Knife man disarmed on Maldives plane

[What_does_this_button_do?]

from news.bbc.co.uk


A passenger armed with a knife has tried to enter the cockpit of an Air Seychelles flight.

The Boeing-737 was flying from the Indian city of Bombay to Mali in the Maldives.

The man, an Indian national, was overcome by crew members and passengers and disarmed.

There were no injuries during the incident.

The plane was carrying around 200 people, mostly Indian nationals.

Maldives authorities say have detained the suspect who is described as a 41-year-old construction worker.

Executive Chairman of Air Seychelles Captain David Savy says there does not yet appear to be any clear motive for his actions.

Mali - I think this should be Male!!! Bombay - I thought they renamed this city! Oh well, the BBC isn't it's best this morning.

[Justin Abeaver]

...........or perhaps even Mahe?

[Devils Advocate]

Err, according to their own website Air Seychelles (http://www.airseychelles.com/flightinfo/cie.html) runs a total of 8 aircraft:

2 Boeing 767-300ER (247 passengers)
1 Boeing 737-700 NG (126 seats)
4 DHC-6 Twin Otter (20 passengers)
1 Islander (6 passengers)

One can only assume that DVT must be a very definite risk if they can get 200 in a B737 - either that or quite obviously another fine example of journalistic excellence and attention to detail - not !

Rant over.

Ps. I hope the kicked the bejesus out of the fella with the knife ! :D

[zed3]

Flight seemingly a Boeing 737 with about 70 pax from Bombay via Male to Mahe in the Seychelles .

[luoto]

...if only every company had a perfectly updated web site I'm sure some people would love to rely on its facts.

[JEP]

Talking of journalism accuracy - a danish newspaper mentioned, that a B737 from Singapore Airlines carrying 270 pax made an emergency landing in Copenhagen on 15. aug. (The SQ777 incident)

Now putting 270 people in a B737 bound for Singapore from Copenhagen, thats quite an acheivment.

[luoto]

To pilots and those afficianados there's a world of difference between a 727, 737, 747 and 777.. To the average man in the public house it is a 'jumbo jet'...

A lot of reporting is done quite quickly and minor things can slip. Of course the media can balls up very badly too.

I could understand a 727 and a 777 being mixed up though. In many Swedish accents I misunderstand 2 for 7 if the person is mumbline.

[Konkordski]

Don't forget that sometimes the source -- regardless of its officiality or intended honesty -- can frequently get its own facts scrambled.

Happens more often than you might think, especially in cases like this where information is unclear. Sometimes the journo has to rely on what he's being told, and assume that an airline spokesman knows what he's talking about.

It's obvious to you and me that a 737 can't carry 200 passengers but there's only so much checking a journo can reasonably do -- otherwise where do you draw the line as to how much double-checking is needed?

[Mister Geezer]

Hats off to the crew and passengers for managing to overpower the 'hijacker'.... A superb effort! I heard that one crew member was injured, lets hope it is nothing serious.

MG

[Beta Target]

If reporters/editors/producers can't get the basic facts of a story right then it probably means that the whole story is cr@p and not to be trusted!

Whenever I see something in the newspaper or on TV about which I have some in depth personal knowledge, it is obvious to see how grossly misrepresented the facts often are.

The trouble is that this means that all the other stories we see/read in the media are probably equally badly misrepresented, we just don't realise it!!

If getting an aircraft type or a number of passengers wrong is a mere detail, then what constitutes something that does deserve accuracy??

Still I suppose we should never let the facts get in the way of a good story should we!!

[RatherBeFlying]

With the recent stories showing how easy it still is to smuggle knives aboard, maybe it would be better to issue knives, tasers, pepper spray, batons etc. to the pax.

The 9/11 hijackers found and exploited a security hole and it looks like there are several more available for exploitation.

When the next serious attempt happens, I'd much prefer the pax being equipped to having them barehanded.

[Tevoro]

Just heard on the Beeb from the ops manager, that the Air Hostess smothered the hi-jacker as per company procedure. Brave girls

[NCC-1701]

I heard the BBC interview also and I was surprised to hear him state that "smothering" the pax, was standard company procedure :eek: Is this really what we want the cabin crew to try when a crazed idiot is waving a knife :confused:

[Low-Pass]

What do you suggest "Enterprise", let the guy with the knife into the cockpit?

[747FOCAL]

I THINK HE GOT EXACTLY WHAT HE DESERVED FOR BEING STUPID ENOUGH TO TRY AND HYJACK ARMED ONLY WITH A KNIFE AFTER 9/11.

IF HE HAD BEEN IN THE USA I DON'T THINK HE WOULD HAVE LIVED TO SEE THE POLICE WAITING FOR HIM ON THE GROUND. :mad:

[hal3]

latest gulf air security for hijackers is to tell the passengers to belt the **** out of the hijacker who has a knife beside the cabin crew's neck,demanding to enter the cockpit,belive it or not.:D

[Capt.KAOS]

from what I've heard it was not a hijacker but a drunk Indian harrassing a flight attendent. He attacked her with a knife when she resisted. Eventually crew members overpowered him. Don't know why they just throw him out of the plane?

Capt.KAOS

[planecrazi]

Air Seychelles has an 737NG which I see a lot of, I believe it to be a 700 or 800, but it doesn't have the winglets.;)

[MasterGreen]

and the winglets are relevant to this post ? how ?

[Ignition Override]

That S.O.B would be lucky to still be alive over here, no matter how difficult his childhood, mental condition, or whether raised by an affluent familiy near San Francisco-as with the "misguided" John Walker: the military might know enough about his training/awareness of goals to easily justify shooting that piece of "Scheisse". One of our lady airline pilots (former C-141 Stan Eval, then Learjet at Ramstein AFB) said of Walker: "just shoot him".

But my gosh, this is not "correct" thinking for the post 90's decade...knowing that a former president could lie under oath, to be broadcast on public television...

And absolutely no apologies from me, for such views on any harsh treatment for these people.

Anyone who feels bothered by these remarks must think that the Sept 11 events were just pranks done by misguided youth-literally. Anyone who attempts to break into any cockpit should be put under military jurisdiction (and we are at war), assuming that they miraculously survived the break-in attempt.

[planecrazi]

MasterGreen-For your information, it was briefly discussed earlier if Air Seychelles had B737's to which I was able to confirm. The winglet story was confirmation for the type of NG B737. I unfortunately don't fly a NG B737 and so I don't know all the differences between the various models as I drive A340's and spend a lot of time head down with ammendments. I hope that clears up a little about your question!;)

[Notso Fantastic]

Ignition Override- my beliefs are in line with yours. But I was discussing the Mukonyi Nairobi incident where one person tried to destroy a 747 load of people with a copilot recently. I was saying how I thought it was extremely generous of the crew to allow him to survive, let alone ever use his brain again. I was saying how I thought they should have 'terminated' him with 'extreme prejudice' as they didn't know whether he was armed with detonators or other weapons, and it would only have taken an instant to complete the job. The response was "you can't do that- he's still a human being!". Liberals!- we're surrounded by liberals!