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On this day, December 29, 2000, Bryan Ferry was traveling on board British Airways Flight 2069.
Wed Dec 29, 2021: On this day, December 29, 2000, Bryan Ferry settled back in his seat hoping to catch a few winks.
Tue Dec 29, 2020: On this day, December 29, 2000, Bryan Ferry settled back in his seat hoping to catch a few winks.
Fri Dec 29, 2017: On this day in 2000, Bryan Ferry settled back in his seat hoping to catch a few winks.
http://www.thisdayinrock.com/index.php/general/2000-roxy-musics-lead-smoothie-bryan-ferry-settles-back-in-his-seat/
2000 – Roxy Music’s lead smoothie Bryan Ferry settles back in his seat hoping to catch a few winks before his flight lands in Nairobi when the plane cockpit is stormed by a man intent on flying the British Airways jet into the ground. Fortunately, he’s overcome in a struggle and Ferry is free to make us swoon as he croons for another day.
British Airways Flight 2069
G-BNLM, the aircraft involved in the incident.
Incident
Date: 29 December 2000
Summary: Attempted suicide, hijacking
Site: Over Sudan
Aircraft
Aircraft type: Boeing 747-436
Operator: British Airways
Registration: G-BNLM
Flight origin: Gatwick Airport, Horley, England
Destination: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya
Occupants 398
Passengers: 379
Crew: 19
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 5
Survivors: 398 (all)
British Airways Flight 2069 was a scheduled passenger flight operated by British Airways between Gatwick, England and Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi, Kenya. At 5 am on 29 December 2000, a mentally ill passenger stormed the cockpit and attempted to hijack the aircraft. Captain William Hagan and his crew were able to apprehend the assailant while first officer Phil Watson regained control of the aircraft, quickly bringing the situation under control.
{snip}
Incident
Around 5 am local time, the cockpit of a Boeing 747-400 on a British Airways scheduled flight from Gatwick to Jomo Kenyatta Airport was stormed by a mentally unstable Kenyan passenger named Paul Mukonyi. Grabbing the yoke, he tried to execute a route change, which resulted in a struggle between him and First Officer Phil Watson that caused the aircraft to stall and plunge towards the earth. This struggle was joined by Captain Hagan, who had gone for a rest break just before the attack. Two passengers in the upper deck were able to assist in wrestling Mukonyi from the yoke. Violent pitch changes were responsible for minor injuries among four passengers; one of the stewardesses broke her ankle. After landing in Nairobi, Mukonyi was transferred to the authorities. The actions right after the apprehension were recorded on a video camera by the son of the English singer Bryan Ferry; both were passengers on the flight. Mukonyi was in fear of being followed and was trying to kill those whom he deemed to be a threat, i.e. the entire complement of passengers and crew.
G-BNLM, the aircraft involved in the incident.
Incident
Date: 29 December 2000
Summary: Attempted suicide, hijacking
Site: Over Sudan
Aircraft
Aircraft type: Boeing 747-436
Operator: British Airways
Registration: G-BNLM
Flight origin: Gatwick Airport, Horley, England
Destination: Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya
Occupants 398
Passengers: 379
Crew: 19
Fatalities: 0
Injuries: 5
Survivors: 398 (all)
British Airways Flight 2069 was a scheduled passenger flight operated by British Airways between Gatwick, England and Jomo Kenyatta Airport, Nairobi, Kenya. At 5 am on 29 December 2000, a mentally ill passenger stormed the cockpit and attempted to hijack the aircraft. Captain William Hagan and his crew were able to apprehend the assailant while first officer Phil Watson regained control of the aircraft, quickly bringing the situation under control.
