Lufthansa Flight 592

Lufthansa Flight 592

D-AIDM, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, seen in 2003
Incident
Date	February 11, 1993
Summary	Hijacking
Site	John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City, USA
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Airbus A310-300
Operator	Lufthansa
Registration	D-AIDM
Flight origin	Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany
Stopover	Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt
Destination	Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Occupants	104
Passengers	94
Crew	10
Fatalities	0
Injuries	0
Survivors	104

Lufthansa Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt, Germany to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia that was hijacked on February 11, 1993. The Lufthansa-operated Airbus A310-300 was hijacked by Nebiu Zewolde Demeke, ^{[1] [note 1]} a 20-year old Ethiopian man seeking asylum who forced the pilot to fly to New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The aircraft landed safely, and the gunman surrendered peacefully and without incident. He was charged with aircraft hijacking by a United States district court, and was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

Flight

Flight 592 was an international flight operated by Deutsche Lufthansa AG between Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany, and Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a scheduled intermediate stop at Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt. The aircraft was an Airbus A310-300, registration D-AIDM, that had been in service since August 30, 1991. The flight carried 94 passengers and 10 crew. ^[2] The captain was Gehard Goebel, and the first officer was Kay Juergens. ^{[3] [4]}

Hijacker

Nebiu Zewolde Demeke was born on September 24, 1972, in Egypt. ^[1] His father, an economist, was a political prisoner in Ethiopia, and his family moved to Morocco after his arrest to escape persecution. Nebiu studied at the American School in Tangiers, Morocco, where he was described as "distracted" and "emotional." His older sister, Selamawit, went to study at Gettysburg College in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. ^[5] His older brother, Demter, enrolled at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, and his younger brother, Brook, lived in Indiana. Though Nebiu attempted to join his siblings in the United States, he was denied a student visa, ^[6] and was unable to otherwise receive permission to legally enter the country. ^[1]

Six months prior to the hijacking, Nebiu moved to Germany and applied for political asylum. When he withdrew his application for asylum, the German government purchased him a ticket on Flight 592 back to Ethiopia. ^[5]

Nebiu entered the airport carrying a starting pistol loaded with blanks. Prior to reaching security, he placed the pistol on his head and covered it with an "Indiana Jones"-style fedora. ^[7] When it came time to pass through the metal-detector, he pinched the top of the hat and placed both it and the hidden pistol on a table. He retrieved both prior to boarding the plane. ^[8]

Hijacking

There's a young gentleman on board who does not want to go to Cairo, and he has a gun pointed at my head.

—Pilot Gerhard Goebel, in an announcement to passengers aboard Flight 592. ^[9]

At Frankfurt Airport, Nebiu took advantage of the airport security by stuffing a pistol deep into his hat and then placing his hat on a table adjacent to the scanner.

Approximately 35 minutes into the flight, as the aircraft reached cruising altitude in Austrian airspace, Nebiu entered the forward lavatory. He put on a black ski mask and removed his pistol. Leaving the lavatory, he entered the cockpit, which was unlocked. ^[6] Placing the pistol to the pilot's head, he said, "If you do not turn west, I'll shoot you." ^{[6] [10]}

Nebiu demanded that the aircraft be flown to New York City and demanded political asylum in the United States. ^[10] After being told that the plane would need to be refueled, Nebiu agreed to allow a refueling stop in Hanover, Germany. The aircraft landed at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport around noon local time, where it was surrounded by law enforcement officials. Nebiu remained in the cockpit with the pistol to the pilot's head, and threatened to begin killing a flight attendant every five minutes. ^[6] German authorities allowed the plane to depart after Nebiu threatened to kill his hostages but promised to surrender peacefully upon reaching the United States. ^[9]

Pilot Gerhard Goebel was able to calm Nebiu down during the non-stop flight to New York. Though Nebiu kept the pistol pointed at Goebel's head for the duration of the flight, he removed his ski mask. ^[6] Goebel later told newspapers that he spent the hours trying to build a rapport with Nebiu, who admitted to having spent several months planning the hijacking. ^[8] Both men agreed that, upon arriving in New York, Goebel would give Nebiu his sunglasses in exchange for Nebiu's pistol. ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}

The aircraft arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport at around 4:00 pm EDT ^[6] and taxied to a remote part of the runway. ^[11] A three-man hostage negotiation team had been assembled in the air traffic control tower. NYPD detective Dominick Misino spoke with Nebiu over the radio, assisted by FBI special agent John Flood and Port Authority detective sergeant Carmine Spano. ^[12] After 70 minutes of negotiation, Nebiu traded his pistol for the pilot's sunglasses and surrendered peacefully to authorities. ^{[11] [12] [13]} All 94 passengers and ten crew were unharmed. ^[9]

