Dark Skies

seat eighteen C and ordered a bourbon and soda. While waiting for the boeing to taxi onto the runway. Shortly after three o'clock, flight attendant Florence Shaffner checked on him, and he handed her a note. We should received such an It's from business men away from home before the same old line. They would be in town for a day or week and would have a lot of time on their hands. Undoubtedly this note would ask if she

might like to go to a movie or dinner. Unimpressed, she pocketed the note unread, but dam caught her attention and whispered, miss you had better look at that note. I have a bomb. The note was written in neat capital letters. The instructions were simple. Sitting down next to him, she obliged, and he cracked open his briefcase long enough for her to see a jumble of wires, two long

red cylinders, and a battery. Now that he had her attention, he rattled off his demands two hundred thousand dollars in American twenty dollar bills, four parachutes to primary and to reserve, and a fuel truck waiting for them when they landed in Seattle. He told her to relay that message quietly to the pilots and then to return to him again. She did as she was asked. Pilot WILLIAMS. Scott contacted air traffic control in Seattle, who naturally called the authorities

at PM. The flight landed in Seattle. Dan had the attendants closed all the blinds to prevent any assassination attempts, and once the money was delivered and the plane was refueled, he told Scott and the crew to head from Mexico City, and they did. They made another stop in Reno for more fuel, and when they took off again to f one oh six fighters followed. At eight o'clock, the cockpit flashed a warning light that the air stair had been activated.

Moments later, the tail section jerked upward briefly. Scott called back to Dan to ask if everything was okay, but received no response. Dan otherwise known as D. B. Cooper, had jumped from the plane, taking the cash with him, and so began the legend of the only unsolved case of air piracy in America. Dramatic shure an oddity hardly in the nineteen sixties, hijacking planes happened so frequently that people joked about it. I'm Lauren Vogelbon, Welcome to American Shadows.

It was business as usual. Flight attendants Donna Goldner and Lena Anderson pushed their carts through the aisle on a National Airlines flight from San Francisco to Miami. Both women held back yawns as they served breakfast to the passengers at five thirty in the morning on New Year's Eve

of nineteen sixty nine. As Anderson made her way through, first class, passenger Alan Sheffield wrapped an arm around her waist, pushed the muzzle of a gun into her ribs, and told her the plane would be taking a detour to Cuba. He forced her into the cockpit, where she repeated his message to the pilots. Goldner was still serving passengers. When the pilot announced the flight was now headed to Cuba. She could only think not again. She had been on

a hijacked plane before, just earlier that year. There had been a hundred and fifty nine hijackings in American airspace since May of nineteen sixty one, with the majority happening since nineteen sixty eight. Security was lax back then, no t s A, no metal detectors, and no one searched

through bags. One couple had hidden a sawed off shotgun in their five month old babies blankets and diverted their flight from San Francisco to l a X. Flight crews were trained to acquiesce to all hijackers requests to ensure the safety of the lives on board. Some hijackers would permit the plane to land and release most of the passengers and crew, before forcing the rest to travel with

them as hostages to their final destination. In the nineteen sixties, most passengers and crew felt that the hijackings were more of an inconvenience and annoyance than any real danger, Even if the hijackers were armed. The most popular nation for hijackers was Cuba, including the first on May one of nineteen sixty one, and Tulio Ramirez, an electrician from Miami, held the pilot at knife point and announced that he had been hired to assassinate Fidel Castro, but wanted to

go to Havannah to warn him instead. Americans, disillusioned with the American dream, had a certain romance with Cuba in the nineteen sixties. They believed Cuba had created a true democracy and all they had to do was get there. One hijacker recalled thinking, in a few hours, it would be dawn in a new world. I was about to enter paradise, a place where everyone was equal, where violence against blacks, injustice and racism was a thing of the past.

