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Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010
Oct. 27, 1998: British rock star Ian Brown, formerly a singer with the Stone Roses, threatened to cut off the hands of a British Airways flight attendant. While the pilots attempted to land the aircraft, he hammered against the door. Brown claimed the pilot had provoked him. Lawyers have attempted to exonerate him.
April 5, 1999: An intoxicated passenger forced his way into the cockpit of an unidentified commercial jet as pilots were attempting to land at Copenhagen, Denmark's Kastrup Airport. Once inside the cockpit, the passenger began shouting abuse at the pilots. His voice was reported to have been so loud and distracting that the crew had difficulty hearing radio directives from air-traffic control. The man was arrested upon landing.
June 6, 1999: After being denied more alcohol, Christopher Bayes fought with flight attendants and tried to storm into the cockpit, according to prosecutors at his trial. Delta Airlines Flight 64, en route to Manchester, England, from Atlanta, was forced to divert to Bangor, Maine, where Bayes was arrested. Bayes, who continues to deny his guilt, was convicted of assault and sentenced to six months in prison.
Aug. 5, 1999: Sanil Shetty Kumar, an American, was given a six-month jail sentence after trying to force his way into the cockpit on a Singapore Airlines flight from Los Angeles to Singapore via Tokyo. Kumar became intoxicated during the L.A. to Tokyo segment. After cockpit entry was thwarted by passengers and two male flight attendants, Kumar attempted to open an emergency exit door, shouting, "Tonight, everybody will die."
Nov. 21, 1999: A Canadian Airlines jet flying to Halifax from Calgary was forced to divert to Ontario after an angry passenger walked into the cockpit. The man, who allegedly attempted to assault the pilot, had been shouting and creating a ruckus earlier. He had to be removed from the cockpit by passengers and crew members. At the time of the incident, Canadian Airlines policy allowed cockpit doors to remain unlocked except during takeoff and landing.
March 2, 2000: The FBI filed a criminal complaint against Joachim Peter Franke, a German national who tried to break into the cockpit of a Delta Airlines jet because he thought the plane was "flying too low and was in danger of crashing." The deranged man had to be restrained after repeatedly trying to push past a flight attendant who blocked the cockpit door. The attendant yelled for help. Two passengers came to the rescue and held Franke in a seat until landing. Franke faces a fine of $10,000 and up to 20 years in prison.
March 20, 2000: An angry American woman was arrested after allegedly entering the cockpit during an America West flight from Phoenix to New York. How Denise Laverne Brown managed to breach the cockpit door is not exactly clear. But once inside, Brown allegedly attacked the co-pilot. FBI agent Doug Beldon said, "Apparently she refused to return to her seat, failed to obey the orders of the flight personnel, became angry, went into the cockpit and struck the co-pilot." The flight diverted to Albuquerque, N.M., where the passenger was taken into custody by federal authorities.
As much a testament to the competence of airline pilots as to the swift response of dauntless passengers and cabin crew, not one of these cockpit intrusions resulted in an airplane disaster. But if attacks continue at the present rate, how long can courage and competence hold out?
At least one airline isn't waiting to find out. More as a deterrent to hijacking than a defense against cockpit-bound passengers with fear or alcohol pumping through their veins, the government of India recently instituted a sky marshals program. As of Jan. 1, all Indian carriers are subject to random occupation by armed National Security Guard commandos. In an attempt to add an additional layer of in-flight security, flight attendants now undergo special "anti-hijacking" training. This no-nonsense approach comes after the Christmas Eve hijacking of an Indian Airlines plane that left one man dead and saw hostages held aboard the aircraft for nearly a week.
Are similar measures needed to prevent unplanned attacks like those on Alaska Airlines and Germania? Does this latest development by the Indian government signal an increase of federal marshals on U.S. carriers? Veteran fliers will remember that in 1970, following a decade in which U.S. airlines experienced dozens of airplane hijackings -- many of them to Cuba -- the sky marshal program was born.
These specially trained, armed agents travel on flights that have a higher-than-normal probability of being hijacked. Referred to nowadays as "federal air marshals," they sit quietly in coach or first class, dressed in civilian clothes and are authorized to make arrests without warrants for any offense against the United States or its aircraft. The air marshal program was enabled by the Federal Aviation Act of 1958, the Anti-hijacking Act of 1947 and the International Security and Development Act of 1985.
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