Said I lo Bill Wright; "People have
read about it in the Raleigh. Winston-
Salem. Charlotte and other news¬
papers. they've listened to it on radio,
and they've seen it on TV. I don't see
any sense in running anything about it
in the magazine.”
Said Bill to me: "There arc un¬
doubtedly many of our readers who
don't know anything about it. You
ought to write up a little piece for their
benefit. The others, who already know-
all the facts can just turn to some other
page in the magazine."
He was talking about my being
hi-jacked on an Eastern Airline
plane the latter part of last month.
Here, in brief, is what happened.
We left Raleigh at 9:10 a.m. bound
for Atlanta and Jacksonville. I was on
my way to Vero Beach, having just
received word that my brother had
passed away at Fort Pierce.
Twenty minutes out of Raleigh, the
captain said over the inter-corn
phone: "Ladies and gentlemen, we had
planned to land at Atlanta, but a gen-
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A TRUCK BROUGHT ITI
NORTH CAROLINA MOTOR CARRIERS ASSN.
tleman has just entered the cockpit and
informed me that our plans would have
to be changed. Our first stop will be
Jacksonville, where we will refuel and
then proceed to Havana. Cuba."
Of course we knew immedi¬
ately what had taken place. I.ater
on we learned all the details.
The hi-jackcr had boarded the plane
in Raleigh. He was seated in the first-
class compartment. My seat was in the
middle of the tourist section. I could
see him moving about, but paid no
particular attention to him. Later on. I
learned what had happened.
He told the stewardess to take him
up to the cockpit. She protested and
said no one was allowed to go in there.
Whereupon he pulled out a gun. thrust
it into her side and directed her to lead
the way.
She rang the bell, and when the door
swung open, the man put the gun to the
captain's head and gave him his in¬
structions. The next development was
the captain's voice coming in over the
inter-com:
"Ladies and gentlemen, we had
planned lo fly lo Atlanta but a gentle¬
man has just come into the cockpit and
changed our plans. We are flying to
Jacksonville, where we will refuel, and
then fly to Havana. Cuba."
In making such comment, you forget
that the man still had his gun up against
the captain's head. He unquestionably
was irrational or deranged, or what¬
ever you want to call it, and he prob¬
ably wouldn't have hesitated to kill
members of the crew.
So no one came aboard. The truck
moved away and we took off for
Havana.
We had left Raleigh at 9:10; we
landed at the Havana airport at exactly
noon.
There was no sign of any panic,
hysterics or excitement among the pas¬
sengers. We sat and talked to one an¬
other; some continued to read news¬
papers and magazines; a few leaned
back and dozed.
When we arrived at the Havana air¬
port. we were directed to a large dining
room on the second floor where a nice
luncheon and drinks were served. East¬
ern Airlines had to pay for all this, and
we learned that they also had to pay an
exorbitant landing fee. It was a rather
profitable deal for the Cuban govern¬
ment.
The captain told us that he didn't
know- how long we would be detained.
Therefore, we all stayed together in
order to be able to move when told to
do so.
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Of course that explained vs hat
had taken place. An elderly lady,
sitting across the aisle from me.
said rather weakly. "Do you think
he is joking?" And a man sitting
behind her said. "If lie is. he cer¬
tainly isn't being very funny."
We were given strict instructions not
to leave our scats. No one was even
allowed to go to the lavatories, which
undoubtedly was a hardship to some of
the passengers.
At Jacksonville, a man in a fuel
truck drove out to the plane and refilled
our gas tanks. You might say. “But by
this time it was generally known that
the plane was being hi-jackcd; why
didn't some officers come out and take
the man in charge?"
The last I saw of the hi-jackcr,
he was walking from the plane
with a uniformed man on either
side of him. I don't know what
course the Cuban government
pursued with him.
We stayed there until five o'clock,
when an announcement was made that
the plane was ready for departure.
There was some delay in taxi-ing. but
we finally took off at 5:30 and flew to
Miami. Eastern paid for our hotel ac¬
commodations. including room, dinner
and breakfast. Passengers also were
flown without charge to the destina¬
tions designated on the tickets they had
bought.
And that’s about all that there was to
it.
24
THE STATE. DECEMBER 1. 1970
