Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

The Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 was a scheduled flight Ethiopian Airlines on 23 November 1996. The route was planned with stops in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia to Nairobi, Kenya. The Boeing 767 -200ER crashed near Comoros due to fuel shortage in the Indian Ocean. Kidnappers had brought the machine into their hands and wanted to divert the plane to Australia, even though the machine had only fueled a fraction of this necessary fuel. 125 of the 175 people on board died in the accident, including half of the crew.

Abduction

As the Boeing 767 flew that day after about 20 minutes of flight time in the Kenyan airspace, three men stormed the cockpit of Ethiopian origin, and brought the machine into their power. The men were described as young (about 24-25 years), inexperienced, psychologically unstable and drunk and armed with a fire extinguisher and a small fire ax. They threatened to detonate a bomb, and explained over the intercom of the aircraft that they are enemies of the Ethiopian government to seek asylum and had recently been released from prison. The authorities later determined that the alleged bomb was a covered liquor bottle. After 15 minutes, the co-pilot, Yonas Merkuria was beaten and locked out of the cockpit. For the rest of the kidnapping remained two of the men in the cockpit, while one of them posted before.

The kidnappers demanded the machine to fly to Australia. But the plane had fuel for only a quarter of that distance. The captain Leul Abate (at the time of the kidnapping he was just 42 years old, but already had two hijackings behind him ) tried to explain this fact to the kidnappers, but they did not believe him. Rather than control the machine in the direction of Australia, the captain flew along the African coast as a ditching in the open sea reduces the chances of survival dramatically. After the hijackers noticed after a while that country was still seen, they forced the pilot to change course to the east. The pilot turned off then. He headed toward the area between Madagascar and the African mainland Comoros, notify this fact to the kidnappers.

Crash

Upon reaching the island group, the aircraft held just a little kerosene, so that the pilot decided initially to fly loops in order to minimize the possibility of landing on the Moroni airport open. After three and a half hour flight, the right engine failed. The pilot informed the passengers about the fuel shortage and the failure of the first engine. He also instructed to prepare for an emergency landing and to put on the life vests, they still did not inflate.

Shortly thereafter, the left engine failed and the aircraft went into a glide. A ram air turbine is automatically activated to supply the main functions of the aircraft with power. To keep the machine when no -boosting systems under control, the co-pilot returned to his post.

A fight with the hijackers meant that the pilot became disoriented and the airport could no longer make out. Instead, he put the machine 500 m in front of the Le Galawa Beach, near the capital, Moroni, on the sea. Due to the failure of the hydraulically controlled flaps, the landing speed of 240-290 km / h increased to 320 km / h In addition, the aircraft went into a sloping position, so that the left wing touched the water and was demolished. This seemed a rotational force to the aircraft that made breaking the fuselage into three parts. Residents, tourists and a group of divers and French doctors rushed in and made the survivors first aid.

Due to the impact, the breakup and the subsequent rapid descent of the aircraft 125 of the 175 people on board died, including the three hijackers. The captain of the flight, Leul Abate, and his copilot Yonas Merkuria broken free floating from the wreck. Many victims died because they had inflated their life vests before the collision and the sinking machine could not leave.

Follow

Flight 961 is probably one of the most famous aircraft hijackings as a tourist couple filmed the ditching. The video was later an important tool in the investigation of processes during a plane crash.

Furthermore authored two of the survivors a book to their experiences during and after the kidnapping and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961

Despite all, it was one of the few Ditchings a large aircraft, when there was any survivors. Both the captain and his co-pilot received Aviator Awards - Abate including the " Professionalism Award of Flight Safety " of the Flight Safety Foundation, the " Conway Safe Skies Award" and the " International Flight Safety Award" - and flew then continue for the Ethiopian Airlines.