View source for Dawson's Field hijackings

{{Short description|1970 Palestinian militant plane hijackings}}
{{Redirect-distinguish|Dawson Field|Dawson Airport (disambiguation){{!}}Dawson Airport}}
{{pp-extended|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2019}}
{{Infobox civilian attack
| title = Dawson's Field hijackings
| partof = [[Black September in Jordan]] and spillover of [[Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon]]
| image = File:Dawson's Field.JPG
| caption = Three airliners were destroyed by explosion at Dawson's Field on 12 September 1970.
| map = 
| map_size = 
| map_alt = 
| map_caption = 
| location = Dawson's Field, [[Zarqa]], [[Jordan]]
| target = [[TWA]] 741, [[Swissair]] 100, [[El Al]] 219, [[Pan Am]] 93, [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]] 775
| coordinates = {{Coord|32.1059|36.1567|type:event_region:JO-AZ|display=inline,title}}
| date = {{start and end dates|1970|9|6|1970|9|13|df=yes}}
| type = 4 successful [[aircraft hijacking]]s, 1 foiled, [[hostage crisis]]
| fatalities = 1 ([[Patrick Argüello|1 hijacker]])
| injuries = 1<
| victims = <!-- or | victim      = -->
| perpetrators = {{flagicon|Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine}} [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP)
| weapons = Firearms and hand grenades
| numparts = <!-- or | numpart     = -->
| dfens = Bar Lev, passengers and sky marshal (Flight 219)
| motive = Release of Palestinian prisoners imprisoned in Europe and Israel
| website = <!-- URL|example.com}} -->
}}
{{Campaignbox Palestinian insurgency in South Lebanon}}

In September 1970, members of the [[Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine]] (PFLP) [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacked]] four airliners bound for [[New York City]] and one for [[London]]. Three aircraft were forced to land at '''Dawson's Field''', a remote desert airstrip near [[Zarqa]], [[Jordan]], formerly [[Royal Air Force]] Station Zarqa, which then became PFLP's "Revolutionary Airport". By the end of the incident, one hijacker had been killed and one injury reported. This was the second instance of mass aircraft hijacking, after three aircraft from communist Czechoslovakia were [[List_of_aircraft_hijackings#1950s|hijacked and taken to Munich]], West Germany, in 1950.

On 6 September, [[TWA]] Flight 741 from [[Frankfurt]] (a [[Boeing 707]]) and [[Swissair]] Flight 100 from [[Zürich]] (a [[Douglas DC-8]]) were forced to land at Dawson's Field.<ref name="onthisday">[[BBC News]], "On This Day: 12 September". {{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/september/12/newsid_2514000/2514929.stm |title=Hijacked jets destroyed by guerrillas. |access-date=1 May 2006 |work=BBC News |date=12 September 1970}}</ref><ref>Dawson's Field was named after [[Walter Dawson (RAF officer)|Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Dawson]] [http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Dawson_WL.htm Air of Authority&nbsp;– A History of RAF Organisation&nbsp;– Air Chief Marshal Sir Walter Dawson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170821173430/http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Dawson_WL.htm |date=21 August 2017 }} refers</ref> On the same day, the hijacking of [[El Al]] Flight&nbsp;219 from [[Amsterdam]] (another 707) was foiled: hijacker [[Patrick Argüello]] was shot and killed, and his partner [[Leila Khaled]] was subdued and handed over to British authorities in London. Two PFLP hijackers, who were prevented from boarding the El Al flight, hijacked instead [[Pan Am]] Flight&nbsp;93, a [[Boeing 747]], diverting the large aircraft first to [[Beirut]] and then to [[Cairo]], rather than to the small Jordanian airstrip. On 9 September, a fifth aircraft, [[British Overseas Airways Corporation|BOAC]] Flight 775, a [[Vickers VC10]] coming from Bahrain, was hijacked by a PFLP sympathizer and taken to Dawson's Field in order to pressure the British to free Khaled.

While the majority of the 310 hostages were transferred to [[Amman]] and freed on 11 September, the PFLP segregated the flight crews and [[Jew]]ish passengers, keeping the 56 Jewish hostages in custody, while releasing the non-Jews. Six hostages were kept because they were men and American citizens, not necessarily Jews: Robert Norman Schwartz, a U.S. Defense Department researcher stationed in Thailand; James Lee Woods, Schwartz's assistant and security detail; Gerald Berkowitz, an American-born Jew and college chemistry professor; Rabbi Avraham Harari-Raful and his brother Rabbi Yosef Harari-Raful, two Sephardi Brooklyn school teachers; and John Hollingsworth, a U.S. State Department employee. Schwartz, whose father was Jewish, was a convert to Catholicism.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=yVxYAAAAIBAJ&pg=1896%2C75724|work=The Palm Beach Post|title=Britain Releases Girl Guerilla|date=1 October 1970|access-date=16 December 2014}}{{Dead link|date=February 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/06/17/AR2007061701278.html|title=Robert Schwartz; Defense Official Was Hostage in Hijacking|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=17 June 2007|access-date=16 December 2014}}</ref><ref name="Tugend" /> On 12 September, prior to their announced deadline, the PFLP used explosives to destroy the empty planes, as they anticipated a counterstrike.<ref name="onthisday" />

The PFLP's exploitation of Jordanian territory was an example of the increasingly autonomous Arab Palestinian activity within the [[Kingdom of Jordan]]&nbsp;– a serious challenge to the [[Hashemite monarchy]] of [[King Hussein]]. Hussein declared [[martial law]] on 16 September and from 17 to 27 September his forces deployed into Palestinian-controlled areas in what became known as [[Black September in Jordan]], nearly triggering a regional war involving [[Syria]], [[Iraq]], and [[Israel]].

