Aircraft A Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 similar to the aircraft involved in the accident The aircraft was a 95-seat, twin jet engine Douglas DC-9-30 with tail registration N97S. Southern Airways Flight 49: Historical Events November 2019 The hijacking of Southern Airways Flight 49 started on November 10, 1972, in Birmingham, Alabama, stretching over 30 hours, three countries, and 4,000 miles (6,400 km), not ending until the next evening in Havana, Cuba. Shortly afterward passengers Henry Jackson, Lewis Moore and Melvin Cale, all from Detroit, Michigan, produced handguns and a fake handgrenade. This page was last modified on 16 July 2016, at 12:28. Southern was headquartered at William B. Hartsfield Airport, near Atlanta We didnt know it at the time, but the company had Southerns seasonal routes are back! Memphis Destin begins 4/30 * Nantucket to Boston/Hanscom, Boston/Norwood, Providence, and New Bedford returns 5/26 * Palm Beach Tampa and Tampa Destin start 6/28. [10] While stopped for refueling at McCoy Air Force Base, in Orlando, the FBI shot out two of the airplane's four main tires, prompting the hijackers to shoot co-pilot Harold Johnson in the arm and force pilot William Haas to take off.[2][3]. Book flight reservations, rental cars, and hotels on southwest.com. Instead they ordered the plane to refuel in Lexington, Kentucky, then landed in Chattanooga where they received a mail bag stuffed with $20 bills. Authorities said that it was the $10 million requested, but only $2 million had actually been provided by the airline. [1] Melvin Cale, Louis Moore, and Henry D. Jackson, Jr. successfully hijacked a Southern Airways Douglas DC-9 that was scheduled to fly from Memphis, Tennessee to Miami, Florida via Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama. Southern Airways was a regional airline operating in the United States from its founding by Frank Hulse in 1949 until 1979 when it merged with North Central Airlines to become Republic Airlines, which on October 1, 1986, became part of Northwest Airlines, which in 2008 became a part of Delta Air Lines. Southern Airways is a Florida-based company founded in 2013. Jackson, Moore and Cale spent eight years in a Cuban prison before being extradited to the United States, where they remained imprisoned. [2] 34 people, including 31 passengers and 3 crew members, were aboard the airplane when it was hijacked. The two-engine DC-9 craft took off from Birmingham at 6:30 PM en route to Florida via Montgomery's Dannelly Field Airport. Memphis, Tennessee-based Southern Airways Express (9X) is a commuter airline that flies to about 20 destinations in the Southern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. (Contrary to several sources, according to the co-pilot, the runway was not covered in foam. Southwest Airlines launched a spring fare sale with fares as low as $49 one-way. Southern Airways is a valued partner of Expedia, and we work together to provide you with all the tools you need to book your next Southern Airways flight. [1][2][3] The hijackers had the plane flown to multiple locations in the United States and Canada, including Cleveland, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, Lexington, Kentucky, and Toronto, Canada, while the hijackers figured out their demands before finally arriving in Cuba. William Haas, the pilot of Southern Airways Flight 49. [5][6] The plane later landed at Chattanooga, Tennessee's Lovell Field inbound from Knoxville, Tennessee's McGhee Tyson Airport to pick up the ransom. [2][3][4] The three were each facing criminal charges for unrelated incidents.