Pan Am Flight 281

Pan Am Flight 281
	A Pan Am Boeing 707 similar to the hijacked aircraft
Hijack
Date	November 24, 1968
Summary	Aircraft hijacking
Site	USA and Cuba
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Boeing 707
Operator	Pan Am
Flight origin	JFK International Airport, NY, USA
Stopover	Havana, Cuba
Destination	San Juan, Puerto Rico, United States
Passengers	NaN
Crew	NaN
Fatalities	0
Survivors	All

Pan Am Flight 281 was a regularly scheduled Pan American World Airways flight to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was hijacked on November 24, 1968, by four men from JFK International Airport, New York City to Havana, Cuba.^[2]^[3] U.S. jet fighter aircraft followed the plane until it reached Cuban airspace.^[4]

Two of the hijackers were apprehended in the 1970s. Jose Rafael Rios Cruz was arrested in 1975; Miguel Castro was captured in 1976. Both pleaded guilty; Cruz was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Castro to 12.

A third hijacker, Luis Armando Peña Soltren, lived as a fugitive in Cuba. In October 2009, he voluntarily returned to the United States and surrendered to federal authorities. He pleaded guilty to the hijacking on March 18, 2010.^[5] On January 4, 2011 he was sentenced to 15 years in prison, without the possibility of parole.^[6]

Alejandro Figueroa, charged as a co-conspirator in the case, was acquitted in 1969.

References

^ "15-Year Sentence for 1968 Hijacking". The New York Times. 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-31.
^ "Suspect in 1968 hijacking at JFK is captured". CNN.com. 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
^ "Man arrested in '68 hijacking of flight from NY". The Associated Press. 2009. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
^ "With arrest, memories of hijacking ordeal flood back". The Associated Press. 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-14.
^ "Hijacker of Pan American Flight 281 Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court". FBI. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2010-09-22.
^ "US man given 15 years for 1968 Cuba hijack". BBC News. 2011-01-04.

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[1] "15-Year Sentence for 1968 Hijacking". The New York Times. 2011. Retrieved 2013-03-31.

[cnn_hijacker_arrested-2] "Suspect in 1968 hijacking at JFK is captured". CNN.com. 2009-10-12. Retrieved 2009-10-14.

[ap_hijacker_arrested-3] "Man arrested in '68 hijacking of flight from NY". The Associated Press. 2009. Archived from the original on October 16, 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-14.

[pilot_memories-4] "With arrest, memories of hijacking ordeal flood back". The Associated Press. 2009. Retrieved 2009-10-14.

[FBI_press_release:_Hijacker_of_Pan_American_Flight_281_Pleads_Guilty_in_Manhattan_Federal_Court-5] "Hijacker of Pan American Flight 281 Pleads Guilty in Manhattan Federal Court". FBI. 2010. Archived from the original on 2010-03-22. Retrieved 2010-09-22.

[6] "US man given 15 years for 1968 Cuba hijack". BBC News. 2011-01-04.

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v t e Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States and U.S. territories in the 1960s
1960	National Airlines Flight 2511 (January 6 1960) Capital Airlines Flight 20 (January 18 1960) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 710 (March 1960) Chicago Helicopter Airways Flight 698 (July 1960) World Airways Flight 830 (September 1960)* Eastern Air Lines Flight 375 (October 4 1960) Cal Poly football team (October 29 1960) New York mid-air collision (December 1960)
1961	Goldsboro B-52 crash (January 24 1961) American Airlines Flight 1502 (January 28 1961) Yuba City B-52 crash (March 1961) United Air Lines Flight 859 (July 11 1961) Alaska Airlines Flight 779 (July 21 1961) TWA Flight 529 (September 1 1961) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 706 (September 17 1961) Imperial Airlines Flight 201/8 (November 8 1961) Cincinnati Zantop DC-4 crash (November 14 1961)
1962	American Airlines Flight 1 (March 1962) Continental Airlines Flight 11 (May 1962) Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 301 (July 1962) United Air Lines Flight 297 (November 23 1962) Eastern Air Lines Flight 512 (November 30 1962)
1963	Elephant Mountain B-52 (January 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 705 (February 1963) Camden PA-24 (March 1963) Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 293 (June 1963) Mohawk Airlines Flight 112 (July 1963) Pan Am Flight 214 (December 1963)
1964	Savage Mountain B-52 crash (January 1964) Eastern Air Lines Flight 304 (February 1964) Paradise Airlines Flight 901A (March 1964) Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 (May 1964) United Air Lines Flight 823 (July 1964) Bonanza Air Lines Flight 114 (November 1964) Flying Tiger Line Flight 282 (December 1964)
1965	USAF KC-135 Wichita (January 1965) Eastern Air Lines Flight 663 (February 1965) Pan Am Flight 843 (June 1965) Continental Airlines Flight 12 (July 1 1965) Allegheny Airlines Flight 604 (July 23 1965) United Air Lines Flight 389 (August 1965) American Airlines Flight 383 (November 8 1965) United Air Lines Flight 227 (November 11 1965) Carmel mid-air collision (December 1965)
1966	NASA T-38 crash (February 1966) American Flyers Airline Flight 280/D (April 1966) Braniff International Airways Flight 250 (August 1966) West Coast Airlines Flight 956 (October 1966)
1967	Lake Central Airlines Flight 527 (March 5 1967) TWA Flight 553 (March 9 1967) West Coast Airlines Flight 720 (March 10 1967) Delta Air Lines Flight 9877 (March 30 1967) Mohawk Airlines Flight 40 (June 1967) Piedmont Airlines Flight 22 (July 1967) Lake Erie skydiving disaster (August 1967) TWA Flight 159 (November 6 1967) X-15 Flight 3-65-97 (November 15 1967) TWA Flight 128 (November 20 1967)
1968	Ozark Air Lines Flight 965 (March 1968) Braniff International Airways Flight 352 (May 3 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 841 (May 22 1968) Los Angeles Airways Flight 417 (August 1968) Northeast Airlines Flight 946 (October 1968) Japan Air Lines Flight 2 (November 22 1968) Pan Am Flight 281 (November 24 1968) Wien Consolidated Airlines Flight 55 (December 2 1968) Allegheny Airlines Flight 736 (December 24 1968) Pan Am Flight 799 (December 26 1968) Ozark Air Lines Flight 982 (December 27 1968) North Central Airlines Flight 458 (December 27 1968)
1969	Allegheny Airlines Flight 737 (January 6 1969) Scandinavian Airlines System Flight 933 (January 13 1969) United Air Lines Flight 266 (January 18 1969) Hawthorne Nevada Airlines Flight 708 (February 1969) Prinair Flight 277 (March 5 1969)* Delta Air Lines Flight 821 (March 25 1969) TWA Flight 5787 (July 1969) Newton Cessna 172 crash (August 1969) Allegheny Airlines Flight 853 (September 1969) Mohawk Airlines Flight 411 (November 1969)
This list is incomplete. An asterisk (*) denotes an incident that took place in a U.S. territory.