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Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: Deepblue on February 16, 2007, 10:07:56 am

Title: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Deepblue on February 16, 2007, 10:07:56 am
Quote
LAS PALMAS, Spain (CNN) -- A man armed with two pistols hijacked an Air Mauritania flight Thursday but was subdued by two passengers, a Spanish official said.

The plane landed safely in the Canary Islands and no one was hurt, the official said.

The senior Spanish government source said a man had been trying to commandeer the Boeing 737 to Paris. He was arrested by the civil guard after the jet landed at Gando Airport, the source told CNN.

Jose Segura, the central government's chief representative in the Canaries, told Ser, a Spanish radio station, that the plane was carrying 71 passengers and eight crew members.

Reports differed on the hijacker's nationality, with one senior Spanish government source saying he is Moroccan and Segura describing him as Mauritanian.

Abass Bass, a representative of the Mauritanian Embassy in Washington, described the incident as a "tentative hijacking."

"The information we had from Mauritania is that the passengers fought back and they took the hijacker and now everything is OK," Bass told CNN.

Bass said the flight had been scheduled to be an interior one, from the capital city of Nouakchott to Nouadhibou, in northern Mauritania, near Morocco.

How they did it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17183946/

Quote
A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.

Quote
Along the way, speaking to the hijacker, the pilot realized the man did not speak French. So he used the plane's public address system to warn the passengers in French of the ploy he was going to try: brake hard upon landing, then speed up abruptly. The idea was to catch the hijacker off balance, and have crew members and men sitting in the front rows of the plane jump him, the Spanish official said.

The pilot also warned women and children to move to the back of the plane in preparation for the subterfuge, the official said.

It worked. The man was standing in the middle aisle when the pilot carried out his maneuver, and he fell to the floor, dropping one of his two 7 mm pistols. Flight attendants then threw boiling water from a coffee machine in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him, the Spanish official said.

Around 20 people were slightly injured when the plane braked suddenly, the official said.

The hijacker was arrested by Spanish police who boarded the plane after it landed at Gando airport, outside Las Palmas.

Air Mauritania identified the heroic pilot as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, a 20-year-veteran of the company.

 :eek2: :eek: :lol:
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 16, 2007, 10:09:36 am
i'm quite impressed they let the hijacker out alive...
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: karajorma on February 16, 2007, 10:31:25 am
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and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him,

:lol:

I've said it before. After 9/11 you've got to be a ****ing idiot to think you can successfully hijack a plane. The passengers will beat the **** out of you first chance they get if you try cause most of them will get a "Well we're dead anyway" attitude about it.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: vyper on February 16, 2007, 10:31:56 am
Hehe, hijack n00b.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Ford Prefect on February 16, 2007, 10:50:52 am
omfg l2hijack nub
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Charismatic on February 16, 2007, 01:09:43 pm
Way too go. The plane is stopping and speeding up, yet they manage to throw boiling water directly on his face\chest. Nice aim.

And  @ Kara: True. The Hijacker should be more afraid then the passengers.

@Aldo: People are afraid to kill someone else nowadays, we are too civilized.

And no one mentiones hoe he got 2 pilstols on their friggin plane? Not one but two, and he managed to shoot nobody? What a noob. If i was doing that, and was probably going to go to jail for a long time, id atleast let my guns off in the croud before i go.

And what was he expecting to do? Walk out of the plane without getting caught? Dumbass. Its a dead end crime, unless you want to kamakazie like terrorists, thus, no landing and getting out without getting caught.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Taristin on February 16, 2007, 02:05:17 pm
@Aldo: People are afraid to kill someone else nowadays, we are too civilized.

Lies.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: karajorma on February 16, 2007, 02:26:34 pm
Apparently he was doing it to get political asylum in France. Why the **** he didn't just buy a bloody plane ticket to France from the Canary Islands instead is beyond me.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: redsniper on February 16, 2007, 02:30:45 pm
He was broke?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 16, 2007, 02:50:51 pm
@Aldo: People are afraid to kill someone else nowadays, we are too civilized.

My arse.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: vyper on February 16, 2007, 03:06:05 pm
Apparently he was doing it to get political asylum in France. Why the **** he didn't just buy a bloody plane ticket to France from the Canary Islands instead is beyond me.