{snip}
Incident
Around 5 am local time, the cockpit of a Boeing 747-400 on a British Airways scheduled flight from Gatwick to Jomo Kenyatta Airport was stormed by a mentally unstable Kenyan passenger named Paul Mukonyi. Grabbing the yoke, he tried to execute a route change, which resulted in a struggle between him and First Officer Phil Watson that caused the aircraft to stall and plunge towards the earth. This struggle was joined by Captain Hagan, who had gone for a rest break just before the attack. Two passengers in the upper deck were able to assist in wrestling Mukonyi from the yoke. Violent pitch changes were responsible for minor injuries among four passengers; one of the stewardesses broke her ankle. After landing in Nairobi, Mukonyi was transferred to the authorities. The actions right after the apprehension were recorded on a video camera by the son of the English singer Bryan Ferry; both were passengers on the flight. Mukonyi was in fear of being followed and was trying to kill those whom he deemed to be a threat, i.e. the entire complement of passengers and crew.
This source incorrectly says that the incident happened on December 27, 2000.
'Three seconds longer and we'd have crashed'
By Jemima Khan
20 January 2008 • 12:01am
{snip}
My friends must have read the headlines with dread, knowing this would provide me with an excuse to tell my story yet again. I'm sure you're longing to hear it. If you're not, that's never stopped me...
Bryan Ferry on board the 2000 plane crash {sic} that came seconds from disaster
BA2069 London to Nairobi, December 27, 2000. I was travelling with my sons, Kasim (one) and Sulaiman (four), my mother, my brother, Ben, my cousin and her children.
{snip}
The plane juddered violently, the engines stalled and we were sent into a nosedive towards the mountains below. A siren? Seat-belt signs flashed. My mother, the calmest of fliers, cried out: "Oh my God!" A Kenyan man's mouth emitted a sound I never want to hear again. Collective male howling. The cabin lights went out, the emergency lights on. A trolley rammed an air hostess, breaking her leg. Oxygen masks dangled absurdly in front of us. Another air hostess crawled along the aisle on all fours. ... It was exactly like every good plane crash film. That cliché about seconds becoming hours is true. And the one about being unconscious throughout is not. We were terrifyingly, acutely aware.
{snip}
The plane levelled out. A brief pause. Then a panting, stuttering, sobbing pilot announced: "A... bad... man tried to kill us but we're all right now." Another pause and then the same voice, now composed, suave, Sean Connery-esque: "This is your Captain, Captain Hagan, We will be travelling on to Nairobi." He practically wished us a pleasant onward flight. ... He later told me, bravery award pinned to his lapel, that we lost 12,000ft in 25 seconds - the highest rate of descent that any civil aircraft has ever recovered from. Three seconds longer and our plane would have flipped over irretrievably and we would all be dead.
{snip}
Everyone hugged everyone. Passengers slugged vodkas from upturned trolleys. Someone lit a ciggie and an injured air hostess on her back in the aisle announced: "This is a no-smoking flight." Bryan Ferry, who also happened to be on the flight, officially became the coolest man on earth after his son, Isaac, said: "Everyone around me was freaking out, but Dad kept saying, 'Isaac, stop swearing!' " Two passengers in my section requested tracksuit bottoms. ... The hijacker, a madman as it turned out who had tried to suicide-crash the plane, was tied up, sedated, with a black eye and bad socks. ... The Captain had watched a documentary about sharks the previous night, and recalling the most vulnerable spot of an uncontrollable beast, had gouged the eye of our would-be assassin. His own thumb and ear had been bitten half off in the process.
{snip}
Our hijacker returned to Toulouse University within days, after apologising on the BBC for not taking his pills. He was never charged. Many passengers campaigned for locked cockpits and got nowhere until nine months later, on September 11, when hijackers attacked four planes.
{snip}
By Jemima Khan
20 January 2008 • 12:01am
{snip}
My friends must have read the headlines with dread, knowing this would provide me with an excuse to tell my story yet again. I'm sure you're longing to hear it. If you're not, that's never stopped me...
Bryan Ferry on board the 2000 plane crash {sic} that came seconds from disaster
BA2069 London to Nairobi, December 27, 2000. I was travelling with my sons, Kasim (one) and Sulaiman (four), my mother, my brother, Ben, my cousin and her children.
