Naked Cockpit Intrusion Attempt on Air France

[Airbubba]

"He was later released without being charged..."



August 20, 2002


Naked Passenger Forces Plane to Land
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Filed at 1:27 p.m. ET


BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- An Air France flight bound for Oslo, Norway, was forced to make an emergency landing in Belgium after a naked passenger tried to storm the cockpit, authorities said Tuesday.

The flight which left Paris shortly before 20.15 local time on Monday was rerouted to Brussels international airport after the 31-year-old stripped off all his clothes at his seat and tried to force his way into the cockpit, officials at the Brussels prosecutor's office said.

The pilot requested help from Belgian air traffic control which allowed the plane to land. The man, a French national of Tunisian origin was removed from the plane and arrested by police. He was later released without being charged.

Authorities did not give his name of the passenger and did not say why he tried to storm the flight deck.

[MarkD]

I'm puzzled by this. How little was he wearing that he managed to strip so far no CC noticed before he even left his seat???

details, anyone?

Tunisian national eh? He's lucky he didn't do it over CONUS or he'd never see daylight again.

[BOING]

Perhaps he was trying to show he was'nt armed!!!!!!!!

[Robert Vesco]

Maybe he was armed & dangerous, by being naked ! ;)

[Lavdumperer]

Good thing this didn't occur over the United States. Most passengers would have noticed his odd behavior and beaten him with his own "member." Passengers wouldn't have allowed a crazy (especially naked) person rush the flight deck - not now... I am surprised the flight attendants didn't respond quicker - why not?

Shows you the French are still weak when it comes to defense. I bet they threw some white flags at the naked guy... just kidding!


Cheers

:D :D :D :D :D :D

[Localiser Green]

"He was later released without being charged..."

Sorry but (jokes aside) what kind of impression are we trying to create here? That it is OK not only to strip off naked and run round an aircraft, frightening (or, indeed, amusing) other passengers, but also to attempt forced entry to the flightdeck in the process?!

I'm sorry, but what were the Belgian authorities thinking here? Whether this man posed a real threat or not, his actions were intolerable particularly in the current climate. If nothing else, he caused the aircraft to divert to another airport, resulting in quite a cost to the airline.

Maybe I'm over-reacting here, but an example should be made and he should be formally charged, and made responsible for the costs of diversion.

Do you not agree?

[Fokker-Jock]

Totally !!!

[Ignition Override]

Did the FA's then call for help from some guys?

On a US airline some passengers or crewmembers would have knocked the psycho into the wall, and if that did not work, broken his leg or head. Whatever stops someone. If the guy had made it into our cockpit, I would jab my ball point pen into his neck or ribcage, while the passengers rush in, pull him out, and break his body, if necessary to get his attention. Who allowed him to travel without his obvious need for medication, or did alcohol combine with another drug?

Do European planes still not have any safety bars on the cockpit doors, or are they even locked? If not both, then they can't ever again call US airlines naiive.

[uffington sb]

Perhaps ball-point pens should be added to the list of banned items.

[Capt Claret]

It is perhaps safe to assume that if a passenger strips naked then 'storms' the flight deck, that they are not quite as mentally stable as the 'norm'.

If so, I doubt that incarcerating or levying a fine for punnishment would achieve any real deterrant value.

Maybe the authorities thought so too.

[Pointer]

"the naked gun" 99 1/2

This can only happen in belgium... :rolleyes: not being charged. :rolleyes:

[N380UA]

:D :D :p

[Few Cloudy]

Always wanted a naked visitor - not with a name like Youssef though - more like Gina - Lolla. You ask how to do it - strip off in the forward toilet and the cockpit is just round the corner...

[martinidoc]

Mad or bad he should be put away until its decided which.
If mad he needs treatment or confinement until safe, if bad he needs banging away.
Protection of the public and aircrew is of paramount importance.

[simon brown]

:D

the workload of you professionals is high enough without being given another knob to flick

[uffington sb]

I.O.
Your post is the best advert for NOT flying on a US airline. Who actually decides who is normal, the Captain, CC or the Security personnel, you know the ones who remove a 2inch armalite from a GI Joe doll 'cos it looks like a weapon'.