The better question being why one would want to leave Tenerife?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Kie99 on February 16, 2007, 03:14:00 pm
Quote
Flight attendants then threw boiling water from a coffee machine in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him

:lol:

Pwn't nub.

If he didn't speak French why pick France as a destination for political asylum?  Surely he could have asked for it some place else.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: MatthewPapa on February 16, 2007, 03:32:16 pm
i hope passengers learn fight back more in the future just like this

it will make terrorists think twice about hijacking airplanes
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Polpolion on February 16, 2007, 06:54:17 pm
Quote
People are afraid to kill someone else nowadays, we are too civilized.

Quote
id atleast let my guns off in the croud before i go.


:lol:
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Sandwich on February 18, 2007, 03:21:27 pm
i hope passengers learn fight back more in the future just like this

it will make terrorists think twice about hijacking airplanes

Wish the justice systems of the world would take such an attitude to rapists, murderers, and similar scum. Have the rape victims (or a family member) castrate the rapist. That kind of stuff. It's not just about justice being done to the evildoers, it's about the justice done to them being an example to other potential evildoers, to make them think twice.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: WeatherOp on February 18, 2007, 09:49:11 pm
i hope passengers learn fight back more in the future just like this

it will make terrorists think twice about hijacking airplanes

Wish the justice systems of the world would take such an attitude to rapists, murderers, and similar scum. Have the rape victims (or a family member) castrate the rapist. That kind of stuff. It's not just about justice being done to the evildoers, it's about the justice done to them being an example to other potential evildoers, to make them think twice.

*imagines a man trying to grab this huge woman who picks him by the neck and pulls scissors out of her purse.  :lol:
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 03:08:05 am
i hope passengers learn fight back more in the future just like this

it will make terrorists think twice about hijacking airplanes

Wish the justice systems of the world would take such an attitude to rapists, murderers, and similar scum. Have the rape victims (or a family member) castrate the rapist. That kind of stuff. It's not just about justice being done to the evildoers, it's about the justice done to them being an example to other potential evildoers, to make them think twice.

Isn't that more along the lines of revenge rather than justice?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Scuddie on February 19, 2007, 03:10:29 am
Justice and what's just are two entirely different things.  Revenge cannot be compared against Justice.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: jr2 on February 19, 2007, 03:29:51 am
..very true.. but justice isn't letting a multiple-murderer / rapist / whatever other scumbucket you can think of live in comfort @ taxpayer's expense for the rest of his life, either... I hear there are actually some criminals, who, when released, go commit another crime so they can get caught and go back, because they have it so good there...  :ick:  No, I think they should be made to work @ minimum wage.  And, of course, most of that money would go to the victims or the the victims' families.  And, if he was a real remorseless cold blooded killer (or a murderer at all, for that matter), well, we do have the electric chair...  :mad2:
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 04:15:30 am
..very true.. but justice isn't letting a multiple-murderer / rapist / whatever other scumbucket you can think of live in comfort @ taxpayer's expense for the rest of his life, either... I hear there are actually some criminals, who, when released, go commit another crime so they can get caught and go back, because they have it so good there...  :ick:  No, I think they should be made to work @ minimum wage.  And, of course, most of that money would go to the victims or the the victims' families.  And, if he was a real remorseless cold blooded killer (or a murderer at all, for that matter), well, we do have the electric chair...  :mad2:

Firstly, I don't think you could honestly describe prison as 'comfort' for 99% of people, especially not those faced with the best part of a lifetime behind bars (although it is also possible that those who are not adjusted or rehabilitated properly may see jail as easier than facing the real world).

Secondly, and more importantly, justice is not blind nor infallible.  To inflict permanent physical injury or death and still claim to be morally right - if inflicting these things can ever be (after all, a murder trial generally wouldn't consider whether the victim was 'asking for it') - IMHO requires a level of security against miscarriages of justice that goes beyond the capacity of a human judge or jury.  The US in particular has many well documented cases of wrongful execution, and I don't think the cost of even one innocent life is acceptable in persuing a 'cheap' option of killing rather than imprisoning.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: karajorma on February 19, 2007, 05:34:18 am
Exactly. What if you do have a miscarriage of justice. Does the accused criminal now have the right to maim everyone involved in his trial for not proving him innocent?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Scuddie on February 19, 2007, 05:52:14 am
Aldo:  You say the US has many well documented cases of wrongful execution?  Well, how about the undocumented cases of wrongful exoneration?  What about the undocumented cases of wrongful execution in countries such as China?  No matter where you look, there will always be something desperately wrong in ANY justice system.

