Southern Airways Flight 49
| Southern Airways Flight 49 | |
|---|---|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Aircraft hijacking |
| place |
(in that order) Birmingham Jackson Detroit Cleveland Toronto Knoxville Lexington Chattanooga Havana Key West Orlando Havana       
|
| date | 10. - 11. November 1972 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | all |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Douglas DC-9 |
| operator | Southern Airways |
| Departure airport |
Memphis
|
| Stopover |
Birmingham Montgomery Orlando
|
| Destination airport |
Miami
|
| Passengers | 31 |
| crew | 3 |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
The hijacking of Southern Airways Flight 49 began on November 10, 1972 in Birmingham, Alabama , lasted over 30 hours and stretched over 6,400 km, before ending in Havana, Cuba the following evening . Melvin Cale, Louis Moore and Henry D. Jackson Jun. Successfully hijacked the aircraft , which was on a scheduled flight from Memphis via Birmingham , Montgomery and Orlando to Miami , on the section between Birmingham and Montgomery. All three were wanted for various crimes. During the hijacking, 34 people were on board, including 3 crew members. The hijackers threatened to crash the plane into a nuclear reactor .
Kidnapping and ransom demands
Shortly after the plane took off from Birmingham at 7:20 p.m. on Friday, November 10, 1972, to fly to Montgomery and then other destinations in Alabama and Florida, the hijackers, armed with small arms and hand grenades , took control of the Douglas DC- 9 and demanded a ransom of 10 million US dollars . The hijackers forced pilots to fly to destinations in Canada and the United States, including Cleveland, Ohio , Detroit, Michigan , Lexington, Kentucky, and Toronto, Canada , while constantly changing monetary claims until they finally landed in Cuba. Among other things, the hijackers threatened to crash the plane into the High Flux Isotope Reactor at Oak Ridge National Laboratory if the money demands were not met; one of the kidnappers also announced: “I'm not playing. If you do not get that money together, I'm gonna crash this plane in Oak Ridge. "(For example:" I'm not kidding. If you don't get the money together, I'll crash this plane in Oak Ridge. ") As the plane circled over Oak Ridge, Tennessee , the hijackers negotiated with numerous officials, including FBI agents , who could only raise between two and two and a half million dollars in ransom. The plane later landed at Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport to collect the money after the handover was originally supposed to take place at McGhee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee , but was refused by the hijackers. After taking less than the required ransom, the plane took off with destination Havana . Contrary to the expectations of the hijackers, the Cuban leader Fidel Castro did not take them into Cuba; therefore they flew on to Orlando (Florida) and planned to fly on to Algeria , which was impossible because of the limited range of the aircraft. This was the first time a plane left Cuba with the hijackers on board. During the subsequent stay at McCoy Air Force Base in Orlando, during which the aircraft was refueled, the FBI shot two of the four tires to prevent a restart. In a subsequent scuffle on board, the copilot was shot in the arm and the pilots were forced to start the aircraft despite the broken tires.
End of the kidnapping
The hijacking came to an end when the plane landed again in Havana on Saturday, November 11th. The hijackers were removed from the plane at gunpoint after snipers from the Cuban authorities took up position. Henry Jackson and Louis Moore were sentenced to 20 years each, Melvin Cale to 15 years in Cuban prisons. Cuba turned over the plane, crew, passengers and ransom to the United States. After serving their sentences in Cuba, the kidnappers were extradited to the United States, where they were sentenced to additional sentences.
consequences
Until then, airline hijackings were seen as a manageable risk. If you respond to the demands, the successful result would be guaranteed: uninjured passengers, intact aircraft and secured ransom - after the hijackers were arrested. This is cheaper than introducing intrusive security measures at all American airports.
After Flight 49 with its potential nuclear disaster, the physical examination of all flight passengers was introduced on January 5, 1973.
Individual evidence
- ^ Brendan I. Koerner: Skyjacker of the Day. Entry 10: “We're going to bomb Oak Ridge”: The hijacking that gave us airport security. In: slate.com. June 19, 2013, accessed August 2, 2013 .