Aircraft hijacking
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Aircraft hijacking (also known as Skyjacking) is the take-over of an aircraft, by a person or group, usually armed. Unlike the hijacking of land vehicles, it is usually not perpetrated in order to rob the cargo. Rather, most aircraft hijackings are committed to use the passengers as hostages in an effort to obtain transportation to a given location, to hold them for ransom, or, as in the case of the American planes that were hijacked to Cuba during the 1970s, the release of comrades being held in prison. Another common motive is publicity for some cause or grievance. In the September 11, 2001 attacks, the use of hijacked planes as suicide missiles changed the way hijacking was perceived as a security threat — though similar usages had apparently been attempted by Samuel Byck in 1974 and on Air France Flight 8969 in 1994.
One task of airport security is to prevent hijacks by screening passengers and keeping anything that could be used as a weapon (even smaller objects like nail clippers and boxcutters, for example) off aircraft.
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Background
Hijackings for hostages have usually followed a pattern of negotiations between the hijackers and the authorities, followed by some form of settlement -- not always the meeting of the hijackers' original demands -- or the storming of the aircraft by armed police or special forces to rescue the hostages. Previous to September, 2001, the policy of most airlines was for the pilot to comply with hijackers' demands in the hope of a peaceful outcome. Since then, policies have reversed course, in favor of arming and armoring the cockpit.
The first recorded aircraft hijack was on February 21, 1931, in Arequipa, Peru. Byron Rickards flying a Ford Tri-motor was approached on the ground by armed revolutionaries. He refused to fly them anywhere and after a ten day stand-off Rickards was informed that the revolution was successful and he could go in return for giving one of their number a lift to Lima. Most hijackings have not been so farcical. The first hijack of a commercial airliner probably happened on June 16, 1948, when a failed attempt to gain control of the Miss Macao, a Cathay Pacific seaplane caused it to crash into the sea off Macau. On June 30 1948, a Bulgarian commercial Junkers plane was successfully hijacked to Istanbul by a discharged diplomat and his family, who had to shoot dead the co-pilot (who happened to be the head of Bulgaria's civil aviation) and the radio operator in order to escape to the West. On September 12 1948 a Greek T.A.E Airlines plane was successfully hijacked by 6 pro-communist students who wanted passage to Yugoslavia. The plane landed near Skopje and returned to Thessaloniki later that evening.
Since 1947, 60% of hijackings have been refugee escapes. In 1968-69 there was a massive rise in the number of hijackings. In 1968 there were 27 hijackings and attempted hijackings to Cuba. In 1969 there were 82 recorded hijack attempts worldwide, more than twice the total attempts for the whole period 1947-67. Most were Palestinians using hijacks as a political weapon to publicise their cause and to force the Israeli government to release Palestinian prisoners from jail.
Airliner hijackings have declined since the peak of 385 incidents between 1967-76. In 1977-86 the total had dropped to 300 incidents and in 1987-96 this figure was reduced to 212.
Partial list of hijackings
- 1958: First Cuba-to-U.S. hijacking
- 1960: The first US-to-Cuba hijacking
- 1968: The first Arab-Israeli hijacking, as three members of Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) hijack an El Al plane to Rome. Diverting to Algiers the negotiations extend over forty days. Both the hijackers and the hostages go free. This was the first and the only successful hijacking of an El Al flight.
- 1970 May 15: Dymshits-Kuznetsov hijacking affair, a group of Soviet refuseniks attempt to hijack aircraft
- 1970, September: As part of the Dawson's Field hijackings, PFLP members attempt to hijack four aircraft simultaneously. They succeed on three and force the planes to fly to the Jordanian desert, where the hijackers blow up the aircraft after releasing most of the hostages. The final hostages are freed in exchange for seven Palestinian prisoners. The fourth attack on an El Al plane by two people including Leila Khalid is foiled by armed guards aboard.
- 1971: D. B. Cooper hijacks Northwest Orient Airlines flight 305 and obtains $200,000 ransom for the release of the plane's passengers. Cooper proceeds to parachute from the rear of the Boeing 727 and is never found.
