El-al Hijack

[calmdown]

Reports of a flight en-route to Istanbul has been hijakced.
Anyone any more news.

[dv8]

20:45 Guards foil Hijack more to follow....from the BBC

[calmdown]

Just found out that the flight has diverted back to TLV and is safe
a passeneger has attacked a cabin crew member

[Bubbette]

OP, should you change the header to attempted hijack? In any case, the Israeli papers say he was an Israeli Arab who attempted to rush the cockpit with a knife, and the plane landed at its destination, Istanbul. Doesn't seem like that coordinated an effort if he was really trying to rush an El Al cockpit with a knife.

[411A]

Wonder if the hostie gave him some lip...or could the service have possibly been that bad? And, what's wrong with the ElAl security?
Many unanswered questions...and suspect the void will continue.

[ajamieson]

Latest take on the wires...

222 08 jer ank 21:26GMT 17NOV02
URGENT
Airline security guards overpower suspected hijacker on Tel-Aviv-Istanbul flight
Eds: COMBINES pvs; minor edits.
JERUSALEM (AP) – Security guards on Israel’s national airline El Al overpowered a man who tried to hijack a flight from Tel Aviv to Istanbul on Sunday, officials said.
None of the 170 passengers on board were harmed and the plane landed safely.
“The terrorist is in custody at the police station at the airport,” said Oktay Cakirlar, a senior official at Istanbul’s Ataturk International Airport.
He said El Al Flight 581 sent out a hijacking signal as it approached Istanbul but the suspect was overcome.
“No one was injured,” Cakirlar said.
Turkey’s private CNN-Turk and NTV televisions quoted police sources as saying that the alleged hijacker was an Israeli Arab and was armed with a knife.
The television reports said the man was overpowered by two Israeli security guards aboard the plane.
He reportedly first threatened a flight attendant with a knife and tried to approach the cockpit but he was overpowered by two security guards, one posing as a passenger, CNN-Turk television said.
The man was being interrogated by police at Istanbul airport, the reports said. 172124 nov 02GMT

[LatviaCalling]

With ElAl, it usually goes something like this. The moment you arrive at the airport you are observed and then the mind people take over as to why you are flying and who paid for your ticket.

This is not a cursory check of passengers, but is taken very seriously by the airline. After profiling the passengers, there is the usual security check before and at the gate.

How this guy got through with a knife and kept his profile to a minimum, I don't know, but I bet a lot of ElAl's security people in Tel Aviv are walking on flaming coals. This should not happen to the world's "most secure" airline.

:confused:

[Hand Solo]

Or how about 'Slightly deranged Israeli Arab takes exception to something on board, grabs his bread knife, pushes the hostie out of the way causing minor injury and storms forward before being apprehended by security staff'. Not really a major event is it. I'd guess some form of air-rage/looney event must happen on a weekly basis somewhere in the world but those aren't construed as attempted hijacks. Frankly I'd be rather surprised if this was a concerted (and rather amateurish) attempt to hijack an El Al aircraft. My moneys on the crank scenario.

[crewrest]

Suspect he is having an interesting interview now.

[RatherBeFlying]

There's always going to be leakage of improper small ironmongery aboard, even with the best pre-boarding security.

What puts El Al ahead of the rest of the pack is that they can handle the inevitable leakage.

Anyway, that's one dumb hijacker/air rager -- I'd take a sunny cage in Guantanamo over a Turkish dungeon any time:D

[Bubbette]

A friend of mine said Israeli news said that he was under surveillance from the time he was in the terminal, and that he may have been a ringer--either to distract the crew from other terrorists on board the plane, or to show other terrorists how the El Al crew responds in these situations. That does tie in with the fact that he did this on one of the shortest routes El Al flies. He does have that manic Richard Reid look though, doesn't he?

[PETERJ]

YEAH

Wonder if El Al ever thought of bidding for LHR-DUB or other European slots. 100% loads guaranteed !!. Nice one El Al...shows some people know how to handle stuff like that

[Konkordski]

Here we have the dumbest wannabe hijacker ever to walk into an airport... :rolleyes:

[Notso Fantastic]

You've got to question the sanity of someone who would try a lone hijack on El Al with any less than half a dozen machine guns, a mobile howitzer, full body armour, and a cute 'Rambo' style bandana on his head. The 'ringer' possibility is interesting, I expect the other passengers are being thoroughly profiled again!

[RatherBeFlying]

Growing doubt that suspect intended to hijack El Al airliner (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=231869&contrassID=1&subContrassID=0&sbSubContrassID=0) from Ha'aretz.

Lousy service -- great security. But at least you get to destination in one piece -- bring your own water bottle.

Latest news from Turkish police is that he planned to crash plane into building in Tel Aviv, but Turkish authorities are known for their ability to get people to say anything.

[Just an other number]

BBC World says he was taken into custody immediately the plane "touched down". Now there's a trick.

[nick24]

I first heard about this attempted hijack on the Radio 4 news last nite. Bulletins throughout the night expanded on the story, until this morning, it was said that he tried to accomplish his mission using a penknife. A penknife for God's sake! Depending on the size of the item, it might be pretty easy to get it through xray / inspection etc, but he's not going to do much damage is he!

If this is accurate reporting of the incident, then I agree with Konkordski - here we have the dumbest wannabe hijacker ever to walk into an airport...

[boiler]

There are reports comming out that there has no hijack to begin with. The passenger got into an argument with one of the CC and they misunderstood it as a hijack threat. Any confirmations?

[Bubbette]

Wow, that would be a huge mistake by the news agencies, although I already saw conflicting reports in one article by passengers saying there was noise and screams, and others saying there was no noise. Easy to see how a disgruntled passenger with a knife could be misinterpreted in these times though. Last I read was that he was planning to fly the plane into a building, although it's interesting he would choose to do that in a Muslim country.

[Bubbette]

Latest news is that he studied the plane, cockpit and airport layouts from info on the internet and studied them. His plan was originally to crash into a TA building, but he was afraid, and only acted after the pilot said to prepare for landing in Istanbul. He has said he was acting alone, but so far Israeli intelligence doesn't believe that.

[RatherBeFlying]

Israeli Arab denies he tried hijacking plane (http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=234528&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y) from Ha'aretz.

Sounds like he told the Turkish police exactly what they wanted to hear -- not necessarily the facts:p

[Bubbette]

Can't blame him for not wanting to deal with the Turkish police. I think it says a lot that he'd rather be tried in Israel.

[Bubbette]

It says that despite all the claims about Muslim Israeli Arabs being second class citizens, a Muslim Israeli Arab would rather be tried in ISrael, where he is assured of having a fair trial than a Muslim state.