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CNN Live Sunday

Man Circling Frankfurt in Stolen Plane Gives Himself Up to Police

Aired January 05, 2003 - 16:32   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.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There were some tense moments in the sky over Frankfurt, Germany today, as a man threatened to crash a small plane into the European Central Bank. Officials say the man took the plane at gunpoint and circled downtown Frankfurt for more than an hour. CNN's Chris Burns joins us from Frankfurt. Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest is the plane that had flown over the city of Frankfurt is over here at Frankfurt Airport, sitting in a hangar. Its pilot is sitting in jail, under police custody as he's answering questions about just why he commandeered that plane at gunpoint and flew it over the city of Frankfurt.

Very helpless feeling. I was among thousands of people who were standing there along the Main (ph) river, just watching this plane circle around and around over these skyscrapers, 20, 30 or more stories tall. And at a couple of points really thought he was going to crash it. At one point he dove the plane down over the skyline, very, very low, it appeared he was going to crash it. At another point, he flew between two towers among those skyscrapers. Very, very anxious moments for a lot of people watching.

At the same time, the police kept getting signals and messages that this pilot was going to crash, the plane perhaps in the Main (ph) river. They immediately shooed away all of us who were standing on the bridges across the Main (ph) river, telling us it was very dangerous to be there. So people scattering about trying to find a safe place to be while this plane circled overhead.

Helicopters, police helicopters trying to bring it down, trying to persuade him to leave. Even two war jets flew overhead and tried to buzz him away. That still didn't work.

What did appear to work was that he managed to persuade the -- an interview to take place where he was able to talk about what he felt was very important, was that Judith Resnik, who was the female astronaut on the Challenger space shuttle that exploded back in 1986, she is his hero, and he wanted the world to know about this. And that is -- he went to that end to tell the world about it.

He also asked to speak to the brother, a brother of Judith Resnik back in the States. Apparently he was able to do that as well. So that managed to satisfy him. And as night began to fall, he did fly over here to Frankfurt Airport, gave himself up to police, and is now busy answering questions -- Anderson. COOPER: Yes, I would imagine he has a lot of questions to answer. Do we know anything about him? Was he just some lunatic? What do we know about his background?

BURNS: Well, kind of sketchy, really. What we have heard is he's a student. He's 31 years old. Obviously, a pilot. Lives in Darmstadt (ph), not far from here. Some news reports say that he was -- his name was on a Web site that was honoring Judith Resnik. So perhaps this is not a flash in the pan, this perhaps was sort of sentiment that has been building over a long period of time -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns, thanks very much. Strange story.

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Police>


Aired January 5, 2003 - 16:32   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: There were some tense moments in the sky over Frankfurt, Germany today, as a man threatened to crash a small plane into the European Central Bank. Officials say the man took the plane at gunpoint and circled downtown Frankfurt for more than an hour. CNN's Chris Burns joins us from Frankfurt. Chris, what's the latest?
CHRIS BURNS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The latest is the plane that had flown over the city of Frankfurt is over here at Frankfurt Airport, sitting in a hangar. Its pilot is sitting in jail, under police custody as he's answering questions about just why he commandeered that plane at gunpoint and flew it over the city of Frankfurt.

Very helpless feeling. I was among thousands of people who were standing there along the Main (ph) river, just watching this plane circle around and around over these skyscrapers, 20, 30 or more stories tall. And at a couple of points really thought he was going to crash it. At one point he dove the plane down over the skyline, very, very low, it appeared he was going to crash it. At another point, he flew between two towers among those skyscrapers. Very, very anxious moments for a lot of people watching.

At the same time, the police kept getting signals and messages that this pilot was going to crash, the plane perhaps in the Main (ph) river. They immediately shooed away all of us who were standing on the bridges across the Main (ph) river, telling us it was very dangerous to be there. So people scattering about trying to find a safe place to be while this plane circled overhead.

Helicopters, police helicopters trying to bring it down, trying to persuade him to leave. Even two war jets flew overhead and tried to buzz him away. That still didn't work.

What did appear to work was that he managed to persuade the -- an interview to take place where he was able to talk about what he felt was very important, was that Judith Resnik, who was the female astronaut on the Challenger space shuttle that exploded back in 1986, she is his hero, and he wanted the world to know about this. And that is -- he went to that end to tell the world about it.

He also asked to speak to the brother, a brother of Judith Resnik back in the States. Apparently he was able to do that as well. So that managed to satisfy him. And as night began to fall, he did fly over here to Frankfurt Airport, gave himself up to police, and is now busy answering questions -- Anderson. COOPER: Yes, I would imagine he has a lot of questions to answer. Do we know anything about him? Was he just some lunatic? What do we know about his background?

BURNS: Well, kind of sketchy, really. What we have heard is he's a student. He's 31 years old. Obviously, a pilot. Lives in Darmstadt (ph), not far from here. Some news reports say that he was -- his name was on a Web site that was honoring Judith Resnik. So perhaps this is not a flash in the pan, this perhaps was sort of sentiment that has been building over a long period of time -- Anderson.

COOPER: All right, Chris Burns, thanks very much. Strange story.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Police>