On April 17th, 2025, many people in the country were quite surprised to learn that there had been an airline hijacking in Belize. The hijacker was a 49-year American who took control of a domestic Tropic Airlines flight between Corozal, in northern Belize, and San Pedro, the primary town on the island of Ambergris Caye.
This story immediately captured my attention because I currently live only about six and half miles from the small Corozal airport, from which the hijacked flight departed, and I previously lived for almost 4 years in San Pedro, where the flight was headed.
I have taken this domestic flight between Corozal and San Pedro a number of times, and it is only a 15-minute flight. Generally, as long as you had your ticket paid for in advance, and if you didn’t have anything to ship in cargo, one could show up at the airport shortly before the flight and simply hop on the flight without waiting to go through any type of security check.
After reading the news about the hijacking of a domestic flight, I started to wonder if things were going to change at our local airports, so I decided to write an article about the recent hijacking incident, giving an overview of what took place, and then take look at both the history of these types of events in Belize, as well as what the government plans to do in response to the isolated event of an airline hijacking in Belize.
April 2025 Hijacking in Belize: What happened?
On Thursday, April 17th, the 8 AM Tropic Air flight departed the Corozal airfield enroute to San Pedro, on the island of Ambergris Caye. The flight was carrying 14 passengers, including one child. Most of the passengers were Belizean nationals.
Some of the flight’s passengers report that the hijacker, Akinyela Taylor, a 49-year-old U.S. citizen, appeared to be ill as the flight took off. However, as soon as the plane was in the air, Taylor pulled out a knife and became violent.
The San Pedro Sun reported:
Once the aircraft was in the air, Doug Maxwell, a long-time resident of San Pedro, witnessed in horror as Taylor stabbed local businessman Fitzgerald Brown in the neck and back. At this moment, Franchesco Castañeda, a Tropic Air employee and fellow passenger, attempted to intervene but he was stabbed in the head, chest, and arms.
The San Pedro Sun
Next, Taylor made his way to the cockpit of the small plane with the knife and told the pilot he wanted him to fly to Texas, USA. But Taylor realized that they could not take the small plane to Texas unless they first got more fuel, so Taylor ordered the pilot to find a place to land and refuel the plane.
The aircraft stayed in the air for approximately one hour and 40 minutes, and it flew over central Belize, the Caribbean Sea, and out near Turneffe Atoll, and then over Ambergris Caye.
The Belize Police Department and other security agencies, such as the Belize Defence Force, were watching the plane’s movements, and they sent teams to several local airports, to be ready to respond when the plane touched down.
The San Pedro Sun quotes local businessman Doug Maxwell describing the scene during the flight, “As the time passed, the main concern was that the airplane was running low on fuel. We were getting ready for a crash landing in the sea.” And Maxwell stated also that Taylor was not affected by pilot Howell Grange’s pleas to allow them to land due to the plane’s dwindling fuel supply.
Shortly after 10AM, the plane circled back to the mainland and headed toward the Belize International Airport (PGIA), near Belize City. According to some passengers, as the plane began to descend, the hijacker, Taylor, started wrestling with the pilot, Grange, and attempted to stab him for control of the aircraft. Taylor appeared determined not to land the plane and threatened to bring it down, endangering the lives of everyone on board.
Despite being attacked while attempting to land the plane before it ran out of fuel, around 10:30AM, Grange successfully landed the plane at Belize International Airport, and the passengers quickly opened the emergency exit door.
Police report that they heard gunshots from inside the plane, and as the aircraft slowed down, the passengers began jumping out.
In an interview with the Daily Mail, passenger Doug Maxwell described what happened at the end of the flight:
Taylor slashed at the pilot, Grange, with the knife and grabbed at the controls until businessman Fitzgerald Brown suddenly pulled a handgun – and ‘neutralized’ Taylor, 49, with a blast to the chest.
The pilot was focused on the landing while the hijacker was stabbing him and fighting for control of the plane. Fitzgerald Brown had been stabbed. He was almost bleeding to death. But he had the patience to wait until the plane was almost on the ground before pulling his weapon.
