It seems like flight diversions due to unruly passengers are most common in the United States. However, a misbehaving passenger on a Malaysia Airlines flight caused a diversion, plus a major security scare at Sydney Airport.
In this post:
Malaysia Airlines A330 returns to Sydney
This incident happened on Monday, August 14, 2023, and involves Malaysia Airlines flight MH122 from Sydney (SYD) to Kuala Lumpur (KUL). The flight was operated by a 10-year-old Airbus A330-300 with the registration code 9M-MTK.
The flight was scheduled to depart at 1:05PM local time, and ended up taking off from Sydney Airport at 1:40PM. The flight climbed all the way up to 36,000 feet. However, about 70 minutes after takeoff, the decision was made to return to Sydney. The plane landed there at 3:47PM, just over two hours after it had taken off.
This incident caused a major security scare, which the Australian Federal Police described as “emergency incident.” So far, this has caused 32 domestic flights to be canceled, with delays of up to 90 minutes on other flights.
What caused this Sydney Airport security incident?
What would send Sydney Airport into such a frenzy? Based on what we know so far, it would appear that the guy at the center of this was a man who started yelling “my name is Mohammed, slave of Allah.” He just kept repeating that, and then also asked other passengers “are you a slave of Allah?” He insisted that they “say it,” and wouldn’t stop until they did.
While the suggestion is that he took the plane “hostage,” I haven’t seen any reports suggesting that he was doing that in a literal sense. Rather he was taking the plane hostage in terms of causing the aircraft to be turned around, and inconveniencing everyone onboard.
Oddly it would appear that even when the plane returned to Sydney Airport, police didn’t immediately board the plane, but rather the aircraft was taxied to a remote part of the airport, and surrounded by fire trucks for an extended period of time.
The crew reportedly did a great job separating him from other passengers, and keeping him occupied.
Once things calmed down, passengers were forced to deplane, and at that point the man was arrested on the plane. Given that passengers were deplaning in the dark, that suggests that people were onboard for at least a couple of additional hours.
Obviously this guy doesn’t represent most Muslims, but rather he’s just someone suffering from some sort of other issues (after all, Malaysia is a majority Muslim country, and this is the first such incident I recall seeing).
I can totally understand how this guy becoming consistently uncooperative necessitated a diversion. After all, you can see the flight attendant trying to deescalate the situation. However, I haven’t seen any reports that this guy was actually threatening passengers, claiming he had a weapon, etc. Yet from a security perspective, this seemed to almost be treated like a hijacking, or something.
Bottom line
A Malaysia Airlines Airbus A330 caused a major security scare today at Sydney Airport, as a passenger became unruly shortly after takeoff. He repeatedly claimed to be a “slave of Allah,” and insisted that others also proclaim they were the same.
By all accounts, the crew did a great job handling this. The jury is still out on how the airport handled this, in terms of the operational disruptions caused this. Dozens of flights were canceled and it sounds like passengers were kept on the plane for hours, rather than police coming on right away. It sounds like this was treated more like a terrorist incident than just a stubborn person with mental issues.
What do you make of this Malaysia Airlines incident at Sydney Airport?
I am totally disgusted at what happened to the trapped passengers on this flight Too often lunatics are given too much time to vent their anger and frustrations at whatever they feel wronged by. As far as i am concerned this could have been another MAD MONNIS moment and look what happened there with the Police not acting STRAIGHT AWAY.. The A F P need m ore experience I now believe due to the fact...
I am totally disgusted at what happened to the trapped passengers on this flight Too often lunatics are given too much time to vent their anger and frustrations at whatever they feel wronged by. As far as i am concerned this could have been another MAD MONNIS moment and look what happened there with the Police not acting STRAIGHT AWAY.. The A F P need m ore experience I now believe due to the fact they left passengers at the mercy of a disruptive angry mad MUSLIM. These passengers will always remember what happened to them on that day. Tired fatigued and hungry and Scared and NO help from those whose duty it is to be
there
Maybe HE/Friends know where the missing Malaysian Plane is at? either way,Good Luck in The crazy house.
