Former Lebanese hijacker builds own plane

wbarnhill

wbarnhill

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I think this is alright in Hangar Talk. If it's not, please accept my apologies and please move to Spin Zone. Just an interesting story that I found off of Fark.

From: http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=16496

Former Lebanese hijacker builds own plane
Hariri is ready to fly 400 kilogram plane he built with his own hands after nine months of continuous work.

DEIR QANUN AN-NAHR, Lebanon - After 17 years behind bars in a Swiss jail for hijacking a plane and killing a passenger, Hussein Hariri's dream now is to fly a plane he built with his own hands.

"One day when I was in prison, I landed on a book about planes dating back to World War II. I read it in 10 days," said Hariri, 39, who returned in 2004 to his native village of Deir Qanun an-Nahr, in southern Lebanon.

"I was so taken by the book that I contacted the University of Lausanne ... and they gave me all the books they had about planes," he said.

"I read hundreds of books on the aeronautical industry, over thousands of hours ... and here's my plane," he said proudly, showing off the "Pheonicia," a 4.5-meter-long (15-foot) aircraft weighing 400 kilograms (880 pounds).

It has three wheels and an Italian-made, 250-kilowatt engine.

"It took me nine months of continuous work to build it, and I know that it can fly. I sent a letter to President Emile Lahoud for authorization to try it out at the Rayak airbase" in eastern Lebanon, he said.

Hariri was sentenced to life in jail in 1989 for killing a passenger and seriously wounding a flight attendant during the hijacking of an Air Afrique flight to Geneva in 1987.

The aim of the kidnapping, which he staged at the age of 21, was to secure the release of two brothers jailed in the former West Germany on terrorism charges.

Hariri was expelled to Lebanon in October 2004.

"I was in solitary confinement for three years, then a Swiss prisoners' association encouraged me to read," said the former hijacker, who was formerly close to Lebanon's radical Shiite movement Hezbollah.

"For four years, I read books on Western philosophy and civilizations before being put in charge of distributing 10,000 books from the prison library to the detainees," he said.

"Today, I consider myself a neutral person. I have no links with any party or organisation," said Hariri.
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_16496_hariri-plane-17-5-2006.jpg
 
I'm not completely sure how I feel about that. In a way it is a good thing because he appears to have rehabiliated and is now a functional member of society.

On the other hand, I don't think you should ever be given a second chance after comitting such a crime. The person he killed could have become so much and who knows what they would have done for society.
 
Well... taking a look at his plane, I'd have to say flying it will be an excellent way to find out if his sins have been forgiven or not. :D
 
Joe Williams said:
Well... taking a look at his plane, I'd have to say flying it will be an excellent way to find out if his sins have been forgiven or not. :D
Click to expand...

That is for sure. usually a new homebuilt...looks new...That thing looks like it was just pulled out of a barn and was burried for the last 20 years.
 
Hey,

I think the guy should contact the Aircraft Spruce Company and have them market his amazing invention as a commercial kitplane...

I'm telling ya, those Hezbollah guys are so gifted...
 
Frank Browne said:
Ummm...does he plan on putting a rudder somewhere on that thing?
Click to expand...

It's kinda hard to tell, but it looks like the front landing gear might be rudder-shaped.
 
Wow. That thing would be interesting. It's a pusher....
 
What could possibly go wrong, considering his hisory?
I'm sure he's a great guy.
I wonder WT_ he's out of prison in the first place.
 
he he he ...

Why has he gotten out of prison you ask ?

Simple: The Swiss, after hearing about this genius plan to build and fly a plane all by himself, thought about it for a second and said:

"GREAT IDEA" - you are free to go....
 
Let's just hope that his test flight is not over a populated area!
 
Well, as long as he doesn't bother anyone else I guess it's ok. I mean if he has hijacking twinges again, he can just hijack himself for a couple hours in his back yard. When he gets the nutter routine out of his system, he can just put his grenades and guns away and go back to being normal and everything will be fine again. I'd rather him do that twice a week than to mess with a bunch of innocents again.

Everyone is someone else's weirdo.


Speaking of hijacking: If you take off with a destination all planned out and start off on the flight then end up making yourself divert to somewhere totally different, is that considered hijacking yourself? If it is, I'm in sooooooooo much trouble.
 
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