Aer Lingus Flight 164
Boeing 737-200 · Hijacking
From Dublin Airport (DUB) to London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Occurrence
- Event fatalities
- 0 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 108
- Survivors
- 108
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 737-200
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 737
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- EI-ASD
- Operator
- Aer Lingus
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Dublin Airport (DUB)To London Heathrow Airport (LHR)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Aer Lingus Flight 164 was a scheduled Boeing 737-200 passenger flight that was hijacked on 2 May 1981,
on route from Dublin in Ireland to London in England.
Hijacking and standoff
While on approach to Heathrow, about five minutes before the flight was due to land in England, a 55-year-old Australian man named Laurence James Downey went into the aircraft lavatory and doused himself in petrol. He then went to the cockpit and demanded that the plane continue on to Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport in France and refuel there for a flight to Tehran, Iran. Upon landing at Le Touquet, Downey further demanded the publication in the Irish press of a nine-page statement which he had the captain throw from the cockpit window.
After an eight-hour standoff (during which time Downey released 11 of his 108 hostages), French special forces stormed the plane and apprehended Downey. No shots were fired during the ordeal and nobody was injured.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Aer Lingus Flight 164” (revision 1374637460, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Aer Lingus Flight 164
- Article
- Aer Lingus Flight 164
- Revision
- 1374637460 · 2026-09-13 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q3809581
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Aer Lingus Flight 164" (page 26125945, revision 1374637460)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- flight number in the article title
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.