American Airlines Flight 293

American Airlines Flight 293
Hijacking summary
Date	June 20, 1979
Summary	Hijacking
Site	United States
Passengers	135 (1 hijacker)
Survivors	All
Aircraft type	Boeing 727 Boeing 707
Operator	American Airlines
Flight origin	LaGuardia Airport, New York City
1st stopover	O'Hare International Airport, Chicago
2nd stopover	John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York City
Last stopover	Shannon Airport, Ireland
Destination	O'Hare International Airport, Chicago

American Airlines Flight 293 was a regularly scheduled flight which was hijacked by Nikola Kavaja, a Serbian nationalist and anti-communist, on June 20, 1979. During the hijacking Kavaja demanded and received another airplane with the intent of crashing it into the headquarters of the Yugoslav Communist Party.

Background

Nikola Kavaja was one of six Serbs convicted of the May 1979 bombing of a Yugoslav consul’s home in Chicago.^[1] On June 20, 1979, Kavaja, already released on bail, took over the Boeing 727 shortly before it landed in Chicago from New York by threatening the pilots with a homemade bomb.^[1] He demanded the release of Stojilko Kajevich, a Serbian Orthodox priest and accomplice in the consul home bombing who remained in jail.^[1] After letting the passengers and most of the crew members go, Kavaja forced what was left of the crew to fly back to New York City, where he demanded and received a Boeing 707 to fly him initially to Johannesburg, South Africa, but later to Ireland after learning from his lawyer that Ireland did not have an extradition treaty with the United States. After arriving at Shannon Airport he planned to take control of the airplane and fly it to Belgrade where he would crash it into the headquarters of the Yugoslav Communist Party; however, after being persuaded by his lawyer, who was also on board, to not do so, he surrendered to the Irish authorities, who then turned him over to the Americans. Kavaja was sentenced to 67 years in an American prison, but served only 20 years.^[1]^[2] Kavaja died from a heart attack at his home in Belgrade in 2008.^[3]

Kavaja later claimed in numerous interviews with Serbian newspapers that Osama bin Laden stole his idea of crashing airplanes into tall buildings in the September 11, 2001 attacks.^[4]

References

1 2 3 4 Weber, Bruce (November 12, 2008). "Nikola Kavaja, Anti-Tito Hijacker of Jet, Dies at 75". New York Times.
↑ Hockenos, Paul (2003). Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism and the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-0-8014-4158-5.
↑ Dusan Stojanovic, [usatoday30.usatoday.com/.../2008-11-11-2484099446_x.htm "Serb who hijacked US plane in 1979 dies"], Associated Press, August 10, 2008.
↑ "Serb who hijacked U.S. plane in 1979 dies". MSNBC. November 11, 2008.

American Airlines (Oneworld member)

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American Airlines	Flight 1 Flight 2 Flight 11 Flight 28 Flight 63 July 1943 October 1943 2001 Flight 77 Flight 96 Flight 157 Flight 191 Flight 293 Flight 320 Flight 331 Flight 383 1965 2016 Flight 444 Flight 514 Flight 587 Flight 625 Flight 711 Flight 723 Flight 910 Flight 924 Flight 965 Flight 1420 Flight 1502 Flight 1572 Flight 6780
American Eagle	Flight 4184 Flight 5452 Flight 5456

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Organizations

Allied Pilots Association
Association of Professional Flight Attendants
TWU-IAM Association
CWA/Teamsters Passenger Service Association

← 1978
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 (1979)
1980 →

Jan 30 Varig Flight 967
Feb 12 Air Rhodesia Flight 827
Feb 17 Air New Zealand Flight 4374
Mar 13 Alia Flight 600
Mar 17 Aeroflot Flight 1691
Mar 29 Quebecair Flight 255
Apr 4 TWA Flight 841
May 25 American Airlines Flight 191
May 30 Downeast Flight 46
Jun 17 Air New England Flight 248
Jun 20 American Airlines Flight 293
Jul 11 Garuda Fokker F28 crash
Jul 31 Dan-Air Flight 0034
Aug 11 Dniprodzerzhynsk mid-air collision
Oct 8 Swissair Flight 316
Oct 31 Western Airlines Flight 2605
Nov 15 American Airlines Flight 444
Nov 26 Pakistan International Airlines Flight 740
Nov 28 Air New Zealand Flight 901
Dec 23 Turkish Airlines Ankara crash

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