Ethiopian Flight 702 (ADD-FCO) Hijacked by copilot -Diverted to GVA
Feb 17, 2014, 6:27 pm
#106
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: QFF Gold, Flying Blue, Enrich
Posts: 5,366
Feb 17, 2014, 7:15 pm
#107
Join Date: Jun 2011
Location: BOS
Programs: AA EXP
Posts: 7,710
It's not really the nominal income that would be concerning, rather the working conditions and how voluntary the employment is. Ethiopian is trying to expand, has a pilot shortage and doesn't want to competitively bid for foreign pilots. If they're forcing the pilots to work unreasonable hours, not letting them quit and denying them personal freedoms... there could be valid grounds for asylum.
Feb 17, 2014, 7:21 pm
#108
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: BOS/UTH
Programs: AA LT PLT; QR GLD; Bonvoy LT TIT
Posts: 12,753
NBC reports that in Switzerland he's eligible for up to 20 years, but if extradited to Ethiopia, he's eligible for up to 25. I'll take 20 in Switzerland, thanks. Especially with their food purity laws.
Feb 17, 2014, 7:56 pm
#109
Join Date: Sep 2011
Programs: AA SPG Amex
Posts: 4,644
This is almost comical. An airplane pilot hijacks his own plane to get into the EU for asylum. Seriously? Shows how broken the EU policies are. Political asylum is for those being threatened with death/torture in their homeland by the gov't but it's turned into get to Europe and make more on welfare than you do working back home. Free house, free medical, free food. Why not just hijack a jet we're flying to get there!
.
Feb 17, 2014, 8:24 pm
#110
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 537
It's not really the nominal income that would be concerning, rather the working conditions and how voluntary the employment is. Ethiopian is trying to expand, has a pilot shortage and doesn't want to competitively bid for foreign pilots. If they're forcing the pilots to work unreasonable hours, not letting them quit and denying them personal freedoms... there could be valid grounds for asylum.
And I think it would have been leaked to the presses if Ethiopian was keeping their pilots as slaves. These kinds of things can't be kept quiet for long in today's world. Ethiopia may not exactly be a Western democracy, but they are far from being a North Korea either. The outside world would have known of such things if it did occur. In any case, this Ethiopian airline, which has an otherwise good reputation for a high standard of inflight service and being professionally-runned (despite located in poor Ethiopia), will not want their standing sullied by inhumane treatment of it's employees.
Last edited by WindowSeat123; Feb 18, 2014 at 2:42 am
Feb 17, 2014, 8:57 pm
#111
Join Date: Oct 2010
Programs: My opinions are my own and not that of my employer(s)
Posts: 1,411
Feb 17, 2014, 10:16 pm
#112
FlyerTalk Evangelist
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: SNA
Programs: UA Million Mile Nobody, Marriott Platinum Elite, SPG Gold
Posts: 25,228
Feb 18, 2014, 12:10 am
#113
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
He landed the plane safely. That was nice. So give this "pilot" 19 years - one year for good behavior. I hope the "folks" in Switzerland gave him a box of chocolates upon arrival dropping down that rope.
Should have gone to AMS instead - Legal Weed, Hash, Prostitution, etc. (I love it - it is my home away from home) LAS.
Kidding.
I guess according to this (19 years is not enough): Co-pilot who hijacked Ethiopian plane threatened to crash it, passenger says.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02...a-reports-say/
Bring this P.O.S. to the good old USA, put him on trial in TX or FL and see what he gets. Vet these pilot's or co-pilot's 100%.
Remember this gem: http://www.ask.com/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
Spirit is looking better everyday.
Should have gone to AMS instead - Legal Weed, Hash, Prostitution, etc. (I love it - it is my home away from home) LAS.
Kidding.I guess according to this (19 years is not enough): Co-pilot who hijacked Ethiopian plane threatened to crash it, passenger says.
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2014/02...a-reports-say/
Bring this P.O.S. to the good old USA, put him on trial in TX or FL and see what he gets. Vet these pilot's or co-pilot's 100%.
Remember this gem: http://www.ask.com/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
Spirit is looking better everyday.
