British Airways Flight 2069

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British Airways Flight 2069
British Airways Boeing 747-436 (G-BNLM-24056-802).jpg
G-BNLM, the aircraft involved in the incident.
Incident
Date29 December 2000 (2000-12-29)
Summary Attempted suicide, hijacking
SiteOver Sudan
Aircraft
Aircraft type Boeing 747-436
Operator British Airways
IATA flight No.BA2069
ICAO flight No.BAW2069
Call signSPEEDBIRD 2069
Registration G-BNLM
Flight origin Gatwick Airport, Horley, United Kingdom
Destination Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya
Occupants398
Passengers379 [1]
Crew19 [1]
Fatalities0
Injuries5
Survivors398

British Airways Flight 2069 was a scheduled passenger flight operated by British Airways between Gatwick, England and Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi, Kenya. At 05:00 on 29 December 2000, a mentally ill passenger stormed the cockpit and attempted to hijack the aircraft. The 747 stalled in the struggle. Captain William Hagan and his crew were able to apprehend the assailant while first officer Phil Watson regained control of the aircraft, bringing the situation under control.

Contents

Aircraft

The aircraft involved was a Boeing 747-436, wearing the British Airways Ndebele Martha ethnic livery, [note 1] registration G-BNLM, delivered to British Airways on 28 June 1990. [2]

Incident

At around 05:00 local time, the cockpit of a British Airways Boeing 747-400 on a scheduled flight from Gatwick to Jomo Kenyatta Airport was stormed by a mentally unstable Kenyan passenger named Paul Mukonyi. [3] [4] Attacking First Officer Phil Watson over the controls, Mukonyi grabbed the yoke, and tried to execute a route change. This disconnected the autopilot and resulted in a struggle between himself and Watson, causing the aircraft to climb sharply and stall from 42,000 feet (13,000 m) and plunge towards the ground at 30,000 feet (9,100 m) per minute. [3] [4] As Mukonyi and Watson fought for the controls, the struggle was joined by Captain Hagan who had gone for a rest break just before the attack. The Captain eventually succeeded in removing the passenger from the controls. [5] Two passengers (Henry Clarke Bynum and Gifford Murrell Shaw, both from Sumter, South Carolina, U.S. [6] ) sitting in the upper deck were able to get into the cockpit to assist, despite the extreme manoeuvres, and helped to remove Mukonyi from the cockpit. Two Flight Attendants ran into the cockpit to assist them. First Officer Watson was now able to regain control, and return the aircraft to level flight. Afterwards, Captain Hagan made an announcement on the PA to reassure the passengers and the flight continued without further incident. Violent pitch changes during the incident were responsible for minor injuries among four passengers; [4] one of the cabin crew broke her ankle. [3] After landing in Nairobi, Mukonyi was immediately transferred to the authorities. [4] The actions right after the apprehension were recorded on amateur video by the son of English musician Bryan Ferry; both were passengers on the flight. [7] It was later found that Mukonyi was in fear of being followed, and was trying to kill those whom he deemed to be a threat, in this case the passengers and crew on the flight.

Aftermath

Captain William Hagan and First Officers Phil Watson and Richard Webb were awarded a Polaris Award in 2001. [8] Hagan was also given the Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (RADAR) People of the Year award. [9]

A group of 16 American passengers settled a multimillion-dollar lawsuit against British Airways. [7] British passengers were offered compensation of £2,000 and a free ticket each. [7] The actual compensation package from BA for British passengers included the cash amount of £2,000, free attendance on a "Fear of Flying" course at Birmingham airport, and a free ticket to anywhere in the world on the BA network. In 2013 another small group of British passengers attempted to bring a lawsuit against BA, but a legal case could not be made and their efforts came to nothing.[ citation needed ]

Playwright Oli Forsyth, a passenger on the flight, based his 2024 play Brace Brace on his experiences. [10]

See also

Other similar Boeing 747 hijacking incidents

Notes

  1. ↑ The aircraft was a Boeing 747-400 model; at the time the aircraft was built, Boeing assigned a unique code for each company that bought one of its aircraft, which was applied as a suffix to the model number at the time the aircraft was built. British Airways' code was "36", hence "747-436" (see List of Boeing customer codes).

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References

  1. 1 2 Tomlinson, Chris (6 January 2006). "Kenyan Flight Hero Tells How He Saved Day". ABC News. Archived from the original on 29 June 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  2. ↑ "British Airways Boeing 747-400 G-BNLM". The BA Source. Archived from the original on 8 January 2019. Retrieved 23 December 2018.
  3. 1 2 3 Vasagar, Jeevan; Dodd, Vikram; Stuart, Liz (30 December 2000). "Two-minute fight for BA2069". The Guardian . London. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "BA jet plunges in cockpit struggle". BBC News. 30 December 2000. Archived from the original on 9 September 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2013.
  5. ↑ The Civil Aviation Authority. "CAA review of the BA investigation of a Boeing 747-400interference with aircraft controls on 29th December 2000 en-route LGW- NBO" (PDF). Report released to the House of Lords 7th May 2002 as announced in the House of Commons by the Secretary of State.
  6. ↑ "Miracle: Clarke Bynum and Gifford Shaw". TheEffectiveTruth.info. Archived from the original on 10 March 2018. Retrieved 28 June 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Walters, Joanna (28 April 2002). "Passengers on jumbo terror flight to sue BA". The Observer . London. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 10 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Recipients of the IFALPA Polaris Awards" (PDF). International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations . May 2006. Archived from the original (PDF) on 9 March 2014. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  9. ↑ "'A Natural Reaction'". CBS News. 29 December 2000. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2022.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  10. ↑ Forsyth, Oli (27 September 2024). "'Four seconds from the ground we got lucky': how a real-life hijacking inspired an edge-of-your-seat drama". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077 . Retrieved 27 September 2024.
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