CAA: GA News, "Man Tries to Hijack N.M. Plane, FBI Says"

["Stephen Irwin" <stepheni@xxxxxxxxx>]

Saturday, October 6, 2001

Man Tries to Hijack N.M. Plane, FBI Says


DEMING, N.M. (AP) -- Authorities were searching Saturday for a man who held
a knife to the neck of a pilot and attempted to hijack a medical transport
plane before fleeing a tiny airport in southern New Mexico.

FBI supervisory agent Doug Beldon said Friday night's incident appeared to
be isolated and unrelated to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the Pentagon
and World Trade Center. No arrests have been made.

The University of New Mexico Hospital plane arrived at the Deming Municipal
Airport around 9:45 p.m. to transport Mimbres Memorial Hospital. Paramedics
had gone to get the baby and the pilot stayed behind.

A man entered the back door of the plane and put a knife to the neck of the
pilot and said, ``Let's fly,'' Beldon said.

``It was very dark,'' he said. ``The pilot certainly felt the knife to her
neck.''

The man was carrying a knife and a radio or police scanner. He was also
wearing dark clothes that included a black hood with the eyes cut out.

The pilot started the King Air twin turbo-prop plane and headed down the
runway when the back door opened and made a loud crashing noise. The pilot
veered off the runway, Beldon said.

``Just after she veered off the runway, he struck her in the head three
times with the radio device,'' he said. He said the man periodically
repeated a word that sounded like ``salama.'' Beldon could not identify the
language of the word or give the exact spelling.

``He did speak with a foreign accent,'' which did not seem to be Spanish,
Beldon said.

The pilot was taken to a Deming hospital, where was treated and released
Saturday morning. The FBI and officials with Seven Bar Flying Service would
not release the name of the pilot.

UNM hospital spokesman Sam Giammo said another plane was immediately
dispatched to transport the child to Albuquerque, 200 miles north of Deming.

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