Feb 18, 2014, 12:13 am
#114
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: AF FB Gold, TK Elite
Posts: 274
Feb 18, 2014, 12:21 am
#115
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: LAS HNL
Programs: DL DM, 5.7 MM, UA 3.1 MM, MARRIOTT PLATINUM, AVIS FIRST, Amex Black Card
Posts: 4,479
A passenger onboard an Ethiopian Airlines jet that was hijacked by a co-pilot – who guided the plane to Geneva instead of Rome – said the co-pilot threatened to crash the plane if the pilot kept trying to get back into the cockpit.
The Italian news agency ANSA quoted passenger Francesco Cuomo as saying the pilot was demanding that the hijacker open the door and tried to break it down without success.
Cuomo, 25, was quoted as saying the hijacker, speaking in poor English on a loudspeaker, threatened to crash the plane in response and then the oxygen masks came down.
The Italian news agency ANSA quoted passenger Francesco Cuomo as saying the pilot was demanding that the hijacker open the door and tried to break it down without success.
Cuomo, 25, was quoted as saying the hijacker, speaking in poor English on a loudspeaker, threatened to crash the plane in response and then the oxygen masks came down.
Feb 18, 2014, 1:49 am
#116
Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: UK
Programs: Virgin Flying Club Red, Emirates Skywards Blue, BA Executive Club Blue, Amex BA
Posts: 2,377
Obviously being a pilot is totally different from a poor farmworker living off the land. But wasnt there a case a few years ago with an American pilot who had to be restrained? Maybe he just went mad?
Feb 18, 2014, 2:30 am
#117
Join Date: Oct 2013
Posts: 537
The logical way to seek asylum would be just to "slip-off-the-radar" while staying overnight at some European destination and instead of reporting back to duty the next day for the flight home, declare he's seeking asylum at the Swiss Embassy/Consulate.
By hijacking and endangering a group of innocent passengers, he invalidates his own asylum claim...
Feb 18, 2014, 6:05 am
#118
Join Date: Mar 2007
Programs: QFF Gold, Flying Blue, Enrich
Posts: 5,366
Feb 18, 2014, 6:57 am
#119
Join Date: Oct 2013
Programs: AF FB Gold, TK Elite
Posts: 274
To come back on this point (ET treatment of pilots), I was rather under the impression that they weren't particularly badly treated. I remember a friend of mine working at ADD airport for ET, "complaining" that pilots were paid much, much better than anyone else at the airline, and getting bigger raises.
It's of course only one opinion, and it probably doesn't mean that ET pilots are paid like royalty, but it certainly doesn't hint at slavery I guess that, whatever the motive for seeking asylum, it's unlikely to be linked to working conditions.
(indeed, i'm not sure i'd prefer working at an american feeder airline rather than at ET..)
It's of course only one opinion, and it probably doesn't mean that ET pilots are paid like royalty, but it certainly doesn't hint at slavery
I guess that, whatever the motive for seeking asylum, it's unlikely to be linked to working conditions.(indeed, i'm not sure i'd prefer working at an american feeder airline rather than at ET..)
Feb 18, 2014, 7:01 am
#120
Join Date: Feb 2013
Posts: 95
The reports state the plane was giving off the "hijack" code, which apparently was its transponder squawking 7500.
That makes me wonder - can the "hijacking in progress" squawk code be triggered from the the passenger cabin? Because the captain was locked out of the flight deck. So unless the hijacker (the copilot) himself triggered it, which is possible given his stated intentions, it would have had to be done from outside the flight deck.
Do passenger aircraft now have this capability as part of the security features we don't normally know about?
Given how easily one can come to the "who triggered the code?" question, I don't think this is particularly a security risk to be asking the question. Security by obscurity doesn't work anyhow.
That makes me wonder - can the "hijacking in progress" squawk code be triggered from the the passenger cabin? Because the captain was locked out of the flight deck. So unless the hijacker (the copilot) himself triggered it, which is possible given his stated intentions, it would have had to be done from outside the flight deck.
Do passenger aircraft now have this capability as part of the security features we don't normally know about?
Given how easily one can come to the "who triggered the code?" question, I don't think this is particularly a security risk to be asking the question. Security by obscurity doesn't work anyhow.