Lufthansa Flight 592

Lufthansa Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Frankfurt, Germany, to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, that was hijacked on February 11, 1993. The Lufthansa-operated Airbus A310 was hijacked by Nebiu Zewolde Demeke, a 20-year-old Ethiopian man seeking asylum who forced the pilot to fly to New York City. The aircraft landed safely at John F. Kennedy International Airport, and the gunman surrendered peacefully and without incident. He was charged with aircraft hijacking by a United States district court, and was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

Flight

Flight 592 was an international flight operated by Deutsche Lufthansa AG between Frankfurt International Airport, Frankfurt, Germany, and Bole International Airport, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a scheduled intermediate stop at Cairo International Airport, Cairo, Egypt. The aircraft was an Airbus A310-300, registration D-AIDM, that had been in service since August 30, 1991. The flight carried 94 passengers and 10 crew. The captain was Gehard Goebel, and the first officer was Kay Juergens.

Hijacking

At Frankfurt Airport, Nebiu took advantage of the airport security by stuffing a pistol deep into his hat and then placing his hat on a table adjacent to the scanner.

Approximately 35 minutes into the flight, as the aircraft reached cruising altitude in Austrian airspace, Nebiu entered the forward lavatory. He put on a black ski mask and removed his pistol. Leaving the lavatory, he entered the cockpit, which was unlocked. Placing the pistol to the pilot's head, he said, "If you do not turn west, I'll shoot you."

Nebiu demanded that the aircraft be flown to New York City and demanded political asylum in the United States. After being told that the plane would need to be refueled, Nebiu agreed to allow a refueling stop in Hanover, Germany. The aircraft landed at Hannover-Langenhagen Airport around noon local time, where it was surrounded by law enforcement officials. Nebiu remained in the cockpit with the pistol to the pilot's head, and threatened to begin killing a flight attendant every five minutes. German authorities allowed the plane to depart after Nebiu threatened to kill his hostages but promised to surrender peacefully upon reaching the United States.

Pilot Gerhard Goebel was able to calm Nebiu down during the non-stop flight to New York. Though Nebiu kept the pistol pointed at Goebel's head for the duration of the flight, he removed his ski mask. Goebel later told newspapers that he spent the hours trying to build a rapport with Nebiu, who admitted to having spent several months planning the hijacking. Both men agreed that, upon arriving in New York, Goebel would give Nebiu his sunglasses in exchange for Nebiu's pistol.

The aircraft arrived at John F. Kennedy International Airport at around 4:00 pm EDT and taxied to a remote part of the runway. A three-man hostage negotiation team had been assembled in the air traffic control tower. NYPD detective Dominick Misino spoke with Nebiu over the radio, assisted by FBI special agent John Flood and Port Authority detective sergeant Carmine Spano. After 70 minutes of negotiation, Nebiu traded his pistol for the pilot's sunglasses and surrendered peacefully to authorities. All 94 passengers and ten crew were unharmed.