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El Al Pilot Recounts Outmaneuvering Palestinian Hijacker Leila Khaled

(Jewish News of Northern California) Dan Pine - Fifty years ago this month, El Al pilot Uri Bar-Lev, today a retiree just shy of 90, foiled Palestinian hijacker Leila Khaled and an accomplice during a violent midair hijacking attempt on a flight from Amsterdam to New York - the only pilot ever to do so. On Sep. 6, 1970, Khaled boarded El Al Flight 219. Soon after takeoff, Bar-Lev got word that two terrorists were hijacking the plane. They had shot and gravely wounded an El Al flight attendant and had put a gun to the head of another, demanding to be let into the cockpit, which Bar-Lev had immediately locked. While he feared for the flight attendant, "I knew what they would do to me and the crew and the Jewish passengers if we were taken." Bar-Lev put the plane in a steep dive. The aircraft plummeted 10,000 feet in under 60 seconds. He knew his passengers, all seated and strapped in, would be safe. The terrorists were thrown to the floor. Once the plane leveled out, one of the two on-board Israeli sky marshals shot the accomplice dead. Khaled was physically subdued.
2020-09-24 00:00:00
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