United Airlines Flight 696 was a flight from

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San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, to

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

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, with 75 people in board on March 13, 1978 which was

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by a man claiming to have a bomb. The incident resulted in no serious injuries and arrest of the hijacker, Clay Thomas.

Background

After takeoff from San Francisco, Clay Thomas, claiming to have a bomb, hijacked the Boeing 727-222, demanding the plane land in

Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...

, California, and fuel up for a flight to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

. The crew negotiated the release of all the passengers and cabin crew while on the ground in Oakland waiting for fuel. Panicked by the sight of police vehicles, Thomas cut the fueling short and demanded an immediate departure to Cuba. Once the plane was airborne, the pilot explained that the aircraft still did not have enough fuel to reach Cuba, and Thomas agreed to land in

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, for more fuel. About 90 minutes after landing, the three members of the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

crew all jumped to safety from the open cockpit windows, all suffering injuries in the jump. Within five minutes of the escape and without hostages, Thomas meekly surrendered to the U.S.

Federal Bureau of Investigation The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...

References

Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1978 Aircraft hijackings in the United States Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727

696 __NOTOC__ Year 696 ( DCXCVI) was a leap year starting on Saturday the (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 696 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calend ...

Airliner accidents and incidents in Tennessee Airliner accidents and incidents in Colorado 1978 in Tennessee 1978 in Colorado {{aviation-accident-stub

Background

See also

References