Comments on: Has 9/11 Made Us Nostalgic for the Golden Age of Skyjacking?

Has 9/11 Made Us Nostalgic for the Golden Age of Skyjacking?

jonp72 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:39:56 -0800

Japanese leftists seize plane with samurai swords. AWOL Marine sets record by hijacking plane from Fresno to Rome. Female Palestinian hijacker becomes radical chic pin-up. D.B. Cooper parachutes from 727 with $200,000 in unmarked bills. Have airplane bombings made us nostalgic for old-school skyjackers who just wanted money or a trip to Cuba? Academic papers analyze skyjacking in the 60s & 70s according to contagion and rational choice models. Check out a prescient pre-9/11 documentary on the subject with great archival clips.

By: amberglow

amberglow — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 14:49:39 -0800

We didn't need to dismantle our Constitution for any of those--and they weren't uncommon occurences back then at all (and you should mention Entebbe/Uganda--one of the most well-known, i think)

By: Iridic

Iridic — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:00:57 -0800

Great post. The Japanese hijacking story is especially interesting.

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:04:29 -0800

The Japanese hijacking story is especially interesting. I love the part where they try tricking the hijackers into thinking that South Korea is North Korea. The incident is included in Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y, the pre-9/11 documentary I linked to earlier.

By: tkchrist

tkchrist — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:07:34 -0800

...They flew home, abandoning the samurai skyjackers to a doubtful welcome: Pyongyang Radio was already referring to them as "Trotskyite criminals." What a BURN!

By: quin

quin — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 15:58:42 -0800

I love the part where they try tricking the hijackers into thinking that South Korea is North Korea. Yeah, I thought that was pretty brilliant as well. I mean, that's something they would do in a silly action movie, no one would ever try that in the real world. ...They flew home, abandoning the samurai skyjackers to a doubtful welcome: Pyongyang Radio was already referring to them as "Trotskyite criminals." Again, this sounds like the script for a bad actioneer. You can almost hear the copy: The camera pulls out on our plucky villains, night is fast approaching, these men have survived the duplicity of the airlines, the long wait of the siege and now they have finally reached their destination... /cut to a shot of the nine unarmed men standing in a dark jungle. In the distance a radio can be heard calling them criminals, the men draw nearer one another as strange noises seem to be moving closer to them through the black trees. /screen fades to black. Hell, why hasn't this been made into an action movie?

By: nomisxid

nomisxid — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:02:45 -0800

I wonder what happened to the samurai in North Korea, and if they are still alive...

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:05:33 -0800

I thought Dial H-I-S-T-O-R-Y was a bit sketchy myself - it turns into that which it seeks to examine by the end. (And I know it's wrong of me to think so, but Leila Khaled was hot. Not as hot as some of the Red Army Faction lot, admittedly, but still among the hottest of terrorists.)

By: Citizen Premier

Citizen Premier — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:20:44 -0800

Finally, Japan's Transportation Vice Minister Shinjiro Yamamura offered to accompany them to Pyongyang as hostage if they would let the passengers go. I really can't imagine something like that happening in America.

By: jonp72

jonp72 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:23:00 -0800

BBC anniversary story on Red Army Faction hijack of Lufthansa flight

By: Hypnic jerk

Hypnic jerk — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 16:57:31 -0800

Btw, whatever happened to the Red Army Faction and the Baader Meinhof Gang (not to mention Weathermen and the Symbionese Liberation Army), are they still around. I feel like I'm talking about one-hit-wonder rock bands, but the analogy is apt. There was something kind of rakish and naughty about 70s terrorist groups, that, uh, doesn't translate so well today.

By: smackfu

smackfu — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:05:26 -0800

There were an absolute crapload of hijackings back in the olden days. For instance, Wikipedia says there were 82 in 1969 alone. That's what started all the security stuff.

By: Iridic

Iridic — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:07:36 -0800

whatever happened to the Red Army Faction and the Baader Meinhof Gang (not to mention Weathermen and the Symbionese Liberation Army) Individual profiles on Red Army Faction/Baader-Meinhof Gang members can be found here. And here's the story on the Weathermen's dissolution.

By: arruns

arruns — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:10:48 -0800

I wonder what happened to the samurai in North Korea, and if they are still alive... Hijacking the jet was easy, the hard part is getting back to Japan.

By: Hypnic jerk

Hypnic jerk — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:34:02 -0800

btw, this is one of the most concise summaries of the body of work of one of the 1970s ("terrorist-chic" anyone?) terrorist movements I have read: In a weird way I can sympathize with a lot of what the SLA tried to articulate about our materialistic society and consumer culture. But it was framed in such over-the-top paranoid crazy rhetoric, and hammered home through such idiotic acts of violence, that they undermined any real message they might have had. Through force of arms and a great deal of flamboyance and political savvy, they captured the attention of the world, and then had absolutely nothing to say.

By: user92371

user92371 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:26:19 -0800

For more on pre 9-11 hijackings, see Inflight, a magazine you should not take w/you to the airport.

By: Meatbomb

Meatbomb — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:58:16 -0800

they captured the attention of the world, and then had absolutely nothing to say If only I could capture the attention of the world! I've got a lot of nothing to say too.

By: Artw

Artw — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:43:05 -0800

WTF is a "Leftist"?

By: heylight

heylight — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 20:09:45 -0800

The problem here is that if you let Uma Thurman carry a sword onboard, then everyone is going to start doing it...

By: jack_mo

jack_mo — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:04:50 -0800

WTF is a "Leftist"? It's a word Americans (or maybe just people on MetaFilter) started using sometime in the last few years (as far as I know) to mean 'left-wing'. See also 'Islamist' and the even more recent, 'Christist'.

By: Hypnic jerk

Hypnic jerk — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:36:03 -0800

In my day a leftist was someone who fought against US-backed puppet regimes in the jungles of Central America.

By: jjoye

jjoye — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 16:23:08 -0800

the term has been around at least as far back as 1924, according to this etymology site. i guess it's not a word most people would use much in everyday speech, but i don't think it's terribly uncommon.