Pilot 'Deliberately' Crashed Plane, Killing 33

Mozambican Airlines pilot locked door, took plane down




By Polly Davis Doig, Newser Staff


Posted Dec 22, 2013 1:03 PM CST



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(Newser) – A Mozambican Airlines plane that went down in Namibia last month, killing all 33 aboard, was no accident according to preliminary investigations. With the co-pilot in the bathroom, pilot Hermino dos Santos Fernandes locked the cockpit door, reports the AP, then "made a deliberate series of maneuvers" that systematically lowered the plane's altitude three times—bringing it from 38,000 feet all the way to 592 feet. Dos Santos Fernandes had a "clear intention" to crash the plane, Civil Aviation Institute chief Joao Abreu said yesterday, per the BBC.

"During these actions you can hear low and high-intensity alarm signals and repeated beating against the door with demands to come into the cockpit," Abreu said. "The reasons which may have given rise to this behavior are unknown."


Here is a link to the article which has crash photos as well- I cannot tell what type of Aircraft is was- http://www.newser.com/story/17...campaign=rss_topnews

No Cheers here-

I saw that. We place a lot of faith in pilots. Several years ago, I think it was an Egyptian pilot who did the same thing.

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I saw that. We place a lot of faith in pilots. Several years ago, I think it was an Egyptian pilot who did the same thing.

Also an American pilot.

Steve:

I had not heard of that incident. However it has some substantial differences to these incidents. It was not a passenger jet nor was he flying the plane.

There have been numerous cases of pilots being arrested for being drunk.

Scary stuff.

quote:

Originally posted by shakari:

quote:

Originally posted by larryshores:
I saw that. We place a lot of faith in pilots. Several years ago, I think it was an Egyptian pilot who did the same thing.

Also an American pilot.

Careful with that "American" pilot statement Steve. Many will interpret that to mean "American Airlines" when in fact this incident was a FedEX pilot. At the time of this incident, I was a Check Airman at American Airlines and knew the incident well. Lots of history on this guy as he had been fired from FedEx for cause, then hired by a company that FedEx later acquired, was being called into the company to be released, and while flying on the jumpseat, attempted to take the plane with intentions to crash into the company headquarters. It's been awhile but I think I have the events correct. Maybe some of the FedEx guys here can elaborate with a bit more authority.