Forgotten History - American Airlines Flight 444
November 15, 1979
Ted Kaczynski (the "Unabomber") committed suicide in prison on Saturday at the age of 81. I remember a few of his threats in the 1990s, one of which was to bomb one or more of the terminals at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), which never happened, thankfully.
After the cataclysmic events of September 11, 2001, domestic terrorists like Kaczynski quickly faded into the fog of a previous era. The fact is, not that long ago terrorists like the Unabomber were a constant threat to the aviation system, and hijackings were relatively common as well.
Ted Kaczynski was a mathematics prodigy who turned to domestic terrorism. His second self-created mail bomb ended up, by sheer chance, on American Airlines Flight 444 on November 15, 1979.
Fortunately, it malfunctioned and instead of destroying the Boeing 727 midflight and killing everyone onboard, it merely filled the cabin with smoke - but not until much later into the flight.
The flight departed Chicago-O'Hare with seventy-two passengers and six crewmembers. The captain reported hearing a “thump” shortly after takeoff, but the flight continued to Washington since there were apparently no obvious signs of an emergency.
The captain even told the passengers over the public address system that there was a problem with the pressurization system, and that “it happens from time to time.”
Smoke from the bomb then gradually started filling the cabin during the flight, and the crew later performed an emergency landing at Washington-Dulles airport with the cabin filled with smoke. All survived, though some suffered from smoke inhalation.
As an airline historian, particularly of American Airlines, I was shocked that I somehow never knew about this.
One of my favorite parts of studying history is when you get blindsided by a long-forgotten story that you were completely unaware of. There are so many instances of forgotten history out there, and they will be forgotten forever if we do not document them now - while the people that lived the events are alive to tell us their experiences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Airlines_Flight_444
Bomb Jolts Jet - The Washington Post - November 16, 1979
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I remember this. You are right, this type of thing was part of life for a while. We need more folks reminding us of historical events so history is not forgotten, edited, or deleted all together.
Wow. Nice find! Scary for sure!