The Strange Fate of Flight 2069

The strange fate of Flight 2069

Months before 9/11 a passenger seized control of a Boeing 747 and nearly crashed it into the Sahara. Everyone survived but no one quite recovered. How do you measure the cost of a disaster that didn't happen?.

The Strange Fate of Flight 2069

For the The New Statesman, Kate Mossman tells the story and aftermath of British Airways flight 2069, a near-disaster in that took place over Christmas, 2000. Scant months before 9/11, a student experiencing mental illness stormed the cockpit of the 747 on its way to Nairobi with 400 passengers aboard. His aim? To take down the jet in an apparent suicide attempt. Bill Hagan felt his head push beyond the pillow and into the headboard. As he came…