Kara:  They should, depending on circumstances, have the right to make their accusers life a miserable existence.  Maiming would be a little too much though ;).  The prosecution as a whole is just as corrupt as the attorneys defending the offenders.  So much ado about technicalities, very little about the case itself.

Anyhow, our prisons are called 'correctional facilities'...  If only they did what their names suggested (i.e. social brainwashing), it would bring a huge improvement to our justice system.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Harbinger of DOOM on February 19, 2007, 06:40:45 am
Quote
LAS PALMAS, Spain (CNN) -- A man armed with two pistols hijacked an Air Mauritania flight Thursday but was subdued by two passengers, a Spanish official said.

The plane landed safely in the Canary Islands and no one was hurt, the official said.

The senior Spanish government source said a man had been trying to commandeer the Boeing 737 to Paris. He was arrested by the civil guard after the jet landed at Gando Airport, the source told CNN.

Jose Segura, the central government's chief representative in the Canaries, told Ser, a Spanish radio station, that the plane was carrying 71 passengers and eight crew members.

Reports differed on the hijacker's nationality, with one senior Spanish government source saying he is Moroccan and Segura describing him as Mauritanian.

Abass Bass, a representative of the Mauritanian Embassy in Washington, described the incident as a "tentative hijacking."

"The information we had from Mauritania is that the passengers fought back and they took the hijacker and now everything is OK," Bass told CNN.

Bass said the flight had been scheduled to be an interior one, from the capital city of Nouakchott to Nouadhibou, in northern Mauritania, near Morocco.

How they did it:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17183946/

Quote
A fast-thinking pilot with passengers in cahoots fooled a gunman who had hijacked a jetliner flying from Africa to the Canary Islands, braking hard upon landing then quickly accelerating to knock the man down so travelers could pounce on him, Spanish officials said Friday.

Quote
Along the way, speaking to the hijacker, the pilot realized the man did not speak French. So he used the plane's public address system to warn the passengers in French of the ploy he was going to try: brake hard upon landing, then speed up abruptly. The idea was to catch the hijacker off balance, and have crew members and men sitting in the front rows of the plane jump him, the Spanish official said.

The pilot also warned women and children to move to the back of the plane in preparation for the subterfuge, the official said.

It worked. The man was standing in the middle aisle when the pilot carried out his maneuver, and he fell to the floor, dropping one of his two 7 mm pistols. Flight attendants then threw boiling water from a coffee machine in his face and at his chest, and some 10 people jumped on the man and beat him, the Spanish official said.

Around 20 people were slightly injured when the plane braked suddenly, the official said.

The hijacker was arrested by Spanish police who boarded the plane after it landed at Gando airport, outside Las Palmas.

Air Mauritania identified the heroic pilot as Ahmedou Mohamed Lemine, a 20-year-veteran of the company.

 :eek2: :eek: :lol:
Uber pwnage.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Rictor on February 19, 2007, 06:55:44 am
Anyone trying to hijack a plane these days wielding anything less than a machinegun is dead meat. Everyone has seen United 93, and now they've all got a hero complex just waiting for an outlet.

What's even more amazing is that they were aided in their defense of the plane by Microsoft's sturdy and ergonomic XBOX 360 controller (MSRP $24.99), which they used to beat the hijacker into submission, as well as Microsoft's MSN Messenger, the world's most popular IM chat client (http://get.live.com/messenger/overview), with which the passengers communicated secretly in their heroic bid to retake the plane.

Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Scuddie on February 19, 2007, 07:04:21 am
People actually watched United 93?  I was totally unaware of this.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: jr2 on February 19, 2007, 07:11:17 am
The US in particular has many well documented cases of wrongful execution, and I don't think the cost of even one innocent life is acceptable in persuing a 'cheap' option of killing rather than imprisoning.
Ok, name one.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Mefustae on February 19, 2007, 07:12:32 am
You think he was bluffing?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: jr2 on February 19, 2007, 07:13:36 am
No, but I bet he doesn't have a handful off the top of his head... If such a thing were common, the media would be ranting about those particular cases over and over again, whenever there was an execution.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 07:17:49 am
Aldo:  You say the US has many well documented cases of wrongful execution?  Well, how about the undocumented cases of wrongful exoneration?  What about the undocumented cases of wrongful execution in countries such as China?  No matter where you look, there will always be something desperately wrong in ANY justice system.

