Friday, February 08, 2008
FLIGHT FIGHT
A Somalian gets stabby above New Zealand:
Two pilots have been praised for landing a plane safely in New Zealand after being stabbed by a Somali woman in the cockpit during a mid-air drama on a domestic flight.
A woman stabbed two pilots and threatened to blow up a plane during a harrowing mid-air drama on a New Zealand domestic flight early today, police said.
An Australian witness says the attack was an attempted hijacking:
Mr [Halden] Boyd said he had talked with airport management who were able to give him only limited details about the incident.
"Being a pilot I managed to get a few things out of them and they said that the pilots are ok, they’re in hospital, they can’t give out too many details but it was an attempted hijacking.
"They wouldn’t tell me where the woman wanted to take the aircraft to."
Sydney, probably, if the woman shared typical New Zealand attitudes. Which doesn’t seem likely.
UPDATE. Our stabbish Somalian did have some traditional Kiwi impulses after all:
Police say a Somali woman charged with trying to hijack an Air New Zealand flight this morning wanted the plane taken to Australia.
Too bad Australia is beyond the range of that particular aircraft. Meanwhile, some media outlets seem anxious to avoid mention of the woman’s background. Here’s a Canadian report:
A woman stabbed two pilots and threatened to blow up a plane in mid-air on a domestic flight in New Zealand earlier today ...
The passenger also claimed there was a bomb on the plane ... a 33-year-old woman was taken into custody by local police.
And Al Jazeera:
A passenger on a New Zealand commuter flight has been arrested after stabbing both the pilots and threatening to blow up the aircraft ...
Police arrested a 33 year old woman when the aircraft – a 19-seat Jetstream 232 - landed in Christchurch. The woman had reportedly claimed to have placed bombs on board ...
Most evasive of them all, CNN:
A 33-year-old New Zealand woman was in police custody Friday after she allegedly attacked two pilots of an Air New Zealand charter plane ...
Dog squad police boarded the plane and apprehended the suspect, who was believed to be from Blenheim.
UPDATE II. TVNZ reports:
The woman at the centre of the mid air drama on a flight from Blenheim to Christchurch is named Aisha, which is her muslim name according to sources in the Blenheim Muslim community ...
The 33-year old Somalian woman from Blenheim at the centre of the drama is well known to the Blenheim Muslim community although they vehemently deny she is a practicing Muslim.
"She’s definitely not part of our community,” says Zayd Blissett, Blenheim Muslim Community spokesman.
Read on. She sounds more like a nutjob than a terrorist; splitting hairs, I know.