Can the Hijackers Be Halted?

The two Palestinian guerrillas who forced down TWA Flight 840 in Damascus may well have pulled off much more than the 46th reported hijacking of the year. The ease with which they commandeered the plane and the apparent immunity that they enjoyed in Syria suggest that air piracy is becoming a standard and almost absurdly routine tactic. The chilling fact is that no country or airline anywhere can feel safe from a group that wants a dramatic way to publicize its grievances.

In the case of TWA 840, most activity focused on freeing two Israeli passengers who were detained in Damascus. The U.S. brought diplomatic pressure on Syria, and TWA President F. C. Wiser Jr. personally flew to Damascus. The most dramatic gesture came from Ola Forsberg, president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations, whose 44,000 members fly for nearly all of the non-Communist world's airlines. Unless the Israelis were freed, Forsberg promised to call, with two weeks' notice, a 24-hour global strike. There is some question whether the members would authorize a strike, however, and U Thant, who met with the pilots at week's end, complained that "such a step would not produce the desired result."

What steps can possibly be taken to end the hijackings before they result in a major disaster? One useful measure may be the International Civil Aviation Organization's 1963 Tokyo Convention, which was ratified by the U.S. only last week, and will go into effect this fall. The convention calls for the prompt return of hijacked airliners and passengers. Most airline officials would like to strengthen the agreement by providing for the extradition and severe punishment of hijackers as a matter of course. Even so, any country can get around extradition by granting hijackers "political asylum"--as Cuba has done regularly. Only last week, hijackers bound for Castro's island boldly seized two Ecuadorian military transports on a flight out of Quito. When one crewman put up a fight they shot him dead.

Ultimately, there is no sure solution for the simple reason that, like almost everything else in the modern technological world, a passenger-filled jet flying at 30,000 ft. is highly vulnerable.

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