Kara:  They should, depending on circumstances, have the right to make their accusers life a miserable existence.  Maiming would be a little too much though ;).  The prosecution as a whole is just as corrupt as the attorneys defending the offenders.  So much ado about technicalities, very little about the case itself.

Anyhow, our prisons are called 'correctional facilities'...  If only they did what their names suggested (i.e. social brainwashing), it would bring a huge improvement to our justice system.

Would you rather have a guilty man freed or an innocent man dead?

(oh, and the reason for pointing out the US legal system specifically is because it's from a democratic, free nation claiming to have high standards of justice)
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: jr2 on February 19, 2007, 07:21:24 am
... The ironic thing is, when you free a guilty man, you sentence his next victim to death... and the victims of all who take their cue from his example; they now know that the justice system is not serious about punishing crime.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Flipside on February 19, 2007, 07:25:26 am
I wonder where this kind of thinking came in, that the law works despite people constantly questioning, rather than it works because of people questioning it. Once upon a time that very questioning and constant stress-testing of the law was considered a healthy thing, it made sure that  the laws were fair and enforced fairly.

It's kind of odd to see, particuarly over the last few years, a growing attitude that to question laws and policies is somehow 'anti-government'.

The essential element of law is 'innocent until proven guilty', this does not interpret to 'You're guilty, but we're going to use the word innocent until we can get the evidence together.'. This was a deliberate act because the UK Police in the 60's and 70's were amazingly good at finding evidence that convicted the very person they wanted to convict, regardless of their guilt.

The day we start seeing the Law as something to tell us how to live, rather than something that reflects our right to live as we choose without fear, then we are in big trouble.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 07:44:33 am
... The ironic thing is, when you free a guilty man, you sentence his next victim to death... and the victims of all who take their cue from his example; they now know that the justice system is not serious about punishing crime.

Is that any different from the state killing an innocent man?
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Shade on February 19, 2007, 07:49:43 am
Absolutely. In the case of letting the guilty man go free, there still might not be a next victim. But in the case of the innocent being executed, there's no second chance. Oh wait, you were looking for someone trying to disagree with you, right? Can't help you there...
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: jr2 on February 19, 2007, 08:09:42 am
... The ironic thing is, when you free a guilty man, you sentence his next victim to death... and the victims of all who take their cue from his example; they now know that the justice system is not serious about punishing crime.

Is that any different from the state killing an innocent man?
Ok, let me get this straight: currently, I am thinking of 'innocent' as in 'not proven guilty'.  I am not thinking of 'innocent' as in 'proven guilty, but we're not quite sure of all the details'.  There are ways of proving things.  You find the accused's blood on the victim, or other evidence you can extract DNA from.  Three witnesses say that the victim was last seen with the accused.  The accused has no alibi, or his alibi turns out not true.  Go ahead.  Poke holes in that case.  Oh, and take your time doing it.. you've got about ten years.  :p
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 08:37:40 am
... The ironic thing is, when you free a guilty man, you sentence his next victim to death... and the victims of all who take their cue from his example; they now know that the justice system is not serious about punishing crime.

Is that any different from the state killing an innocent man?
Ok, let me get this straight: currently, I am thinking of 'innocent' as in 'not proven guilty'.  I am not thinking of 'innocent' as in 'proven guilty, but we're not quite sure of all the details'.  There are ways of proving things.  You find the accused's blood on the victim, or other evidence you can extract DNA from.  Three witnesses say that the victim was last seen with the accused.  The accused has no alibi, or his alibi turns out not true.  Go ahead.  Poke holes in that case.  Oh, and take your time doing it.. you've got about ten years.  :p

Nice - pick a strawman.....

Ok, say the accused got blood on his clothes from administering first aid to the victim in a side alleyway, after the victim was surprise-attacked by an unknown assailant who subsequently ran away.

