Delta Air Lines Flight 841
Encyclopedia
Hijacking
Delta Air Lines Flight 841 was an aircraft hijackingAircraft hijacking
Aircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
that took place beginning on Monday, July 31, 1972, on a flight originally from Detroit to Miami.
Members of the Black Liberation Army
Black Liberation Army
The Black Liberation Army was an underground, black nationalist-Marxist militant organization that operated in the United States from 1970 to 1981...
took over the airplane in flight using weapons smuggled on board, including a bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
cut out to hold a handgun
Handgun
A handgun is a firearm designed to be held and operated by one hand. This characteristic differentiates handguns as a general class of firearms from long guns such as rifles and shotguns ....
. The DC-8 held 7 crew and 94 passengers, none of whom were killed during the hijacking.
Five hijackers who had boarded with three children took over the plane. The plane flew to Miami where the 86 hostage-held passengers (i.e. 94 minus 8) were released in exchange for $1 million in ransom. The plane was then flown on to Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
where it refueled before flying to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Algerian authorities seized the plane and ransom which they returned to the U.S. but the hijackers were released after a few days.
Return of crew and plane
On Wednesday evening, August 2, 1972, at a hurried 10-minute news conference after the four-engine plane's return from the 11,500 mile trip to Atlanta, GA, the captain said he realized the aircraft was being hijacked when he left the cockpit to go to the lavatory and noticed a man holding a gun on a stewardess. One of the hijackers cocked his pistol at a stewardess (Mays, of Macon, GA) while the plane was in Miami. The stewardess had been with the airline less than two months. "They did it as a threat when they thought their instructions were not going to be carried out," the captain said.The crew had an overnight stay in Barcelona, Spain after leaving Algers.
In addition to the ransom, a Delta spokesman said the trip cost $21,600 for fuel and salaries for the crew.
It was the first Delta aircraft ordered to fly to Algeria and the first hijacking experience for each of the seven members of the crew.
Delta identified the crew members as Capt. William Harold May, First Officer D.L. Henderson, and R.R. Kubal, and stewardesses Shirley Ann Morgan, Sherril Elsie Ross, Hanna Stout Mays, and Leanne Marie Arnfield.
Apprehension of hijackers
Four of the five hijackers were captured in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
on May 26, 1976, and tried by the French courts. The remaining hijacker, George Wright
George Wright (fugitive)
George Edward Wright is a Portuguese citizen of American originwho, in 1961, graduated from Mary Bethune High School in Halifax, Virginia.Originally arrested and convicted for murder in 1962 and sentenced to up to 30 years in prison,...
, who had dressed as a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
during the hijacking, was caught on September 26, 2011, in Lisbon
Lisbon
Lisbon is the capital city and largest city of Portugal with a population of 545,245 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Lisbon extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of 3 million on an area of , making it the 9th most populous urban...
. Wright was an accomplice in a 1962
armed robbery and homicide, who had escaped prison in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...
before joining in the hijacking.
External links
- Algeria: Panthers on Ice (Time Magazine, Sept. 1972)
- Aviation-Safety.net entry
See also
- Aircraft hijackingAircraft hijackingAircraft hijacking is the unlawful seizure of an aircraft by an individual or a group. In most cases, the pilot is forced to fly according to the orders of the hijackers. Occasionally, however, the hijackers have flown the aircraft themselves, such as the September 11 attacks of 2001...
- List of aircraft hijackings
- George Wright (fugitive)George Wright (fugitive)George Edward Wright is a Portuguese citizen of American originwho, in 1961, graduated from Mary Bethune High School in Halifax, Virginia.Originally arrested and convicted for murder in 1962 and sentenced to up to 30 years in prison,...