He pulled off what some deem the crime of the century: Skyjacking a commercial jetliner, collecting a ransom of $200,000, parachuting off the aft stairs of the Boeing 727 into the night, and simply disappearing.
Using never-before- published interviews and first-hand accounts, he brings to life one of the most chaotic and fascinating periods in American aviation history..
With its focus on the parachute hijackers, Wigger\'s book gathers together the stories of this period of daring criminality and recounts them in gripping fashion, showing their effect on the public, the media, and law enforcement.
What they had in common was that their exploits transfixed the nation\'s attention, bringing about a transformation in airline security that remains with us still.
Motivations involved an admixture of ideology, greed, derring-do, and a desperate need to be somebody.
Yet another rode a bicycle across the tarmac with a rifle strapped to the handlebars. before jumping over Honduras.
Another collected a large ransom in Washington, D.
C.
One hijacker ran across the ramp in Reno, Nevada with a pillowcase over his head, gun in hand, to seize a United Airlines flight.
In The Hijacking of American Flight 119 , John Wigger explores the wave of hijackings that swept over commercial Flight between 1961 and 1972.
Unlike Cooper, he was tracked down.
Louis with a machine gun and collecting $502,500 in ransom, he parachuted out over Indiana.
After commandeering the Flight from St.
None were more daring than the hijacker of American Airlines Flight 119.
What\'s less known is that it Inspired imitators.
Cooper\'s exploit over the skies of the American Northwest has Inspired books, films, and endless speculation.
D.
B.
Unsolved, perhaps, but much admired.
The FBI pursued him for over forty years, before closing the case and leaving it unsolved.
Cooper--no one knows his real name or identity--has become a figure of enduring fascination and obsession.
Since November 1971, D.
B.
He pulled off what some deem the crime of the century: Skyjacking a commercial jetliner, collecting a ransom of $200,000, parachuting off the aft stairs of the Boeing 727 into the night, and simply disappearing