A swift Jordanian victory, however, enabled a 30 September deal in which the remaining PFLP hostages were released in exchange for Khaled and three PFLP members in a Swiss prison.<ref name="onthisday" />

==Hijackings==

===El Al Flight 219===
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| name            = El Al Flight 219
| date            = {{start date|1970|09|06|df=y}}
| type            = Attempted [[Aircraft hijacking|hijacking]]
| image           = CGN 4X--ATB Dietrich Eggert (cropped).jpg
| caption         = 4X-ATB, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, seen in July 1970
| site            = [[English Channel]]
| origin          = [[Ben Gurion Airport|Lod International Airport]], [[Central District (Israel)|Central District]], Israel
| stopover        = [[Amsterdam Schiphol Airport]], [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| destination     = [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| occupants       = 148 (including 2 hijackers)
| passengers      = 138 (including 2 hijackers)
| crew            = 10
| injuries        = 1
| fatalities      = 1 (hijacker)
| survivors       = 147 (including 1 hijacker)
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707–458]]
| operator        = [[El Al Israel Airlines]]
| plane1_callsign = El Al 219
| tail_number     = 4X-ATB
}}
'''El Al Flight 219''', a [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-458]] [[Aircraft registration|registered]] as {{Airreg|4X|ATB}} with [[serial number]] 18071, originated in [[Tel Aviv]], Israel, and was headed to New York City. It had 138 passengers and 10 crew members aboard. It stopped in [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands, and was hijacked shortly after it took off from there by [[Patrick Argüello]],<ref name="american">[[Public Broadcasting Service]] website for [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/hijacked/ ''Hijacked''] , {{cite web |title=The American Hijacker |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hijacked-american-hijacker/ |access-date=1 May 2006}}</ref> a [[Nicaraguan Americans|Nicaraguan American]], and [[Leila Khaled]], a Palestinian.

The original plan was to have four hijackers aboard this flight, but two were prevented from boarding in Amsterdam by Israeli security—these two conspirators, traveling under [[Senegalese passport]]s with consecutive numbers,<ref name="flightcrews">[[Public Broadcasting Service]], ''Hijacked'' website, {{cite web |title=Flight crews and security |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=1 May 2006 |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/people-involved-and-affected/}}</ref> were prevented from flying on El Al on 6 September. They purchased first-class tickets on Pan Am Flight 93 and hijacked that flight instead.

Posing as a married couple, Argüello and Khaled boarded the plane using [[Honduran passport]]s—having passed through a security check of their luggage—and were seated in the second row of tourist class. Once the plane was approaching the British coast, they drew their guns and grenades and approached the cockpit, demanding entrance. According to Khaled, in an interview in 2000,<blockquote>So half an hour (after take off) we had to move. We stood up. I had my two hand grenades and I showed everybody I was taking the pins out with my teeth. Patrick stood up. We heard shooting just the same minute and when we crossed the first class, people were shouting but I didn't see who was shooting because it was behind us. So Patrick told me "go forward I protect your back." So I went and then he found a hostess and she was going to catch me round the legs. So I rushed, reached to the cockpit, it was closed. So I was screaming "open the door." Then the hostess came; she said "she has two hand grenades," but they did not open (the cockpit door) and suddenly I was threatening to blow up the plane. I was saying "I will count and if you don't open I will blow up the plane."<ref name="asi">Baum, Philip. ''Aviation Security International'' September, 2000. {{cite web |url=http://www.asi-mag.com/editorials/leila_khaled.htm |access-date=1 May 2006 |title=Leila Khaled: In her own words |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060324074350/http://www.asi-mag.com/editorials/leila_khaled.htm <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archive-date=24 March 2006}}</ref></blockquote>

After being informed by intercom that a hijacking was in progress, Captain [[Uri Bar-Lev]] (39), decided not to accede to their demands:<blockquote>I decided that we were not going to be hijacked. The security guy was sitting here ready to jump. I told him that I was going to put the plane into negative-G mode. Everyone would fall. When you put the plane into negative, it's like being in a falling elevator. Instead of the plane flying this way, it dives and everyone who is standing falls down.<ref name="american" /></blockquote>

