Lufthansa Flight 181

Lufthansa Flight 181

D-ABCE, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, pictured atManchester Airportin 1975
Hijacking
Date	13–18 October 1977 (5 days)
Summary	Hijacking
Site	Initially over theMediterranean Sea,south ofthe French coast; subsequentlyMogadishu International Airport,Somalia
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 737-230C
Aircraft name	Landshut
Operator	Lufthansa
IATA flight No.	LH181
ICAO flight No.	DLH181
Call sign	LUFTHANSA 181
Registration	D-ABCE
Flight origin	Son Sant Joan Airport
Destination	Frankfurt International Airport
Occupants	95
Passengers	86plus 4 hijackers
Crew	5
Fatalities	4(1 crew, 3 hijackers)
Injuries	5(1 flight attendant, 3 passengers, 1 hijacker)
Survivors	91(All passengers, 4 crew, 1 hijacker)

The Route (in German)

Lufthansa Flight 181was aBoeing737-230Cjetliner (reg. D-ABCE) namedLandshutthat washijackedon 13 October 1977 by four members of thePopular Front for the Liberation of Palestine,who called themselves Commando Martyr Halima. The objective of the hijacking was to secure the release of imprisonedRed Army Factionleaders in German prisons. In the early hours of 18 October, just after midnight, theWest Germancounter-terrorism groupGSG 9,backed by theSomali Armed Forces,stormed the aircraft inMogadishu,Somalia,with 86 passengers and four of the total five crew rescued.The rescue operation was codenamedFeuerzauber(German for "Magic Fire" ).The hijacking is considered to be part of theGerman Autumn.3 hijackers and the captain were killed.

Lufthansa crew

Two flight crew and three cabin crew operated the round-trip flight fromFrankfurttoPalma de Mallorca:

Jürgen Schumann(37)

Captain.Born inColditzin 1940, a formerLuftwaffeLockheedF-104 Starfighterpilot. On 16 October atAden Airport,after being permitted to leave the aircraft to check the plane's airworthiness, he went to talk to the Yemeni airport authorities to try and convince them to not let the plane take off. He subsequently boarded the plane after returning and was then murdered by terrorist leaderZohair Youssef Akacheafter being accused of trying to escape. Posthumously awarded theGerman Federal Cross of Merit1st class, he was survived by his wife and two sons. The building housing the Lufthansa Pilot School inBremenwas named in his honour, as was a street in theBavariancity ofLandshut.He is buried inBabenhauseninHesse.

Jürgen Vietor (35)

Co-Pilot.Born inKasselin 1942, a former German Navy pilot. He piloted theLandshutfromAdentoMogadishu.He returned to work just six weeks after the hijacking, and the first aircraft he was assigned to was theLandshutwhich had already been repaired and returned to service. He retired in 1999. He was also awarded theGerman Federal Cross of Merit1st Class. He subsequently returned the medal in December 2008 in protest over the release on probation of the formerRed Army FactionterroristChristian Klar,who had been involved in the kidnap and murder ofHanns Martin Schleyerin 1977.

Hannelore Piegler (33)

Chief flight attendant.She was in charge of the cabin crew, servicing the first class passengers. Subsequently she published a book on the hijacking entitled 'A Hundred Hours Between Fear and Hope'.

Anna-Maria Staringer (28)

Flight attendant.She had her 28th birthday on the flight. Akache ordered a birthday cake and champagne via the radio in Dubai. The airport catering supplied a cake with 28 candles embellished with "Happy Birthday Anna-Maria".

Gabriele Dillmann(23)

Flight attendant.She was a pillar of support and hope for the other hostages, and was dubbed "the angel of Mogadishu" (Engel von Mogadischu) by the German press. Like Schumann and Vietor she was awarded theGerman Federal Cross of Merit.She subsequently married Lufthansa pilot Rüdeger von Lutzau, who piloted the Lufthansa Boeing 707 aircraft with the GSG9 anti-terrorist squad that landed in Mogadishu. AsGabriele von Lutzaushe has acquired an international reputation as a sculptor (principally of figures inbeechwood), and has shown her work in numerous exhibitions in Germany and throughout Europe.

