Alltrikes

During the early 70's there was a rash of commercial aircraft hijackings. The following is an experience that I had while working at LAX when working the mid shift (11pm-7am).

LAX tower was notified by LA Center that PSA 902 had been hijacked and that he was "coming our way". PSA (Pacific Southwest Airlines) ran the shuttle route between LAX and SFO primarily and we had strong relationships with their flight crews.

I was working the local control position (clearing landings/takeoffs) that night. Since we knew that PSA 902 had a hijacker on board we decided to place the aircraft on the most isolated runway (Rwy 24R) on the North side of the airport. Everything was operating normally as I cleard him to land. The aircraft rolled all the way to the end of Rwy 24R and stayed on the runway facing West. It was then that things started to heat up. The captain stated that the hijacker demanded to be refuled at their present location and then depart for Havana, Cuba. In the backgound of the captains transmission you could hear the hijacker yelling commands. Big Problem: All commercial refueling sites are located in the gate locations at the terminals. If we are to refuel him at his present location, we need a fuel truck. The closest fuel truck location is at the West Imperial terminal located 3.5 miles away on the other side of the airport. We would also need to find a driver for the truck. The hijacker is getting very agtitated and the captain has now told us that we have only 5 minutes to get the fuel truck to him or the hijacker will kill one of the stewardess.

The visibility out of the cockpit is very limited due to the aircraft's position, pointing West. All they can see ahead and to the right of them is sand dunes and blackness. To the left, out the captian's window you can see the lights of the airport.

Since I was still busy with other flights to land/takeoff I had switched the PSA flight to a separate ground control frequency and we had another controller dedicated to talking to PSA.

During the next 20 minutes the population of the tower cab had increased by about 20 people, including a police dog. The FBI and the LAX city operations had arrainged for a fuel truck driver and the fuel was enroute to the aircraft.

The hijacker by now was very, very agitated. The ground controller was continuing to talk to the captain but things were getting out of control in the cockpit. The captian made this comment: "Guys, if you could ever help us out, this would be the time". He discribed the hijacker armed with a shotgun. The shotgun was attatched to a wire coat hanger that was looped and duck tapped around the stewardess's neck. You could hear him screaming in the background.

The ground controller was discribing where the fuel truck was and that it was about half way to the aircraft. The captain made another comment: "Guys, were going to lose her"! The ground controller continued to talk about the fuel truck being almost there, almost there, please wait. He told the captain that they should be able to see the truck's headlights coming towards them. Since the hijacker was standing behind the captain he was unable to see anything out the window and was sure that he was about to die. As he was about to pull the trigger the captian showed the hijacker the reflection of the truck's headlights and rotating beacon shinning on the aircraft's nose cone. The hijacker didn't pull the trigger...

The aircraft was refueled without incidence and took off for Havana.

After the flight crew had returned from Cuba a meeting was held with everyone involved. Many handshakes and hugs were exchanged and the bond between PSA and the LAX tower controllers was even tighter than before.