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Ethiopian Airlines’ Flight 702 Squawking “7500”

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  • Ethiopian Airlines’ Flight 702 Squawking “7500”

    At 5:00pm Pacific Time, Ethiopian Flight 702, a Boeing 767-300 was flying over Sudan when it started squawking 7500. The transponder code, is supposed to indicate a “hijacking.”

    Sometimes, pilots accidentally switch to this code or equipment malfunctions. This however, does not appear to be the case. The aircraft can be tracked live via Flightradar 24.

    This is hopefully just an error, but this is certainly a deviation from normal flight.

    We have reached out to a source who is an aircraft electrical expert and they confirmed that a “7500″ code can’t come from a glitch.

    The flight, operating from Addis Abba to Rome has been confirmed by Rome Airport not to have arrived yet. It is currently circling over Geneva Airport (GVA), with a military escort. Emergency crews are standing by a GVA.



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    Don't know how accurate this is, but given what the flight tracker shows and people are saying is being heard over the ATC, something is clearly not normal.

  • #2
    Aircraft getting close to the point of fuel starvation.

    From ATC, sounds like they've already lost one engine.

    Comment


    • #3
      Given clearance to land.

      Comment


      • #4
        Safely down.

        Comment


        • #5
          Any word on why they chose GVA?

          As for now GVA is closed, I guess, pending the resolution of this whole issue.
          Whatever is necessary, is never unwise.

          Comment


          • #6
            I heard the flight was hijacked by the co-pilot while the captain was in the can.
            It says he wanted asylum in Switzerland.

            Comment


            • #7
              Ethiopian Airlines co-pilot hijacks plane to seek Geneva asylum

              More news here:

              The co-pilot of an Ethiopian Airlines plane flying from Addis Ababa to Rome hijacks the aircraft and lands in Geneva to seek asylum, police say.
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              Comment


              • #8
                Also here:
                Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation


                It seems that it was hijacked by the FO who diverted to Geneva to request asylum in Switzerland.

                I don't understand why he didn't wait to land in Rome as intended and then take the train to Switzerland and request asylum thus avoiding committing a serious offense in the process.

                --- Judge what is said by the merits of what is said, not by the credentials of who said it. ---
                --- Defend what you say with arguments, not by imposing your credentials ---

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by Gabriel View Post
                  (...)
                  I don't understand why he didn't wait to land in Rome as intended and then take the train to Switzerland and request asylum thus avoiding committing a serious offense in the process.
                  THAT is a very good question. If he had done that he might have had a chance to get asylum. I think taking his aircraft to Geneva will have ruled that out now.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Gabriel View Post
                    Also here:
                    I don't understand why he didn't wait to land in Rome as intended and then take the train to Switzerland and request asylum thus avoiding committing a serious offense in the process.
                    There is precedent:

                    Originally posted by NYTimes
                    Decades earlier, in 1953, Mira Slovak, a pilot for Czechoslovak Airlines, locked his co-pilot out of the cockpit shortly after takeoff of a flight to Brno from Prague carrying 25 passengers. Mr. Slovak changed course for Germany, where he landed the plane safely in Frankfurt and requested political asylum. Mr. Slovak, now 84, eventually made his way to the United States, where he became a celebrated speedboat racer and a pilot for Continental Airlines.
                    I wonder if this pilot was merely interested in becoming a Swiss speedboat racer.

                    Comment


                    • #11
                      Swiss police spokesman, Eric Grandjean, said. “Everybody was safe from beginning to end — no problem,” he added.
                      Certainly: single crew approach and landing at the brink of fuel starvation under severe psychological stress and probably under missle lock from some gung-ho fighter pilots...

                      Noooo problem!

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        In a country like Ethiopia an airline pilot would part of the elite of society. Not to mention that no nation has given asylum status to aircraft hijackers since, like, 1970. Invariably, hijackers face long prison sentences, no matter what the circumstances. I am suspecting mental illness as the cause, or maybe he was on anti-depressants.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Originally posted by Evan View Post
                          There is precedent:
                          You are joking, right?

                          This case yesterday had a plane flying from Ethiopia to Rome, Italy, and the person trying to escape from Ethiopia diverted the plane to Geneva, Switzerland, to request asylum. And I am wondering what was the need to divert to Geneva. Italy was out of Ethiopia already, he could have asked for asylum there, and if he still wanted to do it in Switzerland he could have taken a train or a bus from Rome to Geneva.

                          In the "precedent" that you mention, the pilot wanted to escape from Czechoslovakia and was in a flight from Prague, Czechoslovakia to Brno, Czechoslovakia. Landing in Brno and taking a train to Frankfurt would have hardly been an option for him.

                          --- Judge what is said by the merits of what is said, not by the credentials of who said it. ---
                          --- Defend what you say with arguments, not by imposing your credentials ---

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            That is a bad incident. First of all the authorities showed lots of restrain and balls by allowing a hijacked plane in the airspace over Geneva, they were lucky that the co-pilot was telling the truth.

                            But now any potential 9/11 style hijackers know that they are very likely to reach their high value targets without being shot down.

                            Comment


                            • #15
                              The future looks more and more somber for this FO. He reported 35 minutes of fuel remaining but that he would not land until he got confirmation that the asylum would be accepted. 31 minutes later (4 minutes of fuel remaining?), after some interesting negotiation and likely lying by the ATC controller, he landed.

                              So his willingness to die and kill 200 persons in the process doesn't help his legal situation, I guess.

                              Radio communication recordings of Geneva approach frequency reveal that the first officer requested asylum reporting on approach frequency with 35 minutes of fuel remaining, was offered several times to join the localizer and land at Geneva however delayed landing waiting for response by Swiss Authorities. The approach controller convinced the first officer to join a right hand holding pattern at the final approach fix on the localizer for runway 05, the controller repeatedly telling the first officer that they were trying their best to wake officials up and get a response. Finally the controller told the first officer that they had somebody on the phone and were talking to him not yet having a final response offering the aircraft could join the glideslope, the response would be provided while on short final, to which the first officer agreed. On a 7nm final the first officer requested a 360 stating he was promised a reply on short final. In the end the controller cleared the aircraft to land on runway 05, the reply would be provided on very short final. The aircraft landed about 5 minutes later without a reply, about 31 minutes after reporting on approach frequency. On request by approach control the aircraft taxied to the end of the runway and stopped, the first officer radioed he would now leave the aircraft through the window.
                              Aviation Herald - News, Incidents and Accidents in Aviation

                              --- Judge what is said by the merits of what is said, not by the credentials of who said it. ---
                              --- Defend what you say with arguments, not by imposing your credentials ---

                              Comment

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