NationStates Jolt Archive

The pilot of a hijacked Air Mauritania plane deliberately made a rough landing so passengers and crew could tackle the gunman, Spanish officials say.

[...]

The gunman seized the jet soon after take-off from the capital, Nouakchott, and demanded to be flown to France to seek asylum, officials say.

One report said a gun was held to the pilot's head during the hijack.

But as the pilot approached Gando military base near Las Palmas international airport, he used the plane's intercom system to tell passengers in French of his plan, said AP quoting a Spanish official.

"The pilot and his colleagues decided to abruptly apply brakes on landing to throw off-balance the hijacker, who was hurled to the floor by the jerk and was quickly overpowered before being handed over to the Spanish police force," a Mauritanian official told AFP news agency.

One report said flight attendants threw boiling water at him and around 10 people overpowered him.

The pilot, named by Air Mauritania as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, had urged crew members and men to sit in the front rows, ready to act, while women and children were warned to move to the rear, AP said.

[...]

The jet returned home on Friday and the crew members were given a heroes' welcome.

Now that took some guts.

That's awesome. Good to hear.

Lol, boiling water hurling flight attendants FTW.

Ballsy, yet clever, and in my opinion, the right thing to do.

Nicely executed.

Quick thinking on the part of all.

Won't anyone think of the poor gunman? Having boiled water thrown on you must hurt like hell... :p

Good job, all on board

Won't anyone think of the poor gunman? Having boiled water thrown on you must hurt like hell... :p

Good job, all on board

Thats what he gets for hijacking a plane full of Frenchies.

Won't anyone think of the poor gunman? Having boiled water thrown on you must hurt like hell... :p

Good job, all on board

He should consider himself lucky. If he were on a Spanish plane it'd be boiling olive oil. :p

He should consider himself lucky. If he were on a Spanish plane it'd be boiling olive oil. :p

And on a Russian plane he'd have had about a hundred vodka bottles smashed on his head. (Empty, of course; the Russians never waste good vodka, or even bad vodka.)

That was swish.

Pure class. :D

*waits for the inevitable re-affirmation of the shoddy "cheese-eating surrender monkey stereotype" to be vioced*

That was a pretty bad idea, but everybody involved has the same number of holes as they had at the start of the flight, so it worked out ok.

He should consider himself lucky. If he were on a Spanish plane it'd be boiling olive oil. :p

So what, the Germans would dunk the guy in a barrel full of beer? Or maybe sauerkraut? :D

So what, the Germans would dunk the guy in a barrel full of beer? Or maybe sauerkraut? :D

My guess is that Brits would've dunked him in a bucket full of eels. And if it'd been a Canadian flight, well - maple syrup is pretty sticky stuff...

My guess is that Brits would've dunked him in a bucket full of eels. And if it'd been a Canadian flight, well - maple syrup is pretty sticky stuff...

Eels?!
Tea you fool, tea!

Just goes to show: don't ask for asylum in a nation where you can't speak the lingua franca. LOL!