Key West German rescue personnel

ColonelUlrich Wegener(48)

Federal Border Protection (Bundesgrenzschutz) officer who had served as liaison officer with the West German Interior Ministry at the time of theMunich massacreby the PLO during the1972 Olympic Games.He was subsequently appointed by the West German government to establish and lead an elite anti-terrorist squad. The unit was officially established on 17 April 1973 as a part of West Germany's federal border guard service and namedGSG 9,which stands forGrenzschutzgruppe 9(Border Protection Group 9), as theBundesgrenzschutzalready had eight regular border guard groups. Wegener was trained by both the BritishSASand the IsraeliSayeret Matkal,which were the only known established anti-terrorist units in the world at the time. He also participated in the rescue of Israeli hostages inOperation Entebbein 1976.Wegener planned and commanded the successful GSG 9 operation, code-named Magic Fire,to rescue theLandshuthostages at Mogadishu. After his retirement from GSG 9, Wegener worked as a consultant to help establish counter-terrorism units in various foreign countries. He also served on the security advisory council of KÖTTER GmbH & Co. KG Verwaltungsdienstleistungen, a major German provider of security and facility management services. He died on 28 December 2017.

MajorKlaus Blatte (38)

Deputy Commander of GSG 9 in 1977 and one of the four assault squad leaders that stormed theLandshutat Mogadishu. When Wegener retired, Blatte succeeded him as commander of GSG 9.

MinisterHans-Jürgen Wischnewski(55)

Minister of State at the Federal Chancellery who was designated by ChancellorHelmut Schmidtas his special envoy to coordinate the political negotiations with the various foreign governments to facilitate the release or rescue of theLandshuthostages. Due to his excellent contacts and personal relationships with Arab leaders, he was nicknamed "Ben Wisch" by the German press. When Helmut Schmidt was succeeded byHelmut Kohl,Wischnewski became a travelling consultant toArab,African, and South American countries, advising them on negotiating techniques and pacification policies to deal with terrorist and insurgent groups. He died in 2005.

ChancellorHelmut Schmidt(59)

German Federal Chancellor(Bundeskanzler) between 1974 and 1982 who adopted a tough, uncompromising stance on theHanns Martin Schleyerkidnapping and Lufthansa 181 hijacking in 1977. He authorised the GSG 9 mission to rescue theLandshuthostages and his anti-terrorist policies were successful in overcoming the long-standing threat posed by theRed Army Faction.After retiring from theBundestagin 1986, he helped found the committee supporting theEMUand creation of theEuropean Central Bank.He died in 2015.

Hijacking

At 11:00 on Thursday 13 October 1977,Lufthansaflight LH 181, aBoeing 737namedLandshut,took off fromPalma de Mallorcaen routetoFrankfurtwith 86 passengers and five crew, piloted by Captain Jürgen Schumann, with co-pilot Jürgen Vietor at the controls. About 30 minutes later, as it was overflyingMarseille,the aircraft was hijacked by four militants calling themselves "Commando Martyr Halima" in honour of fellow militantBrigitte Kuhlmann,who had been killed inOperation Entebbethe previous year. The leader of the hijacker group wasPalestinianterrorist Zohair Youssif Akache (23, male), who adopted thealias"Captain Martyr Mahmud". The other three wereSuhaila Sayeh(24, female), a Palestinian, and twoLebanese people,Wabil Harb (23, male) and Hind Alameh (22, female). Akache ( "Mahmud" ) angrily burst into the cockpit, brandishing a fully loaded pistol in his hand. He forcibly removed Vietor from the cockpit, sending him to the economy class area to join the passengers and flight attendants, leaving Schumann to take over the flight controls. As the other three hijackers knocked over food trays, ordering the hostages to put their hands up, Mahmud coerced Captain Schumann to fly east toLarnacainCyprus,but was told that the plane had insufficient fuel and would have to land inRomefirst.

