Part 53, page 144

Transcript

The scan is the source; the transcript is machine-generated from it.

(Mount Clipping in Space Below)

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Aviation Officials Perplexed

Latest Hijacking Climax to List of Woes

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BY AL WATTS P-I Aerospace Writer

Aviation officials, especially those of Northwest airlines, have to be wondering, "What's next?" following the imaginative and bold actions of a middle-aged hijacker.

The commandeering of a Boeing 727 trijet en route from Portland to Seattle Wednesday night wove a plot which conceivably could have been dreamed up by TV writer Rod Serling.

A man as yet unlocated was hardly a typical hijacker. He was described by fellow passengers as "a relaxed" — a cool minded extortionist, rather than a desperado wanting to fly to Cuba.

And this man, who obviously knew more than a little about airplanes, established some records in the infamous arena of hijacking — which could qualify him as an anti-hero.

The hijacker, at large somewhere between Seattle and Reno after bailing out of the hijacked jet on Thanksgiving eve, chalked up these "firsts":

● Parachuted from the rear end of a 727 trijet with the plane's flaps and wheels down.

● Collected the largest amount of ransom money — $200,000 — ever paid by a U.S. airline.

● Pulled off the first Seattle area skyjacking.

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This latest of 11 successful hijackings of commercial airlines in the U.S. this year may have an adventure-story ring to it and have established a hijacker's twisted creativity but Northwest Airlines officials were thankful of just one thing yesterday:

The safe return of 35 passengers and a flight crew of six.

"Thanksgiving has particular meaning to us," a Northwest spokesman remarked, "because we were grateful that nobody was injured or killed."

Federal Aviation Administration and airline officials yesterday remained tight-lipped about the hijacking, on orders of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and said they would make no comments until the hijacker is brought into custody.

The $200,000 ransom, collected from Seattle banks, was a record for the U.S., but Qantas Airways of Australia was forced to pay $560,000 on a bomb hoax flight from Sydney to Hong Kong last May 26.

That episode, involving a phone caller who told the airline there was an altitude-sensitive bomb aboard the Boeing 707, was a carbon-copy of Rod Serling's plot of "Doomsday Flight," a made-for-TV movie.

And the real thing made

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Serling (of "Twilight Zone" fame) wish he had never thought up the story.

Now, with this week's skydiving hijacker, the TV scribes will have some factual material.

"We'll probably see the whole thing on TV's "The FBI" in a couple of years," remarked Ed Simonds, public relations chief at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.

And what aeronautical madness lies ahead for Northwest, which has had more than its share recently?

The airline in mid-September had Garfunkel, the Cat and Bandit, the Dog — two pets who were stowaways in the caverns of 747s, both of which were soon liberated.

Then, two weeks ago, a Northwest 747 bound for Sea-Tac from Tokyo had to delay its landing two hours because of an unclaimed briefcase spotted by a sky marshal. The briefcase, left behind by an absent-minded passenger, was thought to have a bomb in it, and if so, the device could be pressure sensitive and explode at a lower altitude.

Finally, along came this week's skyjacker and his parachutes.

Rather ironically, whether he knew it or not, the hijacker received his $200,000 ransom from one of the most consistently profitable airlines in the business.

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(Indicate page, name of newspaper, city and state.)

p. A3 Seattle Post- Intelligencer

Date: 11/27/71 Edition: Final Author: Al Watts Editor: Dick Lyall Title: UNSUB;Northwest Airlines, Flight 305, Portland to Seattle, Character: 11/24/71 or CAA-HIJACKING; EXT Classification: 164-81 Submitting Office: Seattle

☐ Being Investigated

COPY SENT TO BUREAU

[illegible stamps]

1971 FBI—SEATTLE

DB Cooper-2248[guess: 2]