Ethiopian Hijack?
 

Hi...seems strange, maintaining FL360, Sqw 7500 already passed Fiumicino about half an hour???
Please mods delete or move this thread if its only a FR24 Bug.

Many folks have been monitoring. Through liveatc.net someone heard "Asylum or assurance that we will not be transferred to the authorities". Seems like the real deal?

Holding at 7000 ft over Geneva at the moment.

Seems to be on ground at Geneva at this moment

airport currently closed- no information being given

From Reuters:
 

17-Feb-2014 16:51 - HIJACKED AIRCRAFT HAS LANDED AT GENEVA AIRPORT - AIRPORT SPOKESMAN
17-Feb-2014 16:56 - ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES SAYS ONE OF ITS FLIGHTS WAS "FORCED TO PROCEED" TO GENEVA AIRPORT
17-Feb-2014 16:58 - ETHIOPIAN AIRLINES SAYS ALL PASSENGERS, CREW SAFE AT GENEVA AIRPORT

Aircraft is taxiing again

Poor Ethiopian
 

Isn't this their second hijacking? IIRC they had one quite some time ago where the hijackers wanted to go to Australia for asylum but the plane didn't have enough fuel and as such it crash landed in the ocean.

Good to see that everything has turned out fine (so far). Btw I have seen reports that the pilots left the cockpit through the windows after landing, if this is the case then is doing so standard procedure?

BBC have flagged it up as newsworthy

BBC News - Ethiopian plane diverted to Geneva

Being reported on local English language radio English Speaking Radio Switzerland I Local News, Classifieds & Information for Expats in the Lake Geneva Region I World Radio Switzerland GVA closed, inbound flights being diverted. Apparently one of the pilots arrested ...???

Edited to add someone arrested, could be a pilot. Situation under control, nobody injured. Appears to be over.

Swiss police told a newspaper one of the pilots has been arrested.
This is an atc recording in which can be heard that asylum was requested.
https://soundcloud.com/producermatth...irlines-flight

Airport opened for departures at 0815 local, will open for arrivals at 0845. Press Conference at GVAAP at 0900.

Sort of makes sense that the flight crew is behind this. They are the ones already at the controls. I guess this event "proves" that the security procedures in place did not fail. And it also shows that security checking of flight crew is totally useless. They can fly the airplane anywhere, any time.

The FO has apparently been arrested, after having refused the Captain re-entry to the flight deck after a toilet visit, and flown the aircraft to Geneva. Don't like his chances of political asylum in Switzerland though:rolleyes:

Something odd going on. The pic in the Telegraph shows the steps at the L1 door but the taxi and landing lights are still on, the flaps look to still be down and the F/O window is open with what looks like the escape rope dangling down. More to this than meets the eye, perhaps.

Hijacked aircraft lands in Geneva - Telegraph

ETA on closer inspection it might just be a dirty streak rather than the escape rope, actually. The rope would be a bit further back...

Co- pilot left the aircraft by rope through the cockpit- window.:ouch:

I can understand that, since he probably didn't want to meet the angry pax and very :mad: captain

Seems he was looking for asylum according to Airport spokesman Bertrand Staempfli.

"He said he felt threatened in his country and wants to seek asylum in Switzerland."

Co-pilot surrenders to Swiss police after hijack - RTÉ News

More info:

Ethiopian Airlines flight hijacked by co-pilot seeking asylum in Switzerland - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

if so :ugh::ugh:

9:10 The pirate Ethiopian origin, born in 1983, was the copilot of flight Addis Ababa to Rome. He took control of the aircraft while the pilot was the toilet after trapped in the cabin. Approaching the airport at four in the morning, he asked the control tower to land to refuel kerosene before finally know that it was a diversion. He then jumped out of the cockpit with a rope. - See more at: Live: détournement à Cointrin: le pirate était le copilote - News - La Côte - Journal régional lémanique

Google translate from French.

Briliant, just brilliant.

Since 'lessons will (have to) be learned', one wonders to what level of stupidity our political leaders will sink to this time round. No less than 2 persons in the cockpit at any one time, perhaps?

That is a rule that a lot of companies have in place already, for various reasons (incapacitation etc.)

By the way: getting asylum in Switzerland is not going to be easy as he will have gained a Swiss criminal record after conviction for the hijacking...

I think that the flight crew should not be allowed access to the toilet as this episode has clearly shown that it can lead to dangerous situations :rolleyes:

ExXB, asylum rules usually mean you have to seek asylum the first time you're somewhere safe. If he wanted to specifically reside in Switzerland, then he has to come straight into Switzerland from the country he's fleeing.

Although, he might have had more chance of getting-out-of-Ethiopia success if he'd had a quiet word with the Italian immigration desk after his scheduled arrival. Then again, I guess he wasn't thinking at his straightest.

