China Airlines Hijack
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China Airlines Hijack
Came across this little gem today. This guy demanded that he be taken direct to LA with no stop in Taiwan. He then broke the window and beat up the crew, hence the the Capt declared a Hijack. Your thoughts.......
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006,Page 1
A China Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the US via Taipei was forced to land at Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday after a reportedly drunken passenger broke a window and attacked flight attendants.
In a statement, China Airlines said a Vietnamese-American man identified as Danh Quinh Suot, 32, assaulted attendants and broke a window next to a seat with his elbow, prompting the plane's captain to request that the flight be diverted for safety reasons.
According to Lee Chung-rong (李仲榮), deputy director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the captain sent out a distress signal indicating a hijack.
The procedure, Lee said, was appropriate for the occasion.
Danh was drunk, the airline said, adding that no other passengers were injured in the incident.
Upon the Airbus 330's arrival in Kaohiung, both Danh and his wife were taken off the plane by aviation police for questioning.
Danh was arrested for allegedly threatening aviation safety.
A Kaohsiung Airport police officer, right, and a SWAT team member, left, escort a Vietnamese-American man identified as Danh Quinh Suot, center, from Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday. The man was arrested for misbehaving on a Taipei-bound China Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, forcing the plane to be diverted to Kaohsiung. The plane arrived in Taipei about two hours later than scheduled.
Aviation police at Kaohsiung airport said that they found medication used to treat mental illness among Danh's belongings while they were questioning him.
Police later took him to a local hospital for medical and psychological examinations. Danh was accompanied by representatives from the American Institute in Taiwan, Kaohsiung Office.
The initial investigation by police found that Dahn was mentally unstable when he broke an inside window pane.
They turned over the case to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for further investigation.
Meanwhile, the China Airlines plane, flight 682, spent about two hours on the ground in Kaohsiung before continuing on to Taipei. It took off from Kaohisung around 5pm and arrived at the CKS International Airport at 5:51pm. The flight was supposed to have arrived at 3:15pm.
Family members of passengers were anxious and upset about the delay and complained that China Airlines had not immediately informed them about the incident and the diversion to Kaohsiung.
CAL spokesman Johnson Sun (孫鴻文) said the company regretted the inconvenience caused to the flight's passengers as well as the personnel in the Kaohsiung airport.
Sun emphasized that yesterday's diversion had been a flight safety issue.
"The average window is double-layered, so safety will not be threatened,'' he said.
He said passengers were not allowed to board flights if they were determined to be intoxicated or if they were mentally unstable, but airlines cannot stop someone from boarding if they do not show outward signs of impairment.
Fang Yueh-chiang (方粵強), director of incident investigation for the Aviation Safety Council, said the council would not investigate the incident.
"This was a case of an unruly passenger in the cabin," Fang said, "His behavior did not lead to a plane crash, so there is no need for us to investigate." According to the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), passengers found guilty of affecting flight safety through violent measures or damaging a plane's facilities could face up to seven years in prison.
P.S. can we save the "I wouldn't what to stop in Taiwan blah, blahs.."
Thursday, Jul 20, 2006,Page 1
A China Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City to the US via Taipei was forced to land at Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday after a reportedly drunken passenger broke a window and attacked flight attendants.
In a statement, China Airlines said a Vietnamese-American man identified as Danh Quinh Suot, 32, assaulted attendants and broke a window next to a seat with his elbow, prompting the plane's captain to request that the flight be diverted for safety reasons.
According to Lee Chung-rong (李仲榮), deputy director of the Civil Aeronautics Administration, the captain sent out a distress signal indicating a hijack.
The procedure, Lee said, was appropriate for the occasion.
Danh was drunk, the airline said, adding that no other passengers were injured in the incident.
Upon the Airbus 330's arrival in Kaohiung, both Danh and his wife were taken off the plane by aviation police for questioning.
Danh was arrested for allegedly threatening aviation safety.
A Kaohsiung Airport police officer, right, and a SWAT team member, left, escort a Vietnamese-American man identified as Danh Quinh Suot, center, from Kaohsiung International Airport yesterday. The man was arrested for misbehaving on a Taipei-bound China Airlines flight from Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, forcing the plane to be diverted to Kaohsiung. The plane arrived in Taipei about two hours later than scheduled.Aviation police at Kaohsiung airport said that they found medication used to treat mental illness among Danh's belongings while they were questioning him.
Police later took him to a local hospital for medical and psychological examinations. Danh was accompanied by representatives from the American Institute in Taiwan, Kaohsiung Office.
The initial investigation by police found that Dahn was mentally unstable when he broke an inside window pane.
They turned over the case to the Kaohsiung District Prosecutors Office for further investigation.
Meanwhile, the China Airlines plane, flight 682, spent about two hours on the ground in Kaohsiung before continuing on to Taipei. It took off from Kaohisung around 5pm and arrived at the CKS International Airport at 5:51pm. The flight was supposed to have arrived at 3:15pm.
Family members of passengers were anxious and upset about the delay and complained that China Airlines had not immediately informed them about the incident and the diversion to Kaohsiung.
CAL spokesman Johnson Sun (孫鴻文) said the company regretted the inconvenience caused to the flight's passengers as well as the personnel in the Kaohsiung airport.
Sun emphasized that yesterday's diversion had been a flight safety issue.
"The average window is double-layered, so safety will not be threatened,'' he said.
