Smoker Causes Fire In EL AL Boeing 777 Lavatory

Clearly a very dangerous situation (Air Canada 797 immediately came to mind). How El Al dealt with it was interesting. The aircraft checked out o.k. after the F/A's delt with the lavatory fire. The airline has a plethora of identification information on passengers these days, especially on international flights. The flight crew (with probable company consultation) made a professional decision to continue on to the scheduled destination and deal with the lavatory smoker at a later date (Israeli citizen? If so, they know where to find him). Any diversion, especially on an international flight, is always a can of worms. Further, a diversion can most likely dominoe into the next day due to crew rotation and passenger connections. Kudos are in order for the crew of a Hawaiian Airlines DC-8-62 Combi I was on many years ago. It was a HNL-GUM flight with two flight attendants on board. This was just before smoking was banned from U.S. domestic flights. We took off late afternoon and headed west toward GUM. It was not a full flight. Due to the light load the all-coach cabin provided each passenger with their own row. Most folks retracted their arm rests and laid down on their three coach seats. I did the same. At the time my head was toward the aisle. As mentioned previously this was in the "smoking days." There was an older woman in the opposite aisle seat one row in front of me. She had severely thinning hair that was dyed an unnatural red color and was "ratted" and arranged in a beehive fashion. Her bouffant was so thin you could see right through it. She opens her purse and takes out a cigarette (I remember it was a Virgina Slims 100). She takes out a lighter to light her smoke and the flame flashes upward about a foot and a half. Her hair catches on fire. Poof! It was gone in a second. The oxidation level was high due to all the air available between her thinned out strands, further fueled by all the hair spray necessary for her Bride of Frankenstein doo to defy gravity. There was a guy laying down behind her in his three seats that had a blanket over him. Mind you, the cabin was getting dark (this was February) and her hair flair lit up the cabin like Fourth of July. The guy behind her flies up out of his seats and throws his blanket over her head and gets her in a head lock. Needs to say, she was a wreck. Getting back to the excellent flight attendants, they both were there instantly, one with a fire extinguisher. The female F/A took the lady to the back galley for a while to check her out. The male flight attendant with the extinguisher (now unnecessary due to the quick thinking of the guy behind her) did not leave that row for about 20 minutes. This guy was on his hands and knees, looking under the seat, in between the seat cushions, in the magazine pocket on the seat in front. This inspection went on and on until the other flight attendant eventually brought the lady back to her seat and gave her a double scotch on the rocks (I remember hearing the ice cubes rattling in the cup because the lady was still shaking pretty violently). All well and good. I was very impressed with the flight attendants and their attention to a fire on board an aircraft over the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Not so impressed with the lady passenger. A half a second after returning to her seat she lit another cigarette.

A warning is laughably insufficient 'punishment'. They should be on an international no-fly list for 5 years or so. This had the potential to become a catastrophic incident, and I am amazed at El Al's relaxed attitude towards in-air safety.

They should have invoked the Leslie neilsen, Airplane punishment where the passengers line up to smack him.

Funny you should mention only part of the story. The "lady" in question appealed to Israeli courts but was ultimately extradited from Israel. You are likely quite aware of this. Attitudes like yours are just indicative of bias which causes Jews to lose confidence in getting a fair trial anyplace.

There is no clarification regarding whether the alleged smoker was Israeli at all and whether this person was Jewish, Arab or Christian, all of which could be citizens. Your reference to the Torah (old testament) is absurd and likely exhibits a biased or sick mind.