Fortunately, He Didn't Try It

CNN reported Sunday that "A man who threatened to crash a light plane into the European Central Bank building landed safely at Frankfurt's airport Sunday after speaking with the brother of a U.S. astronaut killed in the Challenger disaster, airport officials said."

The pilot was identified on German television as Franz-Stefan Strammbach, 31, from Darmstadt. The motorglider was reportedly stolen at gunpoint, from the Babenhausen airport, 30 miles southeast of Frankfurt. The owner of the stolen airplane is also reported to be "of possible interest" in the episode.

The CNN story went on to say the "...pilot of the Cessna [...better check the photo again. We think it looks a lot like a Diamond Super Dimona --ed.] buzzed the Eurotower building (below), home of the European Central Bank." We're betting that the story is essentially correct, except for the make of the airplane.

Talked Down by Astronaut's Brother

Judith Resnik, who died in the 1986 Challenger shuttle accident, left behind brother Charles, who was summoned, reports say, by the pilot. CNN says the two conversed in English, by phone to Resnik's home in Baltimore (MD), while the plane was still airborne. [Charles Resnik is the Founding Director and Vice Chairman of the Challenger Center for Space Science Education in Alexandria (VA). His connection to the pilot is unknown --ed.] The content of the conversation was not made public, though we heard that the pilot first questioned Resnik about the family dog, to verify identity.

Resnik says he never heard of the man before Sunday; he didn't know if his astronaut-sister had known the pilot. Strammbach, if indeed that is who the man is, is listed as the webmaster of a Judith Resnik-centered website; the pilot said Resnik hasn't received the attention she deserves, and speculated that it's because she was Jewish [huh?].

Various reports said "F-16s" or "Phantoms" were in the air with him. [They wouldn't have been F-16s --ed.] Either would have been able to handle anything in the stolen Dimona's bag of flight tricks (except soaring). Fortunately, German authorities didn't blast the little motorglider out of the sky, and posibly into the crowds of thousands who turned out on a beautiful afternoon, to watch. [D-KAZE was later identified as a Super Dimona, sure enough --ed.]

Flights in and out of Frankfurt were suspended, until after the man finally landed safely at Frankfurt International. He was taken into custody at gunpoint, and the airplane was seized.

German network NTV, which apparently interviewed the man, said the pilot indicated he didn't wish to kill anyone but himself. He also said he wasn't going to kill himself until after the plane ran out of gas. [That would have made any danger he could have posed, even smaller. He sounds like a caring individual (albeit eccentric) --ed.] Given the record of small aircraft vs bank buildings in the past twelve months, it's likely he would have succeeded on both missions... but why?

FMI: www.ntv.de