Bar Lev put the plane into a steep nosedive which threw the two hijackers off-balance. Argüello reportedly threw his sole grenade down the airliner aisle, but it failed to explode, and he was hit over the head with a bottle of [[whiskey]] by a passenger after he drew his pistol. Argüello shot [[Flight attendant|steward]] Shlomo Vider and according to the passengers and Israeli security personnel, was then shot by a [[Sky_marshal#Israel|sky marshal]].<ref name="flightcrews" /> His accomplice Khaled was subdued by security and passengers, while the plane made an [[emergency landing]] at [[London Heathrow Airport]]; she then claimed that Argüello was shot four times in the back after he and Khaled failed to hijack the airplane. Vider underwent emergency surgery and recovered from his wounds; Argüello died in the ambulance taking both him and Khaled to [[Hillingdon Hospital]]. Khaled was then arrested by British police.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700906-1|title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-458 4X-ATB London-Heathrow Airport (LHR)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

====Nationalities on Flight 219====
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Israel}}||118||10||128
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Netherlands}}||10||0||10
|- valign=top
|{{flag|United States}}||9||0||9
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Canada}}||1||0||1
|- valign=top
|'''Total'''||'''138'''||'''10'''||'''148'''
|}

===TWA Flight 741===
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| name            = TWA Flight 741
| date            = {{start date|1970|09|06|df=y}}
| type            = [[Aircraft hijacking|Hijacking]]
| site            = [[Brussels]], Belgium
| image           = TWA Boeing 707 Volpati-1.jpg
| caption         = A [[Trans World Airlines|TWA]] [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707–331B]], similar to the one involved in the hijacking
| occupants       = 155 (including 2 hijackers)
| passengers      = 144 (including 2 hijackers)
| crew            = 11
| fatalities      = 0
| survivors       = 155 (including 2 hijackers)
| origin          = [[Ben-Gurion International Airport|Lod International Airport]], [[Central District (Israel)|Central District]], Israel
| stopover0       = [[Ellinikon International Airport]], [[Athens]], Greece
| stopover1       = [[Frankfurt International Airport]], [[Frankfurt]], Germany
| destination     = [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707–331B]]
| operator        = [[Trans World Airlines]]
| plane1_callsign = TWA 741
| tail_number     = N8715T
}}
'''TWA Flight 741''', a [[Boeing 707|Boeing 707-331B]] registered as {{Airreg|N|8715T}} with  serial number 18917, was a round-the-world flight carrying 144 passengers and a crew of 11. The flight on this day was flying from [[Tel Aviv]] to [[Athens]], [[Frankfurt am Main]], West Germany, and then to New York City, and was hijacked over [[Belgium]] on the Frankfurt-New York leg. It was crewed by Captain Carroll D. Woods, First Officer Jim Majer and Flight Engineer Al Kiburis.

Flight 741's [[purser]], Rudi Swinkles, recalled seeing a passenger running toward first class. Assuming it was an angry husband chasing his wife, Swinkles ran after him. The hijackers were at the cockpit door, ordering a flight attendant to open the door. The male hijacker turned around, pointing a nickel-plated .38 revolver and a hand grenade at Swinkles and yelled "Get back! Get back!" Swinkles dove behind the bulkhead first class divider.<ref name="transcript">''Hijacked'' {{cite web | url = https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/hijacked/ | access-date=2 May 2006 |title=Transcript |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]]}}</ref>

Hijackers gained control of the cockpit. The male hijacker kept his revolver pointed at Majer until the plane landed at Dawson's Field, saying "I want you to turn this plane around." The female hijacker stated on the intercom, "This is your new captain speaking. This flight has been taken over by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. We will take you to a friendly country with friendly people."<ref name="Tugend">{{cite journal |last=Tugend |first=Tom |date=24 February 2006 |title=The Day a New Terrorism Was Born |journal=[[The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles]] |issn=0888-0468 |oclc=13450863 |url=http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15456 |access-date=10 November 2007 |archive-date=21 March 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060321110141/http://www.jewishjournal.com/home/preview.php?id=15456 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The female hijacker also ordered everyone in first class to move back to coach.

It landed at Dawson's Field in Jordan at 6:45&nbsp;p.m. local time.<ref name="timeline">''Hijacked'' {{cite web |title=Timeline and map. |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hijacked-1970-hijackings/ |access-date=1 May 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700913-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 707-331B N8715T Zerqa RAF Station (Dawson's Field)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

[[Yitzchak Hutner]]<ref>[http://www.meforum.org/1768/terror-in-black-september-an-eyewitness-account Terror in Black September: An Eyewitness Account] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091217170014/http://www.meforum.org/1768/terror-in-black-september-an-eyewitness-account |date=17 December 2009 }} in [[Middle East Forum]]</ref> was one of the passengers.

[[Martha Hodes]], an American then 12 who was on this flight with her 13-year-old sister, published her account of the hijacking in 2023.<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/personal-history/remembering-my-hijacking|title=Remembering My Hijacking|magazine=The New Yorker|date=14 May 2023}}</ref> Her book is entitled ''My Hijacking''.

