Pilot and Passengers Overpower Hijacker

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20070216/D8NAQ4980.html

Pilot and Passengers Overpower Hijacker
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Feb 16, 7:22 AM (ET)

By JUAN MANUEL PARDELLAS

TENERIFE, Canary Islands (AP) - A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.

The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 carrying 71 passengers and a crew of eight was hijacked by a lone gunman brandishing two pistols Thursday evening shortly after it took off from Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, for Gran Canaria, one of Spain's Canary Islands, with a planned stopover in Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania.

The hijacking alarmed Spanish officials because a trial of 29 people accused in the Madrid terrorist bombings of 2004 had begun the same day in Madrid. But the man's motives were not terrorism, rather he wanted the plane to fly to France so he could request political asylum, said Mohamed Ould Mohamed Cheikh, Mauritania's top police official.

"We were afraid. We thought it was people from al-Qaida or the Algerian GSPC who were going to cut our throats," said Aicha Mint Sidi, a 45-year-old woman who was on the plane. The GSPC is a Muslim extremist group.

FULL story at link.

[tanyev]

1. Heroic pilot.

Air Mauritania identified the heroic pilot as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, a 20-year-veteran of the company.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

2. That's pretty slick! Using acceleration and gravity to knock him down.

Isaac Newton Rules!

GRAVITY!! REMEMBER--IT'S THE LAW!

Captain Inertia to the rescue!

[Kelvin Mace]

3. This is what hijackers can exepect

and the main reason all of the paranoia and body cavity searches are not needed. 9/11 won't happen again since no one is going to believe anything a hijacker says. The attitude aboard a plane immediately becomes "we are dead unless we act".

[Seldona]

5. Agreed.

I would do whatever it took to take them out if they were on my flight. What a great response from the pilot as well as the passengers.

Bravo!!!

[DemoTex]

4. I salute Capt. Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine!

He makes the profession proud.

[underpants]

6. Good for them

Well done

[truthisfreedom]

7. Wow! That's a story for the pilot and passengers to be proud about and tell for the rest of their

lives!

[Judi Lynn]

8. Yeah, fool me once, uh, uh, uh, it means you can't get fooled again!

Don't expect to see any FUTURE hijackers standing up to brandish their pistols! No sir! They'll be sitting in their seats, nicely belted, and threatening the passengers from there, thank you.

There ain't going to be "no" second time.

[applegrove]

9. A little good news is never missed. Power to those people!