Jet Hijackers Know Details of Aviation
The hijackers of the Kuwait Airways airliner reveal in repeated radio contacts with the Larnaca airport control tower that they have detailed knowledge of the modern aviation world.
Their main spokesman, who always identifies himself on the radio as “Kuwait 422,” the plane’s flight number, has shown a deep understanding of aircraft radio procedures and vocabulary.
He clearly understands the technicalities of air conditioning, ground power supplies, catering, sewage disposal and other complex systems of a jumbo jet.
Journalists monitoring his sometimes indistinct voice heard him say, “I have been a flight engineer.”
Unlike previous hijackings in the Middle East, when gunmen have become hysterical in voicing their demands, those at Larnaca so far have largely remained calm on the radio.
Even after they killed a Kuwaiti security guard Saturday, the spokesman simply told the control tower, “Send a coffin and an ambulance.”
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