Homingtons Airtours Flight 1

**Homingtons Airtours Flight 1** was a passenger flight operated by Homingtons Airtours. At 8am local time on 2 January 2013, the Evektor EV-55 Outback flying the route between Home City Airport and Leeds Regional Airport was hijacked half-way through the flight, eventually crashing into an office building beyond the end of the runway at LRA. 36 people were killed - all 16 on board the aircraft, including the hijacker; plus 20 more inside the office building and on the street outside.

The crash was the deadliest aviation disaster in Leeds in 2013 for a mere two days, until the crash of Leeds Airlines Flight 549 claimed 39 lives on 4 January. It was the first hijacking in Leeds' aviation history, and the first terrorist attack involving an aeroplane in the history of the nation. Initially linked to al-Qaeda, it was later found to have been carried out by a lone shark called James Smith, who was unaffiliated to any major groups.

## Aircraft

The aircraft involved was an Evektor EV-55 Outback, a small turboprop aircraft built by Evektor-Aerotechnik in the Czech Republic, registered HO-EFL. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney PT6A-21 engines, which in turn powered two four-blade propellers to provide propulsion. It was designed for intensive use on short-range flights; as such, it was allocated to Homingtons new service flying regularly between Home and Leeds. The engines are mounted on the underside of the wing, which in turn is mounted atop the near-square fuselage. The vertical stabiliser is mounted near to, but not quite at, the top of the fin, and the trailing-link tricycle gear is simple and easy to use, folding into the nose or fuselage.

According to *Flight International*, the aircraft first flew in September 2012, and was delivered to Homingtons Airtours in December 2012. The hijacked flight was only the aircraft's seventh with Homingtons, and it was practically brand new.

## Flight history

Flight 1 took off on a routine departure from Home City Airport at 0808 local time. It was expected into LRA half an hour later, taking a direct flight path to the airport.

## The hijacking

Around fifteen minutes into the flight, the hijacker, a lone man in all-black clothing and a balaclava with a gun, burst into the cockpit and demanded the plane be taken to Exeter. However, the crew stated that the plane did not have enough fuel to reach Exeter, and that it would crash short of Exeter somewhere around the Isles of Scilly. Angered by this refusal, the hijacker shot the captain, killing him instantly, and threw the co-pilot out of the cockpit before locking the door.

The hijacker, James Smith, turned the aircraft on a course for Exeter International Airport. He refused to respond to repeated messages from air traffic control, and as such the first anyone outside of the aircraft learnt of the hijacking was via texts sent by passengers on board. These texts were passed on to news corporations, who reported the hijacking all over the news live while the plane was still in flight.

A low fuel warning sounded approximately five minutes later, and the hijacker set a course for the aircraft's originally planned destination, Leeds Regional Airport, instead.

## The struggle

As the aircraft neared the runway, the co-pilot made a last-ditch attempt to regain control of the aircraft, as he feared for the hijacker's plans. With the help of some passengers he managed to use a heavy rucksack from one of the passengers to ram into the door, eventually breaking it down. As the co-pilot entered the cockpit, Smith got up from his seat and shot him, killing him instantly. He then shot the three passengers who had helped to break the door down, killing them all instantly too.

However, while he was on his shooting spree, he had become destracted from the aircraft's controls and started to drift off course. When he returned to the cockpit, he did not correct this, presumably sighting buildings at the end of the runway as a new target. Several more passengers entered the cockpit; one managed to steal the gun from Smith and hide it away in a fellow passenger's bag. Two passengers fought to regain control of the aircraft. They initially managed to get Smith out of the cockpit, and lined the plane up for a hard emergency landing on the runway at LRA. The plane touched down, very fast and very hard, but lucking the undercarriage stayed put and the aircraft remained intact and undamaged. They activated the thrust reversers and emergency brakes.

However, immediately after, Smith managed to ram his way back into the cockpit, and with several punches, knocked the two passengers unconscious. He disactivated the thrust reversers and emergency brakes, changing the flaps to make the aircraft airborne once again just at the end of the runway.

The plane flew at an altitude of around 15 feet above the ground for 100 metres, before flying very low over the airport's perimeter fence and Briscoe Road.

## The crash

Seconds later, the aircraft crashed into 1 Briscoe Place, an office building serving as the headquarters of the Shell Oil Company's Leeds operations, beyond the end of the runway, at a speed of well over 150 knots. Anyone aboard who had not already been killed in the shooting spree was killed instantly by the crash. The plane crashed into the second floor of the four-story office building, although the entire building suffered damage from the crash and a subsequent fire.

The crash also killed 17 workers inside the building, the majority from the initial crash but several also in the ensuing fire which engulfed the building. A further three people were killed on the street outside by falling masonry from the building. Hundreds of office workers and bystanders out on the street suffered injuries, the majority of them minor but a fairly large percentage of them major and life-threatening, as a result of the crash. The final death toll stood at 36 people in total, with between 150 and 600 people on the ground injured according to various reports, 30 or so of these injuries being major.

The crash was the first hull loss accident involving any Evektor aircraft, and the deadliest. It was the first crash in Homingtons Airtours history, and also the deadliest aircraft hijacking since the 9/11 attacks in the United States in September 2001.

## Aftermath

The Leeds military disarmed a nearby missile post, which had been armed awaiting permission to shoot down the hijacked aircraft. This grant of permission was never given and no missiles were fired; a military press conference later stated that the armament was "just a precaution" and that the chance of military weapons being used in this situation was "very slim" unless a 9/11-like situation was seen to be very likely, which was not the case in the end.

Fire engines and paramedics reached the building within minutes of the attack. The fire brigade swiftly put the fire out, but not before it had gutted most of 1 Briscoe Place.

There were attempts to keep LRA open, but drifting smoke forced it to close for several hours from around midday on 2 January. It reopened at around 1440 when the smoke had passed, but closed for around half an hour at 1700 due to lingering smoke again. Roads around the site were closed, and bus routes diverted. Also, the general public were initially warned to stay indoors if they lived within half a mile of the crash, due to an asbestos risk. This was later revoked as the building was found to contain no asbestos.

Building inspectors said that the building would have to be demolished. After any salvageable remains were removed from the building, as well as charred sections of the downed aircraft and any human remains, 1 Briscoe Place was brought down using controlled explosives at midnight on 5 January 2013, three days after the devastating terrorist attack.

Following the crash, Homingtons Airtours changed the number of the hourly service between Home and Leeds from 1 to 8.