====Nationalities on Flight 741====
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|West Germany}}||16||2||18
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Greece|1970}}||2||0||2
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Israel}}||55||0||55
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|India}}||3||0||3
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Italy}}||1||0||1
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Netherlands}}||1||0||1
|- valign=top
|{{flag|United Kingdom}}||18||0||18
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United States}}||51||9||60
|- valign=top
|'''Total'''||'''147'''||'''11'''||'''158'''
|}
{{clear}}

===Swissair Flight 100===
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| name            = Swissair Flight 100
| date            = {{start date|1970|09|06|df=y}}
| type            = [[Aircraft hijacking|Hijacking]]
| site            = [[Dijon]], France
| image           = Douglas DC-8-53 HB-IDD SWR ZRH 02.08.65 edited-3.jpg
| caption         = HB-IDD, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, seen in 1965
| occupants       = 157 (including 2 hijackers)
| passengers      = 145 (including 2 hijackers)
| crew            = 12
| fatalities      = 0
| survivors       = 157 (including 2 hijackers)
| origin          = [[Zurich International Airport|Zurich Kloten Airport]], [[Zurich]], Switzerland
| destination     = [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| aircraft_type   = [[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-53]]
| operator        = [[Swissair]]
| plane1_callsign = SWISSAIR 100
| tail_number     = HB-IDD
| aircraft_name   = ''[[Nidwalden]]''
}}
'''Swissair Flight 100''', a [[Douglas DC-8|Douglas DC-8-53]] registered as HB-IDD and serial number 45656, named ''Nidwalden'', built in 1963, was carrying 145 passengers and 12 crew members from [[Zurich International Airport|Zürich-Kloten Airport]], Switzerland, to [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]], United States. The aircraft was hijacked over France minutes after the TWA flight. A male and a female seized the plane, one of them carrying a silver revolver. An announcement was made over the intercom that the plane had been taken over by the PFLP as it was diverted to Dawson's Field, increasing the hostage number to 306 hostages.<ref>''Terror in Black September: The First Eyewitness Account of the Infamous 1970 Hijackings'' by David Raab</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nzz.ch/articleD3R8P-1.168218|title=Entführung einer Swissair-DC-8 nach Zerqa|date=5 September 2005|newspaper=Neue Zürcher Zeitung|publisher=[[NZZ]]|language=de|trans-title=Abduction of a Swissair DC-8 to Zerqa}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700913-1|title=ASN Aircraft accident Douglas DC-8-53 HB-IDD Zerqa RAF Station (Dawson's Field)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

When all the non-Israeli and non-Jewish passengers and crew were released, First Officer Horst Jerosch remained as a captive.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.meforum.org/1768/terror-in-black-september-an-eyewitness-account|title=Terror in Black September: An Eyewitness Account|first=David|last=Raab|date=1 September 2007|journal=Middle East Quarterly|via=www.meforum.org}}</ref>

====Nationalities on Flight 100====
{{citation needed|reason=the list is incomplete and comes without a reliable source...|date=August 2018}}
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|France}}||3||0||3
|- valign=top
|{{flag|West Germany}}||25||0||25
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Israel}}||20||0||20
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Switzerland}}||57||10||67
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United States}}||26||0||26
|- valign=top
|Other||14||2||16
|- valign=top
|'''Total'''||'''145'''||'''12'''||'''157'''
|}
{{clear}}

===Pan Am Flight 93===
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| name            = Pan Am Flight 93
| date            = {{start date|1970|09|06|df=y}}
| type            = Hijacking
| site            = Cairo
| image           = Clipper Fortune.jpg
| caption         = N752PA, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, seen in August 1970
| aircraft_type   = [[Boeing 747]]–121
| operator        = [[Pan American World Airways]]
| plane1_callsign = CLIPPER 93
| tail_number     = N752PA
| aircraft_name   = ''Clipper Fortune''
| origin          = [[Brussels Airport]], [[Brussels]], Belgium
| stopover        = [[Amsterdam Airport Schiphol|Amsterdam Schiphol Airport]], [[Amsterdam]], Netherlands
| destination     = [[John F. Kennedy International Airport]], [[New York (state)|New York]], United States
| occupants       = 169 (including 2 hijackers)
| passengers      = 152 (including 2 hijackers)
| crew            = 17 
| fatalities      = 0
| survivors       = 169 (including 2 hijackers)
}}
'''Pan Am Flight 93''', a [[Boeing 747|Boeing 747-121]] registered as {{Airreg|N|752PA}} with serial number 19656, named ''Clipper Fortune,'' was carrying 152 passengers and 17 crew,<ref>{{cite news |last1=AP |title=4 Jets Hijacked |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/09/07/archives/4-jets-hijacked-one-a-747-is-blown-up-arab-group-says-it-took.html |access-date=16 September 2019|work=New York Times |date=7 September 1970}}</ref> of which 85 were US citizens.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Raab |first1=David |title=Terror in Black September |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave MacMillan |location=New York |isbn=978-1-4039-8420-3 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/terrorinblacksep0000raab }}</ref> The flight originated from [[Brussels]], Belgium, to New York, with a stopover in Amsterdam. The two hijackers bumped from the [[El Al]] flight boarded and hijacked this flight as a target of opportunity.