It would be nice if you included the bit where said unruly passenger claimed to have a bomb in his backpack!!
Typical liberal, didn't want to include anything that could link Islam to Terrorism!
Typical fascist, makes stupidly ignorant remarks about what their delusions tell them "typical liberals" do...
Just another religious nut case.
That’s redundant
You really need to update this article with the facts.
The passenger claimed to have a bomb in his backpack, which is why it was parked at a remote spot in the airport & police didn't immediately enter the plane.
This is a vital part of the story that should be included, as you make it seem like the situation wasn't taken seriously by the Australian authorities.
It doesn't matter if the guy didn't have weapons or was directly threatening passengers. After 9/11, this would have seriously freaked me out. I would have been petrified.
F*ck this guy. I hope he spends years in prison.
Ive seen in EL AL sonetimes people praying and not allowing women ( oh those débil creatures) to go through them, as well as being insulted bor being naked... Obviously naked in accordance to their dead brain ... Problem is crew Will help the wrong party....
Malaysia is a multicultural nation but the reality is that foreign influences result in a high crime rate and social norms in the cities that run directly contrary to Islam.
I wouldn't be surprised if this were merely a stunt to discourage Australians from Malaysia by amplifying xenophobia.
Most of the drug traffic through Malaysia really is a consequence of western habits. I still don't understand how a mere 20 million people can use so...
Malaysia is a multicultural nation but the reality is that foreign influences result in a high crime rate and social norms in the cities that run directly contrary to Islam.
I wouldn't be surprised if this were merely a stunt to discourage Australians from Malaysia by amplifying xenophobia.
Most of the drug traffic through Malaysia really is a consequence of western habits. I still don't understand how a mere 20 million people can use so much methamphetamine. But then again this could be captagon psychosis.
"I wouldn't be surprised if this were merely a stunt to discourage Australians from Malaysia by amplifying xenophobia." Wow! You really ARE as moronic as you look!
Right on
If this had happened in the US or on a US air carrier, the passengers would have immobilized him immediately.
The pax on this flight were very fortunate that he seems to have been a nuisance, not an actual threat.
He should have been restrained. Tied to the seat / handcuffed by the crew. It’s just verbal but enough of this BS
Then he can be sued for all diversion and disruption costs and banned from MH for life
Forever grateful that our country doesn't have much of them
Malaysian Airlines flights?
Yeah because South Korea really had anything to do with MH17 huh?
And what country might that be ?
Probably just another 3rd world shithole. Plenty of them out there. Icarus, the asshole, lives in a mudshack in one of those shithole countries.
What a racist, ignorant comment to make.
Sure oOuth Korea is really a 3rd world country with wifi speeds twice as fast as yours. In fact some of the chips in whatever device you're using is made here lmao
Well-endowed men?
More like cars with loud exhausts.
I was on a BA flight from Boston to london that diverted to Shannon due to a lack of available fuel (what we were told on board). BA202 on Saturday August 12th
Hope he becomes a prison slave for life. What a tool.
What a stupid and vile comment you ignorant "Crusader".
Was he contemplating a hijack? Pretty scary knowing 9/11 is coming up
Just walk down Flatbush Avenue you can see a deranged Satmar acting in a similar way talking about the messiah.
Yeh, Satmar's are known for sending their kids to blow up planes and fly them into buildings full of people.
No. They’re known for sending their children to become Jewish bankers and causing the 2008 housing crisis.
No, that was government forcing banks to lend to unqualified individuals.
Most likely it's a case of a nut job who is not taking his meds.
Local news in AUS is suggesting he told people not to touch his bag as he had a bomb… hence the hijacking approach to it all. Second incident like this departing AUS on an MH plane (previously a flight leaving MEL had issues, approx 5+ years ago)
MEL incident in 2017 was caused by a Sri Lankan man studying in Australia, whose actions were the result of a drug-induced psychosis. He was sentenced to 12 years in prison in Australia, later reduced to 8 years on appeal because the bomb was fake.
