as the hijacking progressed, the passengers recognised the personalities of the hijackers. claude burgniard, a flight attendant, recalled that the crew and passengers gave nicknames to the hijackers "to make things simpler". yahia, the leader, had given his name, so the passengers called him by that name. according to burgniard, lotfi had a "peculiar" character, "was always on a knife edge", and "the most fanatic" and "the most fundamentalist" of the hijackers. therefore, he received the nickname "madman" from the passengers. according to burgniard, lotfi was the hijacker who insisted that the passengers follow islamic law. lotfi found women having their heads uncovered "intolerable", making him very angry. one hijacker did not give his name to the passengers, so they called him "bill". burgniard stated that bill was "a little bit simple" and "more of a goatherd than a terrorist." she said his role as a hijacker was "an error in casting". burgniard remembered that the occupants wondered why bill was there and that they saw bill appearing as if he wondered why he was there, as well. the hijacker nicknamed "the killer" shot the hostages whom the hijackers had targeted.