Thursday, May 29, 2003 was a day like another for the crew of Qantas Link (operated by Impulse Airlines) flight QF1737. The afternoon service, flown by a Boeing 717 (VH-NXN), was on account of depart Melbourne (MEL) for the quick hop throughout the Tasmanian Sea to Launceston (LST).
The passenger load was mild, with simply 47 checked in. Looking after them have been Cabin Manager Greg Khan and Flight Attendant Denise Hickson. Captain Corey Purves was joined by First Officer John Morgan on the flight deck.
One of the passengers was a 40-year-old British man, David Mark Robinson.
Boarding went as deliberate, and the aircraft pushed again from the gate forward of schedule. After the compulsory security demo, the passengers settled in for the flight and the crew strapped themselves in for departure. At 14:50 native time, the aircraft took off.
A short time after takeoff, the crew had been launched to begin their duties. Khan and Hickson have been within the ahead galley getting ready for the inflight service.
The Attack
Robinson was seated in row 7. As quickly because the seatbelt signal had been switched off, he stood up. Hickson noticed this and initially thought nothing of it. We’re all used to passengers standing up when they need! But Robinson appeared agitated and started to make his means up the aisle in direction of the entrance.
What nobody knew was that Robinson was armed with two 15cm sharpened wood stakes hidden in his jacket pocket.
Hickson sensed one thing wasn’t proper and tried to intercept him. She was instantly attacked. Robinson then lunged for Khan.
He later advised Australian media that he believed that the passenger was merely making his strategy to the bathroom. Then he observed his ‘vast, staring eyes.’
“I believed he was simply somebody who freaked and needed to get off the flight. As he acquired, like, two steps away from me, each arms got here up and he kind of had me in like a bear hug and was simply stabbing the again of my head with, what I noticed, it appeared like a kind of wood doorstep issues. At that stage, I simply thought, effectively, ‘you’re not getting in there to the flight deck.”
Despite receiving a number of stab wounds, which have been now pouring with blood, Khan pressured his head into his assailant’s chest and drove him down the aisle to row six. All the whereas, Robinson “Kept up his frenzy of stabbing the again of my head.”
“I used to be pushing him again, principally, till I might get him on the bottom and he went down. I went down on high of him. I didn’t realise I used to be bleeding ’til then. I used to be kind of numb to any ache.”
Pinned Down
Witnessing what was taking place, a number of passengers jumped to the stricken crew member’s help. Domenic Bordin, Keith Charlton, Gregory Martin and Garry Stewart jumped from their seats and helped pin him down between two seats whereas the badly bleeding Hickson grabbed some plastic ties to retrain him.
According to passengers, the entire frenzied assault lasted lower than a minute. “The steward had plenty of blood on the again of his neck; he was good, superb, very courageous,” stated Joe Da Costa.
Derek Finlay, who additionally helped subdue Robinson, later advised the press: “All I bear in mind is the aircraft lifting off, me studying my journal, then abruptly a woman screaming, Greg working by me after which I used to be on high of him and issues have been going loopy.”
‘We Thought A Service Trolley Had Come Loose’
In the flight deck, the pilots initially thought {that a} trolley had come unfastened and struck the cockpit door.
Speaking after the incident, Captain Purves defined:
“Approaching 8,000 toes, there was a bump towards the cockpit door, not a really vital one however there was one, and infrequently that may occur within the regular course of occasions as a result of it’s a really small galley space. John and myself did subsequently hear some secondary bumps and commotion down the aisle, however in fact we have been to not know what was happening on the time. We thought perhaps initially a service trolley had come unfastened. Within 40 seconds of the preliminary bump, we acquired a name via to the cockpit and we have been then made conscious that there was a safety menace towards the security of the plane.”
Indeed, it was later revealed that earlier than they knew concerning the safety menace, the screams that they had heard led them to declare a ‘Pan-Pan’ name to air site visitors management. The investigation additionally uncovered that one of many crew members had used a global code for hijacking by way of the interphone to the flight deck. The crew members believed that they had obtained a reply. But the flight crew by no means heard the message and came upon a lot later that there had been an tried hijacking and the crew had been injured.
