We Now Know 'Why'... But 'How' Is An Altogether Different Matter

The lone man who hijacked a Turkish Airlines flight Tuesday was unarmed... and threatened to blow up the plane unless the pilot diverted to Italy.

That's the latest word from Italian officials, who confirmed Wednesday 27-year-old Hakan Ekinci acted alone in his plot to gain the attention of Pope Benedict XVI. Earlier reports had speculated a second hijacker was involved, and Ekinci claimed he had accomplices onboard when he stormed the cockpit shortly after the flight took off from Tirana, Albania bound for Istanbul.

"While the chief stewardess entered the cockpit to ask if we needed anything, the terrorist entered by force. I tried to push him out but he was a big man and I failed to stop him," Turkish Airlines captain Mursel Gokalp told reporters in Istanbul. "He said his only aim was to give a message to the Pope and then he would submit himself to the police."

"He said that if he failed to deliver his message his three friends at the back of the plane would detonate the plastic bombs they had," Gokalp added, according to Reuters.

As Aero-News reported, all 113 persons onboard the Boeing 737-400 were unharmed in the hijacking... which ended when Ekinci surrendered shortly after the plane landed at Brindisi Airport in southern Italy.

Officials also stated Ekinci, a Christian, wrote to the Pope several months ago, asking for help to avoid serving in a "Muslim army."

Now that officials have learned more about "why" Ekinci hijacked the plane... now comes the ever-important question of "how" the man was able to pull it off. Here's where a strange story gets even stranger.

An airport video released to Reuters shows Ekinci going through repeated security checks at the Tirana airport, where security is run by a German-US firm. Ekinci eventually removed his belt, sweater, and the contents of his pockets before he was finally allowed to board the flight to Istanbul.

Ekinci was flying to Istanbul after Albanian officials refused his request for asylum in that country, where he fled to in May following his apparent desertion from the Turkish army.

When he entered the cockpit, Ekinci noticed the plane's pilot had entered inflight emergency code 7700 into the transponder -- and told the pilot to switch it to the hijacking code, 7500.

"The pilot said he knew procedures and the meaning of codes and said he learnt it all on the Internet," Italy's Interior Minister Giuliano Amato told a Senate hearing on the incident. "I don't know how many of you would have known how to do that, I certainly wouldn't have."

Passengers onboard the flight say the pilot announced the diversion to Brindisi about 20 minutes into the flight, claiming a technical issue was responsible. No one on the plane suspected a thing... until police surrounded the plane after it landed.

As he surrendered, Ekinci reportedly apologized to the captain, shook his hand... and bid passengers onboard the plane "good night."

Ekinci is now seeking asylum in Italy... where officials are more concerned with the potential safety implications of the hijacking, in lieu of Pope Benedict's planned trip to Turkey next month. For now, that trip is still on... although Amato said the incident exposed the "fragility" of security.

Given that one lone man was able to hijack a commercial aircraft, five years after the events of 9/11... that may be a profound understatement.

FMI: www.thy.com