Rome

The hijacked aircraft changed course at around 14:30 (as noticed by air traffic controllers atAix-en-Provence), diverting eastward and landed atFiumicino Airportin Fiumicino, Rome at 15:45 for refuelling. The hijackers made their first demands, acting in concert with aRed Army Factiongroup, the Siegfried Hausner Commando, which had kidnapped West German industrialistHanns Martin Schleyerfive weeks earlier: they demanded the release of ten Red Army Faction (RAF) terrorists detained at theJVA Stuttgart-Stammheimprison, plus two Palestinian compatriots held inTurkey,as well as US$15 million. West German Interior MinisterWerner Maihofercontacted his Italian counterpartFrancesco Cossigaand suggested the plane's tyres be shot out to prevent the aircraft from taking off. After consulting with his colleagues, Cossiga decided that the most desirable solution for theItalian governmentwas to rid itself of the problem altogether. The aircraft was refuelled with a full 11 tons of fuel, allowing Mahmud to order co-pilot Vietor (who had been allowed to re-enter the cockpit on the ground at Fiumicino at Schumann's behest) to take off and fly the plane to Larnaca at 17:45 (5:45 p.m.) without even obtaining clearance from Romeair traffic control.

Larnaca

TheLandshutlanded inLarnaca,Cyprus, at 20:28. After about an hour, a localPLOrepresentative arrived at the airport and over the radio tried to persuade Mahmud to release the hostages. This only provoked a furious response from Mahmud, who started angrily screaming at him inArabicuntil the PLO representative gave up and left. The aircraft was then refuelled and Schumann asked flight control for a routing toBeirut.He was told thatBeirut Airportwas blockaded and closed to them and Mahmud suggested that they would fly toDamascusinstead. TheLandshuttook off at 22:50, heading for Beirut, but was refused permission to land there at 23:01. After also being denied landing permission in Damascus at 23:14,Baghdadat 00:13 (14 October), andKuwaitat 00:58, they flew toBahrain.

Bahrain

Schumann was told by a passingQantasairliner thatBahrain Airportwas also closed to them. Schumann radioed flight control and told them that they had insufficient fuel to fly elsewhere and despite being told again that the airport was closed, he was suddenly given an automatic landing frequency by the flight controller. The plane finally touched down in Bahrain at 01:52 on 14 October. On arrival, the aircraft was immediately surrounded by armed troops and Mahmud radioed the tower that unless the soldiers were withdrawn, he would shoot the co-pilot. After a stand-off with the tower, with Mahmud setting a five‑minute deadline and holding a loaded pistol to Vietor's head, the troops were withdrawn. The aircraft was then refuelled and took off forDubaiat 03:24.

Dubai

Approaching Dubai, the 737 was again denied landing permission. Overflying theDubai airportin the early light of dawn, the hijackers and pilots saw the runway blocked with military jeeps, trucks and fire engines. Running short of fuel, Schumann radioed the tower to announce that they were going to land anyway. As they made a low pass over the airport, the vehicles were finally being removed. At 05:40 local time, the pilots made a smooth touchdown on the airport's main runway at sunrise. The plane was parked at the parking bay around 05:51, at daybreak.

In Dubai, the terrorists instructed the control tower to send airport crew staffers to empty the toilet tanks, supply food, water, medicine, newspapers, and take away the rubbish. Captain Schumann was able to communicate the number of hijackers on board, specifying that there were two male and two female hijackers by dropping different types of cigarettes on the tarmac from out of the cockpit window.In an interview with journalists, this information was revealed by Dubai'sSheikh Mohammed,then Minister of Defence.The hijackers learned about this, possibly from the radio, causing an enraged Mahmud to angrily threaten Schumann's life for secretly sharing this coded message. The aircraft remained parked on the tarmac stationed at Dubai airport all throughout Saturday 15 October, during which the jetliner experienced technical snags with the electrical generator, air conditioning andauxiliary power unitbreaking down. The hijackers demanded that engineers fix the plane. On the morning of Sunday 16 October, Mahmud threatened to start shooting hostages if the aircraft was not refuelled, and Dubai authorities eventually agreed to refuel the plane.

In the meantime, bothHans-Jürgen Wischnewski,theWest Germanminister responsible for handling the hijacking, and ColonelUlrich Wegener,commander of elite German anti-terrorist squadGSG 9,had arrived in Dubai to try to persuade the government to agree to let GSG 9 commandos into Dubai to storm the aircraft. However, after permission was granted for GSG 9 commandos to storm the aircraft, SAS and GSG 9 senior operatives insisted on additional combat exercises and dry-runs on an adjacent airstrip. Reports suggest up to 45 hours of training was conducted while in Dubai (over a period of 80 hours). While Wegener was contemplating his options, the jetliner was on the move again after the hijackers fully refuelled theLandshutplane and the pilots started up the engines. At 12:19 on Sunday 16 October it took off, bound forSalalahand Masirah inOman,where permission to land was once again denied and both airports were blockaded. After Riyadh also closed and blockaded its airport runways at 14:50 on 16 October (three days after the hijacking began), a course was set toAdeninSouth Yemen,at the limit of the plane's fuel range.