Aftermath

Nebiu was arrested and charged with air piracy in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York in Brooklyn. He was arraigned on February 12, 1993; Judge Allyne Ross ordered him held without bail until his trial. ^{[7] [9]} Nebiu remained convinced that he would not spend any time in prison and that he would be granted asylum. ^[1] During the course of his trial, he was twice found to be incompetent to stand trial and was prescribed medication for depression and hallucinations. He represented himself during the course of his four-day trial. He was found guilty in a jury trial after an hour of deliberation, and Judge Sterling Johnson, Jr. sentenced him to prison until 2013. ^[14]

Germany was criticized severely by the international press for lax security measures in Frankfurt Airport that allowed Nebiu to smuggle a pistol on board, and for allowing the hijacked aircraft to leave after refueling in Hanover. Frankfurt Airport, the busiest airport in Europe at the time, had recently come under fire after the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988, when it had been alleged that the explosives had been loaded in Frankfurt. Since the 1988 bombing, the Frankfurt airport had performed numerous security reviews and implemented more stringent security procedures. ^{[8] [15]}

The incident was the first trans-Atlantic hijacking since five Croatian nationalists hijacked TWA Flight 355 on September 10, 1976. In that incident, the domestic New York-Chicago flight was forced to fly to Paris, France. ^[9] It is, as of 2024, the most-recent transatlantic hijacking as well.^{[ citation needed ]}

In 2012, the hijacking was mentioned on an episode of the TV show Hostage: Do or Die on the episode "The Last Transatlantic Hijacking".^{[ citation needed ]}

See also

• List of aircraft hijackings

References

1. Queen, Joseph W. (February 11, 1993). "Hijacker tells authority he won't be jailed, will 'be granted asylum'" (PDF). The Daily Gazette. Schenectady, NY. Newsday. p. D-1. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
2. Incident description at the Aviation Safety Network . Retrieved on 2011-01-31.
3. Jones, Tamara; Goldman, John J. (1993-02-12). "11-Hour Hijack Ends Without Injury in N.Y." Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
4. Miller, Tracey L. (1999-03-11). "Accused hijacker tells jury to acquit". United Press International. Retrieved 2021-11-07.
5. "Hijacker said to be volatile, hoped to join family in U.S." (PDF). Reading Eagle. Reading, PA. February 10, 1993. p. 2. Retrieved 2011-02-02.^{[ dead link ‍]}
6. Federal Aviation Administration, Office of Civil Aviation Security (1993), Criminal Acts Against Civil Aviation, 1993, Washington, D.C.: FAA, pp. 55–56, archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-27, retrieved 2011-02-02
7. Bowles, Pete; Joseph W. Queen (February 11, 1993). "Hijacking was carefully planned, prosecutor says" (PDF). The Daily Gazette. Schenectady, NY. Newsday. p. D-1. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
8. Boehmer, George (February 11, 1993). "Germany vows to uncover Frankfurt airport security lapses" (PDF). The Daily Gazette. Schenectady, NY. Associated Press. p. D-1. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
9. "Trans-Atlantic Hijacker Surrenders at Kennedy Airport" (PDF). Durant Daily Democrat. Durant, OK. AP. February 12, 1993. p. 10. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
10. "11-hour ordeal in the air ends when hijacker gives up in N.Y." (PDF). The Vindicator. Youngstown, OH. February 12, 1993. p. A3. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
11. "A hijack story--by the book; Negotiators' 'schtick' worked perfect in Lufthansa incident". The Journal. Milwaukee, WI. AP. February 13, 1993. p. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2019-09-24. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
12. McShane, Larry (February 13, 1993). "Hostage negotiator recalls tense talks at Kennedy" (PDF). The Daily Gazette. Schenectady, NY. AP. p. D1. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
13. "Three men defused hijacking" (PDF). Morning Star. Wilmington, DE. AP. February 13, 1993. p. 8A. Retrieved 2011-01-31.
14. Richardson, Lynda (June 12, 1996). "Hijacker Sentenced to 20 Years as Judge Rejects Claim That Bias Made His Crime Justified". The New York Times. New York, NY. Retrieved 2011-02-02. - Full URL
15. "Questions raised over skyjacking, security" (PDF). Prescott Courier. Prescott, AZ. AP. February 12, 1993. p. 13A. Retrieved 2011-02-02.

Notes

1. Ethiopian names have no surnames: Zewolde is the man's father's name, and Demeke is the man's grandfather's name. He would be politely addressed by his given name "Nebiu". Some newspaper articles from the 1990s refer to him by his grandfather's name, Demeke. The Federal Bureau of Prisons listed him (41973-053) with Demeke treated as the surname.