NZ Pilots stabbed whilst airborne
 

From the TV 3 website

Pilots stabbed at Christchurch Airport

Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:14a.m.

There is a full emergency at Christchurch Airport where a plane has just landed.

There are reports that a woman has stabbed two pilots and threatened to blow up a plane.
The pilots managed to land the Jetstream aircraft with nine passengers on board despite their injuries.

The armed offenders squad surrounded the plane on the runway and it is believed the woman has been contained.

We have a camera at the scene and we will bring you more details as they come in.


Sounds like Air National doing the NZWB - NZCH flight for Eagle.

I hope the crew are OK - There's still no domestic security checks prior to boarding a domestic flight in NZ - unless it's a jet operation from the major hubs. Time for change :=

Press report -

"Air New Zealand said the plane had originated from Blenheim but the airport later said it was flight NZ2279 from Oamaru to Christchurch, operated by Eagle Air, an Air NZ subsidiary."

TV3 NZ has some video of the A/C looking lonely where it stopped.

Bloomberg says
"
A passenger on board flight NZ2270 from the South Island town of Blenheim to Christchurch was arrested on arrival at the airport, Air New Zealand said in an e-mailed statement. None of the seven passengers were injured in the ``incident'' and the plane landed safely, the airline said.
The perpetrator is a woman, New Zealand Defense Force spokesman Zac Prendergast said. ``She claimed to have a device in her handbag so as a matter of course the defense force bomb disposal squad was called out,'' he said in an interview. ``I heard someone in the crew or pilot has been stabbed, I don't know what with or anything like that.''
The pilot and woman have been taken to hospital, the New Zealand Herald reported, citing an unidentified person at Christchurch airport. The gateway's spokeswoman Chelsea Halliwell did not return calls to her mobile telephone."

One News NZ
"Police say a May Day call was received at around 7:40am via the NZ Rescue Co-ordination Centre.
The pilots on board said a female passenger had attacked them and inflicted minor injuries before she was removed from the cockpit.
The passenger also made threats of a bomb being on board.
Police say the plane continued on to Christchurch Airport without further incident and landed safely just after 8am.
The Civil Aviation Authority says there were nine people on the plane but none were hurt. The CAA is not confirming whether the pilots were injured but there are reports one was stabbed.
Footage obtained by ONE News shows a male pilot with a bandage on his right arm being wheeled away by emergency staff at the airport.
The airport is in lockdown mode and the terminal has been evacuated. All flights both in and out of the airport are currently on hold and passengers heading there should expect delays.
Emergency services are at the scene and Christchurch police have taken a woman into custody.
The plane is a Jetstream 32 - a twin engine aircraft that reportedly has no cockpit door between the pilots and the passengers."

From ninemsn
 

A woman has been arrested after stabbing two pilots on an Air New Zealand flight in a foiled hijacking attempt.

Both pilots are in hospital after suffering stab wounds — one to the hand and the other to foot.

The woman has been identified as a 33-year-old Blenheim resident, originally from Somalia.

Police said the woman had not been charged and that it was too early to say what charges she may face.

It is not yet known if there is a bomb on board.

Officials have recovered two knives — one from the woman and another from the tarmac.

She was taken away in an ambulance, after reportedly suffering police dog bites.

It is understood three or four people were taken from the airport by St John Ambulance after the plane landed safely.

An army spokesman confirmed the bomb squad had been called in to defuse a device.

It was reported to have been in the woman's bag.

Wayne Johnstone, a passenger on board another flight to Invercargill, said he was asked to get off his flight and he saw police surrounding the aircraft involved, Stuff website reported.

He said there was a sniper on the tarmac, and police rushed into the plane.

"I saw a dog go in, the passengers came out in a rush, then the woman came out, bundled to ground and searched by police and taken away."

Passengers at the airport who saw the woman being arrested by police described her as middle aged and dressed in black clothes.

All flights in and out of Christchurch airport were suspended this morning and the terminal building closed.

The international terminal has since reopened and is being used to traffic domestic flights.