Flight director [[John Ferruggio]] recalled, <blockquote>We were ready for take off in Amsterdam, and the aircraft came to an abrupt stop in the middle of the runway. And Captain Priddy called me up into the cockpit and says, "I'd like to have a word with you." I went up to the cockpit, and he says, "We have two passengers by the name of Diop and Gueye." He says, "Go down and try to find them in the manifest, because I would like to have a word with them." ... So Captain Priddy sat them down at these two seats over here. He gave them a pretty good pat. They had a Styrofoam container in their groin area where they carried the grenade, and the 25-Cal. pistols. But this we found out much later.<ref name="transcript" /></blockquote>

The plane first landed in [[Beirut]], where it refueled and picked up several associates of the hijackers, along with enough explosives to destroy the entire plane. It then landed in [[Cairo]] after uncertainty whether the Dawson's Field airport could handle the size of the new Boeing 747 jumbo jet. Flight director John Ferruggio, who led the plane's evacuation, is credited with saving the plane's passengers and crew.<ref name=bg>{{cite news |first=Bryan|last=Marquard|title=John Ferruggio, at 84; hero of 1970 Pan Am hijacking|url=https://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2010/06/22/john_ferruggio_of_milton_hero_of_1970_pan_am_hijacking_dies_at_84/|work=[[Boston Globe]]|date=22 June 2010 |access-date=27 June 2010}}</ref> The plane was blown up at Cairo seconds after it had been evacuated. This was the first hull loss of a Boeing 747.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700906-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 747-121 N752PA Cairo International Airport (CAI)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref> An audio recording of Feruggio's landing instructions to passengers was made by one of them and can be heard in a [[National Public Radio]] report.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1426387 |title=The Skyjacking of 1970 |publisher=NPR |date=9 September 2003 |access-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> The hijackers were arrested by Egyptian police.

====Nationalities on Flight 93====
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Belgium}}||25||0||25
|- valign=top
|{{flag|France}}||25||0||25
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|West Germany}}||10||0||10
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Indonesia}}||2||0||2
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Israel}}||2||0||2
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Netherlands}}||35||3||38
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|Suriname}}||2||0||2
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United Kingdom}}||2||0||2
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United States}}||71||14||85
|- valign=top
|'''Total'''||'''152'''||'''17'''||'''169'''
|}
{{clear}}

===BOAC Flight 775===
{{Infobox aircraft occurrence
| occurrence_type = Hijacking
| name            = BOAC Flight 775
| date            = {{start date|1970|09|09|df=y}}
| type            = Hijacking
| site            = [[Persian Gulf]]
| image           = G-ASGN Vickers VC-10-1151 BOAC at Leonardo da Vinci Airport, June 27 1969.jpg
| caption         = G-ASGN, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, seen in 1969
| occupants       = 114 (including hijacker)
| passengers      = 105 (including hijacker)
| crew            = 9
| fatalities      = 0
| survivors       = 114 (including hijacker)
| origin          = [[Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport|Sahar International Airport]], [[Mumbai|Bombay]], India
| stopover0       = [[Bahrain International Airport]], [[Manama]], Bahrain
| stopover1       = [[Beirut–Rafic Hariri International Airport|Beirut International Airport]], [[Beirut]], Lebanon
| destination     = [[London Heathrow Airport]], [[London]], United Kingdom
| aircraft_type   = [[Vickers VC-10|Vickers VC-10-1151]]
| operator        = [[British Overseas Airways Corporation]]
| plane1_callsign = SPEEDBIRD 775
| tail_number     = G-ASGN
}}
On 9 September, a fifth plane, '''BOAC Flight 775''', a [[Vickers VC10|Vickers VC-10]] registered as {{Airreg|G|ASGN|,}} flying from Bombay (now [[Mumbai]]) to London via Bahrain and [[Beirut]] was hijacked after departing Bahrain and forcibly landed at Dawson's Field. This was the work of a PFLP sympathizer who wanted to influence the British government to free [[Leila Khaled]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19700912-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Vickers Super VC10-1151 G-ASGN Zerqa RAF Station (Dawson's Field)|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=aviation-safety.net|access-date=2019-09-08}}</ref>

Footage of the plane taking off from Beirut for Dawson's Field is in the [[Pathe News]] archive.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.britishpathe.com/video/hijacked-aircraft-beirut/ |title=Pathe News film |access-date=9 May 2013 }}</ref>

====Nationalities on Flight 775====
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|- style="background:#ccf;"
!|Nationality|||Passengers|||Crew|||Total
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Albania|1946}}||5||0||5
|- valign=top
|{{flag|Denmark}}||15||0||15
|- valign=top
|{{flag|France}}||25||0||25
|- valign=top
|{{flag|West Germany}}||5||0||5
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|India}}||4||0||4
|- valign=top
|{{flag|United Kingdom}}||25||9||34
|- valign=top
|{{Flag|United States}}||21||0||21
|- valign=top
|'''Total'''||'''105'''||'''9'''||'''114'''
|}
{{clear}}

==Hostage accounts==
[[File:Dawson field aircrafts blown up, Jordan, 12 September 1970.png|thumb|The aircraft being blown up in Dawson's Field on 12 September 1970]]
Unnamed passengers later recounted their days as hostages.

Unknown speaker 1: "I was held hostage in the front of the plane by the Arabs. They wouldn't believe that I was an American citizen, because they saw my passport that I was in Israel two weeks before. They thought I was connected with the Israeli military, and I was held at gunpoint in front of the plane."

