Aviation: The Skyjackers

For growing numbers of airline passengers, flights almost anywhere in the Southern U.S. have become dubious adventures in serendipity. The unsought —and usually unwanted—dividend is a side trip to Havana.

Since 1961, 15 aircraft have been hijacked in U.S. skies and forced to land in Cuba. This year alone, gunmen have commandeered nine U.S. planes; all but one made compulsory stopovers at Havana. The problem has grown so epidemic that one airline servicing Miami and other Southern cities in the U.S. has decided to equip pilots with approach charts for Havana's Jose...

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