He used it at just the right moment. It was the most improbable, crazy thing. Both of those guys are real heroes.
The Daily Mail
The pilot, Grange, and the two passengers who had been stabbed by Taylor were sent to different hospitals in Belize City, and Taylor was transported to the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital, a public hospital in Belize City, where he was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
The pilot, Grange, had lost a significant amount of blood and required a transfusion. And the first passenger to be stabbed, Brown, was admitted in critical condition due to stab injuries that reportedly damaged his lungs.
In a news release a few days after the incident, Tropic Air reported that passenger Fitzgerald Brown, who had been stabbed in the neck and back, had been released from the hospital and that the pilot, Captain Howell Grange, was hospitalized for several additional days, but has now also been released from the hospital.
Was this the first hijacking in Belize?
The recent hijacking in Belize of the Tropic Air flight from Corozal to San Pedro was not the first to occur in Belize. And there are actually a few similarities between the recent event and the first hijacking in Belize, which occurred 55 years ago.
The first hijacking in Belize happened in 1970, and it also occurred just a few days before Easter. Interestingly, the first time around, the hijacker was also an American citizen, a twenty-two year old Chinese-American from San Francisco, who was wanted for having killed a police officer in Los Angeles.
The flight was hijacked from the the Belize Municipal Airport when the American young man and his girlfriend brandished a pistol and a shotgun to force passengers away from the plane while it was still on the ground. They then demanded that the pilot take off and fly them to Cuba.
The first hijacking in Belize was as eventful as the more recent drama, and it involved John Greif Sr., San Pedro’s first airline pilot and father to Tropic Air’s future Director John Greif II.
This incredible story of two landings in Chetumal, complete with the aircraft being surrounded by armed soldiers, and one landing in Isla Mujeres, before finally landing on a dirt road in their destination, Cuba, is too long to detail here, but it is a very interesting read. Check out the first-person account which has recently been re-published by Ambergris Today.
Government response to the recent hijacking in Belize
Immediately following the hijacking in Belize of the Tropic Air flight, the government of Belize looked to reassure domestic air travelers that this event was a very rare occurrence.
The Government of Belize Press Office released a statement reminding the public:
This is an extraordinary and rare circumstance. While our domestic airspace is typically very secure — with over 120,000 flights operated safely each year — we acknowledge the seriousness of this incident and the concerns it raises.
The Government of Belize Press Office
While working to reassure the traveling public, the Press Office also went on to commend the pilot for his composure and professionalism during this event, but they also informed the public that there were likely to be some upcoming changes to the security protocols for domestic flights in Belize.
The Press Office also notified the public that:
Although prior assessments indicated a low risk of unlawful interference within domestic operations, we recognize that no system is infallible. It is important to note that discussions to enhance airport security at domestic terminals were already in progress before this incident, including negotiations with specialized security service providers.
We understand the distress this incident may have caused and extend our heartfelt reassurance to the traveling public — both Belizeans and our international visitors — that safety remains our highest priority.
While there is currently no indication that this event is linked to any broader threat, we are taking decisive action. As a precaution and in the interest of public safety, enhanced security measures will be implemented across all domestic airports, effective immediately. These measures are designed to minimize disruption while strengthening protections for passengers, crew, and aircraft.
The Government of Belize Press Office
After the recent hijacking in Belize, what new security measures are being put in place at the domestic airports?
As we see in the government Press Release cited in section above, the government of Belize decided to take immediate action to upgrade security at the domestic airports in the country after the recent hijacking in Belize.
Despite the fact that the government declared the recent event to be extremely rare, with over 120,000 domestic flights per year carried out safely, the reaction to secure the boarding process at the small, regional airports in Belize has been swift.
Some folks here in Belize, including it seems, the Police Commissioner Chester Williams, will miss the traditionally relaxed style of domestic air travel in Belize. I’ve always told friends who have never visited that taking a domestic flight in Belize, especially if it originates somewhere other than the international airport, is akin to catching a bus. One could show up a few minutes before your flight, grab a boarding pass, and hop on the plane.
