Yemenia Flight 448 was a domestic scheduled passenger flight piloted by Captain Amer Anis from

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Gover ...

al-Hudaydah Al-Hudaydah ( ar, الْحُدَيْدَة, al-ḥudayda), also transliterated as Hodeda, Hodeida, Hudaida or Hodeidah, is the fourth-largest city in Yemen and its principal port on the Red Sea. As of 2004, its population was 402,560 and it is ...

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

, that was hijacked on 23 January 2001. The Yemenia Yemen Airways Boeing 727-2N8 departed

Sana'a International Airport Sanaa International Airport is the primary international airport of Yemen located in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen. It services Sanaa City as well as the entire population of the Northern Provinces of Yemen. Initially, a small passenger terminal ...

bound for a stopover at Taiz-Al Janad Airport,

Ta'izz Taiz ( ar, تَعِزّ, Taʿizz) is a city in southwestern Yemen. It is located in the Yemeni Highlands, near the port city of Mocha on the Red Sea, at an elevation of about above sea level. It is the capital of Taiz Governorate. With a populat ...

. The passengers included the

United States Ambassador to Yemen This is a list of ambassadors of the United States to Yemen. Before 1990, Yemen had consisted of two states: North Yemen and South Yemen. The United States had diplomatic relations with North Yemen since 1946. Relations with South Yemen had been ...

Barbara Bodine Barbara K. Bodine (born August 28, 1948 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American academic and former diplomat. Bodine formerly directed the ''Scholars in the Nation’s Service Initiative'' (SINSI) and lectured at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School o ...

, US Deputy

Chief of Mission In diplomatic usage, head of mission (HOM) or chief of mission (COM) from the French "chef de mission diplomatique" (CMD) is the head of a diplomatic representation, such as an ambassador, high commissioner, nuncio, chargé d'affaires, permanent ...

to Yemen, and the Yemeni Ambassador to the US. Fifteen minutes after takeoff, a man armed with a

pen gun A pen gun is a firearm that resembles an ink pen. They generally are of small caliber (e.g., .22 LR, .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .38-caliber, etc.) and are single shot. Early examples of pen guns were pinfired, but modern designs are rim or centerfire. ...

hijacked the aircraft and demanded to be taken to

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

, Iraq. In addition to his gun, he claimed to have explosives hidden in his suitcase. The flight crew convinced the hijacker to first divert to

Djibouti Djibouti, ar, جيبوتي ', french: link=no, Djibouti, so, Jabuuti officially the Republic of Djibouti, is a country in the Horn of Africa, bordered by Somalia to the south, Ethiopia to the southwest, Eritrea in the north, and the Red ...

to refuel. The aircraft made an

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport ( ar, مطار جيبوتي الدولي, french: link=no, Aéroport international Ambouli) is a joint civilian/military-use airport situated in the town of Ambouli, Djibouti. It serves the national capi ...

, where the flight crew, Led by flight captain Amer Anis, then overpowered the hijacker in what US State Department Richard Boucher described the act as "really terrific action". The only injury was to the

flight engineer A flight engineer (FE), also sometimes called an air engineer, is the member of an aircraft's flight crew who monitors and operates its complex aircraft systems. In the early era of aviation, the position was sometimes referred to as the "air m ...

, who was grazed by a bullet during the fight. The hijacker was an unemployed Iraqi who wanted to look elsewhere for employment opportunities. He was extradited to Yemen, and sentenced to 15 years in prison in March 2001.

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001 Aviation accidents and incidents in 2001 Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727 Aviation accidents and incidents in Yemen Aviation accidents and incidents in Djibouti Aircraft hijackings Terrorist incidents in Yemen in 2001 United States–Yemen relations Djibouti–Yemen relations Terrorist incidents in Djibouti 2001 in Djibouti 21st century in Djibouti (city) January 2001 events in Africa Yemenia accidents and incidents