Talk:TWA Flight 847

"Bumped"

A third intended hijacker, Ali Atwa, had been bumped from the flight and was later arrested in Greece. Is bumped a proper term? It confused me. What would be a better word? Wright123 16:50, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Bumped is definitely American airline jargon for being reticketed for a later flight because of overbooking. If there's a better "international" term, perhaps we could use that. --Dhartung | Talk 04:52, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

Here's a British English source, although they seem to be treating the term as novel to their audience. Here the term "overbooked" is used as a transitive verb. (Americans would say that a flight was overbooked, not that the airline overbooked them.) --Dhartung | Talk 04:56, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

The OED says: bump (v.): "To deprive (a passenger) of a reserved place on an airline flight, esp. after deliberate overbooking. Also transf. Freq. in pass. orig. U.S." Andygx (talk) 08:26, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

inappropriate category

The attackers were Lebanese were connected to Hezbollah. According to the article they were not Palestinian. Thus the category Category:Palestinian terrorist incidents in Europe is inappropriate. --Abnn 04:37, 30 May 2007 (UTC)

References in popular culture

The Nitzer Ebb recording "TWA," from their 1989 "Belief" album, directly references flight 847.

Changed "made for TV movie" to "made-for-TV film" to avoid confusion 195.195.166.31 (talk) 16:55, 12 May 2008 (UTCeffe

Algiers

The plane landed in Algiers, the first time, without notice. The reports do not say whether the first landing there was on Friday, June 14, 1985 but (1) in 1985 the Algerian weekend was Thursday-Friday and (2) on the day of the landing the U.S. Embassy was closed, with only Ambassador Michael Newlin and the Embassy Duty Officer available. TWA had no office nor any representative in Algeria, and did not have the capacity to issue new travel documents to so many people. In both cases the released passengers were lodged at the El Aurassi Hotel until a chartered Air France jet could arrive and take them to Paris for processing. Andygx (talk) 08:22, 4 November 2010 (UTC)

N64339 fate

I was living in Kansas City when the plane was returned there to the TWA maintenance facility. They made a big deal about it in the local media. Pictures showing bullet holes clearly visible in the tail. I remember asking some of my TWA friends how they got the plane out. The only information I got was something like it was very hush hush and couldn't be talked about. There were rumors a crew was smuggled in and "stole" the airplane from Beirut. I haven't been able to confirm any of this or any info on who this crew was. Anyone have any info on this?

Incidentally this is the same plane that in the late 70's wore an experimental paint scheme called the silver bullet. The airline had this one plane stripped of its paint down to a bare silver polish with minimal logos and lettering applied to save weight. They decided the expense of maintaining the silver polish was more then they saved in fuel consumption with the slightly reduced weight.

This plane also flew the final revenue TWA 727 flight on September 30, 2000. [1]

Skywayman 13:59, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Fate of the hijackers

Unless I am mistaken, this article does not provide any information regarding the fate of the hijackers after the hostages were freed and the plane returned to their rightful owners... —Preceding unsigned comment added by Klodaway (talk • contribs) 14:54, 2 March 2009 (UTC)

Photo of hijacker?

The article says:

The iconic image of this hijacking was the photograph showing a hijacker holding a gun to the pilot's head (sticking out of the cockpit window) as the pilot is being questioned by reporters.

but links to a CNN article that says:

On the runway at Beirut International Airport, a TWA pilot looks down from the cockpit window as a "hijacker" holds a gun to his head. What a remarkable coincidence that the media was there to capture the moment. But it wasn't what it appeared to be. The gunman was actually a teenager. He hadn't been one of the four men who hijacked TWA flight 847. He was nothing more than a security guard for a few crewmembers left aboard the jetliner while 40 other hostages had been hauled off to Beirut's southern suburbs. He just wanted to be on television.

I'm changing the wording to reflect this, but feel free to improve it further.

US Military Response

This article lacks any detail of the United States response to the hijacking, it lacks any information on the abortive plan by SFOD-Delta who flew to the Mediterranean. In Eric L.Haney's book Inside Delta Force he briefly refers to the aborted mission and more specifically details SFOD-Delta's many operations in Beirut —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.21.136.74 (talk) 21:46, 14 February 2010 (UTC)

Amal Movement ?

