Flight 49': The five years when an American plane was hijacked every two weeks.

The Southern Airways plane brought FBI officials investigating the hijacking and airline officials from the United States to Canada. 

Waqar Mustafa.

 (Position, journalist, researcher)

November 10, 1972, was a typical day for Southern Airways Flight 49 pilot Harold Johnson.  He barely noticed the noise coming from the ship's kitchen, but everything had changed in a few moments.

At 7:20 PM, the cockpit door was thrown open.  A flight attendant came in, with a man holding a gun to her head.

"We're taking over the flight," the man told Johnson and his co-pilot, William Haas, in a commanding tone.

By 'us' was the three hijackers later identified as Henry Jackson, Louis Moore, and Melvin Kell.

The three men had hijacked the plane about fifty minutes after it took off from the American state of Tennessee.

Incidents of hijacking have been happening since the early days of the 20th century.  At first, light aircraft were hijacked, but later passenger planes also began to be hijacked, such as this twin-engine DC-9.

British researcher H. Painter says that planes were preferred as a target because of the human, psychological, and economic effects associated with them on specific countries.

Hijacking 'epidemic'

Kent N. Gorden writes in "Profile of the World Airline Industry" that between 1929 and 1957 there were fewer than 20 hijackings worldwide, while between 1958 and 1967 there were about 40 hijacked aircraft.

In the hijacking incidents that began in 1958, hijackers usually hijacked planes and took them to Cuba.

In his book "The Epidemic of Hijacking," Robert T. Holden states that in the five years 1968-1972, there were 326 hijacking attempts worldwide, or roughly one every six days.

America was also suffering from this 'epidemic', where on average one plane was hijacked every two weeks, but twice, two planes were hijacked on the same day.

These incidents have sometimes been linked to terrorism, extortion, political asylum, and mental illness, and sometimes attributed to the hostile relations between Cuba and the United States and the restrictions imposed by the communist regime in Cuba on its citizens trying to leave the country.

The hijackers diverted the ship toward the nuclear reactor

According to United Press International, the sequence of events is as follows:

At the hijackers' behest, the plane flew to Jackson for fuel and took off at 8:36 p.m. for Detroit, 800 miles to the north.

In Detroit, the plane circled the airport at an altitude of 20,000 feet for more than 90 minutes while Detroit administration and police officials waited in the rain to negotiate ransom demands.

Southern Airways and the Detroit City Council send $550,000 to the airport, but the hijackers do not allow the plane to land.

The plane is ordered to Cleveland where it lands at 12:30.  Loaded with food and fuel, the plane takes off at 1:38 for Toronto, 180 miles northeast.

In Toronto, the plane circles the international airport for about three hours and lands there at about 4:44.

Soon after, two other Southern planes arrive from Chicago and Atlanta with FBI agents and about five hundred thousand dollars.

The hijackers reject the money.  The plane takes off from the airport again at 6:16 am.

Alcohol and ransom money were distributed among the passengers.

On the way, the hijackers take out the alcohol from the plane's kitchen and share it with the passengers, while the trip includes a Lear Jet from Southern Airways, another DC9, and a Navy Reserve plane carrying FBI agents.  , chase the hijacked plane.

The plane arrives in Knoxville, south of Toronto.  Circling at 33,000 feet for nearly two hours while the hijackers demand an official document stamped by the White House stating that the $10 million ransom is a 'US government grant', meaning the money will be 'irrevocable'.

If not, they threaten to crash the plane into the nuclear facilities in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, about 25 miles away.  There is a nuclear reactor powered by highly enriched uranium-235.

The aircraft circled over these installations while negotiations continued.  They put a gun to Pilot Haas's head and order him to head for the target.

Nixon's advisor, John Ehrlichman, tells him that the ransom will be paid, but when the fuel is low, the plane is refueled in Lexington, Kentucky, and taken to the nearby Chattanooga Airport.

 In Chattanooga, they find a bag full of $20 bills.  Officials tell them that it is one million dollars bu but only two million dollars provided by the airline.

 The hijackers demand ten parachutes, seven bulletproof jackets, seven crash helmets, some medical supplies, fifty food boxes, and several large canvas bags, which are provided to them.