[Ignition Override]

Greetings Uffington SB: Maybe I misunderstood the intent of your question, but either last September or October, a mentally deranged man tried to bash his way into the cockpit of an American Airlines jet. Similar attempts have been made over the last several years. That diagnosed nut on AA (travelling with his Dad) needed a few people to get him under control, and is lucky that very anxious pasengers did not cripple him or worse. Therefore, because of this and numerous other such violent attempts over the years, many pilots would consider anyone aggressively trying to visit the cockpit inflight as an unwelcome intruder, especially if more than one person is needed to control him/her.

Maybe he is considered normal over there, at least since King Alfred saw his first enemy berserkers at the Battle of Ashdown and used his own initiative to counterattack while his brother prayed a bit too long? Just kidding. I am often tempted to make some 'clever' remarks to our security people, but most of their actions are dictated by our wonderful FAA. Don't you just wonder sometimes what country some of our top bureaucrats are really working for????? Do the CAA and the European equivalents allow more judgement and common sense? Man, I sure hope so.

I constantly remind passengers behind me at security of a contradiction: that the ground employees of US airlines are NOT required to go through an x-ray machine, but (with the exception of our one crewbase), pilots and fa's are required to go through all of the others. Our ground employees can bring to work any metal object that they choose, and go through only a coded door behind baggage claim, if the object fits in a bag or lunch box! Now, if they have all had very thorough background checks, fine, but how about later, when the FBI has checked our brand-new flightcrewmember digital fingerprints agains their databases? We could have our bypass finger scanner and would not ned to go in front of passengers at the x-ray line and hold them up.

We share many of you all's frustrations with the fact that the FAA allows their security people little leeway in terms of common sense. We just wonder if there is an economical and efficient way to bring many of the business travelers back. It takes about three Leroys and Joe Bobs ('proudly' wearing their best "Cancun" t-shirts and sandals) to equal one business fare passenger, in terms of revenue...


Y'all sleep tight.

[Mr_Grubby]

Maybe he was released without charge because they thought the 'evidence' would not 'stand up' in court!!!

Mr G.:) :)

[Montt]

Can any (aviation) lawyer shed any light as to:

-which law is applicable to the incident

-whether in this case the Belgians had a basis to arrest this man for an act he committed on a French aircraft (= French soil?)

- which illegal act it is he may have committed in law

- whether the passengers could sue the airline (or who knows its non-intervening personnel on board) for not having taken the necessary measures to prevent/control/correct such an unpleasant and threatening situation.

The answers could help us to better understand what can (not) be done in the context of such type of incident.

[flyblue]

The only thing we know for sure about this incident is that it is not clear what really happened. I read in a French newspaper that he "tried" to go to the F/D (whose door is reinforced, BTW). We don't know what the crew did in the occasion. By the way, AF trains its personnell to deal with dangerous pax. We go threough a course about 1) laws and rights 2)Human Factors 3) defence and restraining .
The law that applies in this case is the French, if there is a lawsuit, or the Belgian in the same case. But the guy should have committed a crime that has as a consequence the arrest to be detained in custody. And we don't know if this is the case, because our friends the journos as usual go for the spicy part but fail to give the substance. We will know very shortly.
A suivre...

[LatviaCalling]

Ignition Override posts an interesting subject about U.S, ground crews not having to go through security checks.

What about the cleaning staff on the plane? Couldn't it be very easy for one of them to slip a firearm, grenade, etc. into the magazine pocket of, let's say 24B, and later tell a fellow cohort the location?

This kind of negates the whole security thing that's happening upstairs where people are forced to take their sandals off . Kind of scary, in my opinion.

As far as the naked dude, you think the Belgians are trying to "cover up" something?

Ah, but, flyblue, isn't French law based on the Napoleonic Code that you are presumed guilty until proven innocent. This guy should be behind many bars by now dressed in a prison uniform until proven innocent.

[GlueBall]

Naked, large breasted ladies always welcome in my cockpit. :p

[flyblue]

Don't know anything about Belgian law!

[OscarTango]

ahhh..THAT's why I sometimes have to call 3-4 times before I get a read-back... you guys are getting BJ's... you've got the best job in the world !

:D :D :D ;)