Once the pilots knew what was taking place within the cabin, they instantly initiated a return to Melbourne. The jet touched down safely, and the Australian Federal Police arrested Robinson.
Hospital Stay
The injured Cabin Crew would spend the evening on the Royal Melbourne Hospital. Paramedics additionally handled two passengers on the scene for minor accidents.
Khan would require 16 stitches. He went on to say: “I didn’t have time to really feel afraid. He simply got here at me and I simply kind of determined it wasn’t going to occur. We have been well-trained on learn how to do this stuff, however adrenaline and intuition kicked in as effectively.”
Just 5 weeks later, each crew members had returned to the air, nonetheless bearing the bodily scars of their assault however hiding any emotional scars they could have had.
Speaking to the press, Hickson stated she was relieved and joyful to be again within the air, simply to ‘have some kind of routine’.
Khan stated: “If anyone needs to come back to the entrance bathroom, I’ll simply be watching them like a hawk.”
Later, he and 4 passengers who assisted in overcoming the would-be hijacker obtained the Bravery Medal from Victorian Governor John Landy throughout a ceremony at Government House in Melbourne.
Speaking on the ceremony, an emotional Khan stated: “I acquired him to the bottom, and he was nonetheless stabbing my head and I used to be on high of him, and after I acquired to there I believed `What am I going to do now?”
Mr Khan would additionally obtain the inaugural International Air Transport Association International Aviation Security Award for Excellence in Athens in November 2011.
Trial
After Robinson had been arrested, police searched him. He was discovered to have a number of aerosols and a cigarette lighter in his hand baggage which he deliberate to make use of as flame throwers.
Terrifyingly, it was additionally revealed that Robinson had tried to hijack an plane in January of the identical yr. He advised police that whereas travelling on a Hobart (HBA) to Melbourne (MEL) flight, he had tried to open the door to the cockpit, nevertheless it had been locked.
Mr Robinson stated he had been questioned by a Flight Attendant who advised him to sit down down, and crew members had then saved a watch on him for the remainder of the flight.
Robinson later appeared at Melbourne Magistrates’ Court charged with making an attempt to hijack a aircraft – which carries a most time period of life imprisonment – and tried homicide and grievous bodily hurt. However, the Victorian Supreme Court jury discovered Robinson not responsible on the grounds of madness.
During the trial, he revealed that he had meant to take management of the aircraft and crash it into the Walls Of Jerusalem National Park. This, Robinson believed, would ‘launch the Devil from his lair and produce about Armageddon.’
He was ordered to endure psychiatric testing and located to be severely paranoid schizophrenic. The choose ordered his indefinite retention inside the Victorian psychological well being system.
Aftermath
The incident led to a evaluation of a lot of Australian aviation safety measures. This included the strengthening of flight deck doorways on Qantas’s 717 fleet.
Airport safety employees stepped up searches of baggage, passengers and crew. New laws banning passengers from carrying sharp objects of their hand baggage.
Like earlier security, medical and safety incidents earlier than it, Qantas utilised the occasion in its coaching for brand new entrant and recurrent crew members. Both Khan and Hickson have been interviewed at size for the video. They mentioned the horrific bloodstains everywhere in the plane on account of their accidents. They additionally revealed that one passenger complained that the aircraft was heading again to Melbourne regardless of the tried hijacking.
In the early days of flying, hijackings similar to TWA flight 847 or the bombing of Pan Am flight 103 over Lockerbie have been a typical prevalence. And in fact nobody can neglect the horrific occasions of 9/11. Thankfully, in the present day, on account of massively elevated safety measures, occasions like this are uncommon and due to this fact is little mentioned throughout coaching. But occasions similar to QF1737 are a stark reminder of why the crew are on board an plane and exhibits each Greg Khan’s and Denis Hickson’s INCREDIBLE bravery in such terrifying circumstances.
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