EXCLUSIVE Passenger recalls watching hero pilot land Belizean plane as he was being stabbed by hijacker Akinyela Taylor

Daily Mail​

22-04-2025

A shaken expat has told how US veteran Akinyela Taylor launched a deranged stabbing spree on board a packed Caribbean passenger flight – after the pilot refused to fly him to Texas.
Doug Maxwell told DailyMail.com how he watched in disbelief as Taylor sank a five-inch dagger into another passenger's neck moments after taking off from Corozal Municipal Airport in Belize on Thursday last week.
The 14-seater Cessna Grand Caravan was configured for a 20-minute hop to the island of Ambergris Caye but the madman wanted to detour to Texas – a journey of 900-plus miles.
Doug and his wife Kim cowered at the back of the plane as Tropic Air pilot Howell Grange circled erratically for nearly two hours before deciding to land in Belize City.
Taylor slashed at 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,' Doug, 66, told DailyMail.com.
'Fitz 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.'
Cops found Taylor bleeding out as they surrounded the Cessna on the tarmac of the Philip Goldson International Airport.
The St. Louis native – previously a joint interface control officer in the Air National Guard – was transported to the hospital but was dead on arrival.
Grange and Brown were badly injured in the midair melee, along with a Tropic Air manager who was on board the 8am commuter service.
Doug, a retired real estate investor from Nashville, Tennessee had flown that same route more than 100 times to get to his home on Ambergris Caye.
'There are no baggage checks or X-ray machines in Corozal,' he told DailyMail.com.
'The small airports in Belize have minimal security. It's like hopping on a bus. Everyone knows one another for the most part.'
There was at least one new face among the 14 passengers, however.
Taylor had slipped across the porous Mexico-Belize border over the weekend having earlier been refused entry at a border crossing.
He was sat next to Brown, the owner of a barbecue restaurant, and was across the aisle from Doug's wife Kim, 61.
'My wife noticed this guy was sweating profusely. Literally right after takeoff he pulled a knife and stabbed Fitz. There was blood pouring from his head,' said Doug.
'The knife was about five inches long. A little dagger basically.'
As Kim scrambled to the back of the 52-foot plane, Air Tropic manager Franchesco Castaneda tried to intervene but was stabbed in the chest, head and arms.
A young boy was sitting next to the pilot but he fled and Taylor chillingly took his place.
'At that point we realized this wasn't an altercation or a dispute, this was a hijacking,' Doug explained.
'There was blood everywhere. The young man was visibly in shock and crying. The rest of us were terrified.
'The hijacker had no real plan other than he wanted to be taken to Texas but that little plane can't fly across Mexico to Texas.
'I think once he became aware of that, he probably just wanted headlines and international news coverage.'
As Kim, Doug, and their fellow passengers did their best to bandage up the wounded men, Grange concentrated on keeping the plane in the air.
Flight V3-HIG circled Belizean airspace for the next hour and 40 minutes before it ran low on fuel.
'My assumption was the pilot was hoping the guy was high on drugs and that he would eventually come down,' added Doug, a grandad and dad of three.
'When that didn't happen, I wondered if the pilot was just running down the fuel so we didn't turn into a fireball when we hit the ground.
'It seems that he was trying to run down the fuel so he could insist on landing.'
Taylor was unmoved by the pilot's pleas, however, and vowed to crash the turboprop into the ground as it descended towards Philip Goldson International.
'That's when he began wrestling the pilot for control of the plane,' said Doug.
'The guy was saying, you're not landing this plane. If you try to land we're taking this whole thing down and everyone is going to die.'
As the Cessna hovered above the runway, the passengers unlatched the emergency exits, fearing they might have a split second to jump clear before it soared back into the air.
'As soon as the landing gear touched down we pulled the doors open. The first guy fell out while the plane was still at a fairly high speed,' Doug said.
'That's when we heard the shots in the front of the plane. It seemed like there were at least four or five.
'My wife and I were probably the third and fourth off the plane. She sprained her leg but she's ok. We ran as fast as we could towards the emergency vehicles.'
Belize Police Commissioner Chester Williams said 60-year-old Brown – a former security guard – was licensed to carry a gun and was a 'hero' for using it.
But the Central American nation nonetheless faces serious questions about the safety of its airports and the ease with which weapons were taken on board.
The Government of Belize said the hijacking was 'unexpected and deeply troubling' but defended its airspace as 'typically very secure'.
'Upon landing, the assailant sustained a fatal shot. Belizean security forces responded swiftly and professionally. A formal investigation has been launched and is actively underway,' a statement read.
'We commend the pilot for his exceptional professionalism and composure in the face of a highly stressful situation.
'His actions undoubtedly safeguarded the lives of all on board. All passengers demonstrated remarkable bravery, and their efforts contributed to the positive outcome.'