According to several sources the Amal Movement where behind this hijack.[2] --Ezzex (talk) 02:18, 16 April 2012 (UTC)

Uncited material in 'References in popular culture' section

After waiting for more than a week, I have removed the uncited bullet points from the the aforementioned section. I've included them below, so that reference work may proceed.

References in popular culture

• The 1986 film The Delta Force was loosely based on this event.
• The 1988 made-for-TV film The Taking of Flight 847: The Uli Derickson Story was directly based on this event.
• The Nitzer Ebb song "T.W.A." (from the 1988 album Belief) appears to be inspired by this event, as it contains samples of someone saying "TWA flight 847" and "We must land at Beirut."
• The Zoviet France song "They're Eating the Passengers" (from the 1986 album Misfits, Loony Tunes and Squalid Criminals) extensively samples a recording of the radio conversation between Captain Testrake and air traffic controllers during the second stop in Beirut, in which one of the hijackers can also be heard. The most prominent excerpts have Testrake saying that the hijackers were beating and threatening to kill the passengers, and another man (presumably co-pilot Maresca) reporting that a hijacker said that he would "kill an American that he has tied up in the cockpit" if the plane wasn't refueled in three minutes. Parts of the recording are also cut backwards into two of the audio collage tracks entitled "Signal" on the same album.
• "Flight 741", a book in the long-running "Mack Bolan" series that was published one year after the TWA hijacking, begins with a hijacking of a Boeing 747 that closely resembles the events surrounding the hijacking of TWA Flight 847.
• The Michael Jackson video for Man In The Mirror, featured a newsclip of one of the hijackers firing at the media who was interviewing the pilots from the airliner's cockpit window.

Without references from reliable sources, these cannot return to the article. - Jack Sebastian (talk) 14:56, 2 October 2013 (UTC)

Aircraft type

Why was a medium range aircraft used for an intercontinental flight? The first two legs (Cairo-Athens-Rome) were of course no problem for the B 727, but what about the leg Rome-Boston? The B 727 range was by far too short for such a distance... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.159.145.117 (talk) 04:15, 28 December 2015 (UTC)

Range Adv. 2,550 nmi (4,720 km)

Rome–Boston | FCO–BOS km 6586 NM 3556

The flight must have had fuel stop (e.g. Shannon).

200.68.142.20 (talk) 02:56, 28 September 2019 (UTC) baden k.

TWA operated 727s on "change of guage" through flights from the US to Europe and the Middle East. The US to Rome sector was flown by 747s with same flight number connections operated by Europe based 727s. Ambak51 (talk) 15:48, 7 June 2021 (UTC)

Potential new image

Hi there! I saw a news article today from the CBC, which showed a remarkable and intriguing picture of one of the hijackers and the pilot of this flight. Can someone with the appropriate experience review this image, and see whether it is suitable and legal for inclusion for Wikipedia? [3] The Legacy (talk) 16:07, 30 March 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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Photo?

There are loads of photos of the actual aircraft, why cannot an authentic one be provided?

200.68.142.20 (talk) 02:49, 28 September 2019 (UTC) baden k.

Number of released hostages

I'm somewhat confused by the number of hostages that were released/killed during the hijacking. Released hostages as the article states:

• First stop in Beirut: 19
• First stop in Algiers: 20
• Second stop in Beirut: 1 killed (R. Stethem) and 8 taken off the plane, 9 total
• Second stop in Algiers: 65 passengers, including 5 crew and 8 greeks, 65 total
• June 17 in Beirut taken off the aircraft: 40 

Total: 153

In the Overview, only 147 occupants are listed. Sources 1 and 8 also mention 153 passengers and crew and 2 hijackers, so the Overview should say either 153 or 155.

Also, the section about the 65 people released on the second stop in Algier should be reworded in my opinion, as you could understand that 65 passenger, 5 crew and 8 greeks were released, so 78 in total. Owel99 (talk) 19:58, 26 September 2024 (UTC)