Aden

Approaching and overflying Aden, the flight was yet again denied permission to land, this time atAden International Airport,and both main runways (including the apron) were blocked by military jeeps, tanks and other vehicles. The plane was running dangerously low on fuel, but the Aden airport authorities adamantly refused to clear the runways, leaving co-pilot Vietor little choice but to make an emergency landing on an unpaved sand strip roughly parallel to (in-between) both runways. The plane remained largely intact following the ground roll but when the Aden authorities told the hijackers and pilots that they needed to fly away, both pilots were concerned about the aircraft's airworthiness after its rough, hard landing on rugged, rocky and sandy terrain, deeming it unsafe to take off and fly the jetliner again until a thorough engineering inspection had been made. After the engineers claimed that everything was all right with the airframe, Mahmud consequently allowed Schumann to check the condition of the landing gear and the engines. Both engines had ingested a copious amount of sand and dirt at maximum reverse thrust and were clogged up. The landing gear had not collapsed, but its structure was weakened and its extension/retraction mechanism was damaged. Schumann did not immediately return to the plane after inspecting it, even after numerous calls by the hijackers threatening to detonate the aircraft because of his departure. The reasons for his prolonged absence remained unclear for a long time. Only in 2008, as part of a television documentary, was it possible to track down the man who had met Schumann at the airport in Aden: Sheikh Ahmed Mansur, commander of a Yemeni special unit. Mansur testified that the captain, concerned for the lives of his passengers, had demanded that the possibly damaged aircraft be prevented from continuing to fly.

Schumann subsequently boarded the plane to face the wrath of Mahmud, who furiously forced him to kneel on the passenger cabin floor before fatally shooting him in the head, without giving him a chance to explain himself.The hijacked plane was refuelled at 01:00 on 17 October and at 02:02, flown by co-pilot Vietor, it dangerously and sluggishly took off from Aden on course for theSomalicapital ofMogadishu.

Mogadishu

On the morning of 17 October at daybreak, around 06:34 local time, theLandshutmade an unannounced and textbook landing on the main runway atMogadishu International Airportin Mogadishu. The Somali government had initially refused the plane permission to land, but relented when the jet appeared in Somali air space, for fear of endangering the passengers' lives by turning the aircraft away. The chief hijacker leader Mahmud (Akache) told co-pilot Vietor that he was very impressed by Vietor's impressive flying skills and that consequently he was free to disembark and flee, since the crippled plane was in no state to fly elsewhere. Vietor, however, opted to remain with the 82 passengers and three other crew members on board. After the twin‐engine aircraft was parked in front of the main airport terminal, it was surrounded at a distance by armed Somali troops. Schumann's corpse (which had been stored in a coat closet on board the flight throughout the final leg of the journey) was dumped via the aircraft's right rear emergency evacuation slide onto the tarmac, and whisked away in an ambulance. During the day, the hijackers asked for food and drugs, which were sent after the Somali government gave its permission; a Somali request that the hijackers release the women and children in exchange for the supplies was rejected.The hijackers set a 16:00 deadline for the Red Army Faction prisoners to be released, at which time they threatened to blow up the aircraft. The hijackers poured theduty-freespiritsover the hostages in preparation for the destruction of the aircraft, which did not eventuate. The hijackers were then told that the West German government had agreed to release the RAF prisoners and that their transfer to Mogadishu would take several more hours, but this was a lie. The hijackers agreed to extend the deadline to 02:30 the following morning (18 October).