- 1974 February 22: Samuel Byck shot and killed Maryland Aviation Administration Police Officer Neal Ramsburg at BWI before storming aboard Delta Air Lines flight 523 to Atlanta. He gained access to the cockpit while the plane was on the ground, intending to assassinate President Nixon by flying the DC-9 into the White House. He shot both the pilot and the copilot before he was shot through the aircraft window by another officer.
- 1976: The Palestinian hijack of Air France Flight 139 is brought to an end at Entebbe Airport, Uganda by Operation Entebbe: Israeli commandos assault the building holding the hijackers and hostages; they kill all the Palestinian hijackers and free 105 mostly Israeli hostages; three passengers and one commando are killed.
- 1977: A Palestinian hijack of a Lufthansa airliner Landshut during its flight from Palma de Mallorca to Frankfurt is ended in Mogadishu when German commandos storm the plane. Three hijackers are killed and 86 hostages are freed. The hand of German Red Army Faction is suspected. The pilot is killed.
- 1978: Two Arab guerrillas seized a plane in Cyprus. Egyptian commandos flew in uninvited to try to take the plane. Cypriot troops resisted and 15 Egyptians died in a 45-minute battle.
- 1979: Two East Germans hijacked an airplane to West Berlin; see Judgment in Berlin.
- 1981: A Pakistan International Airlines jet is hijacked and taken to Kabul, where one passenger is killed before the plane flies on to Damascus; the hostages are finally released after 13 days when the Pakistani Government agrees to free fifty political prisoners.
- 1981 September 29: An Indian Airlines plane carrying 111 passengers and a crew of six was hijacked by five Sikh militants carrying knives and swords. The airplane was taken to Lahore, Pakistan where Pakistani commandos overpowered the hijackers and rescued the passengers. It was related to the secessionist struggle in the Indian state of Punjab.
- 1982 July 1: A Sri Lankan gentleman, identified as Sepala Ekanayaka, who is 33 years old, hijacked an Alitalia jumbo jet in order to return to Sri Lanka with his wife and child.
- 1982 August 22: A lone Sikh militant, armed with a pistol and a hand grenade, hijacked a Boeing 737 on a scheduled flight from Bombay to New Delhi carrying 69 persons. Indian security forces killed the hijacker and rescued all passengers.
- 1983: Tbilisi hijacking incident
- 1984 August 24: Seven young Sikh hijackers demanded an Indian Airlines jetliner on a domestic flight be flown to the United States. The plane was taken to UAE where the defense minister of UAE negotiated the release of the passengers. It was related to the Sikh secessionist struggle in the Indian state of Punjab.
- 1984: Lebanese Shi'a hijackers divert a Kuwait Airways flight to Tehran. The plane is taken by Iranian security forces.
- 1985: Lebanese Shi'a hijackers divert TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Beirut with 153 people on board. The stand-off ends after Israel frees 31 Lebanese prisoners.
- 1985: Palestinians take over EgyptAir Flight 648 and fly it to Malta. All together, 60 people died, most of them when Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft.
- 1986: 22 people are killed when Pakistani security forces storm Pan Am Flight 73 at Karachi, carrying 400 passengers and crew after a 16-hour siege.
- 1990: Hijackers seized a plane from the People's Republic of China which later crashed as it tried to land in Canton, killing 128 people.
- 1991: 26 March 1991, Singapore Airlines Flight 117 hijacked by hijackers claiming to be members of the Pakistan People's Party. Elite Singapore Special Operations Force members stormed the plane, killing all four hijackers and freeing all 118 passengers and 9 crew in an operation lasting just 30 seconds. None of the passengers and crew were hurt.
- 1994: FedEx Flight 705 hijacked by disgruntled employee Auburn Calloway as it left Memphis, Tennessee, with the intention of using it as a cruise missile against FedEx HQ. He was subdued by the flight crew before an emergency landing back at Memphis.
- 1995: Iranian defector and flight attendant Rida Garari hijacked Kish Air flight 707, which landed in Israel. No casualties.