Unknown speaker 2: "Well, then they were told that we were being hijacked to Beirut, which we, we originally were, and everyone was to remain calm and do exactly what they said."

Unknown speaker 3: "I landed at the airport, we got off, and they told the captain that we had three minutes to evacuate; but I didn't think there were still a couple of people on board when they blew the, they blew the front part of the plane up. They had dynamite all over the front and the back of the plane. They brought on 20 kilos of plastic dynamite or something in Beirut."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.upi.com/Archives/Audio/Events-of-1970/Hijackings/|title=1970 Year in Review—Hijackings |publisher=UPI|access-date=29 March 2016}}</ref>

==Days in the desert==
[[File:Jordanian army chief of staff checks on freed Dawson's field aircrafts hostages, 25 September 1970.png|thumb|[[Jordanian Armed Forces|Jordanian Army]] chief of staff [[Zaid ibn Shaker]] checks on the freed hostages, 25 September 1970.]]

On 7 September 1970, the hijackers held a press conference for 60 members of the media who had made their way to what was being called "Revolution Airport". About 125 hostages were transferred to Amman, while the American, Israeli, Swiss, and West German citizens were held on the planes.<ref name="raab">Raab, David.  ''The New York Times Magazine'', 22 August 2004. {{cite web |url=http://www.terrorinblackseptember.com/nytimes.html |title=Remembrance of terror past. |access-date=2 May 2006}}. Reprinted at http://www.terrorinblackseptember.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071015040906/http://www.terrorinblackseptember.com/ |date=15 October 2007 }}</ref> Jewish passengers were also held. Passenger Rivke Berkowitz of New York, interviewed in 2006, recalled "the hijackers went around asking people their religion, and I said I was Jewish." Another Jewish hostage, 16-year-old Barbara Mensch (sister of [[Peter Mensch]] and sister-in-law of former UK MP [[Louise Mensch]]), was told she was "a political prisoner."<ref name="Tugend" />

As groups of the remaining passengers and crew were assembled on the sand in front of the media, members of the PFLP, among them [[Bassam Abu Sharif]], made statements to the press. Sharif claimed that the goal of the hijackings was "to gain the release of all of our political prisoners jailed in Israel in exchange for the hostages."<ref name="transcript" /><ref name="press">[[Public Broadcasting Service]], ''American Experience'', {{cite web |access-date=1 May 2006 |title=Hijacked:Journalists and the Hijacking. |website=[[PBS]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/people-involved-and-affected/}}</ref>

In the United States, President [[Richard Nixon]] met with his advisers on 8 September and ordered United States Secretary of Defense [[Melvin Laird]] to bomb the PFLP positions in Jordan. Laird refused{{Citation needed|date=August 2007}} on the pretext that the weather was unfavorable, and the idea was dropped. The [[82nd Airborne Division]] was put on alert, the [[United States Sixth Fleet|Sixth Fleet]] was put to sea, and military aircraft were sent to Turkey in preparation for a possible military strike.<ref name="people">''Hijacked'' {{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/hijacked-wars-threats-responses/ |title=People and events. |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]] |access-date=1 May 2006}}</ref>

[[File:Nixon 30-0316a.jpg|right|thumb|United States President [[Richard Nixon]] advised a direct military response to the hijackings.]]
In contrast, British Prime Minister [[Edward Heath]] decided to negotiate with the hijackers, ultimately agreeing to release Khaled and others in exchange for hostages. This was bitterly opposed by the United States:<blockquote>Tensions between London and Washington are reflected in a bitterly acrimonious telephone conversation between top Foreign Office official [[Denis Greenhill, Baron Greenhill of Harrow|Sir Denis Greenhill]] and senior White House aide [[Joseph J. Sisco|Joseph Sisco]]. ... "I think your government would want to weigh very, very carefully the kind of outcry that would occur in this country against your taking this kind of action." Greenhill replied: "Well, they do, Joe, but there is also an outcry in this country," expressing concern that "Israel won't lift a bloody finger and ... our people get killed. You could imagine how bad that would look, and if it all comes out that we could have got our people out but for the obduracy of you and other people so to speak. ... I mean people say, why the bloody hell didn't you try?"<ref name="davis">Davis, Douglas. ''[[The Jerusalem Post]]'', 2 January 2001. {{cite web |url=http://www.gamla.org.il/english/article/2001/jan/post1.htm |title=Declassified documents show how UK gave in to terrorists. |access-date=1 May 2006 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060522102235/http://www.gamla.org.il/english/article/2001/jan/post1.htm |archive-date=22 May 2006  }}</ref></blockquote>

On 9 September the [[United Nations Security Council]] demanded the release of the passengers, in [[United Nations Security Council Resolution 286|Resolution 286]]. The following day, fighting between the PFLP and Jordanian forces erupted in Amman at the Intercontinental Hotel, where the 125 women and children were being kept by the PFLP, and the Kingdom appeared to be on the brink of full-scale civil war.<ref name="transcript" /> The destruction of the aircraft on 12 September highlighted the impotence of the Jordanian government in Palestinian-controlled areas, and the Palestinians declared the city of [[Irbid]] to be "liberated territory", in a direct challenge to Hussein's rule.

