That Time Sam Chui Had A Bomb Threat On An Ilyushin Il-86

Aviation vlogger Sam recalls his most terrifying flight...


Photo: Toshi Aoki - JP Spotters via Wikimedia

Aviation vlogger Sam Chui has had some incredible experiences in his lifetime. From traveling on Concorde to taking trips on rare and unusual aircraft, his flying adventures have taken him to places most of us can only dream about.

Simple Flying chatted with Sam about his lifestyle – you can hear the conversation in full via the podcast at the foot of this article. During the conversation, we asked him what the weirdest experience he’d ever had on a flight was. He told us,

“The weirdest thing I’ve experienced was a bomb threat in Russia in 2004. This was just a week after a school massacre in Beslan, in September.”

At that time, tensions in Russia were high. Just weeks before, the country suffered a dual bombing of passenger airliners on August 24th. Two Chechen suicide bombers had detonated bombs onboard a Volga-AviaExpress Tu-134 and a Siberia Airlines Tu-154, destroying both planes and causing the loss of life of a total of 90 people.

The Beslan school massacre, considered to be the deadliest school shooting in history, had happened just days before Sam’s flight. The Chechen war, although often overshadowed by events in the Middle East and other regions, was a war on terror, and Chui was flying out of Novosibirsk right at the height of the crisis.

What happened?

Sam was booked onto a night flight from Novosibirsk to Beijing. The flight was set to be operated by a Siberia Airlines Ilyushin Il-86, and Sam boarded and took his seat – a window position near the rear of the cabin.


Photo: Sam Chui

Shortly after getting seated, Sam noticed something odd. He told us,

“There were two people who, after boarding, went to the bathroom. And then they told the flight attendant they wanted to leave the airplane. After that, they refused to let the plane depart.”

Photo: Sam Chui

The pair of passengers were behaving very suspiciously, and were insistent on leaving the airplane. All the passengers seated at the back of the plane heard the conversation with the cabin crew, as the two people insisted they no longer wanted to fly and wished to get off the airplane.

Naturally, this rang alarm bells for the crew.

People off, dogs on

Sam recalled that, although everyone was speaking Russian, there was one English word he could understand as it rippled through the cabin – bomb. Tensions were high, and other passengers began gathering up their belongings and demanding to leave the airplane. People were starting to panic.

Moments later, armed security forces, complete with sniffer dogs, began to board the plane, and the cabin crew began unloading passengers.


Photo: Sam Chui

Arriving in the terminal, all the passengers were made to go through security again and were subjected to manual pat downs. Individual passengers were pulled aside and questioned in depth. After this, they were told to sit and wait in the terminal.

A terrifying trip

Three hours later, there was an announcement that passengers could, once again, proceed to board the plane. And it wasn’t a replacement plane, but the very same aircraft they just got off. Several passengers demanded a different plane, not least because the two suspicious characters were no longer in sight, and definitely had not boarded the plane.

But the airline was convinced the airplane was safe to fly. While the checks had been done and the dogs had found nothing, it didn’t stop Sam and the other passengers from feeling very nervous about the flight. Sam recalls,

“I still remember the noise as we skyrocketed out of Novosibirsk in the early morning sunrise in Siberia - It was incredibly noisy on the Il-86 due to the closeness of the MK 86 engine. During the whole four-hour flight, the plane was shaking very violently due to a low weather system over Siberia. In my mind, I was thinking - hopefully the bomb doesn't get set off and explode!"

Photo: Sam Chui

Thankfully, Sam arrived in Beijing safe and sound, but notes that it’s probably the only time in his life he’s wished he could get off a plane early.

“A lot of people were seriously worried on that flight, because they didn't change the plane after searching. They just used the same plane to go to China. And so, I think that that was one of the scariest things I've ever experienced.”

Video - My Scariest Flight - Bomb Threat Onboard IL-86