‘Hijack ode’: Germany not amused

A man hijacked a light aircraft and threatened to crash into the European Central Bank (ECB) tower in Germany’s financial capital Frank...

A man hijacked a light aircraft and threatened to crash into the European Central Bank (ECB) tower in Germany’s financial capital Frankfurt on Sunday before landing the plane and being arrested.

The pilot told N-TV television he wanted to draw attention to a female astronaut who died in the US Space shuttle Challenger which exploded shortly after takeoff in January 1986.

Frankfurt airport was closed down, tall buildings in the city evacuated and military aircraft patrolled the sky as the motorised glider circled the city for more than two hours before landing at the airport where he was arrested.

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The incident was a chilling reminder of the September 11 suicide attacks on the United States but a spokesman for Germany’s air traffic control authority said he did not believe there was a terrorist link to Sunday’s incident.

‘‘I want to make my big idol Judith Resnik famous,’’ the man, speaking what appeared to be native German, told N-TV: ‘‘I want to draw attention to the first Jewish female astronaut.’’

Resnik, who died on board Challenger, was Jewish. The man did not say why he may have targetted the ECB. The plane was hijacked from the Babenhausen airfield. (Reuters)