I Was Kidnapped by Idiots(theatlantic.com)
theatlantic.com
I Was Kidnapped by Idiots
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/2026/01/kidnapped-baghdad/685470/
5 comments
From the wiki:
>> Captain Leul Abate (42), an experienced pilot with over 11,500 total flight hours (including 4,067 hours in the Boeing 757/767), was the pilot-in-command. [...] Prior to the crash, Leul had experienced two previous hijackings. The first occurred 12 April 1992 on Flight ETH574, a Boeing 727-260. [...] The second occurred on 17 March 1995, flying a Boeing 737-260. [...] In both cases, the aircraft were undamaged and no one was injured or killed. [...] Leul and Yonas both survived. [...] Both the captain and first officer of the flight received aviation awards, and both continued to fly for Ethiopian Airlines
(flight 961: 125 died, many by drowning from inflating life-vest too early)
I either want Captain Leul Abate to be my pilot -- in-case of a highjacking -- or don't want him to be given his track record with having his flights hijacked...
Anyone have stats on pilots involved in multiple hijackings? 3 in a career seems unreal and doesn't appear to be something tracked based on light searching
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
>> Captain Leul Abate (42), an experienced pilot with over 11,500 total flight hours (including 4,067 hours in the Boeing 757/767), was the pilot-in-command. [...] Prior to the crash, Leul had experienced two previous hijackings. The first occurred 12 April 1992 on Flight ETH574, a Boeing 727-260. [...] The second occurred on 17 March 1995, flying a Boeing 737-260. [...] In both cases, the aircraft were undamaged and no one was injured or killed. [...] Leul and Yonas both survived. [...] Both the captain and first officer of the flight received aviation awards, and both continued to fly for Ethiopian Airlines
(flight 961: 125 died, many by drowning from inflating life-vest too early)
I either want Captain Leul Abate to be my pilot -- in-case of a highjacking -- or don't want him to be given his track record with having his flights hijacked...
Anyone have stats on pilots involved in multiple hijackings? 3 in a career seems unreal and doesn't appear to be something tracked based on light searching
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethiopian_Airlines_Flight_961
We are happy watching any Tarantino movie. He just loves those kind of folks.
> For the approximately two hour flight to Nairobi, the crew had uplifted only about three and a half hours of fuel, which would not get them even half way to Australia. Leul attempted to explain that they would have to stop for more fuel before he could comply with the hijackers’ request, perhaps in Mombasa, Kenya, but to his surprise, they refused to believe him. Instead, one of the hijackers retrieved a copy of the Ethiopian Airlines in-flight magazine “Selamta,” which contained specifications for the company’s Boeing 767s, and pointed out that according to the publication, the 767–200ER could stay in the air for up to 11 hours. Leul spent a considerable amount of time trying to explain that the 11-hour figure is only achievable with a full fuel load, and he attempted to demonstrate using the fuel quantity indicating system, with a comparison between their actual fuel load and what an 11-hour fuel load ought to look like. And yet, despite his conscientious and respectful efforts, the hijackers remained convinced that he was bluffing — that his proposal to stop for fuel in Mombasa was in fact a trap to hand them over to the authorities. If he didn’t fly directly to Australia, they insisted, they would blow up the plane and everyone in it.