Word: jumbos
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1970-1979
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...skyjacked J.A.L. 747 as it flew east from Amsterdam to Dubai, then west again to Damascus, and finally to its last landing in Libya in an eerily aimless 87-hour journey that endangered the lives of all aboard and caused Israel to go on military alert. Fearing that the jumbo jet might be used in a kamikaze attack on one of their cities, the Israelis were prepared, if it came too close, to black out their entire country or even shoot the plane down...
With those words, the first Palestinian skyjack of 1973 was under way. The jumbo jet's 123 passengers-all but nine of them Japanese-and 22 crew members were the captives of a terrorist team that evidently included both Palestinians and members of the fanatical Japanese leftist group called Rengo Sekigun (Red Army), which last year staged a massacre at Tel Aviv's Lod Airport that cost 26 lives. Astonishingly, Amsterdam airport authorities had been tipped off beforehand by the Israeli secret service that a skyjacking attempt might be imminent, but they took no special precautions...
...later Israeli reprisals), the 747 flew on to the Iraqi city of Basra, near the head of the Persian Gulf. The terrorists might well have received a warm reception at the hands of the Israeli-hating Iraqis, but Basra's airport was too small to allow the jumbo jet to land. Finally, the plane landed at Dubai, one of seven tiny states that make up the United Arab Emirates, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Dubai's airport, a handsome, recently built concoction of glass and concrete, is the newest and largest in the area...
Current plans call for the security conference to complete two stages before a jumbo summit would be possible. The first stage, the convocation of the foreign ministers, may last only a few days. Essentially, it will give each minister a chance to make a speech on general principles and to discuss the proposed agenda for Stage 2. As a result of some adroit maneuvering by the Russians, Soviet Foreign Minister Andrei Gromyko will lead off the ministerial round of speeches. U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers will be one of the last speakers...
American's basic woes go back to 1967 when management, expecting a surge in traffic, decided to load up on jumbo jets. In all, American ordered 16 Boeing 747s and 25 McDonnell Douglas DC-10s. Even when the 1970 recession left lines with empty seats, American continued to take delivery of new aircraft in hopes that a merger with Western Airlines would enable it to fill them up on popular runs to the Southwest sun country and elsewhere. Despite fervid lobbying, the Civil Aeronautics Board last July rejected the merger, and as Spater concedes...