Up until the hijackings of September 11th, 2001, the hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines flight 961 was probably one of the biggest and well known hijackings of all time.  Today’s podcast delves into the background of the hijacking itself, the bad luck of inflating a life vest inside an airplane, and the good luck of crashing a plane near an island full of doctors.

As usual, you can download the podcast by clicking on this link, find it on iTunes, or listen below:

Here’s the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 961, as caught by an tourist.  This clip is part of a television program:

Sources:

• Wikipedia, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
• The New York Times (article archived elsewhere): Hijacking Survivors Recount Terror
• Webcitation.org’s archive of AirDisaster.com’s special page: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961
• FlightSafety.org: FSF Professionalism Award in Flight Safety
• CNN: Bizarre Ordeal Recounted in Ethiopian Airlines Crash (from archive.org)
• The Seattle Times: ‘I Thought I Had Finished My life’ — Tale Depicts Drunken Abductors Who Fought With Pilot — Survivors Tell Of Terror As Jetliner Tumbles Across Ocean’s Surface