Ansett Australia Flight 232

1972 aircraft hijacking

Ansett Australia Flight 232
Hijacking
Fokker F-27 Friendship of Ansett Airlines in 1970
Date	15 November 1972
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Alice Springs Airport, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia 23°48′08.43″S 133°54′02.92″E / 23.8023417°S 133.9008111°E / -23.8023417; 133.9008111
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Fokker Friendship
Operator	Ansett Australia
Registration	VH-FNI
Flight origin	Adelaide Airport, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Destination	Alice Springs Airport, Alice Springs, Northern Territory, Australia
Occupants	32
Passengers	28
Crew	4
Fatalities	1
Injuries	1
Survivors	31

Ansett Australia Flight 232, on Wednesday, 15 November 1972, was a flight from Adelaide, South Australia aboard a Fokker Friendship bound for Alice Springs, Northern Territory. It was Australia's second aircraft hijacking (after the first in 1960), and resulted in the perpetrator's death by suicide.

In-flight hijack attempt

A male passenger, subsequently identified as Miloslav Hrabinec, a Czech migrant, had boarded the flight in Adelaide with a concealed sawn-off .22 ArmaLite rifle and a sheath knife strapped to his leg. About a half-hour before the scheduled landing time, as the flight was making its descent into Alice Springs Airport, he emerged from the lavatory, produced the gun, and said to a flight attendant named Gai Rennie "This is a hijack".

Gai walked through the cabin followed by the hijacker. She then explained to flight attendant Kaye Goreham that the man behind her had a gun. All three then moved to the front of the aircraft. Gai then advised Captain Young & first Officer Walter Gowans that there was a man wanting to talk & he had a gun & said it was a hijack. However, Captain said he was in landing mode & would talk to him on the ground. Captain asked Gai 'What does he want'. Gai replied that she didn't know. Hrabinec was informed by the crew that he needed to be seated for landing and he complied.

Negotiations with police

After the plane landed police commenced negotiations with the hijacker. According to Goreham's account, Hrabinec stated his motive was not financial (he asked for no money) but that he wanted to commit suicide in a spectacular way by parachuting into a remote location and surviving for as long as he could before killing himself. To this end, he demanded a light aircraft, a parachute, and a jumpsuit.

Attempt to escape in a light aircraft

A civilian pilot and flying instructor, the local Aero Club manager Ossie Watts, volunteered himself and his Cessna aircraft. An undercover police constable Paul Sandeman, posing as Watts' navigator, was also on board the Cessna. According to Kaye Goreham, Hrabinec became suspicious upon seeing Sandeman and requested Goreham search Sandeman for weapons. Goreham did so but did not inform the hijacker when she felt a small firearm Sandeman had hidden. Goreham states that the policeman "went for his gun" and the hijacker shot Sandeman in the hand and stomach. Sandeman was also shot in the right shoulder and left arm. The hijacker ran off and Watts, who had been shown how to use a gun minutes earlier, began shooting. Police marksmen also opened fire and Hrabinec was wounded. Hrabinec then retreated to a ditch where he fatally shot himself.

Outcome

Constable Sandeman was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery.

Hrabinec was not identified as the hijacker until May 1973.

Notes

^ Laurie, Victoria (11 August 2011). "Time Capsule: Hijack in Alice Springs". The Australian. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
"Police shoot hijacker". The Age. 16 November 1972. p. 1. Retrieved 27 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
Lollback, Rebecca (31 July 2007). "Nightmare of skies unfolds". The Centralian Advocate. p. 26. Retrieved 27 April 2021 – via Territory Stories.
Dillon, Meagan (19 December 2010). "Mystery hijacker shot hero". Sunday Territorian. p. 46. Retrieved 27 April 2021 – via Territory Stories.
"Policeman identifies Czech as hijacker". The Sydney Morning Herald. 1 May 1973. p. 2. Retrieved 27 April 2021 – via Newspapers.com.

References

"Time Capsule: Hijack in Alice Springs". The Australian. Archived from the original on 11 August 2011. Retrieved 25 December 2007.
Hijacking description at the Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved on 2006-09-16.

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 (1972)
Jan 7 Iberia Flight 602Jan 21 Turkish Airlines DC-9 crashJan 26 JAT Yugoslav Flight 367Feb 22 Lufthansa Flight 649Mar 3 Mohawk Airlines Flight 405Mar 14 Sterling Airways Flight 296Mar 19 EgyptAir Flight 763Apr 18 East African Airways Flight 720May 4 Aeroflot Flight B-608May 5 Alitalia Flight 112May 8 Sabena Flight 571May 16 Svetlogorsk An-24 crashMay 18 Aeroflot Flight 1491May 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570Jun 12 American Airlines Flight 96Jun 14 Japan Air Lines Flight 471Jun 15 Cathay Pacific Flight 700ZJun 18 British European Airways Flight 548Jun 24 Prinair Flight 191Jun 29 Lake Winnebago mid-air collisionJul 2 Pan Am Flight 841Jul 5 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710Jul 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 841Aug 14 Königs Wusterhausen disasterAug 16 Burma Airways Thandwe crashAug 31 Aeroflot Flight 558Sep 15 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130Sep 24 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Sep 24 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accidentOct 1 Aeroflot Flight 1036Oct 13 Aeroflot Flight 217Oct 13 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571Oct 27 Air Inter Flight 696YOct 29 Lufthansa Flight 615Oct 30 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 327Nov 10 Southern Airways Flight 49Nov 15 Ansett Australia Flight 232Nov 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 446Dec 3 Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crashDec 8 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708Dec 8 United Air Lines Flight 553Dec 8 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 631Dec 20 Chicago–O'Hare runway collisionDec 23 Braathens Flight 239Dec 29 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401Dec 31 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash
1971 ◄ ► 1973