Australian media have now reported the name of the man charged, a resident of Canberra, Australia. Although his nationality has not been disclosed, if you Google his name and "Canberra", you will (for now) come across the LinkedIn page of a man whose photo that looks like the man in the news reports. The page also has details of that man's educational and professional history in a certain country (neither Australia nor Malaysia).
Crazy that the police didn't board immediately and remove him from the plane. Passengers should've then been allowed to deplane straight away. A lot of flight disruption... QF1 - 3hours late because of it. Makes you wonder how security and the police would deal with a major incident....
er... Simon,
did you see @RIPTY's response below? This WAS a major security issue. The perpetrator claimed that he had a bomb. Better to 'take time' and assess the situation accurately, rather than just 'barn-storming' the aircraft and getting a complete surprise or a couple of unexpected corpses.
No question that the MH pilots did the right thing, in turning the aircraft around. Having been the recipient of some unfortunate previous incidents, I'd lay...
er... Simon,
did you see @RIPTY's response below? This WAS a major security issue. The perpetrator claimed that he had a bomb. Better to 'take time' and assess the situation accurately, rather than just 'barn-storming' the aircraft and getting a complete surprise or a couple of unexpected corpses.
No question that the MH pilots did the right thing, in turning the aircraft around. Having been the recipient of some unfortunate previous incidents, I'd lay a guess that they know a lot more about handling such incidents. And it would be a fair estimation to say that the AFP on the ground in SYD would be a bit more experienced than you.
So, QF1 was delayed by 3 hours? Nothing out of the ordinary, really.
Ben,
This is insensitive and inconciderate to all those who suffer from mental health issues.
Everyone immediately thinks 'terrorist!' because they hear the word Allah (God).
The most plausible scenario is this person had some sort of a mental breakdown. However, since this mental breakdown revolved around the word "Allah" ... people see it in a different light.
"I'm a slave of Allah" literally translates into "I'm a slave of God" -- This is the...
Ben,
This is insensitive and inconciderate to all those who suffer from mental health issues.
Everyone immediately thinks 'terrorist!' because they hear the word Allah (God).
The most plausible scenario is this person had some sort of a mental breakdown. However, since this mental breakdown revolved around the word "Allah" ... people see it in a different light.
"I'm a slave of Allah" literally translates into "I'm a slave of God" -- This is the baseline believe of all Abrahamic religions.
And in light of all this, not sure if you can realize that ..."Obviously this guy doesn't represent most Muslims" was a way-out-there sentence to have added to your blog post.
Way out there sentence? So he DOES represent most Muslims?
Ben reported facts. This man is clearly having at minimum an episode and is carrying it out using religious statements. Nothing about Ben’s writing is racist or prejudiced against Muslims.
You are insensitive and inconsiderate to all those who don't suffer from mental health issues.
This is cool and all, besides the fact that the guy said he had a bomb in his bag!
I don't know why you're saying this is an overreaction, stop trying to downplay terrorism, we all know not every muslim is a terrorist, but it seems like every terrorist is a muslim.
I'm sorry but "Every terrorist is a mulsim"??? So many terrorist incidents taking place by others, like the shooting that happened in New Zealand at a mosque, or targeted shootings against a African Americans and school attacks in the US. However, the media only calls it a 'terrorist' event if it's a brown muslim person, whereas a white christian person commits such an act, its a 'lone wolf' or 'mental health issues'
"Mental health" is the new excuse all the criminals in Australia are using to get excused for their actions! I'm tired of hear that in the news.
Thanks to the crazy ppl. from the states, ppl. around the world are trying their Karen and Kevin powers to intimidate other pax and crew onboard. Hopefully he pays for the damages he caused and get black listed. Now the most risk in flying is not crashing but being held hostage by these useless human beings.
Speaking of useless, it's a terrible shame you weren't aborted when you were still a fetus.
He did not say anything wrong, so what’s your issue? Truth hurts
Not as much as it hurts your dad's butt from being buggered all day.
You’re not particularly intelligent making such a childish immature comment . I guess you’re American given the verbiage.
Buggered is not even close to an American slang word, buddy.
And he said “terrible shame” too. Not even close to American.
Grow your wings back, please!