Ethiopian B763 near Khartoum on Feb 17th 2014, aircraft hijacked to Geneva by first officer
Last Update: February 17, 2014 / 15:55:15 GMT/Zulu time
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 17, 2014
Classification
Incident
Airline
Ethiopian Airlines
Flight number
ET-702
Departure
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Destination
Rome Fiumicino, Italy
Aircraft Registration
ET-AMF
Aircraft Type
Boeing 767-300
ICAO Type Designator
B763
The hijacker was arrested, the passengers and aircraft searched, and the airport reopened at 08:15L (07:15Z). The occupants of flight ET-702 received medical and psychological assistance.
The airline confirmed everybody on board of the aircraft is safe.
Authorities in Geneva reported at about 09:00L (08:00Z) in a press conference, that the aircraft had been hijacked by the first officer (34) while the aircraft was overflying the Sudan, the first officer had locked the captain out of the cockpit. The first officer felt threatened in his home country and requested political asylum in Switzerland.
Ethiopian Authorities earlier had reported that the aircraft had a scheduled intermediate landing in Khartoum (Sudan), it is being supposed the hijacker(s) had boarded the aircraft in Khartoum, the number and intentions of the hijackers were unknown.
Radar data show the aircraft overflew but did not land in Khartoum, the flight plan shows a direct flight from Addis Ababa to Rome.
Radio communication recordings of Geneva approach frequency reveal that the first officer requested asylum reporting on approach frequency with 35 minutes of fuel remaining, was offered several times to join the localizer and land at Geneva however delayed landing waiting for response by Swiss Authorities. The approach controller convinced the first officer to join a right hand holding pattern at the final approach fix on the localizer for runway 05, the controller repeatedly telling the first officer that they were trying their best to wake officials up and get a response. Finally the controller told the first officer that they had somebody on the phone and were talking to him not yet having a final response offering the aircraft could join the glideslope, the response would be provided while on short final, to which the first officer agreed. On a 7nm final the first officer requested a 360 stating he was promised a reply on short final. In the end the controller cleared the aircraft to land on runway 05, the reply would be provided on very short final. The aircraft landed about 5 minutes later without a reply, about 31 minutes after reporting on approach frequency. On request by approach control the aircraft taxied to the end of the runway and stopped, the first officer radioed he would now leave the aircraft through the window.
Incident Facts
Date of incident
Feb 17, 2014
Classification
Incident
Airline
Ethiopian Airlines
Flight number
ET-702
Departure
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Destination
Rome Fiumicino, Italy
Aircraft Registration
ET-AMF
Aircraft Type
Boeing 767-300
ICAO Type Designator
B763
This article is published under license from Avherald.com. © of text by Avherald.com.
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