On 13 September the [[BBC World Service]] broadcast a government announcement in Arabic saying that the UK would release Khaled in exchange for the hostages.<ref name="ukconfidential">''UK Confidential'', 1 January 2001 {{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/uk_confidential/1089694.stm |title=Black September: Tough negotiations. |access-date=2 May 2006 | work=BBC News | date=1 January 2001}}</ref>

According to [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Henry Kissinger]], "At this point, whether because [American] readiness measures had given [King Hussein] a psychological lift or because he was reaching the point of desperation, Hussein resolved on an all-out confrontation with the fedayeen."<ref name="kissinger">Kissinger, Henry.  {{cite magazine |title=Crisis and Confrontation |magazine=Time |url=http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,916938,00.html|date=15 October 1979 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050320021031/http://www.time.com/time/archive/preview/0,10987,916938,00.html |archive-date=20 March 2005 }}. ''Time'', 15 October 1979.</ref>

Complicating the international crisis was the fact that Syria and Iraq, which had links with the [[USSR]], had already threatened to intervene on behalf of Palestinian groups in any confrontation with the Kingdom of Jordan. According to British documents declassified under the "[[thirty year rule]]", an anxious King Hussein asked the UK and United States to pass a request to Israel to bomb Syrian troops if they entered Jordan in support of the Palestinians.<ref name="ukconfidential" /> When a Syrian tank crossed the border, Israeli aircraft overflew the area in warning.

==Resolution and consequences==
King Hussein declared [[martial law]] on 16 September and initiated the military actions later known as the [[Black September in Jordan|Black September]] conflict. Hostage David Raab described the Jordanian military actions: <blockquote>We were in the middle of the shelling since [[Jabal al-Ashrafieh|Ashrafiyeh]] [neighbourhood in Amman] was among the Jordanian Army's primary targets. Electricity was cut off, and again we had little food or water. Friday afternoon, we heard the metal tracks of a tank clanking on the pavement. We were quickly herded into one room, and the guerrillas threw open the doors to make the building appear abandoned so it wouldn't attract fire. Suddenly, the shelling stopped.<ref name="raab" /></blockquote>

About two weeks after the start of the crisis, the remaining hostages were recovered from locations around Amman and exchanged for Leila Khaled and several other PFLP prisoners. The hostages were flown to Cyprus and then to Rome's [[Leonardo da Vinci Airport]], where on 28 September they met President Nixon, who was conducting a State visit to Italy and the Vatican.<ref>The Richard M. Nixon Library & Birthplace, {{cite web |url=http://www.nixonfoundation.org/index.php?src=gendocs&link=papers_1970 |title=Nixon Papers, 1970 |access-date=5 May 2006 }}, PDF transcript "[https://web.archive.org/web/20070703234017/http://www.nixonfoundation.org/clientuploads/directory/archive/1970_pdf_files/1970_0305.pdf Exchange of remarks with released American hostages]."</ref> Speaking to reporters that day, Nixon noted he had told the released captives that: <blockquote>... as a result of what they had been through... the possibility of reducing hijackings in the future had been substantially increased, because the international community was outraged by these incidents. Now we have not only mobilized guards on our planes, but we are developing facilities ... for the purpose of seeing that people who might be potential hijackers do not get on planes with weapons or explosive material.<ref>The Richard M. Nixon Library & Birthplace, {{cite web |url=http://www.nixonfoundation.org/index.php?src=gendocs&link=papers_1970 |title=Nixon Papers, 1970 |access-date=5 May 2006 }}, PDF transcript [http://www.nixonfoundation.org/clientuploads/directory/archive/1970_pdf_files/1970_0306.pdf Exchange of remarks with reporters at Leonardo da Vinci Airport about released American hostages.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703234017/http://www.nixonfoundation.org/clientuploads/directory/archive/1970_pdf_files/1970_0306.pdf |date=3 July 2007 }} 28 September 1970.</ref></blockquote>

During the crisis, on 11 September President Nixon initiated a program to address the problem of "air piracy", including the immediate launch of a group of 100 federal agents to begin serving as armed [[sky marshals]] on U.S. flights.<ref name="flightcrews" /> Nixon's statement further indicated the U.S. departments of Defense and Transportation would determine whether [[Radiography|X-ray devices]] then available to the military could be moved into civilian service.<ref>The Richard M. Nixon Library & Birthplace, {{cite web |url=http://www.nixonfoundation.org/index.php?src=gendocs&link=papers_1970 |title=Nixon Papers, 1970 |access-date=5 May 2006 }}, PDF transcript "[http://www.nixonfoundation.org/clientuploads/directory/archive/1970_pdf_files/1970_0291.pdf Statement announcing a program to deal with Airplane hijacking] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070703234016/http://www.nixonfoundation.org/clientuploads/directory/archive/1970_pdf_files/1970_0291.pdf |date=3 July 2007 }}" 11 September 1970.</ref>

The PFLP officially disavowed the tactic of airline hijackings several years later, although several of its members and subgroups continued to hijack aircraft and commit other violent operations.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/february/23/newsid_2518000/2518731.stm |title=On This Day, 23 February 1972: Hijackers surrender and free Lufthansa crew |access-date=11 April 2011 |work=[[BBC News]] |quote=It later emerged the hijackers belonged to the PFLP (the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and had been paid ,00m in ransom. |date=23 February 1972}}</ref>

==Documentary film==
In 2006, [[Ilan Ziv]] described the Dawson's Field hijackings in ''Hijacked'', an hour-long episode of [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]'s program ''[[American Experience]]'', which he wrote and directed and which originally aired on 26 February 2006. Ziv included archival footage of the events and interviewed hijackers, hostages, members of the media, and politicians.

