On Sunday, some passengers had their flight delayed because the pilot barricaded himself in the cockpit, demanding five months’ pay that he was owed. Apparently, he’d already been fired. Then the Mexican Navy was sent in. ¡Viva la revolución!
The incident took place at the Mexico City International Airport (MEX) on a Boeing 737 operated by Magnicharters, as the Cancun Sun reports. This is a budget airline, an industry that’s been struggling financially. Apparently, one way to deal with unbalanced books is by simply not paying your pilots. Easy! Effective! For some reason, the actual pilots weren’t fans of this plan. This particular pilot informed his passengers over the intercom that he wanted his money: “This plane isn’t leaving until they pay us what they owe us.” The flight did not take off on time.
Send in… the navy? Really? The navy?
And so a passenger airliner had been hijacked, sort of! That’s a major incident, usually, so the Mexican government had to respond aggressively. Now, if the situation is an aircraft, but it’s still on the ground, which military branch do you send? Obviously, the boat people, who are experts at the sea. The Sun reports that the Mexican Navy, alongside other federal agents, managed to “de-escalate the situation and remove him.” Mexico’s equivalent to the SEALs, maybe? If it were a more serious hijacking, that’s probably who you’d call.
This all gets better, since it later turned out that the pilot was informed that he was being fired immediately before he was about to fly. I am not a savvy businessman at business, but I’m not sure I’d tell somebody they were sacked before they had to do something really important. They might, I don’t know, not do it. Anyway, I’d be willing to bet good money he’s even more fired now.
Rise up, comrade, and take what you’re owed! Join us at Gate B7! Please arrive one hour early, the security lines are brutal.