Aviation accidents and incidents in 1972 (1972)

Jan 7 Iberia Flight 602Jan 21 Turkish Airlines DC-9 crashJan 26 JAT Yugoslav Flight 367Feb 22 Lufthansa Flight 649Mar 3 Mohawk Airlines Flight 405Mar 14 Sterling Airways Flight 296Mar 19 EgyptAir Flight 763Apr 18 East African Airways Flight 720May 4 Aeroflot Flight B-608May 5 Alitalia Flight 112May 8 Sabena Flight 571May 16 Svetlogorsk An-24 crashMay 18 Aeroflot Flight 1491May 30 Delta Air Lines Flight 9570Jun 12 American Airlines Flight 96Jun 14 Japan Air Lines Flight 471Jun 15 Cathay Pacific Flight 700ZJun 18 British European Airways Flight 548Jun 24 Prinair Flight 191Jun 29 Lake Winnebago mid-air collisionJul 2 Pan Am Flight 841Jul 5 Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710Jul 31 Delta Air Lines Flight 841Aug 14 Königs Wusterhausen disasterAug 16 Burma Airways Thandwe crashAug 31 Aeroflot Flight 558Sep 15 Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 130Sep 24 Japan Air Lines Flight 472Sep 24 Sacramento Canadair Sabre accidentOct 1 Aeroflot Flight 1036Oct 13 Aeroflot Flight 217Oct 13 Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571Oct 27 Air Inter Flight 696YOct 29 Lufthansa Flight 615Oct 30 Aero Trasporti Italiani Flight 327Nov 10 Southern Airways Flight 49Nov 15 Ansett Australia Flight 232Nov 28 Japan Air Lines Flight 446Dec 3 Tenerife Spantax Convair CV-990 crashDec 8 Ethiopian Airlines Flight 708Dec 8 United Air Lines Flight 553Dec 8 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 631Dec 20 Chicago–O'Hare runway collisionDec 23 Braathens Flight 239Dec 29 Eastern Air Lines Flight 401Dec 31 Puerto Rico DC-7 crash

1971 ◄ ► 1973

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Australia
1930s	Avro Ten Southern Cloud disappearance (March 1931) Kimberley rescue (May–July 1932) Airlines of Australia Stinson crash (February 1937) Kyeema crash (October 1938)
1940s	Canberra air disaster (August 1940) Brocklesby mid-air collision (September 1940) KNILM Douglas DC-3 shootdown (March 1942) Little Eva (December 1942) Bakers Creek air crash (June 1943) Rewan air crash (November 1943) Canal Creek air crash (December 1943) Australian National Airways Stinson crash (January 1945) Australian National Airways DC-3 crash (March 1946) Australian National Airways DC-3 crash (September 1948) Queensland Airlines Lockheed Lodestar crash (March 1949) MacRobertson Miller Aviation DC-3 crash (July 1949)
1950s	Australian National Airways Douglas DC-4 crash (June 1950) Maroochy air crash (December 1950)
1960s	Trans Australia Airlines Flight 538 (June 1960) Trans Australia Airlines Flight 408 (July 1960) Ansett-ANA Flight 325 (November 1961) Ansett-ANA Flight 149 (September 1966) MacRobertson Miller Airlines Flight 1750 (December 1968)
1970s	Ansett Australia Flight 232 (November 1972) Connellan air disaster (January 1977) Disappearance of Frederick Valentich (October 1978) Cessna 188 Pacific rescue (December 1978)*
1980s	Advance Airlines Flight 4210 (February 1980) Barrington Tops Cessna 210 disappearance (August 1981) Alice Springs hot air balloon crash (August 1989)
1990s	RAAF Boeing 707 crash (October 1991) South Pacific Airmotive DC-3 crash (April 1994)
2000s	Whyalla Airlines Flight 904 (May 2000) Australia Beechcraft King Air crash (September 2000) QantasLink Flight 1737 (May 2003) Lockhart River air disaster (May 2005) Qantas Flight 72 (October 2008) Emirates Flight 407 (March 2009) Pel-Air Westwind ditching (November 2009)*
2010s	Queensland DH.84 crash (October 2012) Essendon Airport Beechcraft King Air crash (February 2017) Sydney Seaplanes DHC-2 crash (December 2017)
2020s	Coulson Aviation Lockheed C-130 crash (January 2020) Gold Coast mid-air collision (January 2023) Coulson Aviation Boeing 737 crash (February 2023)
An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in an External territory of Australia.

Categories:

Misplaced Pages