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American Morning
Attempted Hijacking of El Al Flight Sunday
Aired November 18, 2002 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the attempted hijacking of an El Al flight on Sunday. A man armed with a pen knife was overpowered by security guards as he tried to break into the cockpit. Israeli officials are now saying it's not entirely clear what his intentions were.
But passenger Leslie Schull was seated next to the suspect and witnessed the entire drama unfold.
He joins us now by telephone from Istanbul, Turkey this morning.
Mr. Schull, can you describe to us what you saw as you sat next to this man.
LESLIE SCHULL: Sure. Firstly, from the minute that he got onto the plane he was very fidgety, moving around, getting up to go to the toilet, getting up to check his bag in the overhead compartment. He, during the flight, about half an hour before we landed, I moved to the back to speak to some friends of mine, just to tell them also that I thought this guy was actually a little bit crazy.
I then moved towards the front. I was speaking to another passenger and the guy who, this attempted hijacker, he was standing close to us. I turned my head for a minute and all of a sudden there was a commotion in the front. I saw two guys pushing somebody down onto the floor. The air hostess came running towards us. She was shouting he has something, I couldn't hear exactly what she said. And I saw these two guys sitting on this man on the floor.
Now, I recognized by his pen, so I couldn't see his face, that he was the guy who was actually sitting next to me.
This whole episode, from the time that he was standing close to us until they brought him down next to the cockpit must have taken literally two or three seconds.
ZAHN: Mr. Schull, we're actually looking at some home video that was shot on board this flight, which is quite remarkable to see. I don't think anybody has seen this before. But these, Israeli officials are now saying that they believe, or this guy is telling them that he was upset at a flight attendant because he had asked for water three times and the flight attendant had not gotten that water to him.
Do you remember him asking for water or getting agitated about that? SCHULL: Yes, he did. He actually asked for water more than once and he did receive the water. It took a fairly long time, but he requested the water. It was while we were still preparing to take off. And the crew was busy. They were still taking passengers on. They were making sure that everybody was seated, etc. And normally at that time they don't have the time to bring water, etc., to the commuters.
So I didn't really see or notice that he was, that this had really upset him. I don't, I personally don't think that this was the reason that this happened.
As I say, during the whole flight he was very fidgety, jumpy, moving around. And I'm fairly certain that this is not his reason for doing this. I actually, it's, my opinion is that I think he really, as I said to my friends, that I think he was a little bit crazy. And anybody who thinks that he can maybe attack one of the crew and try to get into the cockpit on an El Al flight with a small knife -- I didn't see it but it was described as a small knife -- I think he really must be crazy.
ZAHN: You describe him as crazy and I know Israeli officials are trying to figure out what his intents are, intents were. Do you suspect he was simply nuts or that he was going to try to attempt to hijack this plane?
SCHULL: I think that he had some type of intention, mainly because of the way that he was acting from the time that he got onto the plane. And he was nervous. He received his dinner. He didn't eat anything. We could, I could see that he just wasn't acting normally. And I'm sure that from the time that he got onto the plane he already had an intention of doing something.
ZAHN: Well, I'm sure Israeli officials probably want to talk to you. Have you heard from them yet...
SCHULL: No.
ZAHN: ... for your description of what happened on board this plane?
SCHULL: I made a statement to the Turkish police last night, but not the Israeli officials.
ZAHN: Leslie Schull, we really appreciate your joining us to tell us what happened on board that flight, as Israeli officials try to put together the pieces of the puzzle and figure out what this guy was up to.
Again, appreciate your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 18, 2002 - 08:17 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: More now on the attempted hijacking of an El Al flight on Sunday. A man armed with a pen knife was overpowered by security guards as he tried to break into the cockpit. Israeli officials are now saying it's not entirely clear what his intentions were.
But passenger Leslie Schull was seated next to the suspect and witnessed the entire drama unfold.
He joins us now by telephone from Istanbul, Turkey this morning.
Mr. Schull, can you describe to us what you saw as you sat next to this man.
LESLIE SCHULL: Sure. Firstly, from the minute that he got onto the plane he was very fidgety, moving around, getting up to go to the toilet, getting up to check his bag in the overhead compartment. He, during the flight, about half an hour before we landed, I moved to the back to speak to some friends of mine, just to tell them also that I thought this guy was actually a little bit crazy.
I then moved towards the front. I was speaking to another passenger and the guy who, this attempted hijacker, he was standing close to us. I turned my head for a minute and all of a sudden there was a commotion in the front. I saw two guys pushing somebody down onto the floor. The air hostess came running towards us. She was shouting he has something, I couldn't hear exactly what she said. And I saw these two guys sitting on this man on the floor.
Now, I recognized by his pen, so I couldn't see his face, that he was the guy who was actually sitting next to me.
This whole episode, from the time that he was standing close to us until they brought him down next to the cockpit must have taken literally two or three seconds.
ZAHN: Mr. Schull, we're actually looking at some home video that was shot on board this flight, which is quite remarkable to see. I don't think anybody has seen this before. But these, Israeli officials are now saying that they believe, or this guy is telling them that he was upset at a flight attendant because he had asked for water three times and the flight attendant had not gotten that water to him.
Do you remember him asking for water or getting agitated about that? SCHULL: Yes, he did. He actually asked for water more than once and he did receive the water. It took a fairly long time, but he requested the water. It was while we were still preparing to take off. And the crew was busy. They were still taking passengers on. They were making sure that everybody was seated, etc. And normally at that time they don't have the time to bring water, etc., to the commuters.
So I didn't really see or notice that he was, that this had really upset him. I don't, I personally don't think that this was the reason that this happened.
As I say, during the whole flight he was very fidgety, jumpy, moving around. And I'm fairly certain that this is not his reason for doing this. I actually, it's, my opinion is that I think he really, as I said to my friends, that I think he was a little bit crazy. And anybody who thinks that he can maybe attack one of the crew and try to get into the cockpit on an El Al flight with a small knife -- I didn't see it but it was described as a small knife -- I think he really must be crazy.
ZAHN: You describe him as crazy and I know Israeli officials are trying to figure out what his intents are, intents were. Do you suspect he was simply nuts or that he was going to try to attempt to hijack this plane?
SCHULL: I think that he had some type of intention, mainly because of the way that he was acting from the time that he got onto the plane. And he was nervous. He received his dinner. He didn't eat anything. We could, I could see that he just wasn't acting normally. And I'm sure that from the time that he got onto the plane he already had an intention of doing something.
ZAHN: Well, I'm sure Israeli officials probably want to talk to you. Have you heard from them yet...
SCHULL: No.
ZAHN: ... for your description of what happened on board this plane?
SCHULL: I made a statement to the Turkish police last night, but not the Israeli officials.
ZAHN: Leslie Schull, we really appreciate your joining us to tell us what happened on board that flight, as Israeli officials try to put together the pieces of the puzzle and figure out what this guy was up to.
Again, appreciate your time.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