Air New Zealand confirmed that "an incident" had occurred on the scheduled commuter flight and said one passenger was taken into police custody when it landed.

It said the other seven passengers on board were all safe but gave no further details.

Police said a mayday call was received via the NZ Rescue Co-ordination Centre about 7.40am (5.40am AEDT).

"The pilots on board reported that a female passenger had attacked them in the cockpit, inflicting some minor injuries before she was removed from the cockpit," police said in a statement.

They said the plane landed at 8.06am (6.06am AEDT) and all passengers got off the aircraft safely.

A little NZ Perspective
 

First, NZ does domestic security a result of an international agreement a couple of years ago. I thought it was a shame at the time, something to ponder, eh? Used to view NZ as a pillar of sanity in a world gone out of kilter.

The pilots, one received deep cuts to the hand and the other received a foot injury. The 33 year old Somali woman, a resident of Blenheim reportedly attempted to hijack the plane and was carrying two knifes and claimed to have two bombs in checked luggage.

From the Christchurch newspaper web site:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/thepress/4392662a6009.html

Air National/Eagle Air Jetstream J32 Blenheim to Christchurch.

Apparently they evacuated the terminal after arrival due to the bomb threat. The aircraft was halted on an apron approximately 300 metres from the terminal, and flight operations at Christchurch were disrupted as a result.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...ectid=10491291
(Pictures and video).

Domestic Security
 

Quote:

---

First, NZ does domestic security a result of an international agreement a couple of years ago.

---

Are you sure Dio Gratia?

I thought that domestic pax flights (non-jet) had very little in the way of security, if any, regardless of departure point.

Certainly my experience travelling AUK to NSN in November last was of no hand baggage x-ray, no metal detector, no shoe search or any of the checks those of us who live in Europe/US expect each journey. This was an Air New Zealand Link/Air Nelson? Q300.

Perhaps someone with operational experience can confirm?

Well done the crew anyway.

PS.

Quote:

---

She was taken away in an ambulance, after reportedly suffering police dog bites

---

I hope that bitch is OK (the police dog I mean...not the Somali)

2infinity

Isn't it a good feeling to know that we have such a great security system in place in this day and age!!??

I've often thought it odd that the J32 just has a curtain separating the flight crew from pax. The J41 has a lockable door, so why no changes made to the smaller version, especially since 9/11? Let me guess - money perhaps? :ugh:

You still have the potential for this sort of thing to happen, whether it's 19 pax or 29.

In my personal opinion, if you give someone of this mentallity half a chance, they'll take it - so don't even give them the opportunity.

PS, Dysag - lol! :D

No Security on Domestic Flights
 

The same applies to flights from many small or remote airports in Canada, if the flight isn't direct to a major airport like YYZ.
Jimbo

I'm not sure if it's still the same, but as recently as three years ago there was no security on commuter flights in Alaska (part of the US, last I checked). I was gobsmacked to be able to walk straight onto a Twotter for a flight ANC-ENA and a DHC-8 on the return.

As for domestic security in NZ, I certainly had none on an ANZ Q400 flight last year AUK-NPL.

Pretty ironic that on some sectors security seems to have gone over the top, while a blatant lack of security still exists on others.

Dio Gratia:
 

Sadly! you are mistaken:
Q:First, NZ does domestic security a result of an international agreement a couple of years ago. I thought it was a shame at the time, something to ponder, eh? Used to view NZ as a pillar of sanity in a world gone out of kilter.

If some demented sod wishes to create havoc, justboard the tube at a regional airport! sadly it is that f:mad::mad::mad::mad:g simple.

The Question remains to be answered: WHO overall is responsible for security at our countries airports?

It has long been argued of the need to have at the very least xray monitors and passenger walk through monitors at all NZ Commercial airports.

Secondly you are very wrong on NZ being a sane country: it is run by Woman, commen sense is none too common any longer, and we enjoy violent crime on an unprecedented scale, the womans answer is to build more prisons with central heating, and educational ammenities:

Sorry for the thread drift, but reality is as they say so bloody different!:ok:

There's no security ISC to the mainland either, is there?!
(Not last time I flew anyway).

