Hijacked!

The one-hour commuter flight 50 years ago started out routinely. It ended up changing how we fly

- Neil Swidey

THE UNITED STATES IN THE 1960s had been plagued by so-called skyjackings, but none had turned deadly. For some experts Flight 1320 on St Patrick’s Day, 1970, is a dividing line in aviation history. Before it, major carriers could treat the threat of hijacking as barely more serious than an air-traffic delay, and let passengers walk on to planes without screening them. After it, everybody knew better.

THEY SPRINTED ACROSS Newark Airport in New Jersey, two middle-aged men desperately trying to make their 7:30 p.m. flight, home to Boston. By the time they got aboard Eastern Airlines Flight 1320, they were sweating. As the stewardess secured the passenger door behind them, Lloyd Pedersen looked back to his colleague Al Cavalieri and said, “How lucky are we?”

Within minutes, this shuttle flight on 17 March 1970, with its 68 passengers and five crew members, was in the air. It was scheduled to land in Boston in under an hour.

About 30 minutes into the flight, Pedersen, a plant supervisor, and Cavalieri, a mechanical engineer, were talking shop when two stewardesses, one blonde, the other brunette, both in their 20s, appeared at their row pushing a cart. Passengers didn’t need reservations for the shuttle, and they paid in the air—the fare was $21 (₹1,541).

The brunette greeted Pedersen and Cavalieri. Her name tag read Sandy. She was pleasant and efficient and soon moved on to the row behind them.