Delta Air Lines Flight 841

Delta Air Lines Flight 841

N817E, the aircraft involved in the hijacking, at Orlando International Airport in 1966.
Hijacking summary
Date	July 31 – August 2, 1972
Summary	Hijacking
Site	United States, Algeria
Passengers	94
Crew	7
Survivors	101 (all)
Aircraft type	Douglas DC-8-51
Operator	Delta Air Lines
Registration	N817E
Flight origin	Detroit International Airport, Michigan
1st stopover	Logan International Airport, Massachusetts
2nd stopover	Houari Boumediene Airport, Algiers, Algeria
Destination	Miami International Airport, Florida

Delta Air Lines Flight 841 was an aircraft hijacking that took place beginning on Monday, July 31, 1972, on a flight originally from Detroit to Miami.

There were 7 crew and 94 passengers on board the Douglas DC-8 for the flight from Detroit to Miami. Members of the Black Liberation Army took over the aircraft in flight using weapons smuggled on board, including a handgun hidden inside a bible with its pages cut out to form a cavity. None of the hostages were killed during the hijacking.

Five hijackers who had boarded with three children took over the aircraft. It flew to Miami as originally scheduled, where the 86 passenger hostages were released. The aircraft was then flown to Boston, where they picked up a flight engineer who was qualified to fly the plane overseas. Working with FBI agents on-site, Boston Delta airport maintenance foreman Ronald S. Fudge was chosen to refuel the plane and deliver the flight engineer to the plane. He also delivered a bag containing the $1 million ransom and other bags containing provisions requested by the hijackers, including cigarettes, apples, and ham and cheese sandwiches. After refuelling and taking on the engineer and provisions, the plane was dispatched to the runway and flew to Algeria. Algerian authorities seized the aircraft and ransom which were returned to the U.S. with the crew hostages, but the hijackers were released after a few days.

On Wednesday evening, August 2, 1972, at a hurried 10-minute news conference after the DC-8's completion of the 11,500-mile (18,500 km) trip at Atlanta, Georgia, the captain said he realized the aircraft was being hijacked when he left the cockpit to go to the lavatory and noticed a man holding a gun on a stewardess. One of the hijackers cocked his pistol at a stewardess Jayme Mays, of Macon, Georgia while the aircraft was in Miami. The stewardess had been with the airline less than two weeks. "They did it as a threat when they thought their instructions were not going to be carried out," the captain said.

The crew had an overnight stay in Barcelona, Spain after leaving Algiers. It was the first hijacking experience for each of them. In addition to the ransom, a Delta spokesman said the trip cost $21,600 for fuel and salaries for the crew. Delta identified the crew members as Capt. William Harold May, First Officer D.L. Henderson, and R.R. Kubal, and stewardesses Shirley Ann Morgan, Sherril Elsie Ross, Hanna Stout Mays, and Leanne Marie Arnfield.