Office of the Historian

202. Memorandum for the Record1

Washington, September 6, 1970, 2300 EDT.

SUBJECT

  • Aircraft Hijackings

REFERENCE

  • NMCC MFR 061700 EDT SEP 70, same subject2
1.
Updated information concerning the aircraft reported hijacked in the referenced MFR indicates:
a.
TWA Flight 741 landed at Dawsons Field (25 miles east of Zarka, Jordan).
b.
Swissair Flight 100 also landed at Dawsons Field in Jordan. Both aircraft and passengers are reported safe and Jordanian forces are on the scene and reinforcing their cordon of the area. The Fedayeen have announced they would blow up themselves and the aircraft if any attempt was made to storm the aircraft or otherwise checkmate the hijacking effort. Red Cross has determined that the passengers have enough to eat and drink, and ICRC will visit the passengers tomorrow, 7 September.
c.
Further information on El Al Flight 219 has not been received. d. Pan Am Flight 93 (vice 293 as previously reported) landed at Beirut at 061637 EDT. The aircraft was refueled and took off at approximately 061950 with original passengers, crew, and hijackers aboard and landed at Cairo at 062107 EDT. Press releases indicate that upon landing in Cairo, passengers were led to safety and the aircraft was blown up.
2.
American Embassy Beirut has received a call that the Pan Am, TWA, and Swissair aircraft will be blown up unless a payment of one million dollars is made.
3.
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine has issued a 72-hour ultimatum to the Swiss Government to release three Palestinian Commandos currently serving 12 year sentences in Switzerland for attacking an Israeli airliner in Zurich in 1969. Responsible Palestinian leaders have said the TWA and Swissair aircraft will be released upon arrival of the three Palestinians in Amman.
E.O. Martin
Brigadier General, USAF
Deputy Director for Operations, NMCC
  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 330, Subject Files, Hijackings. For Official Use Only. Received in the White House Situation Room at 12:28 a.m. September 7. Copies were sent to Saunders and Dunn.↩
  2. See footnote 2, Document 199.↩