Turkish flight crew abduction in BEY
 

Turkish airlines Capt and FO abducted from crew bus in Beirut.
I flew into BEY day before yesterday and saw a Turkish 321 docking in...did not know they overnight there. Praying they are unharmed and released soon. Folks be careful.

PressTV - Gunmen kidnap two Turkish Airlines pilots in Lebanese capital

A little more information. Not a good omen.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013...s&emc=rss&_r=0

Am a bit surprised that no one really cares about this at all.

Any good News about the crew?
Both Murats. Did nothing to be in this situation

Turkish Crew
 

I have flown a few times into Beirut.

There's always an armed guard stationed around the aircraft when we land, friendly blokes, i always chat with them while overseeing fueling.

My Heart and Prayers go out for the crew and the families, i hope they are well and Turkish does everything possible to get them back safe and sound.

Its really sad that the entire Middle East is one big 'poop-hole' and with that, they drag innocent civilians into it.

Lebanon arrests 3 people in connection with kidnapping of 2 Turkish Airlines pilots
 

Lebanon arrests 3 people in connection with kidnapping of 2 Turkish Airlines pilots - The Washington Post


BEIRUT — Lebanese authorities have arrested three people in connection with last week’s kidnapping of two Turkish Airlines pilots in Beirut, the state news agency said Saturday. Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces referred the three suspects in custody to court, the National News Agency reported. It did not identify the three nor say when or where they were arrested.

Some secular activists now say they worry more about Islamist groups than Bashar al-Assad.


Gunmen snatched the two Turkish pilots last Friday from a van near Beirut’s international airport. Turkey quickly issued a travel warning urging its citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Lebanon and those already there to leave.


The kidnapping appears to be linked to the civil war in neighboring Syria. A previously unknown group claimed responsibility for the abductions, and linked the fate of the two Turkish pilots to that of nine Lebanese Shiites who have been held by Syrian rebels for more than a year.

A rebel faction in northern Syria took hostage 11 Lebanese Shiites who had been on a bus tour of religious sites in the area. The commander of the brigade told The Associated Press last September that he was holding them captive to try to force Lebanon’s Shiite militant group Hezbollah to stop supporting Syrian President Bashar Assad’s regime.

Syria’s rebels are predominantly Sunnis, and are widely supported by Lebanon’s own Sunni community. Lebanon’s Shiite community strongly backs the Syrian regime.

Turkey helped broker the release of two of the 11 Lebanese Shiite hostages last year, but the other nine are still in captivity.

Lebanese officials have been shuttling between Syria and Turkey to try to
mediate the Shiite hostages’ release. In January, rebels freed 48 Iranians in exchange for more than 2,000 prisoners held by Syrian authorities.
The stage seemed to be set for a similar swap last month after the Syrian regime freed nearly two dozen female prisoners, complying with rebel demands, Lebanese officials said at the time. In return, rebels were expected to free several of the Lebanese Shiites, but no hostages have been released.


The rebels are reportedly demanding the release of a total of 127 female detainees in Syrian jails before releasing any of the nine Lebanese Shiites.

your having a laugh right? Christianity is no better. pedophiles, bigotry, sexism, forced population explosion ( by means of denouncing the use of birth control in developing countries, where it's needed most ) and that is just the main stream. you also have your radicals as well.

Foreign to whom? :rolleyes:

I feel for the Turkish pilots and their families, but it's a real surprise this didn't happen in Mogadishu or Kabul, two among several exotic and romantic destinations that THY flies to :E

Turkish pilots
 

I too am a bit amazed at how little anyone seems to care about these two guys. I've written a few stories about it with little to no response at all. They only update I was able to grab from the IFALPA people was that some Lebanese minister said the two pilots were in good health ... that's it.

Even the Turkish Airlines folks aren't talking. The work I had to go through just to get their pictures was amazing.

Guess this should be a wakeup call if this happens to me. But as I mentioned in one of the stories, do you really think the response would have been the same if these two were Lufthansa, or British Airways or Air France pilots?

If they'd ben Americans, I can only imagine.

One question did keep coming up in the discussions I did see though ... how were the two men dressed when they left the airport?

I'm a biz av pilot and we always tried to look as much like a tourist as possible in that region. These guys couldn't really have ben in jackets or shirts with stripes on sleeves or shoulders could they?

Rob

BTW, if you want to rad the story you'll find it at Jetwhine.com.

Yes they would have been in uniform like any other airline crew. I fly worldwide to some ugly places too. Never have we changed to a hawaii shirt and put a camera around the neck..

Turkish Pilots
 

I'm curious then ... does your airline address this kind of thing in its ops manual at all or do they just tell you to be careful when you head to the middle east?

At a number of high risk destination overnights we had a security detail escorts to and from the hotel. Also we would receive security briefings at others.

Now this was with Continental Airlines and American crews. Lagos among a few others in South America come to mind.

Here at my current establishment tonight I fly over Syria into Beirut with nary a concern from my employer. I have been told by our safety department that an acceptable risk assessment was performed :ugh: