D-FGOJ

[lars_d 4]

http://www.airliners.net/photo/Pacific-Aerospace-750XL/1651665/L/

[likestojump 3]

D-FGOJ (cn 139) Straight from a Hollywood movie. A German hijacked the aircraft, after pretending to be a photographer shooting parachute jumps from inside the airplane. The aircraft took off from LPEV (Évora) with 3 parachuters, and right after, the hijacker diverted the aircraft using a pistol to LPCS (Tires). When the aircraft was landing at Tires, the parachuters jumped at very low altitude (not known if they were forced)... The aircraft landed with the engine shut down and skidded into a ditch, breaking the left wing and leaving again to the grass breaking the landing gear. The pilot managed to flee unhurt and the hijacker committed suicide (he's almost underneath the left wing).

link http://www.airliners.net/...ace-750XL/1651665/L/

any more info ?

[4dbill 0]

What is the motivation of such hijacker? Was he going to sell the airplane for parts or crash into a building? Please enlighten me.

[1969912 0]

Perhaps suicide by airplane was the original plan.

"Once we got to the point where twenty/something's needed a place on the corner that changed the oil in their cars we were doomed . . ."
-NickDG

[skyjumpenfool 2]

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Perhaps suicide by airplane was the original plan.

More likely, Homocide by airplane was the plan. Glad everyone else survived. Sorry to see he took a good jump ship with him.

Birdshit & Fools Productions

"Son, only two things fall from the sky."

[Hellis 0]

The name of the pilot has been published.
Mikael Andersson.

[andreeb77 0]

Apparently the destroyed PAC was the jump ship of a German DZ (Gransee near Berlin). Best wishes to them and their insurance negotiators

[pchapman 279]

The German forum also has a thread, but it is very short with no extra info about the accident yet. All I found with a web search (in English):

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A photograph made available on 14 February 2010 showing the emergency services looking over the crashed airplane on the tarmac in Tires, outside Lisbon, Portugal on 12 February 2010 after Swedish pilot Mikael Andersson crash landed following an attempted hijack attempt. It was reported that Andersson was flying a plane for the small airline 'Get High' out of the airport in Cascais on 12 Febraury 2010, when one of the three passengers suddenly put a gun to his head. Two passengers, who were skydivers, parachuted from the plane then Andersson with the help of the co-pilot controls kept the plane in the air until he made a crash landing in Tires.

[JohnRich 4]

What does this thread title mean?

Wouldn't something like "Jump Plane Hijacked" have been more descriptive?

[Hellis 0]

Its the airplanes name, but yes it could be a better title

[piisfish 140]

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What does this thread title mean?

Wouldn't something like "Jump Plane Hijacked" have been more descriptive?

it's exactly what it means, but in German

scissors beat paper, paper beat rock, rock beat wingsuit - KarlM

[GalFisk 0]

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The name of the pilot has been published.
Mikael Andersson.

This man is a hero and all around great guy. He flew the plane I jumped from during most of my training (S/L) last summer in Sweden during the Mohed Boogie.

[Chrisky 0]

There's an account of events by the plane owner in the german forum.

The mind is like a parachute - it only works once it's open.
From the edge you just see more.
... Not every Swooper hooks & not every Hooker swoops ...

[JohnRich 4]

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There's an account of events by the plane owner in the german forum.

Quote:

"hört sich echt an wie im krimi.. schade um den flieger, aber gut ist sonst niemand zu schaden gekommen.."

My German's not too good, but I believe it begins with; "No shit, there I was, thought I was gonna die!"

[MartinOlsson 0]

Or: "Sounds like a thriller... shame about the plane but glad no one (except the hijacker!?) got hurt."

/Martin

[pchapman 279]

I've done a more full translation of the plane owner's report:


===============

To stop further speculations:

Our airplane is indeed insured for acts of terrorism
[Ed note: I don't know the technical translation of the term used but it appears the author means the plane is insured for this kind of incident, however it is defined]

And here's a short description of what happened:

The story went like this:

Last Friday a jumper, possibly ex military, arrives for a photo flight in Evora (Portugal). Everything is normal, there's some chit chat going on, he is helped into a rig, everything is explained to him, everything proceeds without a fuss -- just like things normally work in this sort of situation. Two additional skydivers (who are staff from the DZ in Portugal) go on the flight too, to help communicate with the pilot (the visitor speaks only Portuguese). The jumper [the visitor] takes the copilot seat and buckles up.

The flight proceeds normally, and permission for landing at Cascais (an airport near Lisbon) is given by the tower (The visiting jumper wants to pick up additional cameras there, and take some photos in the area, as well as take photos when the two jumpers jump on the return to Evora). During a long final to the airport, one jumper receives a note with the message: "Elda {for that's his name}, you now have 2 minutes time to jump, and the pilot has to jump too". They think it is a joke, turn around to look at the cockpit, and see that Mikael has a gun to his head. They realize the seriousness of the situation, but are only at around 100m altitude, Mikael pulls the plane up steeply into a climb, so that they have somewhat more altitude. Finally they jump from about 200m [650 ft], both pull the reserve immediately and land uninjured. There's a fight for the weapon, Mikael gets the gun in his hand. There's a wild fight for control of the airplane, the attacker immediately starts to grab wildly at the controls and tries to get the plane into a steep dive. With full trim and flaps, our pilot manages to crash land on the grass to the left of the runway, hits hard, hits barrier, and finally the plane comes to a stop. Mikael takes the gun, opens the door, and gets out. At the same time he sees the attacker pull out another weapon, so Mikael jumps away as quickly as possible, thinking that he's going to be shot from behind. He throws himself into a ditch for cover -- and at that moment the attacker shoots himself with the second gun, while standing next to the rear door, and dies immediately. Afterwards it turns out that a couple hours earlier, the attacker had seriously injured another person by gunfire. At the same time as the takeoff in Evora, a professionally built bomb went off in his car.

Mike Vetter
GoSky GmbH
airplane owner
========================

My comments:
So much for post-9/11 rushing the cockpit but the skydivers who jumped! Not that one can blame anyone; it is hard to know what to do when there's a gun to someone's head. Nice work by the pilot -- managing to keep control AND get the attacker's gun.

I'd like to know what the guy's motivations were and whether he had a specific target in mind for the plane.

[andreeb77 0]

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I'd like to know what the guy's motivations were and whether he had a specific target in mind for the plane.

That's what I (and supposedly many others) like to know. I'm scanning German newspapers but the incident doesn't seem to be "big enough" for the media.