TWA Flight 840 hijacking (1969)

TWA Flight 840
Hijacking summary
Date 29 August 1969
Type Hijacking
Site Greek airspace
Passengers 120
Crew 7
Injuries 0
Survivors 127 (all)
Aircraft type Boeing 707-331B[1]
Operator Trans World Airlines
Tail number N776TW
Flight origin Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport
Stopover Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport
Destination Ben Gurion International Airport
This article is about the 1969 hijacking. For the 1986 bombing, see TWA Flight 840 (1986).

TWA Flight 840 was a Trans World Airlines flight from Leonardo Da Vinci International Airport in Rome, Italy to Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv, Israel, that was hijacked on 29 August 1969. There were no injuries or fatalities, although the aircraft was significantly damaged, and two hostages were held for two months.

In August 1969, leaders in the Palestinian left-wing organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) learned that Yitzak Rabin, the Israeli Ambassador to the United States was scheduled to be aboard a Trans World Airlines (TWA) Rome-Athens-Tel Aviv flight. Late that month (on the 29th), two operatives, Leila Khaled and Salim Issawi, hijacked the aircraft. The operation was successful, although Rabin was not aboard. The hijackers demanded that the pilots land the aircraft at Damascus, Syria. All hostages except two Israeli passengers were released and no one was injured, although the nose section of the aircraft, a Boeing 707, was blown up. The two Israeli hostages were released in December that year in return for 71 Syrian and Egyptian soldiers released by Israel.

The aircraft sustained $4 million in damage.[2] Boeing repaired the aircraft, fitting the nose section from 707-465 G-ARWE.[3] This aircraft had been destroyed by fire in an accident at Heathrow on 8 April 1968, but the nose section was salvageable. The aircraft was re-registered N28714 and returned to service.[1] In March 1980, the aircraft was withdrawn from service and flown to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base for use as spares for the KC-135 Stratotanker fleet of the United States Air Force. The aircraft's registration was canceled in March 1984.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c Ottaway, Susan (2008). Fire over Heathrow: The Tragedy of Flight 712. Barnsley: Pen and Sword Books Ltd. ISBN 9781844157396. 
  2. ^ Walter Enders, Todd Sandler. The political economy of terrorism. p.44
  3. ^ O'Brien, Tim (June 2008). "The Last Flight of Whiskey Echo". Aeroplane Vol 36, No 6 (422): p30–35. ISSN 0143-7240. 

See also

  • ← 1968
  • Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969 (1969)
  • 1970 →
  • Incidents resulting in at least 50 deaths shown in italics  
  •   Deadliest incident shown in bold smallcaps