Aer Lingus Flight 164

Aer Lingus flight EI 164 was a scheduled Boeing 737 passenger flight, from Dublin Airport in the Republic of Ireland to London Heathrow Airport, which was hijacked on 2 May 1981.

Five minutes out of Heathrow, Laurence James Downey, a 55-year-old Australian, went into the toilet and doused himself in petrol (gasoline) before going to the cockpit with a cigarette lighter in hand. He initially demanded to be taken to Iran; when told there was insufficient fuel he specified France. The plane landed at Le Touquet – Côte d'Opale Airport and negotiators began discussions with Downey. He demanded that Pope John Paul II make public the Third Secret of Fatima.^[1] After nearly 10 hours of standoff, French special forces stormed the plane and apprehended Downey. No shots were fired and nobody was injured. In February 1983, Downey was sentenced to 5 years' imprisonment for air piracy.^[2] He was a former Trappist monk who had spent time in the Soviet Union and espoused a variety of fringe theories.

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