He said passengers were not allowed to board flights if they were determined to be intoxicated or if they were mentally unstable, but airlines cannot stop someone from boarding if they do not show outward signs of impairment.
Fang Yueh-chiang (方粵強), director of incident investigation for the Aviation Safety Council, said the council would not investigate the incident.
"This was a case of an unruly passenger in the cabin," Fang said, "His behavior did not lead to a plane crash, so there is no need for us to investigate." According to the Civil Aviation Act (民用航空法), passengers found guilty of affecting flight safety through violent measures or damaging a plane's facilities could face up to seven years in prison.
P.S. can we save the "I wouldn't what to stop in Taiwan blah, blahs.."
Sounds like the crew did their jobs. It's a pity things like this keep happening (e.g. Drunk Passengers assulting Flight/Cabin crew) and there isn't really a resolve to it. It shouldnt be "Just part of the job"
.
Regards,
.Regards,
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I've spent a considerable amount of time operating in South East Asia, the Asia Pacific region, and in China, so I can speak from experience on this one.
In all of these areas, English is NOT the native language of the ATC personnel (Hong Kong being the exception) and AT THIS TIME, their knowledge of English is a “Working Knowledge” at best, so explaining an unusual onboard situation can be – at the least – challenging.
I realize that we are talking about Tiawan, but they are not that different from China (mainland), so be patient with me as I try to explain.
Imagine this. If you were in the Beijing tower watching the clearance delivery guy, and someone called Clearance delivery and requested “…airways to euphoria (any airport), you would most likely hear dead silence, accompanied by blank stare.
However, if the caller used the internationally correct term, you would instantly – and far too quickly I might add – get your ATC clearance.
Another example is, trying to explain to a mainland China (Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Sanya, Guilin control, etc) ATC controller that you have an intoxicated and unruly passenger on board, would not be easily understood.
Furthermore - culturally - they may not see the problem with that type of behaviour.
(...Fang Yueh-chiang (方粵強), director of incident investigation for the Aviation Safety Council, said the council would not investigate the incident... "His behavior did not lead to a plane crash, so there is no need for us to investigate...." ) pretty much proves the cultural issue.
However, the words “May Day” and “Hi-Jack” – being internationally recognised terms - would get you the immediate attention that you seek.
Is this actually a “Hi-jack” situation? No, not really.
But, would the use of the term "Hi-Jack" and/or "May Day", get you the desired response that you require?
(Read this carefully) In THIS region, Yes, it absolutely would, and may be the only way to get that response.
In fact, the Commander of this flight did the right thing, given the conditions that he was faced with.
Cheers /cj
In all of these areas, English is NOT the native language of the ATC personnel (Hong Kong being the exception) and AT THIS TIME, their knowledge of English is a “Working Knowledge” at best, so explaining an unusual onboard situation can be – at the least – challenging.
I realize that we are talking about Tiawan, but they are not that different from China (mainland), so be patient with me as I try to explain.
Imagine this. If you were in the Beijing tower watching the clearance delivery guy, and someone called Clearance delivery and requested “…airways to euphoria (any airport), you would most likely hear dead silence, accompanied by blank stare.
However, if the caller used the internationally correct term, you would instantly – and far too quickly I might add – get your ATC clearance.
Another example is, trying to explain to a mainland China (Taiyuan, Lanzhou, Sanya, Guilin control, etc) ATC controller that you have an intoxicated and unruly passenger on board, would not be easily understood.
Furthermore - culturally - they may not see the problem with that type of behaviour.
(...Fang Yueh-chiang (方粵強), director of incident investigation for the Aviation Safety Council, said the council would not investigate the incident... "His behavior did not lead to a plane crash, so there is no need for us to investigate...." ) pretty much proves the cultural issue.
However, the words “May Day” and “Hi-Jack” – being internationally recognised terms - would get you the immediate attention that you seek.
Is this actually a “Hi-jack” situation? No, not really.
But, would the use of the term "Hi-Jack" and/or "May Day", get you the desired response that you require?
(Read this carefully) In THIS region, Yes, it absolutely would, and may be the only way to get that response.
In fact, the Commander of this flight did the right thing, given the conditions that he was faced with.
Cheers /cj
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Your spot on jeeves.
This is exactly what happened.
I was airborne on the same frequency during the event.
Yes, the guys asked for priority from ATC 2 or 3 times using the term "unruly passenger" and yes ATC struggled with the concept. After these few attempts and ATC reading back "confirm sick passenger" the lads reverted to Mandarin to get themselves understod.
I never actually heard the term "hijack" used on that frequency however I beleive the boys set the applicable transponder code. Probably out of frustration. Anyhow... if you take the FOM at CAL at its literal best they had no problems justifying such a decision.
Seems like it was handled just fine in the end. Untill they got on the ground and the Taiwan media got involved that is!
This is exactly what happened.
I was airborne on the same frequency during the event.
Yes, the guys asked for priority from ATC 2 or 3 times using the term "unruly passenger" and yes ATC struggled with the concept. After these few attempts and ATC reading back "confirm sick passenger" the lads reverted to Mandarin to get themselves understod.
I never actually heard the term "hijack" used on that frequency however I beleive the boys set the applicable transponder code. Probably out of frustration. Anyhow... if you take the FOM at CAL at its literal best they had no problems justifying such a decision.
Seems like it was handled just fine in the end. Untill they got on the ground and the Taiwan media got involved that is!
