Hijacking Experience

Hijacking Experience

5/29/2015

by Nate Bender

Airplane hijackings by disenfranchised persons and groups have been a much-repeated drama in history, dating back to at least the 1930’s.  In the 1970’s, counter-measures became more refined and even lauded after a number of successful ‘assaults’ by special operations organizations in other parts of the world.  

In America police departments of larger cities formed SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics) teams to intervene in a wide variety of hostage-taking scenarios.  In 1977, the Army was tasked with creating a military counter-terrorism unit to meet potential demands outside the jurisdiction of State and local police.  I was assigned to this Army counter-terrorism organization, The Delta Force, in 1979 as the Unit’s staff psychologist.

Within months of my assignment with Delta, the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, was seized, calling forth mobilization of the Unit in preparation for its first real-time rescue mission attempt, and that’s a story already reported.  This story captures my exposure to another real-time hostage taking event, that of an airplane hijacking, at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport).

Some time in 1980, I was tasked to spend time with the Los Angeles police department SWAT team to learn about their approach to managing the health and well being of their personnel, matters which were under the purview of my role with Delta.  Since their SWAT team had undergone multiple deployments in hostage taking settings, complete with having to terminate lives, it was deemed a worthy learning experience in adopting such measures in Delta.

So there I was, on an expedition outside the military infrastructure reporting to the Los Angeles Police SWAT Team commander early in the morning of my first day.  Shortly after being introduced to a number of the team members an urgent call was received regarding a hostage taking hijacking of a commercial airplane at the airport.  My mission agenda made a turn toward being in the middle of action.

In quick order I accompanied the team commander and his lieutenant in an unmarked squad car to the airport command post, with the magnetically attached flashing light placed on the roof and the siren blaring.  I was feeling a growing adrenaline rush as we weaved through and around rush-hour traffic en route to the airport.  “If the folks back home could see me now!”  I became intensely focused on everything happening around me, highlighted by the calm, measured manner in which my hosts conducted coordinating efforts while driving. 

Once reaching the airport command and control center I was given freedom to sit in on coordinating and planning meetings, now under the jurisdiction of the FBI with the SWAT team serving an adjunctive role as the airport setting came under a Federal mandate. 

Most of all I was allowed to sit in on the actual negotiation communications with the hostage taker, a role that I was being groomed for within Delta.  All of this was marked by textbook exchanges in establishing a relationship with him.  Compassionate conversations ultimately led to understanding of his issues, demands, concerns and needs while forming a workable level of trust. 

The first priority of the negotiation process was to gain the release and safety of the hostages, but before that could happen the hostage taker needed to experience modest success around his basic needs being met.  Such things as food, water, and cigarettes were used as bartering tools where he would agree to release one or more of the hostages in exchange for the items, given in measured quantities.

Via debriefing of the released hostages important information about the conditions on the plane were gleaned.  Early in the negotiations it became evident the captor was looking for a safe way out of the situation, as he was not making grand demands for money and transportation.  Once he was assured that some of his larger needs would be met, involving employment and medical care, his surrender became imminent.  By late afternoon he surrendered without further incident.

Afterwards, I was invited to accompany my hosts for dinner at the Police Academy Club, a sanctuary-like setting offering freedom for candid conversations.  I felt privileged to be in this setting, acquiring important information around the emotional and psychological management of a special operations team who are often inserted into less than safe settings resulting in lethal consequences….death and injury.

An indelible impression was made on my life experience in this story:  desperate acts are usually rooted in basic survival needs going unmet, creating fertile ground for desperate acts to happen; and, as long as social and economic conditions beget inequality for some, chances are greater for repeat of desperate acts.