Source : Perth Now news
HIJACKINGS AND ATTEMPTED HIJACKINGS POTENTIALLY INVOLVING CREW MEMBERS
October 22, 2023
An off-duty Alaska Airlines pilot tried to cut the engines of a Horizon Air jet travelling from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco while riding in an extra seat in the cockpit. The plane was diverted and landed in Portland with more than 80 people. Joseph Emerson told police he was despondent over a friend’s recent death, had taken psychedelic mushrooms and hadn’t slept in days.
March 21, 2022
A China Eastern Airlines flight from Kunming in southwest China to Guangzhou, near Hong Kong, slammed into a mountain, killing all 132 people aboard. Chinese authorities have yet to release their final investigative report, but data released by American investigators earlier in 2026 suggests the jet’s engines were deliberately shut off and there was a cockpit struggle before the plane nose-dived.
March 24, 2015
The co-pilot on a Germanwings jet travelling from Barcelona, Spain, to Duesseldorf, Germany, locked the captain out of the cockpit and deliberately crashed the plane into the French Alps, killing all 150 people on board. Andreas Lubitz had struggled with depression and suffered from sleeplessness and fear of losing his vision.
October 31, 1999
An EgyptAir flight from Los Angeles to Cairo plunged into the Atlantic Ocean off Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing all 217 passengers and crew on board. American investigators concluded the co-pilot, Gameel Al-Batouti, set the plane on course to crash while the captain was in the bathroom. He then shut off the engines as the captain returned and struggled to right the plane. Egyptian authorities, however, disputed the findings, concluding in their own investigation that mechanical failure was to blame.
December 19, 1997
A SilkAir flight from Jakarta to Singapore crashed near the Indonesian town of Palembang, killing all 104 people on board. Indonesian investigators concluded that “unlawful interference” likely caused the crash of the new model Boeing jet in good weather. Their report found the pilot, Tsu Way Ming, “was in the process of, or intending to, leave the cockpit” before the cockpit voice recorder cut out. Authorities also said the pilot was “facing financial problems, and had experienced several company disciplinary actions”, including a demotion.
February 9, 1982
A Japan Airlines flight from Fukuoka to Tokyo crashed in Tokyo Bay just as it was landing, killing 24 of the 174 people on board. Investigators said there was a fight in the cockpit as the pilot, Seiji Katagiri, put the engines into reverse thrust. They also later determined Katagiri, who survived the crash, had been deemed fit to fly even after having a history of mental illness, including paranoid schizophrenia.
