# Blowing up an airplane just to kill on passenger? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 23, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152 "2007-01-23T21:24:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/1 "2007-01-23T21:24:48Z")
Has anyone ever blown up a whole plane just to murder a specific person on board? ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/2 "2007-01-23T21:29:32Z")
Here’s one example: > **[Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Guay_affair)** > > Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, known as the Sault-au-Cochon Tragedy, was a Douglas DC-3 operated by Canadian Pacific Air Lines (registry CF-CUA S/N: 4518) that was blown up by a dynamite time bomb on 9 September 1949. The plane was flying from Montreal to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, with a stopover at Quebec City, when it was destroyed. All 19 passengers and 4 crew members were killed in the explosion and crash. > Investigators discovered that three people, Joseph-Albert Guay (22 September 1917 –... ---
**Author:** ![Valgard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/7feea3/32.png) [@Valgard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Valgard)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/3 "2007-01-23T21:32:15Z")
The US intercepted and shot down the plane carrying Admiral Yamamoto during WW2, does that count? ---
**Author:** ![xiix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/d6d6ee/32.png) [@xiix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xiix)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/4 "2007-01-23T21:35:37Z")
That Albert Guay wiki article was a fun read, thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/5 "2007-01-23T21:40:57Z")
Technically, any of the dogfights between fighters count (with the “one specific passenger” being the other pilot), but I don’t think that’s what you’re looking for, here… ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/6 "2007-01-23T21:54:24Z")
Another example:[Jack Gilbert Graham](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Gilbert_Graham) blew up an airliner to kill his mother. ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2007, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/7 "2007-01-23T21:58:02Z")
[QUOTE=Rube E. Tewesday] Here’s one example: > **[Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Guay_affair)** > > Canadian Pacific Air Lines Flight 108, known as the Sault-au-Cochon Tragedy, was a Douglas DC-3 operated by Canadian Pacific Air Lines (registry CF-CUA S/N: 4518) that was blown up by a dynamite time bomb on 9 September 1949. The plane was flying from Montreal to Baie-Comeau, Quebec, with a stopover at Quebec City, when it was destroyed. All 19 passengers and 4 crew members were killed in the explosion and crash. The bombing was the first instance of an airliner bombing being conclusively solved.... [/QUOTE] Thanks very much! That was just the type of incident I was looking for! ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/8 "2007-01-24T01:08:47Z")
While not “blowing up” per se, there’s the [PSA Flight 1771](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PSA_Flight_1771) crash: > [@Wikipedia](#): > > David Burke (May 18, 1952-December 7, 1987) was a former employee of USAir, the airline that had recently purchased and was in the process of absorbing Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA). Burke had been terminated by USAir for petty theft of $69 from an airline fund and, after meeting with his supervisor in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated, he purchased a ticket on Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771, a daily flight from Los Angeles, California to San Francisco. Burke’s supervisor, Raymond F. Thomson, took the flight regularly since Thomson lived in San Francisco but worked at Los Angeles International Airport. > > Using his unsurrendered USAir credentials, Burke, armed with a loaded .44 Magnum pistol that he had borrowed from a co-worker, was able to bypass the security checkpoint at Los Angeles International Airport. After boarding the plane, Burke wrote a message on an air-sickness bag. The note read: > > **“Hi Ray. I think it’s sort of ironical that we ended up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family. Remember? Well, I got none and you’ll get none.”** > > Burke took out his handgun and fired twice at Thomson, as the cockpit voice recorder later confirmed. He then opened the cockpit door. A female, presumed to be a flight attendant, told the cockpit crew that “we have a problem.” The captain replied, “What kind of problem?” Burke then appeared at the cockpit door and announced “I’m the problem,” simultaneously firing three more shots that probably killed the pilots. > > Several seconds later, the cockpit recorder picked up increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and began to accelerate. A final gunshot was heard and it is speculated that Burke fatally shot himself. The crash also killed four high-ranking executives of Chevron Corporation. My co-worker, who was involved in a lawsuit against Chevron at the time, bragged that he had performed a Satanic ritual a few nights before, which directly resulted in the crash. I’ve known some pretty freaky friends. ---
