Terror in the Sky: Passengers Recount Hijacking and Near-Fatal Plunge

On December 29, 2000, British Airways flight 2069, carrying 400 passengers from Gatwick to Nairobi, was plunged into chaos when a mentally unstable passenger, Kenyan national Paul Mukonyi, hijacked the aircraft. The Boeing 747, cruising at 35,000 feet above Sudan, suddenly plummeted 30,000 feet as the hijacker wrestled control from the pilots.

Ben Goldsmith, a financier and environmentalist, was onboard with his mother Lady Annabel Goldsmith, his sister Jemima Khan, and her two young sons. Recalling the harrowing experience in a new Channel 5 documentary, "Terror at 30,000 Feet," Ben described the palpable fear that gripped the passengers. He recounted hearing "grown men crying" and the deafening silence as the plane plunged.

Jemima Khan, known for her bravery and composure, took charge amidst the panic. She urged the terrified passengers to stop screaming, reminding them that she had a young child with her, and led a recitation of the Lord's Prayer. "I broke off from praying and I said to my mother, 'we are going to die now mum'," Ben shared, highlighting the chilling reality they faced.

The descent was a nightmarish experience. Oxygen masks dropped from their hatches as bags flew through the cabin, passengers without seatbelts were thrown about, and the screams of terror were deafening. "The noise of 700 people screaming their heads off in a small cylinder tube is really like nothing I have ever experienced," Ben said, emphasizing the horrifying intensity of the ordeal.

The plane's erratic movements were a testament to the struggle in the cockpit. Captain Bill Hagan, who had been napping in his cabin, was jolted awake by the plane's violent climb. He found Mukonyi in the cockpit, gripping the controls. "I had to get him off the controls, that was the only thing that was on my mind," Captain Hagan recalled, describing his desperate attempts to subdue the hijacker.

He punched Mukonyi repeatedly, attempting to pull him away from the controls, but the hijacker was relentless. When the Captain momentarily released his grip, the plane went into a terrifying dive. "The silence in that fall was deafening because everyone was trying to catch breath and trying to hold on. Just the noise of the whistling wind as the plane plunged," Ben described, highlighting the terrifying descent.

Meanwhile, Kim Parker, a cabin crew member, suffered severe injuries during the plunge. "The aircraft just flipped up, and I was on the ceiling and as I came down, it was the impact of hitting the floor that broke my legs straight away," she recalled, the traumatic experience etched vividly in her memory.

In a desperate act of bravery, Captain Hagan, motivated by the thought of his own wife and children who were also passengers, finally managed to overpower Mukonyi. "I got angry and pushed my finger into his eye as hard and as high as I could," he recounted, revealing the raw determination that fueled his actions.

With the assistance of three passengers, including Jon Keens, the hijacker was subdued and restrained in the club class cabin. The co-pilot, Phil Watson, who had been maintaining control throughout the ordeal, managed to pull the plane out of its dive, ending the two-minute crisis.

The relief onboard was palpable. Captain Hagan's calm voice reassured the passengers over the intercom, "We are ok, we have had a terrible fright, some mad guy has just tried to crash the plane and kill us all, but we are ok we are safe."

The flight eventually landed safely in Nairobi, and Mukonyi was arrested. Authorities described the 27-year-old man as a suspected mental patient.

This harrowing incident, recounted in the Channel 5 documentary "Terror at 30,000 Feet," highlights the bravery of the passengers and crew who faced unimaginable terror. It serves as a chilling reminder of the unpredictable nature of air travel and the extraordinary courage of those who face danger in the skies.