I’ve been told by more than one person that the reason Russians seldom get hijacked is that long ago one of their planes was hijacked, and so the KGB snatched the brother of one of the hijackers, cut off his “bits and pieces,” stuck them in his mouth, and shot him in the head. Then sent the body, or a picture thereof to the hijackers.
Is this true? A search of the web for Soviet and hijacker on the Web hasn’t turned up anything. Anybody got a reference for this story?
Did the ‘bits’ stay in his mouth after the shot to the head?
That would make all the difference…
[I suspect that this is unlikely to have happened. Wouldn’t those responsible have been prosecuted for murder? Why would they have divulged this information?]
Well a quick Google failed me. I seem to recall a russian plane hijacked a few years ago. It might not have been areoflot though. When I return from work I shall look with greater detail.
I do know that while Russian airports lack many customer comforts and seem to me a bit out dated, they do have good security. Russia has a whole different style of security in their country. It helps when they have a conscripted rmy and less personal freedoms.
The last time I was n Russia, everywhere you went their was security. Hotels had at least 3 uniformed security in the lobby. If you parked a vehicle near a goverment building or museum a member of the milita was there to check papers and inspect the vehicle.
I have a friend who works security at one of the domestic airports in Moscow I shall also jet an e-mail to her and see what she can add information wise.
so, until I can get back to this consider this my long winded WAG.
Osip
I think it may be more of a case of the hijackers being more worried about their safety and the plane staying in the air.
Li
The pilots of Russian jets close the door to the cockpit as soon as they enter the plane. The door is bullet proof. They dead bolt the door and don’t open it for any reason during the flight. The U.S. will probably go to similar measures soon.
Haj
You took the words right out of my mouth. The chance of the plane crashing before you accomplished your aims as a hijacker are too high.
And the potential rewards are quite low. What are you going to demand on an Aeroflot flight, anyway? “Give us a truckful of turnips or the passengers get it!”?
There have been a couple of hijackings where the planes have been forced to go to Sweden, which did cause some trouble as they were on domestic flights and pilots on those lines rarely speak anything other than Russian. Anyway, the hijackers were tried in Sweden, spent a couple of years in prison here and then sent back to the Soviet Union, so they didn’t really gain anything on it.
My worst flying experience ever was on Aeroflot.
The planes are essentially buses with wings. Literally like buses. The overhead storage doesn’t have compartments, just an open rack.
Well they got to stay in a comfy swedish prison for a couple of years which may be very nice compared to the average standard in the Soviet Union at the time.
/Andreas
Hall? Kumla? Tidaholm? I think the people who spend time there don’t particularly like it, but on the other hand I’m prepared to agree that they are more comfortable than their Soviet counterparts.
BTW, I think someone once said that one of the 2 or 3 people that have done it was allowed to stay here. Don’t ask me why.
No way. All commercial pilots and air traffic controllers are required to speak English, at least enough English to communicate what is necessary to fly and land an airplane. All international air traffic communication is done in English.
Haj
International traffic: yes. But IIRC the Soviet Union didn’t care too much about that when it came to domestic flights.
Looking at aviation safety web I see they haven’t had one since 1996 but then United hadn’t had one since 1986 and American’s last was in 1989. In 1990 Aeroflot had more hijackings than American and United combined have had in their entire history. Delta has the worst overall record for american airlines with 26 total, the last being in in 1986 still has less than aeroflot had in 1990.
I would expect after the rash of hijackings in the early 90s they instituted tighter security features.
That reminds me of an old Soviet joke.
An airplane was flying from Tflis to Moscow when it was hijacked, the hijacker ordering the pilot to change course to Vienna. Then one of the passengers stood up, and tackled the hijacker. Overpowering him, he knocked him unconscious, and said “Citizen Pilot, this plane is going to Moscow!” When the plane got to Moscow, they had a ceremony and pinned medals on the hero’s chest, and then after the ceremony was over, the KGB took him into a room.
“Look”, the KGB officer said, “Let’s not have any bullshit. Why did you overpower the hijacker? Why didn’t you let him take you to Vienna?”
The man looked at the chekist like he was crazy, and said, “What would I do with 10 pounds of smuggled oranges in Vienna?”