NZ does not do security on domestic flights using aircraft with less than 90 seats, I know this because I am on them all the time. Its only gate lounges that have the security checks and they dont use gate lounges for anything smaller than a 737.

I think you will find at Christchurch - if you are departing on turboprop flights using gates on the left side (southern side) of the terminal you go thru the screening process as this area leads to all the 737 gates.

Yes, I was wrong
 

I spent the morning trying to chase down how the present regulations on passenger screening. You can find plenty of articles talking about screening of passengers on aircraft with 90 passengers or more, very little on how this screening actually came about. A bit about levying tickets to support the cost, lots of reports on the cost impact. There are some airports that do screening of turboprop passenger flights based on sharing of facilities, such as in Gisborne.

If I had to hazard a guess, the size threshold for screening is based on the anticipated value of the aircraft to terrorists. Small aircraft can't do as much damage as your 100 - 200 tonne passenger jets running into ground structures. One could also contemplate the calculus of loss of human life based on numbers, in terms of say investigative effort. Regulatory agencies tend to be measured on whether regulations were adhered to for small incidents, and there tends to be little public accountability on how regulations came about - before a large incident.

It's also hard to imagine prophylactic measures for in flight cockpit safety on small aircraft. There's been estimates as high as 600 million dollars for cockpit door reinforcement for passenger jets operating in the U.S. I'd imagine the cost for smaller aircraft would be disproportionately higher, weight and space problems might require an extremely large amount of re-engineering.

I'd expect an increase in passenger screening at small airports to eventually result from this incident. Air travel will be a bit safer in New Zealand, thanks to the great leavening of treating everyone as a potential risk.

When I commented to some about the lack of security I had noticed on the aforementioned Anchorage-Kenai route, this was greeted with a general shrug and eventual dismissal with "Well, you know there really aren't that many tall buildings in Alaska."

In truth, Anchorage has a few 20-ish storey buildings that could be made a royal mess by an encounter with a Twotter or Dash 8, especially one that might be carrying a bit of extra unscreened "bang" as payload. On top of that, it's not far from a major pipeline (the Trans-Alaska) that carries something like 20 percent of the crude production of the United States.

But I guess that doesn't count... :rolleyes:

Wildly OT, but I can't let it go
 

hoggsnortrupert raved:
"Secondly you are very wrong on NZ being a sane country: it is run by Woman, commen sense is none too common any longer, and we enjoy violent crime on an unprecedented scale, the womans answer is to build more prisons with central heating, and educational ammenities."

An outstanding example of the rationality of men. For the information of ROW, I'll be voting against her in the next election, but Helen Clark is pretty much the most competent PM I've experienced, in 60-odd years in the UK, Australia and NZ. You should have your hormones checked, hoggsnort.

Not meaning to add fuel to the fire
 

The hijacker has been specifically mentioned in Parliament by Winston Peters in 2004 as a recidivist. Apparently a refugee from Somalia with a large history of encounters with police while in New Zealand, estranged from family and the the local Somali expatriate community.

Plane Hijacker's Troubled History
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/...0491514&pnum=0

It's interesting to see how little bits of the story emerge, or have changed in the last day. For instance, at least the majority of knife injuries were sustained after landing. Apparently three were injured, including one passenger.

I understand that the hijacker is under psychiatric observation, to which she agreed voluntarily.

NZ pilots stabbed ..
 

hogsnortrupert is spot on, clean,green,safe NZ is a myth, and it's about time the World learned that, and what's the point of any of this security garbage anyway, the real bad guys will do precisely what they want regardless, all we've done is stop the odd idiot visiting his grandmother in Cuba. There is talk of yesterday's nutter not even being charged, because the Press had the audacity to delve into her, alleged, murky past and tell everyone, therefore denying her the right to a fair trial - Oh Dear, give me strength. PC Rules - OK !