**Author:** ![treis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bc79bd/32.png) [@treis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/treis)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/9 "2007-01-24T01:31:55Z")
From the wiki article: > [@](#): > > The flight was delayed five minutes at takeoff; this apparently thwarted Guay’s desire to have the explosion take place over the Saint Lawrence River, which would have made forensic examination of the crash impossible with the technology of the day Give me a break. Hitting a river sized area with a bomb in that time was difficult. The chances of him accurately blowing up the plane over the river were practically 0. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/10 "2007-01-24T02:01:38Z")
[QUOTE=treis] Give me a break. Hitting a river sized area with a bomb in that time was difficult. The chances of him accurately blowing up the plane over the river were practically 0. [/QUOTE] For some reason, I doubt Mr. Guay applied much rational scrutiny to his plot. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/11 "2007-01-24T04:18:35Z")
In November, 1989, [Pablo Escobar](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Escobar) blew up [Avianca Flight 203](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avianca_Flight_203), targeting César Gaviria Trujillo, the leading candidate in the presidential elections, although he was not on the plane. ---
**Author:** ![mnjhawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ec8ea/32.png) [@mnjhawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnjhawk)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/12 "2007-01-24T05:09:49Z")
[QUOTE=gytalf2000] Has anyone ever blown up a whole plane just to murder a specific person on board? [/QUOTE] Pfft…who hasn’t? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/13 "2007-01-24T12:38:49Z")
This [Egyptair flight](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990) ended when the pilot deliberately crashed the plane to commit suicide (his lack of though to the _homicide_ aspect of his deed has to be one of the most selfish things I’ve ever heard – although notice that some of the facts are in dispute.) ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/14 "2007-01-24T12:58:10Z")
Some people think that Ron Brown, Bill Clinton’s commerce secretery, was assassinated by crashing his plane. He was under indictment, and had basically threatened to bring the president down with him. Then he flew to Croatia for an economic summit, and it was his plane that went down with him. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/15 "2007-01-24T14:27:47Z")
Quite a few people and some more incidents linked to in the wiki articles mentioned here. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/16 "2007-01-24T14:47:14Z")
E. Howard Hunt’s (who just passed away, coincidentally) wife, Dorothy, died on [United Flight 533](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_533) near Chicago. She had ten thousand dollars in her purse, which some conspiracy theorists think was Watergate hush money. Conspiracy theorists also seem to think that she was about to tell all, so “authorities” had her offed, along with a planeload of innocent people. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/17 "2007-01-24T16:28:28Z")
[QUOTE=treis] From the wiki article: Hitting a river sized area with a bomb in that time was difficult. The chances of him accurately blowing up the plane over the river were practically 0. [/QUOTE] Possibly not. People who have no experience flying tend not to appreciate how easy it is to become lost in an airplane. In that era, radio aids to navigation were virtually non-existent. And in that region magnetic compasses tend to be problematic. Rivers and railways make great visual navigation aids to follow, so it is entirely possible that a flight would intentionally follow a river so as to avoid becoming lost. While this is easier to accomplish while flying beside and parallel to the landmark, the St. Laurence is a wide river, and a pilot might choose to fly down the center so as to Minimize noise complaints. A DC-3 is far slower than a modern airliner, thus creating a wider time window. ---
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/blowing-up-an-airplane-just-to-kill-on-passenger/389152/18 "2007-01-24T19:48:27Z")
[QUOTE=treis] From the wiki article: Give me a break. Hitting a river sized area with a bomb in that time was difficult. The chances of him accurately blowing up the plane over the river were practically 0. [/QUOTE] I’m not sure where the actual dividing line is between the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the St. Lawrence River is, but if you check out the area between Montreal and Baie Comeau on a map you might reconsider that.