As you might imagine, Cuba didn't offer the freedom they thought. Hijackers were often whisked off the planes and taken to the Spanish Citadel, where they were interrogated to ensure they weren't working for the CIA. Others were sent to what became known as the Hijacker House, an abysmal dormitory where people were kept into sixteen square feet of living space apiece, and some were sent to the sugarcane fields to work.

Due to the media blackout in Cuba, few would be hijackers knew what had become of the others, Thinking those before them had made it to paradise, More and more hijackers demanded to go to Cuba, and so much so that in nineteen sixty eight hijackings had reached epidemic levels. The hostage passengers, for their part, often wandered around Havana for a night, saw the sites, then returned to the

United States. At times, Castro welcomed the planes to humiliate the United States and collected seven thousand dollars per plane for their safe return. Hijackings between nineteen sixty eight and nineteen seventy two averaged one per week. Two in a day wasn't unheard of. Passengers would kid the flight crew, go on and take me to Cuba. By July of nineteen sixty the situation warranted a hearing before the Senate.

The f A A sent representative Irving rip who told senators that unless they put in motion a way to search every bag and passenger, the hijackings would continue. The airlines weren't willing to put such restrictions in place for fear people would choose alternate forms of transportation. Two weeks later, a man by the name of Oran Richards hijacked a Delta Airlines flight. He pulled a gun on the first person he saw, Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, who had

happened to be at that Senate hearing. The crew managed to call him Richards down and he's surrendered In Miami, a thirty or four year old man hijacked a plane back to Cuba because he missed his mother's for Holis an air to a New Mexico real estate fortune. Dressed as a cowboy and demanded to go to Cuba. A college student forced a pilot to take him to Cuba so he could study communism, and on one flight from Newark to Miami, Allen Funt, the nineteen sixties host of

Candid Camera, boarded with his wife and daughter. A man grabbed one of the flight attendants and put a knife to her neck, demanding the pilots fly to Cuba. After a few tense moments, another passenger shouted, wait a second, we are not being hijacked. It's a Candid Camera stunt. The passengers burst into laughter. Some asked Fund to autograph their airsickness bags. Despite Fund's attempts to convince everyone that he had nothing to do with it and it was

a real hijacking, no one believed him. When the hijacker emerged from the cockpit, people applauded, but the joke was on them. When the plane landed in Havana, the laughter turned to anger, and perhaps oddly, not at the hijacker.

They berated Fund for tricking them, and by the end of nineteen sixty nine, eighty six hijackings had taken place in the United States, more than any other year in aviation history, though not all of them brought laughter and jokes to the passengers unharmed, and they weren't all short Johns to Cuba. On October thirty one of nineti nine, Raphael Minicello arrived at l a X dressed in camouflage.

He purchased a ticket on trans World Airlines Red Eye flight number eighty five, and boarded at one thirty am. The plane had started in Baltimore before making the journey across the country to Los Angeles. A crew of three manned the cockpit and four flight attendants tended to the passengers.

Most of the attendants were new to the job, having only been with the airline for a few months, but Charlene Demonico had been there three years, and she had swopped shifts with another attendant so she could have Halloween night off. Demonico and the other attendants lowered the cabin lights to allow the bleary eyed passengers to get some sleep. Minicello caught Demonico's eye immediately. His outfit and oddly shaped backpack stood out, and though he was polite, she couldn't

help but notice he seemed nervous. Once the passengers were settled, she joined the other attendants in the galley. They also thought the passenger and coach seemed odd and debated what he might be carrying in that pack. One thought it might be a fishing rod. Most of the flight's forty passengers soon fell asleep, including the five members of the pop band Harper's Bazaar that'd just come off a concert in Pasadena. Someone brushed past guitarist Dicks Capitoni, waking him.