Operation Feuerzauber

Operation Feuerzauber (Magic Fire)
Date 18 October 1977 Location Mogadishu,Somali Democratic Republic Result GSG 9 victory
Belligerents
GSG 9 22nd SAS(logistics and planning) Somali Army(lead)	PFLP
Commanders and leaders
Ulrich Wegener Alastair Morrison Siad Barre Hussein Kulmiye Afrah	Zohair Youssef Akache†
Strength
30 GSG 9 operators 2 SAS operators	4 hijackers
Casualties and losses
1 wounded	3 killed 1 wounded/captured
4 civilians wounded

Meanwhile, while West GermanChancellorHelmut Schmidtattempted to negotiate an agreement withSomali PresidentSiad Barre,special envoyHans-Jürgen WischnewskiandGSG 9commanderUlrich Wegenerarrived at Mogadishu airport fromJeddahin a Lufthansa 707 aircraft co-piloted by Rüdeger von Lutzau (Gabriele Dillmann's fiancé). In West Germany, a team of 30 GSG 9 border guard commandos under deputy commander Major Klaus Blatte had assembled at Hangelar airfield nearBonn,awaiting instructions. The border guard commando force took off fromCologne-Bonn Airporton aBoeing 707on Monday morning (17 October) en route toDjibouti,within a short flying time of Somalia, while Schmidt negotiated with the Somalis. While the team was flying overEthiopia,an agreement was reached and permission given to land at Mogadishu. The aircraft landed at 20:00 local time with all its lights out to avoid detection by the hijackers.

After four hours, unloading all of their equipment and undertaking the necessary reconnaissance, Wegener and Blatte finalised the assault plan, scheduled to begin at 02:00 local time. They decided to approach from the rear of the aircraft, itsblind spot,in six teams using black-paintedaluminiumladders to gain access to the aircraft through the escape hatches on the bottom of the fuselage and via theoverwing doors.In the meantime, a fictitious progress report on the journey being taken by the released prisoners was being fed to Mahmud by German representatives in the airport tower. Just after 02:00, Mahmud was told that the plane carrying the prisoners had just departed fromCairoafter refuelling and he was asked to provide the conditions of the prisoner/hostage exchange over the radio.

As a small force, the GSG-9 relied on their Somali counterparts to maintain ground defence around the aircraft as well as deception operations.Several minutes before the rescue, Somali soldiers set off an explosion 60 metres (200 ft) in front of the jet as a diversionary tactic, prompting Akache and two of the other three hijackers to rush to the cockpit to observe what was going on, isolating them from the hostages in the cabin.At 02:07 local time, the GSG 9 men silently climbed up their ladders and opened the emergency doors usingexplosive charges.Wegener, at the head of one group, opened the forward door, and two other groups, led by Sergeant-Major Dieter Fox and Sergeant Joachim Huemmer, stormed the aircraft using ladders to climb up onto the wings and open both overwing emergency doors at the same time. Shouting in German for the passengers and crew to get on the floor, the men shot all four terrorists, killing Wabil Harb and Hind Alameh and wounding Zohair Akache andSuhaila Sayeh.Akache died of his injuries hours later. One GSG 9 member was wounded by return fire from the terrorists. Three passengers and a flight attendant were slightly wounded in the crossfire. An American passenger aboard the plane described the rescue: "I saw the door open and a man appears. His face was painted black and he starts shouting in German 'We're here to rescue you, get down!' [Wir sind hier, um euch zu retten, runter!] and they started shooting. "

The emergency escape chutes were deployed, and passengers and crew were ordered to quickly evacuate the aircraft. At 02:12 local time, just five minutes after the assault had commenced, the border guard commandos radioed:"Frühlingszeit! Frühlingszeit!"( "Springtime! Springtime!" ), which was the code word for the successful completion of the operation. A few moments later, a radio signal was sent to Chancellor Schmidt inBonn:"Four opponents down – hostages free – four hostages slightly wounded – one border guard commando slightly wounded".

Stuttgartlanded atCologne Bonn Airporton 18 October 1977, with State MinisterHans-Jürgen WischnewskiandGSG 9team (pictured) onboard. The rescued hostages returned on a separate Lufthansa plane namedKöln.Photograph by Ludwig Wegmann

The rescuers escorted all 86 passengers to safety,and a few hours later they were all flown toCologne-Bonn Airport,landing in the early afternoon of Tuesday 18 October and given a hero's welcome.