- 1996: Ethiopian Airlines Flight 961 crashed into the Indian Ocean near a beach in the Comoros Islands after hijackers refused to allow the pilot to land and refuel the plane. 125 passengers die and 50 survive. This is only the third incident in which there were survivors of a passenger jet that intentionally ditched into water.
- 1997: Air Malta Two men who hijacked an Air Malta airplane en route from Malta to Turkey on June 9, 1997 surrendered to police at Cologne's airport early on the same day and freed without incident about 80 crew members and passengers on board.
- 1999: All Nippon Airways Flight 61 is hijacked by a lone man. He kills the pilot before he is subdued.
- 1999-2000: Kashmiri militants hijack Indian Airlines Flight 814 and divert it to Kandahar. After a week-long stand-off India agrees to release three jailed Kashmiri militants in exchange for the hostages. 1 hostage was stabbed to death and his body thrown on the tarmac as a "warning attack"
- 2001: September 11 attacks, eastern USA: 19 terrorists hijack four planes (American Airlines Flight 11, American Airlines Flight 77, United Airlines Flight 93, and United Airlines Flight 175; two of the planes, United Airlines Flight 175 and Flight 11, are used as missiles and deliberately flown into each of New York City's Twin Towers, while American Airlines Flight 77 is used in a similar fashion at the Pentagon, in Washington, D.C.. They are the three most deadly of all aircraft hijackings. In the fourth case the intention is likely the same but the passengers, learning of the fate of the other three planes, attacked the cockpit, causing the hijackers to crash the plane in rural Pennsylvania, killing all on board. By official count, 2,752 people died at the World Trade Center, 189 died in Washington, D.C., and 44 died crashing into a mine field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Prevention
There has been talk of fortifying cockpit doors to prevent would-be hijackers from entering and gaining control of the aircraft. In the United States and Australia, air marshals have also been added to some flights to deter and thwart hijackers. In addition, some have proposed remote control systems for aircraft whereby no one on board would have control over the plane's flight.
In the case of a serious risk that an aircraft will be used for flying into a target, it may have to be shot down, killing all passengers and crew, to prevent more serious consequences.
United States commercial aircraft pilots now have an option of carrying a pistol on the flight deck, as a last resort to thwart hijack attempts. Opponents proposed that shooting down the aircraft and killing everyone onboard would be more reasonable than a pilot firing a pistol in an airliner at a flight deck intruder. Explosive decompression in an aircraft, however, is a myth, and their objections are mostly hyperbole. [1]
Since "Hi, Jack" and "hijack" are homophones while aircraft are very vulnerable to any breaches to safety and security, this pronunciation is now widely regarded as a serious taboo in more airports. Los Angeles International Airport has reminded people not to say "Hi, Jack", but "Hello, Jack" is no problem.
International law issues
Convention on Offences and Certain Other Acts Committed on Board Aircraft (Tokyo Convention)
See the United Nations website for full text. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/terrorism_convention_aircraft.html
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft (Hague Convention)
Signed in the Hague, on the 16th December 1970. Contains 14 articles relating to what constitutes hijacking and guidelines for what is expected of governments when dealing with hijackings. The convention does not apply to customs, law enforcement or military aircraft. Thus its scope appears to exclusively encompass civilian aircraft. Importantly, the convention only comes into force if the aircraft takes off or lands in a place different to its place of registration. For aircraft with joint registration, one country is designated as the registration state for the purpose of the convention.
See the United Nations website for full text. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/terrorism_convention_aircraft_seizure.html
Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Acts Against the Safety of Civil Aviation (Montreal Convention)
In force as of 26th January 1973. It deals with what constitutes an action against the safety of an aircraft, and who is to be considered the perpetrators of this offence and their accomplices. It details the steps to be taken by member states for cooperation in the prosecution and punishment of offenders.
This convention applies if the take off or landing place of the aircraft is outside of the aircraft's state of registration, or simply if the offence occurred outside of the aircraft's state of registration (depending on the offence). The convention will also apply if the alleged perpetrator is found in a state outside of the aircraft's state of registration. The convention does not apply to customs, law enforcement or military aircraft.
See the United Nations website for full text. http://www.unodc.org/unodc/terrorism_convention_civil_aviation.html