The details are just coming in now, but it appears passengers onboard a Turkish Airlines flight from Oslo to Istanbul overpowered a man who tried to hijack the plane:
The man, identified as 40-year-old Cuma Yasar, was wearing a snowmask as he approached the cockpit during the descent of the Boeing 737-800 from Oslo, Norway, into Ataturk International Airport, the state news agency Anadolu said.
He threatened to blow up a bomb he said he was holding, and urged the captain to fly back to Oslo, the news agency reported.
But passengers Firat Faysal Ali and Dag Gjerstad tackled the man, the agency reported. Airport police took him into custody after the plane landed but found no explosives on him, it said.
But they did find an identification card for the handicapped on Yasar, who suffers a mental illness, it added.
Sounds like my own wacko passenger incident last year from SFO-IAD.
This is yet another story that demonstrates that it is the passengers onboard who are really our last line of defense–not airport screeners.
Thankfully, Mr. Yasar did not seem to have sinister intentions and Mr. Ali and Gjerstad must be commended for their swift and decisive action.
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