'I'm The Hijacker!' Says Ethiopian Pilot Of Commandeered Jet
Details are starting to come out about what it was like Monday when one of the pilots of an Ethiopian Airlines flight reportedly locked himself in the cockpit and flew the jet and its 193 passengers to Geneva, Switzerland, instead of Rome, its intended destination.
According to The Wall Street Journal:
"The high-altitude drama started when the chief pilot of the Boeing 767-300 left the airliner's cockpit to use the toilet, said Robert Deillon, chief executive of the Geneva airport. The hijacker then locked the cockpit door and took control of the aircraft, he said.
"The Italian military scrambled two Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jets to intercept the plane, though it said the Ethiopian Airlines plane never displayed 'hostile intent' as it flew through the country's airspace.
"French fighters picked up the aircraft when it entered French airspace, accompanying it to Geneva, where according to Fredrik Lindahl, chief executive of Flightradar24, a flight-tracking website, it circled 'extensively around Lake Geneva' before landing."