Airplane Hijackings

In this damp, largely forgotten corner of the state, where loggers and former loggers live and drink in obscurity, the talk of the town has swirled around a dirt-stained clump of fabric recently unearthed not far from here. It turned out to be part of a nylon parachute that roughly matched the dimensions of the one used by legendary hijacker "D.B. Cooper," who leapt from a jetliner with $200,000 into folk-hero stardom 36 years ago. He is believed to have landed somewhere in this area.

After a search that has lasted more than 36 years, all of the evidence in the case of the legendary outlaw known as D.B. Cooper fits easily into an inconspicuous box, carried comfortably under the arm of FBI agent Larry Carr. He is the newest in a line of about a dozen agents assigned to the case since 1971, when Cooper hijacked a passenger jet and bailed out over Clark County, Wash., with $200,000 in $20 bills. When the last agent moved on six months ago, Carr requested to take the case.

Passengers overpowered a hijacker who had commandeered a Mauritanian plane when he was knocked off his feet during a hard landing, a source close to the Mauritanian presidency said. The Air Mauritania Boeing 737 was on a domestic flight with 71 passengers and eight crew members when the hijacker, armed with pistols, demanded to be flown to France, officials said. The pilot landed in Spain's Canary Islands instead, where police arrested the suspect.

Two fugitive army recruits tried to hijack a plane to the United States early Thursday and killed a Cuban military officer among their hostages, authorities said. The fugitives commandeered a bus with at least seven passengers, witnesses said, and were arrested after a shootout before dawn on the tarmac of Jose Marti International Airport. They and a third recruit, captured before the shootout, had been the focus of a manhunt.

President Vladimir V. Putin signed a measure into law that allows the Russian military to shoot down hijacked planes if it appears possible that terrorists intend to attack key facilities or populated areas. The bill also allows the military to attack ships used in a terrorist act. Shooting the planes or ships would be permitted even if hostages were on board. The legislation is the latest legal measure to be passed in response to terrorist attacks in Russia in recent years.

Libya is being sued for $10 billion over the Sept. 5, 1986, hijacking of Pan American Flight 73 in Karachi, Pakistan, in which at least 20 passengers were killed. The suit, filed in federal court in Washington, seeks payment from Libya, its leader Moammar Kadafi, and five convicted terrorists who seized the plane at an airport. Libya supported the attackers, the suit alleges. The pilots fled, and the hijackers fired on passengers while negotiating for a flight crew to take them to Israel.

The hijacking of a Turkish airliner by at least one unarmed Turk reported to have a message for Pope Benedict XVI ended peacefully Tuesday night, with the passengers released unharmed and the suspect in custody. The hijacked Boeing 737-400 landed on Italy's Adriatic coast, near the city of Brindisi, with 113 people aboard. It was en route to Istanbul, Turkey, from the Albanian capital of Tirana when it was diverted over Greece.

Italian officials said they intended to prosecute a Turkish man for hijacking an airliner, despite his appeal for political asylum on the grounds that he was being persecuted as a Christian in his Muslim nation. The Turkish Airlines plane carrying 113 people was hijacked en route from Albania to Turkey. It landed in the southern Italian city of Brindisi after fighter jets escorted the aircraft there. A Brindisi prosecutor said suspect Hakan Ekinci also may be charged with terrorism.

With your July 14 editorial "Stick to the Here and Now," you have performed a valuable public service by reminding your readers of the grotesque waste of resources involved in the absurd 18-year-long persecution of the L.A. 8. One can only wonder if the FBI agents and lawyers who devoted years to this legal farce might not have better served their country by checking out the internal FBI memos that called attention to the real terrorists who destroyed the...

Some people spend their summer days lounging on beaches or hiking up mountains. Others retreat into movie houses and bookstores. For California lawyer and former FBI agent Richard Tosaw, summer means trekking to the Columbia River and continuing his 24-year search for the legendary skyjacker known as D.B. Cooper. Thirty-four years ago, above this southwest Washington city, Cooper parachuted from a jetliner with $200,000 -- and into folk-hero stardom. He was never seen or heard from again.