He looked up to see a man dressed in camo holding an M one rifle walking toward the galley. He woke drummer John Peterson. Was this really happening? Twenty one year old flight attendant Tracy Coleman must have thought the same thing. She calmly told Minchello, You're not supposed to have that. An off duty pilot by the name of Jim Finley stood to confront the hijacker, but upon staring down the barrel of the m on, he made the

wise decision to return to his seat. Minnicello handed Coleman a rifle bullet to show her and everyone else that he was serious. He ordered Demonico to walk with him to the cockpit. Once there, Minnchello became agitated. He refused to allow the flight attendant to ring the bell, instructing her to knock instead. She hoped that the pilot would scent something was wrong and not open the door. Unfortunately,

the door swung wide open. She informed Captain Donald Cook, First Officer Wenzel Williams, and flight engineer Lloyd Holrad that a man with a gun was standing right behind her. Minnicello shoved past, pointing the m one at Cook. With the hijacker up at the front of the plane, thinly searched the man's bags. He found more ammunition but no other weapons. He determined from the hijacker's hair, attire and weaponry that he must be military. More passengers awoke, perhaps

sensing something was wrong. The captain's voice came over the speakers. We have a very nervous young man up here, and we are going to take him wherever he wants to go. People began to murmur about going to Cuba. A few thought about how dangerous the man holding the cockpit crew at gunpoint could be. The diversion would mean a delay in getting to their destination, nothing more. Then the captain

came back on the inter calm. If you've made any plans in San Francisco, don't plan on keeping them, because you're going to New York. The band members began to speculate among themselves new York, where would they go from there? One mentioned Hong Kong, thinking that would be fun. But up front, Minicello had presented the crew with a problem. New York wasn't where he really wanted to go. He wanted to take the plane to Rome. The plane didn't

have enough fuel for New York, much less Rome. Further, none of the cockpit crew was qualified to fly internationally. Minicello allowed the plane to stop up in Denver for fuel. Cook alerted air traffic control in Denver of the situation, and they cleared the plane to land. Minchello let the passengers leave, and they did quickly where the FBI awaited them. He kept the entire crew aboard, though on the three hour flight to New York, Minchello poured himself a few

strange cocktails of gin and Canadian Club whiskey. Once they landed at JFK, he ordered Cook to park the plane as far from the terminal as possible. FBI agents knew the hijacker planned to force the captain to fly to Rome, and they attempted to approach while the ground crew refueled. The Cook warned the agents that Minnichello was highly agitated and to stay clear, and that's when a shot rang out.

The crew was terrified. Fortunately no one was hurt. Minnicello, by this point, extremely agitated, reminded them that their lives were at stake. Cook again told the hijacker that they didn't have the proper training to fly internationally. Minnicello issued a new demand qualified pilots. He held the crew hostage while the new pilots boarded irritated, he then demanded that

the refueling stopped and the plane take off immediately. New pilots, Billy Williams and Richard Hastings did his hold, but got through to him that there was no way they had enough fuel to make the flight, and so once again, the plane landed, this time in Bangor, Maine. While the fueling was underway, Cook tried to convince Minchello to let the original crew go, but the hijacker refused. The plane took off again, and the crew tried to keep the

situation as calm as possible. Each opened up about their private lives and an attempt to gain some rapport. Minnicello asked if everyone on board was married. Cook quickly responded that yes. They were thinking that the lie might make Minicello sympathetic. Flight attendant Tracy Coleman got him to open up the most. Minicello taught her a new card game. As they passed the time, he told her more about himself. His family had moved from Italy to Seattle in nineteen

sixty two. He had been bullied in high school due to his accent and ended up dropping out, ending his lifelong dream of becoming a commercial pilot had left home shortly afterward at seventeen, moving to San Diego, where he had joined the military. After boot camp, he was sent to Vietnam. He talked about how he and his platoon had been dropped off in the jungle. The conditions were horrible and the mission was short and ended in a lot of deaths on both sides. He had made friends

in his platoon and watched many of them die. After the mission, he was awarded the Cross of Gallantry and sent to Camp Pendleton. The nightmares were relentless. He and the other surviving members of his platoon were diagnosed with p t s D. Now all he wanted was to go home, back to Italy. He turned twenty in the air before the plane circled Rome's Fimchino Airport the morning

