Word: ax
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...week barged into the cockpit of a BAC-One-Eleven jet bound from Manila to the southern island of Mindanao. "This is a hijack," said one, pressing a pistol against the pilot's neck. "Head north-to Peking." A second youth nervously fingered the aircraft's fire ax, while three others guarded the passengers. Told that the Philippine Air Lines plane could not make it to Peking, 1,500 miles away, the hijackers agreed to a refueling stop at Hong Kong, where the plane landed with just three minutes of fuel to spare...
Legal Conundrum. Last week the crime was apparently solved, but not before four more billboards bit the dust along Interstate 96 north of Ann Arbor, Mich. Arrested by suspicious police, who spotted an ax and a saw in the back of their car, six Ann Arbor high school boys readily admitted that they were billboard bandits. All excellent students, the bandits include the president of the senior class at Huron High School, a member of the senior executive board, a member of the student council and a debater who most recently distinguished himself by his analysis of Government anti-pollution...
...save money now, the carriers have been wielding the personnel ax. Last year they laid off 9,000 people, and they expect to fire more this year. Pan Am announced last week that it plans to sack another 1,800 in the near future, including some pilots. The airlines have also reduced their service. Last year 658 flights-5% of the nation's total-were eliminated. Trans World Airlines, which lost $65 million, has replaced two 747s on its Chicago-Los Angeles run with one 707, at least for the winter season...
Since the stock-market crash of early 1970, the biggest noise in the brokerage community has been the sound of the falling ax. On Wall Street, some 35% of the work force has been let go since the market turned bearish. Simply through attrition, Shearson, Hammill & Co. reduced its rolls from 3,300 last spring to 2,800 today. A few firms sliced away a little muscle along with much fat. Some firms fired so many clerks that when trading volume picked up in November, the staff could not process orders on time...
...superfluous executives, built up over the euphoric years, were fired or pushed into early retirement. As part of one hold-down, the assistant controller of a Pittsburgh steel company daringly recommended that his job be consolidated with that of his boss. It was -but the assistant got the ax. Adding irony to his agony, he was then asked by the controller for a final evaluation of the staff. "Well," he replied, "I'll start by telling you that you're the worst boss I've ever...