Not wishing to go off topic, we were talking about this incident the other day and someone said that the captain who refused to leave his passengers, when the hijackers allowed some to be released, was disciplined by AF after the event for making this decision and further jeopardising the safety of his crew. Is there any truth to this?
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
Quote: Michel Bacos, the captain of the hijacked French plane, was strangely rewarded for honorably opting to stay with his Jewish and Israeli passengers. Bacos was reprimanded by his superiors at Air France and temporarily suspended from duty.
I would have thought that any captain worth his salt and concerned about the safety of his passengers should be applauded by insisting to stay with them until the very last one was released or saved. How this heroic action could be awarded by AF by suspending him from duty beggars belief.
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
FlySSC From Lebanon, joined Aug 2003, 7179 posts, RR: 65 Reply 4, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 5 days 3 hours ago) and read 5738 times:
Quoting BCAL (Reply 1): someone said that the captain refused to leave his passengers, when the hijackers allowed some to be released,
When the hijackers proposed to release the Crew and the non-jewish passengers, the Captain Michel Bacos followed by the entire Crew refused to leave the passengers.
A French nun also refused to leave but was forced out by the Ugandan soldiers.
Quoting Cumulus (Thread starter): anyone know what the reg of the Air France jet was?
Airbus A300B4-203 (msn 19) F-BVGG, flight AF139 TLV-ATH-CDG.
The aircraft was later leased to VietNam Airlines, and finally sold to S-C Aviation to be converted into a freighter.
It is still active with MNG Airlines Cargo as TC-MNA :
ItalianFlyer From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 785 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 5 days 2 hours ago) and read 5656 times:
There have been a few documentaries on this subject. Check out youtube or hulu on it. Plus IIRC there was a cheesy made for TV movie when I was a kid about the raid.
PanAm747 From United States of America, joined Feb 2004, 4242 posts, RR: 11 Reply 7, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 5571 times:
There were actually two TV movies made on this subject, one with Yaphet Kotto as Idi(ot) Amin, and the other with Julius Harris as the Ugandan dictator:
Credit in the entire affair must go to the Kenyans who allowed the Israelis to not only overfly their nation but refuel there as well. It would have logistically almost impossible to do what was done without their cooperation, and Kenya could have suffered an enormous backlash from the Muslim world for their role. Fortunately, they did not.
Another note of irony: Idi Amin actually played a crucial role in the rescue of the hostages, thanks to his enormous ego: he personally negotiated an extension of the deadline - not out of concern for his "guests", but because he wanted to attend a meeting of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) in Mauritius, of which he was the President. Without realizing it, he inadvertently gave the Israelis more time in which to plan Operation Thunderbolt.
On a side note: Is there a list anywhere of the number of hijackings, bombings, and terrorist incidents at the old Athens airport? Security today is MUCH more strict, I'm sure, but when one considers the number of extreme incidents that have involved Athens in the 1970's and 1980's - this hijacking, TWA 847, the EgyptAir hijacking (ATH-CAI), and the TWA bombing in 1974 - it just seems as though this would have had airlines up in arms over security!!
Pan Am:The World's Most Experienced Airline - P(oor) S(ailor's) A(irline): San Diego's Hometown Airline-Catch Our Smile!
Pihero From France, joined Jan 2005, 2888 posts, RR: 69 Reply 8, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 5 days 1 hour ago) and read 5533 times:
Quoting BCAL (Reply 1): someone said that the captain who refused to leave his passengers, when the hijackers allowed some to be released, was disciplined by AF after the event for making this decision and further jeopardising the safety of his crew.
Quoting BCAL (Reply 3): Michel Bacos, the captain of the hijacked French plane, was strangely rewarded for honorably opting to stay with his Jewish and Israeli passengers. Bacos was reprimanded by his superiors at Air France and temporarily suspended from duty.
Quoting BCAL (Reply 3): How this heroic action could be awarded by AF by suspending him from duty beggars belief.
Typical journalism from some countries and typical responses from some sides.
Bacos was not reprimanded and neither was anyone on his crew.
That he was suspended for a while is true but for medical reasons as the stress of responsibility and the length of the event wore him out.
BCAL From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2004, 3384 posts, RR: 23 Reply 10, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 5 days ago) and read 5472 times:
Quoting Pihero (Reply 8): Typical journalism from some countries and typical responses from some sides
Don't shoot the messenger. As I said this snippet of info was raised during a discussion and earlier in the thread someone gave the newspaper link. Glad to hear that the captain was not reprimanded. It would beggar belief had he been.
Quoting PanAm747 (Reply 7): There were actually two TV movies made on this subject, one with Yaphet Kotto as Idi(ot) Amin, and the other with Julius Harris as the Ugandan dictator:
Hollywood announced three movies were to be made shortly after the event. There was a rush by the studios to get the first film out which turned out to be Victory at Entebbe starring Richard Dreyfus and Julius Harris.
The film was appalling. Think Richard Dreyfuss took on the whole of the Ugandan forces with nothing other than a rope, or something very similar. As a result the public stayed away and plans for a cinema release of the next one, Raid on Entebbe, were shelved so it went straight to TV. The third film was abandoned. Strangely Raid on Entebbe turned out to be a superior film, and even got a cinema release outside US.
The incident was also part of the fairly recent cinema release The Last King of Scotland with Forest Whittaker playing Idi Amin.
MOL on SRB's latest attack at BA: "It's like a little Chihuahua barking at a dying Labrador. Nobody cares."
GDB From United Kingdom, joined May 2001, 12235 posts, RR: 84 Reply 13, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 18 hours ago) and read 4862 times:
Quoting Cumulus (Reply 12): And as per my original post, did Amin eat people?!
Doubtful, he just had them tortured and murdered in large numbers, including one of his wives.
Also, pax Dora Bloch, an elderly woman, who was hospitalized before the rescue, was murdered on the orders of Amin, in spite, after the rescue
That film the thread starter cited, was the best of the bunch.
It also did show, contrary to popular opinion, that the Israeli government did consider giving in to the terrorist demands, under pressure from the relatives of the hostages.
A turning point in the history of hijacking, followed the next year by the German GSG-9 ending the hijacking at Mogadishu.
This was an attempt to spring the remaining incarcerated Baader-Meinhof terrorists from jail.
Oddly, I don't recall any movies about that one, in that case, the terrorists murdered the LH Capt.
DUALRATED From United States of America, joined May 2008, 1001 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (3 years 1 month 3 weeks 3 days 17 hours ago) and read 4794 times:
Sponsor Message: 
From United Kingdom, joined Aug 2006, 1402 posts, 
From Germany, joined Mar 2008, 31 posts, 
From Lebanon, joined Aug 2003, 7179 posts, 
From United States of America, joined Nov 2007, 785 posts, 
From France, joined Jan 2005, 2888 posts, 
Printer friendly format 