of November first, No one celebrated. T w A flight number eighty five was now eighteen and a half hours into the hijacking, and Minnicello made one more demand that they parked the plane at the far end of the terminal and be met by an unarmed policeman, and before the flight landed, he offered to drive the crew to a hotel. They all declined. Once the unarmed officer boarded, Minnicello bid a polite farewell to the crew and apologized

for any inconvenience. Officer Petro Goulli became his new hostage and was ordered to drive him to Naples. Four police cars followed. Goulli drove into a dead end alley and Minnicello umped out and fled on foot. Five hours later, a priest found him trying to blend in at a mass but camouflage at a church didn't work very well. Word of the hijacker in his capture spread across the globe.

Members of his platoon were shocked. The media reported on his mental state, along with new information about the events leading up to the hijacking. He had been putting money into a marine savings account and had planned to send it to his terminally ill father, who had recently returned to Italy, but when he had checked the account, Manchello found less money in it than he thought should be there. He had complained to his superiors, but they ignored him.

The feeling betrayed, he had broken into the store on base and stolen around two hundred dollars worth of goods. He had stopped to drink beer in the shop and fell asleep, which is where a military police found him the next morning. He was scheduled to appear in court on November one, and fearing prison, he led with the M one rifle he had brought back from Vietnam registered as a trophy. That was when he made his plan to hijack a plane back to Italy, deciding on the

t W A flight. In Italy, he was seen as a sort of underdog hero, a troubled and scared young man who would do anything to get back to his hometown and his dying father. The Italian news glossed over his threats to the crew aboard the flight. The media there betrayed him as a victim of a foreign country's war machine. Minnchello was tried in Italy instead of being extradited to the United States. He was convicted, but released

just a couple of years later. On May one of nineteen seventy one, he turned twenty one during his sentence. On the day of his release from the Queen of Heaven Prison near Vatican City, he wore a suit. Photographers and reporters crowded around him, and civilians showed up as well. Making him a little unsure of how to handle all the attention. He alternated between on certainty in being rather cocky. One reporter asked if he was sorry for the hijacking,

why should I be? He said it wouldn't be until he turned thirty one that his attitude about his actions changed. After a friend talked him out of a violent attack against a medical facility. Minnichello planned the attack after his wife of a few years lost their second child. It was then that Minichello promised to devote his life to God. After learning that he no longer had any outstanding warrants against him in the United States, he decided to return.

There was the matter of the court martial, though, and it's no surprise that he was dishonorably discharged. With the help of his fellow platoon members, Minchello tracked down the crew of t w A Flight eighty five so that he could apologize. He gave them each a copy of the New Testament with a note inside thanking them for their time and forgiveness for his actions. He apologized for putting them in harm's way and referenced the book Fluke

chapter twenty three, Verse thirty four. Father forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing. A lot of things have changed since the nineteen sixties. I mean, obviously, but in terms of flying, since nine eleven, no one jokes about getting a lift to Cuba. Today we have metal detectors, physical screenings, and X ray and other imaging devices,

among a whole host of other checks and balances. In retrospect, it may sound like the sixties was of free for all when it came to hijacking planes, but it's not that nothing was being done. In eight the FAA's Anti Hijacking Task Force explored several deterrents. They invited the airlines and even the general public to make suggestions to keep planes,

crew and passengers safe. Airlines put in force those orders that all crew members must agree to a hijackers to and hopefully preventing any harm to themselves and their passengers. The airlines also suggested building a fake airport in South Florida to resemble Havanna's airport. When a hijacker would disembark, that'd be greeted by US authorities. The plan was never implemented, not because it was ridiculous, but because of the expense and as suggestions went that wasn't even the most bizarre.

