Air Vietnam Flight 706
Boeing 727-121C · Hijacking
From Da Nang International Airport (DAD) to Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 75 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 75
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Boeing 727-121C
- Flight
- VN706
- Aircraft type
- Boeing 727
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- XV-NJC
- Operator
- Air Vietnam
- Onboard fatalities
- 75
- Route
- From Da Nang International Airport (DAD)To Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
Air Vietnam Flight 706 was a Boeing 727 that crashed on September 15, 1974, after three hijackers detonated hand grenades as it was approaching Phan Rang Air Base in South Vietnam for an emergency landing. All 67 passengers and 8 crew members aboard the aircraft were killed in the crash.
Hijacking and crash
Le Duc Tan, a ranger in the South Vietnamese army who had recently been demoted from captain to lieutenant for the theft of two cars in Da Nang, smooth-talked his way past security checkpoints. After taking off from Da Nang International Airport (DAD/VVDN) in South Vietnam on a regularly scheduled flight to Saigon's Tan Son Nhat International Airport (SGN/VVTS), the flight was hijacked by Tan and two accomplices, holding two grenades. They demanded to be flown to Hanoi in North Vietnam. The pilot told the hijackers that he had to land for fuel at Phan Rang Air Base.
Shortly before the plane exploded, the pilot radioed that the hijacker was pulling the pins on two grenades. The aircraft overshot the base leg and initiated a left turn, during which it lost control. Shortly after that, it plunged to the ground from an altitude of 1000 ft, killing all 75 people aboard.
Text from the Wikipedia article “Air Vietnam Flight 706” (revision 1375071595, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: Air Vietnam Flight 706
- Article
- Air Vietnam Flight 706
- Revision
- 1375071595 · 2026-09-15 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4698253
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "Air Vietnam Flight 706" (page 1916180, revision 1375071595)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- airline flight number in the infobox
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.