{snip}
The plane juddered violently, the engines stalled and we were sent into a nosedive towards the mountains below. A siren? Seat-belt signs flashed. My mother, the calmest of fliers, cried out: "Oh my God!" A Kenyan man's mouth emitted a sound I never want to hear again. Collective male howling. The cabin lights went out, the emergency lights on. A trolley rammed an air hostess, breaking her leg. Oxygen masks dangled absurdly in front of us. Another air hostess crawled along the aisle on all fours. ... It was exactly like every good plane crash film. That cliché about seconds becoming hours is true. And the one about being unconscious throughout is not. We were terrifyingly, acutely aware.
{snip}
The plane levelled out. A brief pause. Then a panting, stuttering, sobbing pilot announced: "A... bad... man tried to kill us but we're all right now." Another pause and then the same voice, now composed, suave, Sean Connery-esque: "This is your Captain, Captain Hagan, We will be travelling on to Nairobi." He practically wished us a pleasant onward flight. ... He later told me, bravery award pinned to his lapel, that we lost 12,000ft in 25 seconds - the highest rate of descent that any civil aircraft has ever recovered from. Three seconds longer and our plane would have flipped over irretrievably and we would all be dead.
{snip}
Everyone hugged everyone. Passengers slugged vodkas from upturned trolleys. Someone lit a ciggie and an injured air hostess on her back in the aisle announced: "This is a no-smoking flight." Bryan Ferry, who also happened to be on the flight, officially became the coolest man on earth after his son, Isaac, said: "Everyone around me was freaking out, but Dad kept saying, 'Isaac, stop swearing!' " Two passengers in my section requested tracksuit bottoms. ... The hijacker, a madman as it turned out who had tried to suicide-crash the plane, was tied up, sedated, with a black eye and bad socks. ... The Captain had watched a documentary about sharks the previous night, and recalling the most vulnerable spot of an uncontrollable beast, had gouged the eye of our would-be assassin. His own thumb and ear had been bitten half off in the process.
{snip}
Our hijacker returned to Toulouse University within days, after apologising on the BBC for not taking his pills. He was never charged. Many passengers campaigned for locked cockpits and got nowhere until nine months later, on September 11, when hijackers attacked four planes.
{snip}
Sunday, 31 December, 2000, 09:00 GMT
Police cleared cockpit intruder
{snip}
'Mad' policy
One of the passengers, singer Bryan Ferry has called on BA to review its cockpit security policy. ... Ferry and his family were among the 379 travellers on board flight BA2069. ... The Roxy Music frontman told The Mail on Sunday the practice of leaving the door between the cockpit and the cabin unlocked during flights was "mad".
Ferry, 55, who was setting off on a holiday in Zanzibar with his wife and two sons, said: "Another four seconds and we would have died, which is a very sobering thought.
Bryan Ferry: "Another four seconds and we would have died"
"Luckily the captain was a well-set man, courageous and strong." ... BA currently has a policy of locking cockpit doors only during take-off and landing. ... The airline said security issues were being reviewed following Friday's incident but did not pledge to copy American and Israeli airlines which keep the door locked for the entire flight.
BA spokesman Michael Blunt said: "The door is locked on take-off and it is locked again on landing but there has to be constant communication between the cockpit and the cabin crew."
{snip}
Police cleared cockpit intruder
{snip}
'Mad' policy
One of the passengers, singer Bryan Ferry has called on BA to review its cockpit security policy. ... Ferry and his family were among the 379 travellers on board flight BA2069. ... The Roxy Music frontman told The Mail on Sunday the practice of leaving the door between the cockpit and the cabin unlocked during flights was "mad".
Ferry, 55, who was setting off on a holiday in Zanzibar with his wife and two sons, said: "Another four seconds and we would have died, which is a very sobering thought.
Bryan Ferry: "Another four seconds and we would have died"
"Luckily the captain was a well-set man, courageous and strong." ... BA currently has a policy of locking cockpit doors only during take-off and landing. ... The airline said security issues were being reviewed following Friday's incident but did not pledge to copy American and Israeli airlines which keep the door locked for the entire flight.
BA spokesman Michael Blunt said: "The door is locked on take-off and it is locked again on landing but there has to be constant communication between the cockpit and the cabin crew."
{snip}
Here's the minimum daily requirement of Bryan Ferry for the entire weekend: