American Airlines Flight 293 was a regularly scheduled flight which was

hijack Hijack may refer to: Films * ''Hijack'' (1973 film), an American made-for-television film * ''Hijack!'', a 1975 British film sponsored by the Children's Film Foundation - see Children's Film Foundation filmography * ''Hijack'' (2008 film), a Bol ...

ed by

Nikola Kavaja Nikola Kavaja ( sr-cyr, Никола Каваја; 3 October 1932 – 10 November 2008) was a Serbian anti-communists disident. Known as the "Tito Hunter", due to his repeated assassination attempts on Yugoslav President Josip Broz Tito. Kavaja se ...

, a Serbian nationalist and

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

, on June 20, 1979. During the hijacking Kavaja demanded and received another airplane with the intent of crashing it into the

headquarters Headquarters (commonly referred to as HQ) denotes the location where most, if not all, of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. In the United States, the corporate headquarters represents the entity at the center or the to ...

of the

Yugoslav Communist Party The League of Communists of Yugoslavia, mk, Сојуз на комунистите на Југославија, Sojuz na komunistite na Jugoslavija known until 1952 as the Communist Party of Yugoslavia, sl, Komunistična partija Jugoslavije mk ...

Background

American Airlines Boeing 707-323C Silagi-1

Nikola Kavaja was one of six Serbs convicted of the May 1979 bombing of a Yugoslav consul’s home in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. On June 20, 1979, Kavaja, already released on bail, took over the

Boeing 727 The Boeing 727 is an American narrow-body airliner that was developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After the heavy 707 quad-jet was introduced in 1958, Boeing addressed the demand for shorter flight lengths from smaller airpo ...

shortly before it landed in Chicago from New York by threatening the pilots with a homemade bomb. He demanded the release of Stojilko Kajevich, a Serbian Orthodox priest and accomplice in the consul home bombing who remained in jail. After letting the passengers and most of the crew members go, Kavaja forced what was left of the crew to fly back to New York City, where he demanded and received a

Boeing 707 The Boeing 707 is an American, long-range, narrow-body airliner, the first jetliner developed and produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Developed from the Boeing 367-80 prototype first flown in 1954, the initial first flew on December 20, ...

to fly him initially to Johannesburg, South Africa, but later to

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

after learning from his lawyer that Ireland did not have an extradition treaty with the United States. After arriving at Shannon Airport he planned to take control of the airplane and fly it to

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

where he would crash it into the headquarters of the Yugoslav Communist Party; however, after being persuaded by his lawyer, who was also on board, to not do so, he surrendered to the Irish authorities, who then turned him over to the Americans. Kavaja was sentenced to 67 years in an American prison, but served only 20 years. Kavaja died from a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

at his home in Belgrade in November 2008. Kavaja later claimed in numerous interviews with Serbian newspapers that

Osama bin Laden Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden (10 March 1957 – 2 May 2011) was a Saudi-born extremist militant who founded al-Qaeda and served as its leader from 1988 until Killing of Osama bin Laden, his death in 2011. Ideologically a Pan-Islamism ...

stole his idea of crashing airplanes into tall buildings in the

September 11, 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial ...

References

{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1979 Aircraft hijackings in the United States Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 727 Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 707

293 __NOTOC__ Year 293 ( CCXCIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Diocletian and Maximian (or, less frequently, ...

Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 1979 Terrorist incidents in Europe in 1979 Nationalist terrorism in Europe Aircraft hijackings in Ireland Aircraft hijackings Failed terrorist attempts in Europe June 1979 events in Europe Terrorist incidents in the Republic of Ireland Terrorist incidents in the Republic of Ireland in the 1970s