Aftermath

News of the rescue of the hostages was followed by the deaths (and alleged suicides) of RAF (Red Army Faction) membersAndreas Baader,Gudrun EnsslinandJan-Carl Raspeat JVA Stuttgart-Stammheim Prison. RAF memberIrmgard Mölleralso attempted suicide but survived her injuries. On Wednesday 19 October, the body of Hanns-Martin Schleyer, who had been kidnapped by the RAF some five weeks prior to the hijacking, was found in the trunk of a car on a side street inMulhouse;the RAF had shot him dead upon hearing about the deaths of their imprisoned comrades. They contacted French newspaperLibérationto announce his 'execution'; a subsequentpost-mortem examinationindicated that he had been killed the previous day.

After theLandshutcrisis, the German government stated it would never again negotiate with terrorists (as it previously had withLufthansa Flight 649and615hijackers). ChancellorHelmut Schmidtwas widely praised among western countries for his decision to storm the aircraft to rescue the hostages, although some criticized the risky action.

West German-Somalirelations received a significant boost after the successful operation.Lufthansahenceforth serviced allSomali Airlinesplanes in West Germany, whileFrankfurtbecame Somali Airlines' new gateway toEurope.The West German government, as a sign of gratitude, issued two multi-million dollar loans to the Somali government to assist in the development of the country's fisheries, agriculture and other sectors.

The aircraft

As freighter for Brazilian TAF, PT-MTB

Originally built in January 1970, theLandshutis aBoeing 737-230C (manufacturer's serial number 20254, Boeing line number 230,registrationD-ABCE) with two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A engines, named after the city ofLandshutin Bavaria. While under control of the hijackers, the plane had traveled 10,000 kilometres (6,200 mi).The damaged aircraft was ferried back to Germany, repaired, and returned to service in late November 1977. It continued to fly for Lufthansa until September 1985, and was sold three months later to US carrierPresidential Airways.It subsequently changed hands several times.

Purchase

The plane ultimately ended up in the fleet of Brazilian carrierTAF Linhas Aéreas,which purchased it for US$4,708,268 fromTransmille Air ServicesofKuala Lumpur.The Brazilian company subsequently went bankrupt and was unable to continue paying off the debt.TAF stopped service of the aircraft under registration PT-MTB in January 2008, owing to severe damage that made it unairworthy, and placed it in storage inFortaleza Airportfor years.On 14 August 2017, after Mr Kurpjuweit made inquiries toFraportabout scrapping seven or more abandoned aircraft at the airport, an ex-pilot group suggested bringing the plane back to Germany. David Dornier, former director of theDornier Museum,along with the German Foreign Ministry, subsequently agreed to the project. Informed of the plans, Kurpjuweit helped the museum director with a feasibility project involving transport of the aircraft in aVolga-Dnepr AirlinesAn-124.The 737 was acquired from TAF for R$75,936 (€20,519) in an agreement with the Fortaleza Airport administration for payment of taxes.On 15 August 2017, an MD-11F (registration D-ALCC) was sent to the airport with 8.5 tonnes of equipment and 15Lufthansa Technikmechanics to dismantle the 737.On 21 and 22 September 2017, anAn-124andIl-76,also fromVolga-Dnepr Airlines,arrived at Fortaleza. The An-124 carried thewingsandfuselageback to Europe, while the Il-76 carried the engines and seats. After a refuelling stop inCape Verde,both arrived inFriedrichshafenon 23 September 2017, for a total cost of €10 million paid by the Foreign Ministry. Smaller parts and equipment were sent to Germany in twocargo shipcontainers.Upon arrival, the parts were presented to approximately 4,000 people during a special event. The recoveredLandshutaircraft was scheduled to be restored and exhibited by October 2019.

Storage

The disassembled plane has since been stored in a hangar atAirplus maintenance GmbHin Friedrichshafen. The plan to restore and display it in its original 1977 Lufthansa livery was never carried out.Funding issues and questions over competing responsibilities between ministries delayed the project, as did uncertainty over €300,000 in yearly costs. In February 2020, a proposal to transfer the plane parts toBerlin Tempelhofwas rejected by the Ministry.After three years in a hangar and with the 737's fate unresolved, David Dornier stepped down in September 2020 as museum director and was replaced by attorney Hans-Peter Rien. He and Culture MinisterMonika Grütters(CDU) never agreed on further financing, and the project was placed on hold. By 2023, a new shelter is rented, and an opening for a kind of a "museum" was planned for 2026.

