RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6189 posts, RR: 25 Reply 1, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1756 times:
C5LOAD From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 917 posts, RR: 0 Reply 2, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 22 hours ago) and read 1746 times:
According to Wikipedia...
The second Nixon Administration, which came to office in 1973, ordered the discontinuance by the CIA of the use of hijacking as a covert action weapon against the Castro regime. The Cuban intelligence followed suit. The same year, the two countries reached an agreement for the prosecution or return of the hijackers and the aircraft to each other's country. The Taiwanese intelligence also followed the CIA's example-vis-а-vis China
According to that link, and correct me if I'm wrong, but did Pres. Nixon really order the hijacking od some aircraft to use against the Cubans?
"But this airplane has 4 engines, it's an entirely different kind of flying! Altogether"
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6189 posts, RR: 25 Reply 3, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1715 times:
Quoting C5LOAD (Reply 2): but did Pres. Nixon really order the hijacking od some aircraft to use against the Cubans?
No.
The US CIA spread word through Cuba that anyone who hijacked an aircraft in Cuba would be received with open arms, be financially rewarded and be free from prosecution in the US.
Hijackers would be political refugee's not criminals.
Cuba reciprocated.
After the Nixon initiative, we started sending hijackers back to Cuba, and they started sending them back to us.
I was obviously wrong, although the '31 hijack is disputed because the pilot refuse to take-off. There are those who claim for the '48 Miss Macao, a Catalina belonging to Cathay Pacific the doubtful honor. I also found a list o notable hijackings on Wiki.
Tharanga From United States of America, joined Apr 2009, 1791 posts, RR: 1 Reply 5, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 21 hours ago) and read 1644 times:
And the first bombing was in 1933. People don't appreciate how old some crimes are.
Note the 82 hijackings in 1969 alone (assuming wiki has the right number, but I do know the numbers were pretty high in the 60s).
People forget how utterly prevalent hijackings were, between the Cuba and Palestine situations, various European extremists and simple profiteering criminals.
If you wonder why airport security came about, it was because of this. As it turned out, airport security is actually really good at keeping guns off of airplanes, and hijackings were reduced.
N766UA From United States of America, joined Jul 1999, 8008 posts, RR: 27 Reply 7, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1585 times:
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 6): In the late 1960s and early 70s it seemed like there was almost one hijacking to Cuba every week.
Reminds me of the old monty python bit. Guy hijacks a plane bound for Cuba and wants to go to Luton. The pilots convince him that, since they're already well on their way, it'd be easier if he just jumped out and caught a bus. He then jumps out of the plane, landing on a hay bail and catching a nearby bus "straight to Luton." As soon as he boards, a man hijacks the bus and says "take this bus to cuba!!"
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6189 posts, RR: 25 Reply 8, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1583 times:
Quoting Tharanga (Reply 5): Note the 82 hijackings in 1969 alone (assuming wiki has the right number, but I do know the numbers were pretty high in the 60s).
Quoting Viscount724 (Reply 6): In the late 1960s and early 70s it seemed like there was almost one hijacking to Cuba every week.
It got to the point in 1969 that aircraft hijackings were luck to be aired in the first half of the evening national network news. More than once I remember Walter Cronkite mentioning at the end of his news cast that there was another hijacking to Cuba today. The crew, aircraft and passengers had all returned safely to the United States.
While in high school, I was working in small market radio and weekends on TV in Shreveport. A hijacking did not rate a full alert on the AP wire in 1969.
You also have to remember in those days there was almost never video of a hijacked aircraft, maybe a couple still pictures.
That is what we all remember about the multiple planes hijacked into the desert of Jordan and the PanAm B747 destroyed in Cairo in September 1970 - there was video of the TWA B707, Swiss DC-8 and BOAC VC-10 in the desert - and the destruction of the aircraft was captured on film.
Maverick623 From United States of America, joined Nov 2006, 4776 posts, RR: 6 Reply 9, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 20 hours ago) and read 1578 times:
Quoting Tharanga (Reply 5): If you wonder why airport security came about, it was because of this.
Actually, it was because of bombings alone.
Quoting Tharanga (Reply 5): As it turned out, airport security is actually really good at keeping guns off of airplanes
No, it's really good at keeping idiots from bringing guns onto planes. And sometimes not even then (re: the 60 year old guy who was arrested for accidentally bringing his gun to the airport, and made it past the screeners, then turned himself in)
Quoting Tharanga (Reply 5): People forget how utterly prevalent hijackings were
Because most of them were blood-free. "Unscheduled diversions" to Havana were the norm. It was really only ever about bombings until 9/11, and the reason why none of the pax on the first 3 planes resisted. Once the 4th group figured it out....
RFields5421 From United States of America, joined Jul 2007, 6189 posts, RR: 25 Reply 11, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 18 hours ago) and read 1441 times:
Carrying the gun into the airport is a crime, carrying it past the scanners is a crime.
However, he will probably only receive a light fine since he was the one who brought it to the authorities attention, where he would receive hard jail time if he had taken it onboard an aircraft and been discovered.
Maxpower1954 From United States of America, joined Sep 2008, 861 posts, RR: 5 Reply 12, posted (3 years 5 months 1 week 1 day 15 hours ago) and read 1353 times:
If I had to guess, the two airlines that have been hijacked the most in aviation history have to be Eastern and National from about 1961 to 1985...35 for Eastern and 19 for National, according to the Aviation Safety Database.
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