Aeroflot 737 Hijacking Attempt
Last week, on January 22nd, a flight on an Aeroflot Boeing 737 heading to Moscow from Surgut, Siberia experienced an attempted hijacking. This threat came from a passenger who was later identified as 41 year old Pavel Shapovalov. While in flight, Shapovalov, claiming that he was carrying weapons, ordered the Captain and First Officer of the flight to divert from their original destination, Moscow, and land in Afghanistan. Although the flight was in danger, the flight crew used spectacular communication skills in order to keep the passengers and themselves safe from any further threats and/or harm. The crew spoke to the attacker and persuaded him into believing that the flight had to first land in order to refuel before making the requested trip to Afghanistan. The plane safely landed in the Russian City of Khanty-Mansiysk, where the airport’s ground crews towed the plane to a specific and secluded area of the airfield. Waiting there for the flight to arrive was the airport’s special anti-terrorism forces who immediately arrested the would-be hijacker. Because of the effective communication between the cockpit, flight crew and ground crew, this potentially unfortunate and dangerous situation was eradicated before any harm took place. According to the Russian Airline, their employees have been going through extensive precautionary training in order to effectively respond to potentially harmful situations that may arise, such as this. Because of this event, the company has implemented additional security checks on all aircraft before departure. This current event goes to show just how crucial good communication skills are as well as Crew Resource Management, as if this was not implemented, the passengers and crew of this flight may not have been so lucky.
Source: https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/air-transport/2019-01-22/aeroflot-737-lands-safely-after-hijacking-attempt