Covenant News

Passenger Describes Seconds of Terror in the Air

NAIROBI, KENYA (January 4, 2001) - The son of a Covenant family, his wife and children had the scare of their lives December 29 when a passenger on the plane in which they were riding attacked the pilots in the cockpit of a British Airways flight, causing the plane to dive out of control.

Todd Engstrom, his wife, Lisa, and daughters Anna and Britta were en route to Tenwek, Kenya, for a month-long mission project when a Kenyan man attacked the pilots, according to Todd's father, John, who serves as chair of the Board of Human Resources for the Evangelical Covenant Church.

The plane plunged some 10,000 feet during the struggle before a former college basketball player, Clarke Bynum, entered the cockpit and helped subdue the attacker. He may have only averaged five points per game during his career at Clemson University, but he scored more important points with the Engstrom family and some 400 others on the flight.

The aircraft left London at 10:25 p.m. December 28, Todd told his father. The younger Engstrom, a doctor, is a resident of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and attends a Presbyterian church near Portland. "At 5 a.m. (London time December 29), the plane suddenly launched into a violent dive," Todd said. "Initially, we thought it was one of those wind shear type phenomenon. However, we were treated to a series of those violent dives over the next 60 to 90 seconds."

Todd said it seemed pretty quiet during the first set of plunges, but "near the end there were audible prayers - Christian and Muslim . . . one felt totally out of control and completely helpless."

The 39-year old Bynum, a father of four, discovered that a Kenyan man (reportedly a student in London) had entered the cockpit, Todd related. Bynum was en route to Uganda for his own Christian mission project.

"I could hear the pilot screaming and you could hear a tussling match going on in there and he was hollering 'help,' - I just grabbed his neck, shoulders, whatever I could get hold of and just joined in the fight," Bynum told WBT Radio in Charlotte, North Carolina. "I was able to pull him off and from there we got him to the ground and the pilot was able to get control of the plane."

How did Bynum find the strength to take such a risk? "There were literally hundreds of people back home praying for us, knowing we were going on this (church) mission trip (to Uganda)," Bynum told the Associated Press. "There was this strength within that made me get up and go. It came from God."

Bynum's act of bravery allowed pilots to level the plane off after a drop of more than 10,000 feet and, according to Engstrom, the captain spoke to passengers via intercom and told them of the intrusion a few minutes after the big scare. Two hours later, the plane landed in Nairobi.

Todd and Lisa (both graduates of North Park College) and their children made it to Tenwek days later. "We are fine - we suffered absolutely no physical harm," Todd said. "On an emotional front, I think we've done quite well. It's one of those things that hardly seems real at this point."

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