A rather better outcome than Egyptair managed at least.

According to this source he even got an escort by two Eurofighter Typhoons

AirlineReporter.com - - We are AvGeeks Blogging on Aviation, Travel and Airlines.

Extra fuel
 

"15.000 Kg more fuel for kids Captain?"

Just imagine the carnage he could have wrought if he had a bottle of Evian and a yoghurt with him that security had missed.....:rolleyes:

I'm not sure how you address both the Jetblue captain being locked out of the cockpit and this incident. Two sides of the same coin.

On the other hand, both incidents ended well without injuries to other crew and pax.

Update

Hijacking crisis at Geneva Airport over

Geneva police spokesperson, Eric Grandjean, has confirmed that the hijacker of flight 702 was the 30-year-old Ethiopian co-pilot of the plane.

The hijacking crisis at Geneva Airport is now over and Geneva police say the situation is under control.

Ethiopian Airline’s flight 702 en route from Addis Ababa to Rome sent out a distress signal of a hijacking, while flying over Sudan.

After circling over Geneva airport the plane landed at 6AM and negotiations with the hijacker began. The co-pilot locked the captain out of the cockpit when he went to the toilet and took control of the aircraft-requesting asylum in Switzerland. The co-pilot was unarmed and surrendered by climbing through a cockpit window.

Police confirm that the co-pilot has been arrested and that all 200 passengers and the crewmembers are safe.

Geneva Airport has now reopened.

Olivier Jornot, Attorney General of the Canton of Geneva, says that under Swiss law taking hostages can garner up to 20 years in prison.

I don't get this......................he has a skill easily transferrable to another airline and so not likely to be stuck in Ethiopia for long if at all.

Sounds like there are some Psychiatric issues here.

Prefer he doing something like this than driving it into the ground.

Could have gone the same way as EgyptAir 990
 

Remember there also the Co-pilot was also "PF" of a 67 and solo in the cockpit back in 1999. Same scenario, CP goes pottie and a change of flight plan and single pilot operation takes over. I think that ET, the real estate flown over, persons living in that flight path and the pax can consider themselves very, very lucky nothing worse came out of this. Of course like the "Swiss" cheese model, were there any clues lining up prior (during initial hiring, screenings, security checks, medicals, sim sessions, line training) leading up to this that should have been flagged?
Sadly as we've seen in the past, ET will deny any wrong doing in their business model, hiring system (ET 409 in 2010) and checking!
I look very forward to the CVR transcript and pax word-of-mouth on this event. No doubt a real drama unfolded in the forward galley and J-class! Obviously no hero's here, except the fact this FO still respect life and property as not to harm anyone directly. Mental trauma aside!

Just a thought: can a fully trained and qualified pilot who is rostered for that very flight actually be a hijacker, I mean in a legal sense? He obvioulsly diverted from his original flightplan, broke a couple of SOPs and laws, but he didn't put a gun to anybody's head. So did he actually hijack the plane (as the media say) or would you call that something like "gross misconduct"?

I am very curious if Capt. was an Ethiopean national or not ? That may add some more light to this lunacy.

Standby for mandatory portapotties on the flight deck.

why was his squawk 7500?

One question it raises: how many lives have been put at risk/lost because of the locked door, against how many have been saved by same? On a saner note, I always thought (on the 737 at least) that the locked door should have been put aft of the toilet. That, and a modification to the galley would mean that the crew would never have to leave the cockpit. Oh, and a three-man crew. ;)

We can only thank God that he didn't have any nail clippers or lip balm to help him in overcoming the Captain.

I mean, a First Officer armed with those dangerous items as well as two hands on the control yoke and thrust levers could have really done some damage.

So the 'hijacker' squaked 7500 on himself? Seems odd....

"infuriates" me...but very well *sigh*:


-fire the copilot
-initiate criminal charges against him
-as he SHOULD get a criminal record, no asylum granted!
-extradite him
>>in the process, strip him of his pilot license completely<<


...as a "duh" SOP: never less than 2 on the flight deck, period! One pilot needs a potty break, put a purser or flight attendant on the flight deck!!!


(unless of course he has obtained irrefutable proof that the antichrist is an Ethiopian official...:S)

Adult nappies are the obvious solution :)

I'm not sure what the legal definition of hijacking is, but here's a dictionary one:

The key words here are "illegally" and "seize". I don't see how he "seized" control, as the captain left the FD voluntarily and left the FO at the controls. Secondly, there was nothing illegal in so doing, by either the captain or the FO. This only became an illegal act after the FO refused the captain re-entry to the flight deck, but I don't think it can feasibly constitute a hijacking (at least not in the conventional sense).