Date: | Sunday 6 September 1970 |
Time: | |
Type: | Boeing 707-458 |
Owner/operator: | El Al Israel Airlines |
Registration: | 4X-ATB |
MSN: | 18071/216 |
Year of manufacture: | 1961 |
Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 148 |
Aircraft damage: | None |
Category: | UI |
Location: | London-Heathrow Airport (LHR) -
United Kingdom
|
Phase: | En route |
Nature: | Passenger - Scheduled |
Departure airport: | Amsterdam-Schiphol International Airport (AMS/EHAM) |
Destination airport: | New York-John F. Kennedy International Airport, NY (JFK/KJFK) |
Narrative:The El Al Boeing 707 was on a flight from Tel Aviv to New York via Amsterdam. After takeoff from Schiphol, as the plane approached the English coast, two Palestinias, Leila Khaled and her accomplice attempted to hijack the plane. Brandishing gun, they moved towards the flight deck. The pilot then put the plane in a nose dive, throwing the two off their feet. In the scuffle that followed, the male hijacker threw a hand grenade down the aisle of the plane and was shot dead by an El Al sky marshal. Fortunately the grenade failed to explode. Khaled was overpowered and the pilot carried out an emergency landing at Heathrow.
Sources:
Aviation Week & Space Technology 14 Sept. 1970
Location
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