American Airlines Flight 293

American Airlines Flight 293
	N1995, the Boeing 727 involved
Hijacking
Date	June 20, 1979
Summary	Hijacking
Site	United States
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 727; Boeing 707
Operator	American Airlines
Registration	N1995
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
Passengers	135 (1 hijacker)
Survivors	All

American Airlines Flight 293 was a regularly scheduled flight from New York City (LaGuardia Airport) to Chicago (O'Hare International Airport). On June 20, 1979, the aircraft serving the flight was hijacked by Nikola Kavaja, a Serbian nationalist and anti-communist. During the hijacking Kavaja demanded and received another airplane which he intended to crash into the headquarters of the Yugoslav Communist Party in Belgrade. He was persuaded to surrender during a stop in Ireland.

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 November 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

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d 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.

[Weber-1] Weber, Bruce (November 12, 2008). "Nikola Kavaja, Anti-Tito Hijacker of Jet, Dies at 75". New York Times.

[2] Hockenos, Paul (2003). Homeland Calling: Exile Patriotism and the Balkan Wars. Cornell University Press. pp. 116–117. ISBN 978-0-8014-4158-5.

[3] Dusan Stojanovic, [usatoday30.usatoday.com/.../2008-11-11-2484099446_x.htm "Serb who hijacked US plane in 1979 dies"], Associated Press, August 10, 2008.

[4] "Serb who hijacked U.S. plane in 1979 dies". MSNBC. November 11, 2008.

[1]

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1970s
1970	Cornfield Bomber (February 1970) Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 (March 1970) ALM Flight 980 (May 1970)* Trans International Airlines Flight 863 (September 1970) Wichita State University football team plane crash (October 1970) Southern Airways Flight 932 (November 14 1970) Capitol International Airways Flight C2C3/26 (November 27 1970)
1971	B-52C Lake Michigan crash (January 1971) Colorado Aviation Aero Commander 680 crash (May 1971) Hughes Airwest Flight 706 (June 6 1971) Allegheny Airlines Flight 485 (June 7 1971) Pan Am Flight 845 (July 1971) Alaska Airlines Flight 1866 (September 1971) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305 (See D. B. Cooper, November 1971)
1972	Mohawk Airlines Flight 405 (March 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 9570 (May 1972) American Airlines Flight 96 (June 12 1972) Prinair Flight 191 (June 24 1972)* Lake Winnebago mid-air collision (June 29 1972) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 710 (July 5 1972) Delta Air Lines Flight 841 (July 31 1972) Sacramento Canadair Sabre accident (September 1972) Southern Airways Flight 49 (November 1972) United Air Lines Flight 553 (December 10 1972) Chicago–O'Hare runway collision (December 20 1972) Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 (December 29 1972) Puerto Rico DC-7 crash (December 31 1972)*
1973	DeKalb–Peachtree Airport Learjet crash (February 1973) Ozark Air Lines Flight 809 (July 23 1973) Delta Air Lines Flight 723 (July 31 1973) TWA Flight 742 (August 1973) World Airways Flight 802 (September 8 1973) Texas International Airlines Flight 655 (September 27 1973) Pan Am Flight 160 (November 3 1973) National Airlines Flight 27 (November 3 1973) Iberia Flight 933 (December 1973)
1974	Commonwealth Commuter Flight 317 (January 6 1974) Pan Am Flight 806 (January 30 1974)* Delta Air Lines Flight 523 (February 1974) Eastern Air Lines Flight 212 (September 1974) TWA Flight 514 (December 1 1974) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 6231 (December 1 1974)
1975	Golden West Airlines Flight 261 (Janaury 1975) Eastern Air Lines Flight 66 (June 1975) Wien Air Alaska Flight 99 (August 1975) Overseas National Airways Flight 032 (November 1975)
1976	Alaska Airlines Flight 60 (April 5 1976) American Airlines Flight 625 (April 27 1976)* Air Manila Flight 702 (June 1976) TWA Flight 355 (September 1976)
1977	Japan Air Lines Cargo Flight 1045 (January 1977) Southern Airways Flight 242 (April 4 1977) Delta Air Lines Flight 1080 (April 12 1977) Encino helicopter crash (August 1977) Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash (October 1977) Air Indiana Flight 216 (December 13 1977) United Airlines Flight 2860 (December 18 1977) Vieques Air Link crash (December 19 1977)*
1978	Continental Airlines Flight 603 (March 1 1978) United Airlines Flight 696 (March 13 1978) National Airlines Flight 193 (May 1978) Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 182 (September 25 1978) Air Caribbean Flight 309 (September 26 1978)* Rocky Mountain Airways Flight 217 (December 4 1978) TWA Flight 541 (December 21 1978) United Airlines Flight 173 (December 28 1978)
1979	TWA Flight 841 (April 1979) American Airlines Flight 191 (May 25 1979) Downeast Airlines Flight 46 (May 30 1979) Air New England Flight 248 (June 17 1979) American Airlines Flight 293 (June 20 1979) American Airlines Flight 444 (November 1979)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that either took place in a U.S. territory, or in adjacent waters thereof. Flying Tiger Line Flight 45 (July 1970) occurred in the United States Civil Administration of the Ryukyu Islands

v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in Ireland
1940s	TWA Flight 6963 (December 1946) Pan Am Flight 1-10 (April 1948)
1950s	KLM Flight 633 (September 1954) KLM Flight 607-E (August 1958)* Pan Am Clipper Panama (June 1959)
1960s	Alitalia Flight 618 (February 1960) President Airlines Douglas DC-6 (September 1961) Aer Lingus Flight 712 (March 1968)
1970s	British Army Gazelle downing (February 1978)# American Airlines Flight 293 (June 1979)
1980s	Air India Flight 182 (June 1985)* template British Army Lynx shootdown (June 1988)#
1990s	British Army Gazelle shootdown (February 1990)# British Army Lynx shootdown (March 1994)# Irish Marine Emergency Service Rescue 111 (July 1999)
2010s	Manx2 Flight 7100 (February 2011) Irish Coast Guard Rescue 116 (March 2017)
Accidents with the pound sign (#) occurred in Northern Ireland, which is a part of the United Kingdom, while others occurred in the Republic of Ireland. Accidents with asteriks (*) occurred in the ocean near Ireland