Woman attacks pilots on NZ flight

Xavi6

http://www.thewest.com.au/aapstory.aspx?StoryName=457902

A knife-wielding woman stormed the cockpit of a New Zealand domestic flight, stabbing both pilots and threatening to blow up the plane before she was subdued, police say.

The Air National flight landed safely at Christchurch in southern New Zealand and the 33-year-old woman was arrested, police said.

None of the seven passengers was injured, but the pilot suffered a severely cut hand in the attack and the co-pilot was injured on the foot.

Police did not say who restrained the woman aboard the flight.

The flight took off from the regional city of Blenheim, 70km south of the capital of Wellington, bound for the tourist city of Christchurch, about 350km south of the capital.

Christchurch police commander Dave Cliff said the woman - a Blenheim resident but originally from Somalia - entered the cockpit and attacked the pilots before being restrained. She had said there was a bomb on board, Cliff said.

An army bomb disposal team conducted an initial search of the twin-propeller Jetstream plane and found no explosives, Cliff said.

The passengers included four New Zealanders, an Australian from Victoria and an Indian national.

One passenger suffered a minor hand injury when the plane was evacuated on landing, shortly after 8am local time Friday (0600 AEDT).

Emergency vehicles surrounded the aircraft on the tarmac and the airport was closed to incoming and outgoing flights. The airport was reopened after about three hours.

Air New Zealand general manager of short-haul airlines, Bruce Parton, said the airline was reviewing its security procedures.

"Today's incident, although a one-off, has naturally given us cause to conduct a thorough review of our safety and security systems and processes on regional domestic flights," Parton said.

Passengers boarding short-haul flights at New Zealand airports do not routinely pass through security screening.

The woman was in police custody in Christchurch, but the motive for the attack was still unclear, Cliff told Reuters.

"Once the full statements are taken from the pilots and the witnesses we'll be able to get a full picture of what happened, but at the moment we're going through the process," Cliff said.

The British Aerospace Jetstream 32 flight was operated for Air New Zealand by Air National, the employer of the pilots.

The 19-seater Jetstream planes are used on short-haul regional flights by national carrier Air New Zealand and have only curtains separating the cockpit from the passenger area.

Can anyone explain the logic behind not having the same security procedures for domestic flights? It's absolutely ridiculous.

I recently flew from Perth to Brisbane and barely got looked at. My gf had a sewing set in her bag which came up on the x-ray machine and the scissors was taken off her, yet they left her with all the pins and needles! I was very surprised. Is it just laziness?

pclancy

"The 19-seater Jetstream planes are used on short-haul regional flights by national carrier Air New Zealand and have only curtains separating the cockpit from the passenger area"

:eek:

Davidth88

Guys,

If you fly on some of the short haul flights here ( BN2 to the Islands anyone ) ..... what seperates you from the pilots ?

As for pins/needles , come on if these get confiscated ........... I would praise them for being normal.

Now this woman seems to have had a knife , which is bad actually.

Jakey

Even in the US smaller airlines have no cock pit door, I was on a twin otter in the US with no cockpit door,

You can see it here

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0783393/large

carveone

Jakey wrote: »

Even in the US smaller airlines have no cock pit door, I was on a twin otter in the US with no cockpit door,

You can see it here

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=0783393/large

Well, yeah. Twin otters don't have a door just an archway. I've sauntered up and sat in copilot plenty of times when I was skydiving. Apart from being threatened with a beating if you knock the throttles with your head, it's fine. (Those planes are so fine - if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up )

Anyway, you have to be realistic. It's perfectly reasonable to not have security precautions on smaller aircraft. Cessna Caravans only seat 6 or something. BAE Jetstreams are normally corporate planes anyway and only seat 19. Dunno where you draw the line - ATRs and Dash-8s I guess.

Still, you could get a nutcase on a bus causing the same level of injury.

Conor.

jmayo

carveone wrote: »

Well, yeah. Twin otters don't have a door just an archway. I've sauntered up and sat in copilot plenty of times when I was skydiving. Apart from being threatened with a beating if you knock the throttles with your head, it's fine. (Those planes are so fine - if you have the means, I highly recommend picking one up )

Anyway, you have to be realistic. It's perfectly reasonable to not have security precautions on smaller aircraft. Cessna Caravans only seat 6 or something. BAE Jetstreams are normally corporate planes anyway and only seat 19. Dunno where you draw the line - ATRs and Dash-8s I guess.

Still, you could get a nutcase on a bus causing the same level of injury.

Conor.

Here you weren't skydiving in Zephyrhills in Florida by any chance ?
Very confusing place on saturday mornings with people jumping out of aircraft at one end of field and some gliding at the other end
Twin Otter would be more fun on floats, use the engines to maneouver in anywhere

carveone

jmayo wrote: »

Here you weren't skydiving in Zephyrhills in Florida by any chance ?

I was off line for a few days - never sure whether to PM or post!

Anyway. Yes! That's the place. I really wish I was there right now. Sigh. So much fun, so many girls who have to wear tight spandex jumpsuits cause they fall so slowly Right, I'm going in November even if I go bankrupt.

Pip, the freefly coach, always sits up in copilot so I started copying him if I was doing solos or out last. Much to my surprise, Pip told me he has 100s of hours of Twin Otter flight time solely due to the pilot letting him fly all the time!!!

Very confusing place on saturday mornings with people jumping out of aircraft at one end of field and some gliding at the other end
Twin Otter would be more fun on floats, use the engines to maneouver in anywhere

The thought of such a large powerful aircraft on floats frankly scares the hell out me!

Yeah, I've never seen the gliders cause any problems although I remember clenching a bit as I turned on to crosswind over a glider that was landing. I think they have right of way anyway.

Asshole PPLs who think a skydive NOTAM is some sort of joke is another matter. My slider was just coming down at about 2500 when a freaking 172 passed me about 100ft away. Had to sit down for a while after I landed - didn't think to look for a reg. Urgh.

I guess you skydive too then...

Conor (B-5106)