Koerner wrote that as Flight 49 circled over Oak Ridge, Southern Airlines collected $2 million.  The airline had no choice but to gamble that the hijackers would be so overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the ransom money, about 150 pounds, that they wouldn't bother to count it.  At Chattanooga, they reneged on their promise to release the passengers.

Instead of releasing the hostages, the hijackers ordered the plane back into the air for Havana, Cuba, according to UPI.  The plane takes off for Cuba at 2:30.

In Havana, the plane lands at Jose Marti Airport at 4:49 p.m.  The plane takes off for Florida after negotiations with Cuban authorities over terms of arrival fail.

 (Pilot Johnson later told journalist Neil Embry that the hijackers had requested to go to Cuba thinking that then-Cuban dictator Fidel Castro would welcome them with open arms.  Thinking it would be an amicable meeting, they began handing out money to the crew and passengers, which Cuban authorities later took from them and returned to the airline, but when they landed in Cuba, Castro ordered them to leave.  forced to.)

 As the plane takes off from McCoy Air Base with fuel, FBI agents blow out the plane's tires on takeoff.  The hijacker shoots Harold Johnson in the arm.

 (Moore later said the shot was accidental, while Johnson said the image of the father, wife, and daughter flashed through his mind and he dived for the floor, going through the back of the seat and the edge of the tray table.)  from into his arms.)

 The plane, piloted by Haas, then circles South Florida while the hijackers unsuccessfully request to speak to President Nixon by radio.

 The plane attempts another flight to Cuba, spins in midair, runs out of fuel, and lands on a foam-covered runway at 12:32.

 29 hours and 12 minutes after the hijacking began, Cuban authorities report that the hijackers have been arrested, the ransom money has been recovered and three people on board have been hospitalized, including  Johnson, who was shot.

 Passengers and crew members are flown back to Miami.

The hijacking of the plane was against police brutality.

Jackson, Moore, and Kell spent eight years in a Cuban prison before being extradited to the United States in 1980.

All three hijackers went on trial in February 1981 in US District Court in Birmingham.

Jackson was sentenced to 25 years in prison and Moore and Kell were sentenced to 20 years each.  Cale was released on parole in 1993 but was arrested soon after, after he robbed a bank in Chattanooga, Tennessee, with the help of another accomplice.  Moore was released in 1998.

In an interview with the Detroit Free Press, Moore said his crime was motivated by a desire to publicize police brutality and injustice.

The four crew members of Southern Airways Flight 49, William Haas, Harold Johnson, Donna Holman, and Karen Chambers, were presented the keys to the city by Birmingham Mayor George Seibels at a dinner on May 21, 1973.

 After the hijacking of the flight, security measures were taken.

The incident led to changes in air travel security measures.  Cuba agreed to a limited dialogue with the US on preventing future hijackings.

The hijackers carried handguns and imitation hand grenades, hidden in an overcoat, on the plane.  Before boarding, they avoided the search by holding each other's overcoat.

Therefore, after this kidnapping, from January 5, 1973, all passengers were screened with metal detectors, and armed guards were also deployed at airports.

These measures were effective in stopping the series of airline hijackings.

Incidents of hijacking decreased.

A joint study by the University of Maryland and the University of Florida found that subsequent actions by the Cuban and US governments helped to gradually reduce kidnappings.

Between 1978 and 1988, there was an average of about 26 hijackings per year.  In the 1990s, US airspace was relatively peaceful.

Globally, however, hijacking continued, according to John Miller.

The highest number of hijackings between 1993 and 2003 occurred in 1993 when hijackers were trying to gain political asylum in Taiwan.  Europe and the rest of East Asia were also not safe from it.

Countries around the world continue their efforts to combat ship hijacking.  Inter-governmental and international conventions and agreements.  Punishments were proposed and meted out.

In recent history, planes were hijacked for terrorism on September 11, 2001.  Even before the 9/11 attacks, the number of incidents was decreasing.

In the mid-2000s, hijackings did occur, but incidents and fatalities were rare.  Since 2010, the Aviation Safety Network estimates there have been 15 hijackings worldwide, with three fatalities.

Thus, the hijacking of the ship is now a bitter memory and not a common thing.  That's why Johnson, 87, spends most of his time at the Wings of Honor Museum in his hometown of Walnut Ridge, telling people his story.

 In a newspaper interview in November last year, he said that fragments of the hijackers' bullet are still in his arm and almost half a century later, he cannot raise his arm above his shoulder.