I'd suggest looking up the case of Kenny Richey; 20 years held on death row for murder-by-arson on shoddy evidence (there was no evidence of premeditation despite prosecution claims, no trace of the claimed accelerators on his clothes, evidence that the victim - a toddler- had started fires in the same flat 3 times in previous weeks, a broken wrist making it virtually impossible for him to physically perform the crime, the Fire Marshall determining the fire was no arson and actually moving the evidence into a petrol station lot - compromising the whole legality and impartiality of the evidence, and the court-appointed lawyer with no experience failing to hire experts or question prosecution evidence.  Oh, and new forensic evidence, from the top experts in the field, proving that there were no accelerants on the carpet for arson - and that prior forensic testing was faulty - was dismissed at appeal in 1997 because it should have been brought up at prior appeals....before it was actually known)

It's taken 20 years to even get a retrial.  and that's with the weight of politicians from the UK and Amnesty International helping push it along, because Kenny Richey is Scottish and UK abhors capital punishment. 

(as an aside, 1 in 10 prisoners executed in the US are mentally ill - how competent does that make them to defend themselves, aside from the illegality of executing the mentally ill under international law?)
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Charismatic on February 19, 2007, 12:48:45 pm
Quote
People are afraid to kill someone else nowadays, we are too civilized.

Quote
id at least let my guns off in the crowd before i go.


:lol:


..that is, excluding me, of course.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: Sandwich on February 19, 2007, 04:45:42 pm
You guys are all missing my point. IANAL - I'm not going to tell you when someone is guilty or innocent. All I meant by what I suggested/wished was that, once found guilty by the proper channels, the criminal's punishment would not only be punishment, but an example and deterrent to other potential criminals.

Seriously, do you really think that rape would be anywhere near as common if the standard punishment for convicted rapists was to cut their penii off?? Go ask anyone living under Sharia law - from what I understand, they chop off the hands of anyone caught stealing. They don't have much of a theft problem. Or go visit Singapore - they make you sign a slip of paper as you're landing that states that you are aware that the punishment for bringing drugs into the country is death. They don't have much of a drug problem.

IMO, the only people that should be in prison (that come to mind ATM) are POWs. They didn't do anything wrong per se, just fought for their country. Give them a relatively decent life until they're returned to their respective countries. Everyone else, all the convicted criminals especially, should be handed punishments that suit the crime.
Title: Re: Passengers subdue armed hijacker...
Post by: aldo_14 on February 19, 2007, 05:16:58 pm
You guys are all missing my point. IANAL - I'm not going to tell you when someone is guilty or innocent. All I meant by what I suggested/wished was that, once found guilty by the proper channels, the criminal's punishment would not only be punishment, but an example and deterrent to other potential criminals.

Seriously, do you really think that rape would be anywhere near as common if the standard punishment for convicted rapists was to cut their penii off?? Go ask anyone living under Sharia law - from what I understand, they chop off the hands of anyone caught stealing. They don't have much of a theft problem. Or go visit Singapore - they make you sign a slip of paper as you're landing that states that you are aware that the punishment for bringing drugs into the country is death. They don't have much of a drug problem.

IMO, the only people that should be in prison (that come to mind ATM) are POWs. They didn't do anything wrong per se, just fought for their country. Give them a relatively decent life until they're returned to their respective countries. Everyone else, all the convicted criminals especially, should be handed punishments that suit the crime.

Guarantee no innocent man will never be convicted, then you can start debating the punishment itself as applied to the guilty.

Singapore, incidentally, isn't any more crime-free than other Asian cities.  It has more murders per head than South Korea or Australia, and more of all types of crime than the far more lenient Japan.  Crime fell 10% in 2006 but rose 19.9% in 2005.  The number of drug users rose 16% between 2001 and 2002.  It has one of the highest incarceration rates in the world, below the US, Russia and South Africa.  History tends to show that harsh punishments have only short term effect, and are subsequently overridden by the prevailing social issues causing crime.  Hence why liberal Scandinavian countries can be, well, liberal and yet very safe.

In Saudi Arabia, crime among jobless young Saudis rose 320% between 1990 and 96, and was expected to rise another 135% by 2005 (no figures if this was met).  Drug smugglers, dealers and users rose from 4,279 in 1986 to 17,199 in 2001.  The murder rate has been consistently rising over the last decade and is now higher than Ireland, Austria, Norway, Denmark, Hong Kong and Japan.