Entebbe pilot Michel Bacos who stayed with hostages dies

[Eugene]

Source: BBC

Entebbe pilot Michel Bacos who stayed with hostages dies

27 March 2019

Michel Bacos, the Air France captain hailed as a hero for refusing to abandon his passengers when Palestinian and German hijackers seized the plane in 1976, has died in France aged 95.

The plane, carrying some 260 people from Tel Aviv to Paris, had stopped off in Athens, where the hijackers got on board and demanded it change course.

The hostage drama ended six days later at Entebbe airport in Uganda, when Israeli commandos stormed the terminal.

Bacos died in the French city of Nice.

Awarded France's highest civilian accolade, the Légion d'Honneur, he told the BBC in 2016 that as captain "it would be impossible for me to leave my passengers, unimaginable".

-snip-

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47719367


Michel Bacos had told his fellow crew they should stay with the hostages until the drama was over (Getty Images)

[pdxflyboy]

1. RIP, Captain.

[Sherman A1]

2. RIP

[Mosby]

3. a person of integrity, may he RIP.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

4. Godspeed!

[leanforward]

5. Merci beaucoup, Monsieur

I would love to hear about his time in the air, from his solo to the last flight.

[RHMerriman]

6. In 1941, at the age of 17, Capt. Bacos volunteered for the Free French forces

In 1941, at the age of 17, Capt. Bacos volunteered for the Free French forces, to fight the Nazis and help liberate his nation.

Courage personified.