Plan 'to crash Qantas plane'

29may03
A MAN who stabbed two flight attendants on board a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Launceston had intended to crash the plane, Transport Minister John Anderson said today.

Mr Anderson said it was not an attempted act of terrorism, but the singular actions of one man.

He said the man had taken a sharpened stick on board which he used to try to enter the plane's cockpit.

Qantas staff and some passengers subdued the man.
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Mr Anderson [said] the man was an Australian aged in his 40s.

He said the man tried to down the plane soon after it left Melbourne airport.

\"Very shortly after take-off in general terms the man started to become very threatening,\" he said.

\"(He) apparently headed for the cabin, and seemed to be intent upon trying to force a nasty outcome.

\"If you call an attempt to crash an aircraft, you might call that a hijacking.\"

Melbourne man Joe De Costa, who was a passenger on the plane to Launceston, said that the male steward appeared to have been stabbed around the back of his head or neck.
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Mr Anderson said the man went through normal metal detectors at Melbourne airport which failed to pick up wooden sticks he was carrying.
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William1865:
I believe Qantas is the only major airline to never have had a crash or even a fatality, as I understand it. I've always wanted to fly Qantas.

William1865

William1865:
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