Hijacked Air Vietnam 727 Crashes

By Patrick Mondout

On September 15, 1974, a regularly scheduled Air Vietnam flight from Danang to Saigon was hijacked by a man with a pair of grenades demanding to be flown to Hanoi.

The pilots chose to fly to the Phan Rang airport for reasons which are unclear and aborted their landing. The plane then plunged from approximately 1000 feet killing all aboard.

It has been speculated that the hijacker, incensed that the crew were trying to land at Phan Rang instead of Hanoi, caused the pilots to abort their landing and then set off his grenades, though we will never know for sure.

A picture of this aircraft is here.

Source: Gero, David. Flights of Terror: Aerial Hijack and Sabotage Since 1930. Haynes Publishing, 1997.

Air Viet Name at a Glance
Airline	Air Viet Name
Date	September 15, 1974
Registration Number	XV-NJC
Crew Fatalities	8 of 8
Passenger Fatalities	67 of 67
Total Fatalities	75 of 75

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