...In Flight

Of all the things that can cause trouble on an airliner, fire is clearly near the top of the list. A man identified as jobless 39-year-old, Dong Yue, set fire to Air China Flight CA1505 Sunday. The flight, from Beijing to Fuzhou, was being hijacked, he said, to Taiwan. According to reports from China, Dong had concealed a gasoline-like liquid in a soft drink can. He then poured it on seats on the airliner, and set it afire.

Xinhua, the official state news source, did not say he had lit the liquid; but the Xiandai newspaper, in the destination's provincial capital, gave more detail: it said that the fire was put out within a couple minutes by passengers who smothered it with blankets. Among the passengers who helped put out the fire was one particularly-brave one, who, according to that paper's account, got hold of the drink can, and passed it to a flight attendant, as he was helping smother the fire. He was identified as Jie Xinmin, vice mayor of Hohhot, capital of Inner Mongolia.

Other passengers, quickly aided by on-board police, made short work of Dong Yue, subduing him in mere moments. [It's notable that PAX initiated the apprehension of the nutcase, as well as the fire control --ed.]

Quick thinking by a flight attendant may have saved lives, and perhaps the flight. She "got suspicious" when she saw Dong with the can in one hand and a lighter in the other, as she smelled the odor of gasoline. She started to move pasengers away, just as Dong lit up.

One Air China employee reportedly told the press that Dong was out of work, and had a young child, that he was desperate to go to Taiwan, where he thought he could perhaps make a living. The official news sources carried no such information. Air China has not commented on any aspect of the story. There were no reports of injuries among the 149 souls on board.

FMI: www.airchina.com