often have Horse-grooms travelling on the upper deck, using the 6 seats. Just before closing the main entry door 1 L, the agent responsible for security is supposed to check all upper deck areas before presenting the completed form to the Captain for his signature. Possibly, the stowaway hid behind a cargo pallet before climbing the stairs to the seats. It should be of grave concern to all freighter operators as it is a weak area in security. A locked door from the flight deck to the upper deck is not really feasible as it isolates the crew from "unattended -but-properly-briefed-occupants" in the seats and the only toilet and galley is outside the main escape route (upper-deck door on the right hand side).However, it would be possible and easy to lock the door at the top of the stairs, preventing access from any stowaways hidden in the main deck cargo. Of course, it would cost money!

[HotDog]

Of course, it would cost money!
Not at all. A simple sliding bolt on the access hatch to the upper deck would prevent anybody to gain entry. However, it is a worry. It seems not much attention has been paid to the possibilities of a cargo hijack. Having operated cargo flights for 9 years previous to my retirement, the security of upper deck access should be on the before start checklist; if it's not already there.

[skiesfull]

Hotdog - you're quite right. A simple bolt would be effective and cheap; however, my experience on freighters is that ground staff are on the upper deck much sooner than on pax flights and having to get out of the seat to unbolt the door would interrupt post-flight checks and duties. Far better to fit a coded system as per pax a/c, with a code known to the ground engineering staff and a simple opening handle from within.
Anti-terrorism measures are usually 'catch-up' ideas - in this worrying incident, we have the ability to pre-empt flight deck intruders with a simple measure. After all, a fully fuelled freighter would be just as devastating a weapon as a pax a/c. Ways of improving security at cargo operations are being looked at now, but it would appear that nothing is being done in a hurry. Perhaps the SIA Cargo incident and the FedEx (or UPS?) incident just a few years ago, where someone managed to be 'posted' to his destination on a cargo flight (he was spotted by the delivery driver at home address!) -may put more priority on cargo flight security.

[Andrej]

Hello Rockhound,

I like that the FO was able to remain cool and reacted properly in the situation. I presume that he was able to distract the stowaway by serving him food and closing the blinds. I know that the stowaway could open the blinds, but still the crew remained cool and was able to bring the jet back on the ground!

I am not sure how I would react in the situation, as I am not sure how would you handle it. But I give credit to the crew for quick and creative thinking!

Cheers,
Andrej

[expat400]

Skiesfull

What would be the problem with having the groundstaff wait for five minutes before entering?
That itself would for me be a reason to install the bolt!

Fly safe!

[skiesfull]

Can't argue with that - but will argue that something needs to be done urgently.
When security agents delight in taking small nail scissors off Flight Crew on duty, while missing the intruders that climb in wheelwells and holds and even on board without detection, then security measures need reviewing urgently. Cargo operations are a weak area.

[expat400]

Agree, agree...


But nail scissors are dangerous. They can be used to hack a hole in the fuselage and then we all will be sucked out through the hole and the aircraft will crash into a building and the stockmarkets will crash and Bush will attack every country he's never been to and the oil will go to 200 US and the airport security will ban passengers and we'll all be unemployed...


Unlikely? Well if they can get people to believe that a shoe bomber would use matches to detonate Semtex and that some guys can make a bomb out of liquids smuggled onboard in a bottle then nail scissors can be a threat too...