Studies

The federal government looked into whether the aircraft could be exhibited in theAir Force Museum in Berlin-Gatow.The plans did not meet with approval from historians and experts, due to its remote location and lack of connection between the German army and the "Landshut" aircraft.CSU members of the Munich city council proposed bringing the aircraft to Munich, and an application was filed to see if the plane could be exhibited at formerMunich Riem Airport.The city highlighted to Culture Minister Grütters the aircraft's connection toMunich,where it had been christened on 7 August 1970 in a Riem Airport hangar in the presence of a large delegation from Landshut.After exactly three years, plans to exhibit the 737 in Dornier Museum were effectively over.

Display

A right Museum will not happen, In opposite a compromise Place of Learn is to be made at Hall Q, which is planned to be open until final of 2026 without any known appointments.

€15 million was made available from the German federal government, in the following allotments:

• €7.5 million:
  • €2.5 million: aircraft maintenance and restoration, which will not happen.
  • €2.5 million: hangar construction, which will not happen. Instead a place was rented and refurbished.
  • €1.5 million: provision of technical equipment
  • €1.0 million: implementation of teaching concept
• €7.5 million: operating subsidy for the 10-year period, tied to the requirement to limit "museum" entrance fees to 5 euros per person

Location

The money is linked to the Friedrichshafen location, but not to others. However the Culture Ministry had objections and postponed a final decision, to Headquarters of the Federal Police Directorate in Sankt Augustin-Hangelar in North Rhine-Westphalia with the headquarters of the GSG9 special force.

Decisions

In April 2021, the German government announced that the aircraft would not be restored to original condition as its historic integrity had been compromised and that it could be disassembled to be displayed in multiple locations.A location for the "Democracy Place of Learn" at the Friedrichshafen Airport was announced in May 2023.

Transfer

The rest of aircraft goes inside a transformed "Halle Q" of Friedrichshafen Airport planned until July 2024, but postponed till 2026, when exactly it is not known.

Use of the nameLandshutin other airplanes

The name Landshut has been used by Lufthansa on three other planes since 1985:

• Boeing 737-200D-ABHM(1985-1996)
• Airbus A319-100D-AILK(1997-2001)
• Airbus A330-300D-AIKE(2007-2021)

Notable hostages

• Horst-Gregorio Canellas,German football official responsible for breaking the1971 Bundesliga scandalwas one of the hostages on board, along with his daughter.

In popular culture

The song "122 Hours of Fear" byThe Screamers,recorded in 1978, was inspired by the hijacking.

The song "RAF" byBrian EnoandSnatch(Judy NylonandPatti Palladin) was created using sound elements from aBaader Meinhofransom message available by public telephone at the time of the hijacking.

The hijacking and the hostage rescue operation were portrayed in two German television films:Death Gamein 1997andMogadischu,directed byRoland Suso Richter,in 2008.

The hijacking and rescue were also portrayed in theBlack Opstelevision series, season 2 episode 76, titled "Operation Fire Magic".

The 2015 video gameTom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siegeused Lufthansa Flight 181, along with other historical hostage extraction operations, as inspiration for the game and as research for making the game more accurate.

The hijacking and rescue were also a subplot device in the 2018 filmSuspiria.

See also

• Operation Entebbe
• List of hostage crises
• Air France Flight 8969

Further reading

• McNab, Chris.Storming Flight 181 – GSG 9 and the Mogadishu Hijack 1977Osprey Raid Series No. 19; Osprey Publishing, 2011.ISBN978-1-84908-376-8.
• Davies, Barry.Fire Magic – Hijack at MogadishuBloomsbury Publishing, 1994.ISBN978-0-7475-1921-8.
• Blumenau, Bernhard.The United Nations and Terrorism. Germany, Multilateralism, and Antiterrorism Efforts in the 1970sPalgrave Macmillan, 2014, ch. 2.ISBN978-1-137-39196-4.

External links

• Mogadischuat theInternet Movie Database
• Documentary about the GSG9Archived2 August 2016 at theWayback Machine
• Wiegrefe, Klaus (29 September 2008)."Log of the 'Landshut' Hijacking".Der Spiegel(in German).
• Unabhängiger Unterstützerkreis für Einen Lernort der Deutschen Demokratie in Friedrichshafen