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Lufthansa's hijacked 'Landshut' plane returns to Germany


Saturday September 23, 2017

The German aircraft was hijacked by Palestinian militants in 1977 and taken to Somalia. The plane, which is a reminder of the so-called "German Autumn," will now be put on display at a museum in Friedrichshafen.



After 40 years, "Landshut" had its homecoming on Saturday. An Antonov 124 cargo plane brought the majority of the Boeing 737 aircraft in pieces from Brazil's Fortaleza International Airport to the southern German city of Friedrichshafen.

The Lufthansa airplane had been hijacked by Palestinian extremists in 1977 while flying from Mallorca to Frankfurt.

Landhut's remaining pieces are expected to arrive on Wednesday. The plane will then be reassembled and put on display at the Dornier Museum, an aviation and aerospace museum.

'Living symbol of free society'

The plane's Flight 181 was hijacked on October 13, 1977, by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, which was assumed to be working with the Red Army Faction (RAF), a far-left insurgent group in West Germany. The four hijackers sought the release of 11 imprisoned RAF members, among other things.

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The RAF, which the West German government considered to be a terrorist group, had assassinated West Germany's Attorney General Siegfried Buback earlier that year. The left-wing militants also kidnapped and murdered Industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer and Jürgen Ponto, the head of the Dresdener Bank. The series of events was later dubbed the "German Autumn.”

After being hijacked, the "Landshut," named after a city in Bavaria, was eventually taken to Somalian capital of Mogadishu on October 17, 1977. The extremists had executed the plane's captain Jürgen Schumann in Aden, a city in present-day Yemen where they had stopped for refueling.

The hijacking drama finally ended after German elite commandos killed three of the four hijackers and rescued all 86 passengers. One commando and four passengers were injured in the exchange.

Landshut returns to Germany 40 years after hijacking A long-awaited return to Germany The years haven't been kind to the Landshut, perhaps the most famous Boeing 737-200 in Germany's history. It is currently rusting away at a "cemetery" for airplanes at the Fortaleza International Airport in Brazil. But now officials want to take the plane apart, transport the pieces to Germany and restore it at the Dornier Museum, close to Lake Constance.
The RAF and the German Autumn The Landshut became famous in 1977's German Autumn: the weeks during which the country was shaken by several terrorist acts committed by the Red Army Faction and allied groups. Four militants from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine hijacked the Lufthansa plane to blackmail the German government into releasing prominent RAF members from prison.
The odyssey begins On October 13, 1977, two men and two women revealed the guns and explosives that they had brought onto a tourist flight from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, to Frankfurt. They demanded that the jet fly to Somalia instead, and they called for the release of 11 RAF prisoners - or else they'd blow up all 86 passengers and five crew. The plane's first stop was Rome, where it had to refuel.
Making it to Dubai The plane continued on its way and landed to refuel again in Cyprus and - after airports in Damascus, Baghdad and Kuwait denied permission to land - Bahrain. From there, pilot Jürgen Schumann and co-pilot Jürgen Vietor flew the Landshut to Dubai, where it arrived at about 6 a.m. on October 14. In this shot, a negotiator on the ground shows one of the hostage takers that he's unarmed.
Life-threatening information The hijackers asked the tower in Dubai to supply water, food and medicine. Captain Schumann was able to communicate the exact number of the hijackers on board to the authorities. But, when Dubai's defense minister revealed the information in an interview, the hostage takers learned about it, too, and threatened to kill Schumann.
A life lost Germany's GSG 9 anti-terror specialists went to Dubai, but practiced on a different airplane for so long that the Landshut took off before they could intervene. The next stop was Aden, in what was then South Yemen. Because the plane had to land on sandy ground, Schumann (pictured in Dubai) went out to inspect the landing gear - but took too long. Upon his return, a hijacker shot and killed him.
Dramatic end to the nightmare The last stop was Mogadishu, Somalia. The hijackers issued an ultimatum for the RAF prisoners to be released and poured the duty-free spirits over the hostages, preparing to blow up the plane, so West German officials pretended to give in. But, instead, the GSG 9 stormed the plane, shot three of the four hijackers and saved all remaining hostages, who returned to Germany on October 18. Author: Carla Bleiker


"To this day, the rescue of the 'Landshut' is a living symbol of a free society, which cannot be defeated by fear and terror," Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel said in July.

Gathering dust

The Landshut resumed services a few weeks after the hijacking. Lufthansa then sold the plane in 1985, and it ended up in the fleet of Brazilian carrier TAF Linhas Aereas.

TAF then decommissioned the plane in January 2008 and stored it in the Fortaleza airport, where it had been gathering dust until a few weeks ago.

The German Foreign Ministry bought the plane in July for about €20,000 ($23,900) from Brazilian airport operator Infraero.

ap/cmb (dpa, AFP)

 





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