Someone floated an idea for an ejector seat to launch would be hijackers out of the plane. Another person filed a patent for seats that would deliver an injection through the cushions, capable of sedating or killing the person sitting in it. Then there was the offer of free one way flights to Cuba for would be hijackers, as long as they promised to never return. As you might imagine, Castro refused to accept those flights. That left another potential solution,

training ticket agents to spot suspicious behavior. While it may have helped here and there, far too many hijackers just didn't act suspiciously. The airlines were forced to consider a solution that had already been suggested, but one they didn't consider optimal and basically it was the worst option on the table and yet very familiar to us today metal detectors, luggage screening, and extra security. There's more to this story. Stick around after this brief sponsor break to hear all

about it. Since that historic day in December when the Right Brothers first took to the sky, air travel has been a big part of American history, from planes and jets to liquid fueled rockets. There are plenty of fascinating stories, both of ingenuity and triumph, of the dark and tragic, and of the downright bazaar. One of the strangest involves fruit fly you see. In nineteen forty seven, they were

the first animal American scientists ever sent into space. The goal was to measure the impact of cosmic radiation on living creatures, so the insects were placed inside a recovered not C V two missile and launched sixty seven miles or a hundred nine kilometers up, just past the altitude recognized as the border where space begins. The capsule then returned parachuting down into New Mexico, where scientists waited. To their delight, the flies were still alive and had suffered

no ill effects from radiation. Monkeys and apes also served as proto astronauts. Albert the second was the first in nineteen forty nine, but due to a parachute failure, he sadly didn't survive. The Soviet Union sent a stray dog from Moscow named Lyca into orbit in nineteen fifty seven, though it was a one way trip, and the French sent a tuxedo cat named Felisette up in sixty three,

and she returned alive and well. But competition between the United States and the uss ARE over the space race and all the scientific, technological, and military domination that went with it, heated up. The testing impact and radiation on animals wasn't the same as testing on humans. To make newer jet planes and rockets safe, American scientists had to get creative. At first, they used human cadavers. Turns out the public didn't care much for using the dead in

such a way. Even a handful of scientists had difficulty with the moral and ethical use of human bodies. Enter Sierra Sam, the first crash test dummy invented in Sam tested aircraft seats, commercial and military, along with ejection seats, aviation helmets, and pilot restraint harnesses. Sam became so popular that he was mass produced for automotive companies as well. Despite the use of crash test dummies, the US Air

Force still used animals into the nineteen fifties. During the Cold War arms race had come up with the B fifty Hustler, equipped to carry nuclear bombs, capable of mock to flight, and able to detect fifty different kinds of electronic failures. The plane proved difficult to control and maintain. That didn't mean the military planned to give up on it, though, It just needed a few tweaks, namely a way to eject safely. After designing a new system, it needed extensive testing.

While human volunteers were used to test the device while it was on the ground, the Air Force decided not to use people living or deceased when it came to testing in flight. They chose to forego even crash dummies. No, they used bears, American black bears and Himilean brown bears to be more precise. The animals were sedated, strapped into the test capsules, and dejected from planes at a variety of speeds. The capsules would parachute to Earth, where they

were collected. It isn't clear why the bears were used instead of crashed dummies. All the bears survived the landing, though many suffered broken bones and internal injuries. The most famous was Yogi, a two year old black bear that was ejected from a US Air Force B fifty eight, going eight hundred and seventy miles an hour at thirty five thousand feet. The parachute deployed, and for almost eight minutes,

the unconscious young bear drifted to earth. The Air Force thought recording the event would be good for public support. They were careful to tell the public that Yogi and the other bears got a good meal afterward, while awaiting a complete and thorough medical examination. Of course, unfortunately they left out one important detail that the bears, both healthy

and injured alike, were euthanized and then autopsied. There was decades before the records of their true fate finally surfaced, but by then the B fifty eight hustler was retired and the project had been brought to an end. Yeah American Shadows is hosted by Lauren Vogelbaum. This episode was written by Michelle Muto, researched by Ali Steed, and produced by Miranda Hawkins and Trevor Young, with executive producers Aaron Mankey, Alex Williams, and Matt Frederick. To learn more about the show,

visit Grim and Mild dot com. From more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.