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* Arey, James A. ''The Sky Pirates''. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1972.
* Carlton, David. ''The West's Road to 9/11: Resisting, Appeasing and Encouraging Terrorism since 1970.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. {{ISBN|1-4039-9608-3}}. Cites the Western capitulation to the Dawson's field hijackings as the beginning of the rise of modern terrorism.
* {{cite web
|url=https://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Jacobson-1972.pdf
|title=Individual and Group Responses To Confinement in a Skyjacked Plane
|first=Sylvia R.
|last=Jacobson
|publisher=American Orthopsychiatric Association
|location=Detroit
|date=1972}} 
* Phillips, David. ''Skyjack: The Story of Air Piracy.'' London: George G. Harrap, 1973.
* Moss, Miriam. ''Girl on a Plane''. London: Andersen Press, 2015. A fictionalised account by Moss, who, aged 15, was a passenger on BOAC Flight 775 from Bahrain.
* Raab, David. ''Terror in Black September: The First Eyewitness Account of the Infamous 1970 Hijackings.'' New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. {{ISBN|1-4039-8420-4}}.
* Snow, Peter, and David Phillips. ''The Arab Hijack War: The True Story of 25 Days in September 1970''. New York: Ballantine Books, 1971.

==External links==
* [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/hijacked/ Website of ''Hijacked''], [[Ilan Ziv]]'s hour-long episode of [[Public Broadcasting Service|PBS]]'s ''[[The American Experience]]'', originally aired 26 February 2006.
* {{IMDb title|qid=Q2842919|title=Hijacked}}
* [https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/uk_confidential/1089694.stm BBC story on secret documents on this affair released after 30 years]
*[http://www.asi-mag.com/editorials/leila_khaled.htm Aviation Security interview with Leila Khaled] ([https://web.archive.org/web/20060324074350/http://www.asi-mag.com/editorials/leila_khaled.htm Archive])
* [http://www.terrorinblackseptember.com Terror in Black September website]
*{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20030528025613/http://www.peace-online.org/images/rev-airport/rev-airport-index.html Bassam Abu Sharif's website with pictures of hijacked planes]}} ({{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20050103105910/http://www.peace-online.org/images/rev-airport/rev-airport-index.html Archive]}})
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20100919002808/http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19700921,00.html ''Time'' cover, 21 September 1970 "Pirates in the Sky"]
* BBC report [https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/check/media/video/otdvideo/70/09/12/6425_12-09-70?size=4x3&bgc=6699CC&nbram=1&nbram=1&bbram=1&news=1 from Amman, September 1970]{{dead link|date=September 2025|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}
* [[Walter Cronkite]]'s recollections, [https://www.npr.org/2003/09/09/1426387/the-skyjacking-of-1970 audio program], ''[[All Things Considered]]'', [[NPR]]
* [http://terencegallacher.wordpress.com/2012/01/03/dawsons-field-1970/ Article on the exclusive filming of the destruction of the aircraft by UPITN cameraman Hassan Dalal].
* [https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/97501/ Unedited film footage from the Pathe News archive].
{{PFLP}}
{{Palestinian militancy attacks in the 1970s}}
{{Terrorism in Jordan}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1970}}
{{Trans World Airlines}}
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in Egypt}}

[[Category:Dawson's Field hijackings| ]]
[[Category:1970 in Europe]]
[[Category:1970 in Israel]]
[[Category:1970 in Jordan]]
[[Category:1970 in international relations]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 747]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Douglas DC-8]]
[[Category:Accidents and incidents involving the Vickers VC10]]
[[Category:Aircraft hijackings in the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Aircraft hijackings]]
[[Category:Anti-Israeli sentiment in Europe]]
[[Category:Attacks on aircraft by Palestinian militant groups]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in 1970]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Egypt]]
[[Category:Aviation accidents and incidents in Jordan]]
[[Category:Black September]]
[[Category:British Overseas Airways Corporation accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:El Al accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Israel]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Jordan]]
[[Category:Foreign relations of Palestine]]
[[Category:Hijackings in 1970]]
[[Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe]]
[[Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in Switzerland]]
[[Category:Pan Am accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine attacks]]
[[Category:September 1970 in Asia]]
[[Category:Swissair accidents and incidents]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Asia in 1970]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Jordan in the 1970s]]
[[Category:Terrorist incidents in Jordan]]
[[Category:Trans World Airlines accidents and incidents]]