Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. Dating from the earliest of hijackings, most cases involve the pilot being forced to fly according to the hijacker's demands. There have also been incidents where the hijackers have overpowered the flight crew, made unauthorized entry into the cockpit and flown them into buildings – most notably in the September 11 attacks – and in several cases, planes have been hijacked by the official pilot or co-pilot; e.g., Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702.
TWA Flight 847 was a regularly scheduled Trans World Airlines flight from Cairo to San Diego with en route stops in Athens, Rome, Boston, and Los Angeles. On the morning of June 14, 1985, Flight 847 was hijacked shortly after take off from Athens. The hijackers demanded the release of 700 Shia Muslims from Israeli custody and took the plane repeatedly to Beirut and Algiers. Later Western analysis considered them members of the Hezbollah group, an allegation Hezbollah rejects.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1970.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1974.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1975.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1976.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1977.
This is a list of aviation-related events from 1978.
Aeroflot Flight 6833, en route from Tbilisi, Georgian SSR, to Leningrad, Russian SFSR, with an intermediate stop in Batumi, was the scene of an attempted aircraft hijacking by seven young Georgians on 18–19 November 1983. The crisis ended with a storming of the Tu-134A airliner by Alpha Group that resulted in eight dead. The surviving hijackers were subsequently tried and executed.
Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 (TK1476) was a Turkish Airlines Boeing 737-4Y0 flying from Tirana to Istanbul that was hijacked by Hakan Ekinci in Greek airspace on 3 October 2006. Ekinci demanded to go to Rome to speak with the Pope, but Greek and Italian F-16 Fighting Falcon jets intercepted and escorted the aircraft until it landed in Brindisi, Italy. Nobody was harmed, and Ekinci was jailed in Italy while awaiting trial. At first, the hijacking incident was linked with the envisaged visit of Pope Benedict XVI to Turkey, but later, it was ascertained that Ekinci was seeking to request political asylum from Italy. On 4 October, a Turkish Airlines plane was sent to take the other passengers to Istanbul.
Kurchenko is a gender-neutral Ukrainian surname. It may refer to:
Aeroflot Flight 3739 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight from Irkutsk to Leningrad with a stopover in Kurgan. On 8 March 1988, after the Tupolev Tu-154 operating the flight had left Kurgan, it was hijacked by the Ovechkin family, whose members sought to defect from the Soviet Union.
Nadezhda Vladimirovna Kurchenko was a Soviet flight attendant who tried to prevent the hijacking of Aeroflot Flight 244. Having warned the crew, Kurchenko sought to block the entrance to the cockpit, which at the time was not normally locked. She was killed in a struggle with one of the hijackers.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 702 was a scheduled flight from Addis Ababa to Milan via Rome on 17 February 2014. The aircraft, an Ethiopian Airlines Boeing 767-300ER, was hijacked by the unarmed co-pilot, Hailemedhin Abera Tegegn, en route from Addis Ababa to Rome, and landed at Geneva. All 202 passengers and crew were unharmed. Hailemedhin was arrested by the Swiss authorities and convicted in absentia by an Ethiopian court.
Aeroflot Flight 101/435 was a Soviet domestic passenger flight that was hijacked by its co-pilot, Shamil Alimuradov, on 19 December 1985, en route from Takhtamygda to Chita. Armed with a hatchet, Alimuradov demanded that captain Vyacheslav Abramyan divert the Antonov An-24 aircraft to China. Soviet officials authorized the crew to land in China, and gave Abramyan the radio frequency of Qiqihar Airport, but Alimuradov demanded that Abramayan fly to Hailar instead. The aircraft ran out of fuel, and landed in a cow pasture. Alimuradov was apprehended by the Chinese, and the passengers were allowed to travel to Hailar and Harbin. On 21 December, the crew and all 46 passengers returned safely to the Soviet Union.
EgyptAir Flight 181 was a domestic passenger flight from Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria, Egypt, to Cairo International Airport. On 29 March 2016 the flight was hijacked by an Egyptian man claiming to wear an explosive belt and forced to divert to Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus. Most passengers and crew were released by the hijacker shortly after landing. The hijacker surrendered about seven hours later, and everybody escaped from the aircraft unharmed. The belt was later revealed to have contained mobile phones and no explosives. The aircraft involved in the incident was an EgyptAir Airbus A320-200.
Aeroflot Flight 19 was a scheduled passenger flight from Bykovo Airport, Moscow, to Bryansk Airport, Bryansk. On 2 November 1973, a Yak-40 aircraft operating the flight was hijacked by 4 people 10 minutes before landing. The aircraft was then diverted to Moscow's Vnukovo Airport, where the hijackers demanded a buyout and provision of a flight to Sweden. The hostages inside the aircraft were subsequently liberated after the authorities stormed the aeroplane. This is one of the first well-known cases of storming a hijacked aircraft on the territory of the USSR.