Shortly after the hijacking, 7 News Belize quoted Commissioner Chester Williams on some of the immediate changes:
We are accustomed to the relaxed security at the commercial aerodromes in Belize, so we have the tendency of reaching at the airstrip, 5 minutes before the flight takes off, enjoying the fact that we are not searched and just go straight on board the flight. This has been occurring for quite some time, but certainly the time has arrived for us to revisit that and put more stringent measures in place now in terms of how we operate at the different aerodromes.
7 News Belize
The biggest changes in security protocols immediately following the recent hijacking in Belize were that police officers were stationed at all of the domestic airfields. And the police officers were scanning passengers for weapons with hand-held scanners prior to boarding.
Reports of domestic flight security protocols just after the incident stated that passengers could no longer take a personal item with them on the aircraft; they were required to hand over their personal items as cargo before boarding so that they could be placed in the luggage compartment.
According to 7 News Belize, the Commissioner of Police stated that boarding a flight at a domestic airstrip should have the same level of security as that of an international flight, which will mean a very different experience at the small airfields throughout the country.
The San Pedro Sun, a week or so after the hijacking reported:
In San Pedro Town, Ambergris Caye, passengers boarding flights from the island are now being checked by police before entering the aircraft. The updated procedures at both Tropic Air and Maya Island Air terminals require complete screening, with a police officer using a handheld metal detector. Passengers can no longer bring personal items onto the plane unless they have been thoroughly inspected before boarding. Some passengers expressed to The Sun that although these measures may lengthen their travel time, they consider them essential to prevent another incident.
The San Pedro Sun
Corozal Daily also reports that new security measures are in effect at the Corozal Airstrip. Passengers are being asked to present a valid identification at Check-In; all luggage and baggage must checked in and tagged; and all carry-on bags must be checked by the Corozal Police at the gate prior to boarding
Final thoughts on Hijacking in Belize: Will Security Change for Domestic Flights in Belize?
While visitors to Belize who have experienced a domestic flight between the international airport and San Pedro or Placencia may see these flights as transportation for tourists, in reality, at the other airfields in Belize, the domestic flights are often used by local people to return to their home districts to visit family or to conduct business or medical appointments.
While living in San Pedro, I took a number of flights between San Pedro and the Belize City Municipal Airport, and I have also flown a number of times between San Pedro and Corozal. These local flights have a different feel than the tourist-based flights originating at the international airport.
On my domestic flights, the majority of the passengers were always locals, and I think that I have always either seen someone I knew, or at least recognized, on all of my flights.
And, as Police Commissioner Williams stated above, the common practice has always been to show up a few minutes before a flight and jump on the plane without dealing with security. For me, this has always been an easy, pleasant, comfortable experience, and we will lose something with the onset of new security procedures.
One of the things I most love about Belize, and particularly in the less tourism-focused areas, is the relaxed, casual atmosphere in which people go about their lives. Corozal, the town near which I live, has been described as the Mayberry RFD of Belize, and while some folks could find the lifestyle here too slow and perhaps a bit boring, it suits me quite well.
Thus, while technology marches on, and things like modern baggage screening equipment is adopted at the small airfields in Belize, I can’t help but feel that with the potential gain in airline safety, we also lose something.
If you are just starting your research of Belize as a possible retirement or relocation destination, you might enjoy our Interview with an Expat in Belize series.
In this series, we take a look into the lives of expats, both of those who have been in Belize for several decades, and of those who have been here for just a couple of years. These folks live in different regions of the country and have varied lifestyles, so you can get a slice of the different experiences which our interviewees have had both during their move to Belize, and in their lives here after relocation.
Finally, if you are considering a move to Belize, you might want to check out our book: Belize FAQs: A detailed guide for those interested in moving to Belize. In the book, there are more than 150 pages of Belize FAQs at your fingertips. And Belize FAQs is available in both paperback and Kindle formats.