Ethiopian Flight 961: The Hijacking That Forced a Jet Into the Ocean

On November 23, 1996, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 departed Addis Ababa on a scheduled international flight bound for Abidjan, with planned stops along the African coast. On board were 163 passengers and crew. The aircraft was a Boeing 767. The flight was routine. The weather was clear. But just minutes after reaching cruising altitude, everything changed. Three hijackers stormed the cockpit. They demanded the impossible — to be flown to Australia. The captain tried to explain the reality: the aircraft did not have enough fuel. The hijackers did not listen. As the aircraft was forced far beyond its fuel range, the engines began to starve. One by one, they shut down. With no power left and no runway within reach, the captain faced an unthinkable decision. Ahead lay the Indian Ocean. At low altitude, surrounded by tourists swimming along the coast of the Comoros Islands, the aircraft descended silently — a powerless widebody jet turning into a glider. Seconds later, Ethiopian Flight 961 struck the water. The impact shattered the aircraft, but not everyone onboard was lost. What followed was chaos, heroism, and survival in open water — all captured on camera by beachgoers who had no idea they were about to witness one of aviation’s most dramatic forced water landings. This documentary reconstructs the hijacking of Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 using official accident reports, cockpit voice recordings, survivor testimony, and eyewitness footage to reveal how a calm crew, a powerless aircraft, and fatal human decisions collided over the Indian Ocean. You will discover: • How a hijacking pushed the aircraft far beyond its fuel limits • Why the captain had no option but to attempt a water landing • How engine flameout changed the aircraft into a glider • What went wrong during the final seconds before impact • Why some passengers survived while others did not • How this event reshaped aviation hijacking response training This is not just a story about terrorism. It is a story about physics, fuel, fear — and a captain forced to choose between certain death and a desperate chance over open water. ________________________________________ 📌 RELATED DOCUMENTARIES • MH370: The Plane That Disappeared • Tenerife: Two 747s, One Runway • Flight 1549: 208 Seconds That Changed Everything • Kobe Bryant Helicopter Crash: A Deadly Weather Decision • Air France 447: Four Minutes That No One Understood • The Day a DC-10 Lost All Controls — United Flight 232 • The Ghost Flight: How Helios 522 Flew for Hours with No One Awake • Turkish Airlines 981: The Cargo Door That Killed 346 People • British Airways 38: The Day a Boeing 777 Lost All Power • MH17: The Day a Civilian Airliner Was Shot Down • Alaska 261: The Hidden Mechanical Failure That Turned a Routine Flight Into Disaster • FedEx 705: The Most Violent Cockpit Fight in Aviation History • Lion Air 610: The Hidden Software That Took Control Mid-Air • Aloha 243: The Flight That Came Apart in the Sky • Ethiopian 302: The Hidden System That Forced the Plane Down • Japan Airlines 123: 32 Minutes Fighting an Uncontrollable Aircraft • DHL 611: The Midair Collision That Never Should Have Happened • Air Canada 759: The Night a Passenger Jet Almost Landed on Other Planes • Avianca Flight 52: The Night It Ran Out of Fuel Over New York • TACA 110: The Deadstick Landing That Saved 45 Lives • Scandinavian 751: 78 Seconds After Takeoff — Both Engines Failed • Flying Tiger Line 739: Aviation’s Greatest Unsolved Disappearance • British Airways 5390: The Captain Who Was Sucked Out at 17,300 Feet