Passengers on a Transavia flight were left guessing why they faced an eight-hour delay on Tuesday evening after the dramatic arrest of their pilot shortly before take off from Valencia airport. The Dutch-Argentinian pilot, named as Julio Poch, was led away in handcuffs by Spanish police.

The pilot is suspected of being involved in the so-called “death flights” carried out by the Argentinian junta in the 1970s and 1980s, when opponents of the regime were thrown out of airplanes into the sea.

A number of the passengers on the flight from Valencia to Amsterdam were Dutch nationals. Passengers leaving the plane after it finally landed at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport told journalists that they were not informed what was going on.

“We were kept on the ground for 8 hours. Little information was given. At first they said it was a fuel problem. Then we were told that there was a problem with staff. We were given vouchers to buy dinner. No information was given when we got back on the plane.”

Another passenger told journalists the pilot was handcuffed and taken away. A letter explaining the incident only revealed that the man “was not able to fly the plane.”

Correspondent Rop Zoutberg told the Dutch NOS news that according to his sources the pilot was arrested at the request of the Argentinian authorities. The Transavia flight was delayed by several hours after the arrest as a new crew had to be flown in to take over. When the arrest took place the plane was about to take off. The Spanish Ministry of Justice made a request by telephone to Transavia to open the doors so that a special unit could arrest the pilot. He was led away in handcuffs. Mr Zoutberg explained that the reason behind the bizarre timing of the arrest was probably due to the lines of communication between Argentina and Spain being shorter than those between the Netherlands and Argentina.

The Dutch Foreign Ministry has confirmed the arrest, but says no request has been submitted for consular assistance as yet. Transavia told Dutch press agency ANP “It is an unpleasant matter for our staff”.

Photo: bribriTO at Flickr