A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

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Chaxterium
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A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Chaxterium »

The guy's got some guts. I'll give him that.

http://tinyurl.com/q89s5q6
As emigration plans go, this one was at least ambitious: a co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines flight to Italy hijacked his own plane this morning to try and seek asylum in Switzerland.

According to local police, the co-pilot locked the cockpit door when the pilot of the airplane was in the bathroom, and then took control. He overshot the designated destination of Rome, and carried on 400 miles to Geneva in Switzerland. There's a recording online, discovered by Reuters social media editor Matthew Keys, which appears to be of the pilot requesting asylum in the country.

Flight Radar shows that the plane circled Geneva International Airport several times before landing. Talks between airport officials and the co-pilot apparently continued, until he left the plane through the windows, via a rope(!). He later surrendered himself to the police—and it's currently not clear how his requests for asylum are being handled.

While Swiss police say "there was no risk to crew or passengers at any time," it must have been fairly terrifying to be a passenger aboard that aircraft. [ABC News via Verge]
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PilotDAR
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by PilotDAR »

Well, aside from the locking the other pilot out of the cockpit, and leaving the cockpit via rope, this seems to me to be rather like some of those other recent events where the pilots just landed at the wrong airport. Oh, he intended to? Shhh....
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iflyforpie
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by iflyforpie »

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Doc
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Doc »

Couldn't he just have disappeared in Roma?
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by North Shore »

Oh great. Now the f/a's will be locking the door from the outside, and no-one will get in our out until the plane has reached its destination...
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frozen solid
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by frozen solid »

North Shore wrote:Oh great. Now the f/a's will be locking the door from the outside, and no-one will get in our out until the plane has reached its destination...
Your attitude towards safety initiatives is deplorable. Obviously someone will check to see if there is some kind of cheap plastic garment, like a vest or silly hat of some kind, that can solve this problem, before they go to the knee-jerk extreme of actually buying or installing hardware.
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bmc
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by bmc »

French and Italian fighters were scrambled to escort, but the Swiss did not. Why?

Read this.

http://genevalunch.com/2014/02/17/frenc ... ian-plane/

You can drive by any Swiss military airbase one weekends or after 5pm on weekdays and everything closed up. Weird.
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Richard_K_Spyte
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Richard_K_Spyte »

Dude wasn't following current events.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/f ... org-haider
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by black hole »

I can't understand why there is even a door between the cockpit and the cabin? can't the crew make their own coffee and bring a lunch? Separate entrance door? Just a thought.

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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by AirMail »

Guess Ethiopia doesn't count co-pilot time one for one, he was probably short some PIC hours, hence the few circuits over Geneva. Glad we changed the rule here.
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Krimson
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Krimson »

black hole wrote:I can't understand why there is even a door between the cockpit and the cabin? can't the crew make their own coffee and bring a lunch? Separate entrance door? Just a thought.

BH
What about dealing with issues in the back? Pax/FAs/Maint/etc
Fires?

...Boredom??
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Eric Janson
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Eric Janson »

What about dealing with issues in the back? Pax/FAs/Maint/etc
Fires?

...Boredom??
My Airline had a strict policy forbidding Flight Crew to enter the passenger cabin during flight. Forward galley was as far as we were allowed.

Overly paranoid imho.
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frozen solid
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by frozen solid »

Eric Janson wrote: My Airline had a strict policy forbidding Flight Crew to enter the passenger cabin during flight. Forward galley was as far as we were allowed.

Overly paranoid imho.
I'm not sure why anyone would want to set foot in that fartulent rabbit-warren full of drooling imbeciles (and don't even get me started on what lies AFT of first-class). But I do agree, it seems a bit draconian to strictly forbid a member of the crew from going somewhere in their own plane. What if you really had to take a dump and the co-pilot was already doing so in the forward lav?
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by GyvAir »

frozen solid wrote:What if you really had to take a dump and the co-pilot was already doing so in the forward lav?
Who's flying the plane while you both have your pants around your ankles?
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Re: A Co-Pilot Just Hijacked His Own Plane to Seek Asylum

Post by Pop n Fresh »

Same FMS that flys most of the time?

I probably broke a rib or two. You hurt me frozen. Yet I keep reading it again and laughing.
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