KANSAN. Comment
Of pilots and police
By HOWARD PANKRATZ Kansan Staff Writer
FBI agents were intent on stopping hijacker Raphael Minichiello as the TWA jet stood on a secluded part of Kennedy airport. As one of the crew put it later, "We almost lost the game at Kennedy," for as the young Marine, a recent immigrant from Italy, became increasingly agitated, he fired a shot to indicate he would kill the crew if the plane didn't take off immediately.
On the ground, FBI agents peered through their rifle sights as ground crew stalled and two overseas pilots, licensed to fly trans-Atlantic routes, climbed aboard. Later, Donald Cook would call the agents "idiots" for trying to apprehend the frantic boy and placing him and the crew in danger.
Though it cannot be doubted that the FBI and all law enforcement officers were primarily concerned for the safety of the crew; it is interesting to note the way in which the case was handled. For here was one of those rare chances for federal agencies to stop something that had frustrated them in the past—an airliner hijacking.
As the plane flew from Denver to New York, I visualized the pandemonium that reigned at Kennedy and on the freeways leading to it. Undoubtedly, I thought, many well-armed government officials were on their way to stop this maniac. Fully expecting a real episode of "The FBI" to come to life before my eyes, I switched on my TV. TV coverage there would not be, but an attempt to stop the boy would be made.
To many of us at KU, TWA and airlines mean fathers who are pilots and flight engineers, and friends who are stewardesses. We know they're human; we've either lived with them or dated them and we know they have a human side few passengers see. But we also know they are trained to handle people, emergencies and hijackers.
Of all the hijackings that have taken place, only once has the crew "lost the ball game," and that was in a South American country. American crews have succeeded in saving their passengers' lives, including one time when a time bomb was on board, by cooperating and keeping cool.
It should be noted that law officers are rarely held responsible if an innocent bystander is killed, whether the person killed be a hostage in a get-away car, or a crewman in a taxiing plane.
Under the felony-murder law, if an officer
kills a hostage, the kidnaper will be charged with murder, the theory being that if the kidnaping hadn't taken place to begin with, neither would the killing. Thus the kidnaper is directly responsible for the death. It is also reasoned that to hold an officer responsible for the death of hostages would hinder action which might be necessary in emergency situations. This is probably true.
The only trouble is, the lack of restraints often give infuriated law officers free rein to jeopardize lives that would not be in jeopardy otherwise. The simple cry, "they're getting away," causes a reflex action in some officers. Unfortunately, reflex actions are necessary to the very survival of lawmen and soldiers, but endanger the life of the civilian.
Hijackers of American planes have not killed anyone. The hijackers, for the most part, have been men on the run—men running from money problems, from what they feel are racial injustices or simply running because they are misfits in American society. Rarely do men of this type want to kill. That they can kill is beyond question: any man as frustrated as these has that potential. But if they are treated with the quiet dignity and respect at which airline crews are masters, they will not kill.
That they are utterly confused and bewildered individuals can be seen by the return Monday of six hijackers to the United States. The mental isolation of an alien environment such as Cuba's was even worse than all the loneliness they had suffered here.
Capt. Don Cook was accused of trying to "hog all the glory" by a member of the Queen's district attorney's office. This is a malicious statement prompted undoubtedly by the idea that airlines employ nothing but cocky, hot-shot pilots and wild stewardesses. Glamor there is, to an extent, but to anyone who has known a crewman who has survived a plane crash, a stewardess who has lost a roommate in a midair collision, to those who know the effort stewardesses put into keeping trim and waiting long hours on standby, there is also another side.
Letters to the Editor
I have faith in the crews that fly our skies and their ability to keep their passengers and themselves alive. To the officers, I would only say that the hijacker will probably return voluntarily to the United States at some later date. Any "heroic" action on their part is foolish action.
To the editor-
Regarding Judith Diebolt's editorial "Boo Boo - Rah Rah"": Can there be an informed person in this country today who will deny that our generation is as involved or more involved than any of those past? Yet the senior class, while learning of involvement and responsibility, has not forgotten how to be young.
While Miss Diebolt appears to be today's cynic and tomorrow's too, the senior sweatshirt speaks of the real world, "Today's Seniors- Tomorrow's Establishment": It can be no other way.
Robert E. Franzen St. Louis, Mo., senior
Readers' write
Andre Kole
To the editor;
We've been taken! For those of you who did not attend the "startling demonstration and discussion of extra-sensory perception, witchaft and the supernatural" by Andre Kole, "America's leading illusionist" last Sunday night at Hoch Auditorium, we congratulate you on your good fortune. The advertisements requested that no children be admitted. We now see the wisdom of this since even as adults we had trouble remaining still in our seats throughout the "startling performance."
Perhaps a better description would be that it was a sermon including a few obvious tricks and corny jokes.
We would like to thank Campus Crusade for Christ (CCC) for bringing Mr. Kole to KU to tell us basically that there are no such things as illusionists. It turned out the real purpose of this gathering was to further the beliefs of this organization. This being the case, we believe that this fact should not have been hidden so cleverly in the advertisements.
When an organization employs these tactics in an attempt to gain a few new adherents, perhaps it is time for them to reevaluate their basic ideology. We hope that our dollar admission fee will be used by CCC with this in mind.
Jim Hess
Wichita senior
Spike Lynch
Leawood senior
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