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Delta Air Lines Flight 821

25 Mar 1969 · Havana, Cuba

Douglas DC-8 · Hijacking

From Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR) to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

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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
Occurrence
Event fatalities
0 · all aircraft and ground
Ground fatalities
Unknown
Occupants
114
Survivors
114
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

Douglas DC-8

Aircraft type
Douglas DC-8
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
Unknown
Onboard fatalities
0
Route
From Newark Liberty International Airport (EWR)To Los Angeles International Airport (LAX)

Approximate · Estimated position: the centre of Havana, the place the Wikipedia article names. Not the accident site.

From the Wikipedia article

On March 25, 1969, Luis Antonio Frese hijacked Delta Air Lines Flight 821 (DC-8) from Dallas, Texas to Havana, Cuba. Frese was indicted in Texas but never returned to the United States to face prosecution. He reportedly died in Cuba in 1975.

The aircraft was en route from Newark to Los Angeles with stop overs in Atlanta, Dallas and San Diego. There were 114 occupants on board: 7 crew and 107 passengers, which included 26 Marine recruits en route to San Diego and additional military personnel. This was the 14th hijacking of a US airliner in the year 1969. After being hijacked to Havana, the flight diverted to Miami before continuing on its planned route.

Text from the Wikipedia article “Delta Air Lines Flight 821” (revision 1339308865, 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: Delta Air Lines Flight 821
Article
Delta Air Lines Flight 821
Revision
1339308865 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
Wikidata
Q5254566
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 "Delta Air Lines Flight 821" (page 30405180, revision 1339308865)
Date
Wikipedia infobox: date
Place and country
Wikipedia infobox: site
Map position
centre of the town the Wikipedia infobox site names (GeoNames, CC BY 4.0)
Aircraft, operator and route
Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
Operation
flight number in the article title
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.