American Airlines Flight 444
Boeing 727-223 · Aircraft bombing
From Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD) to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
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
- 78
- Survivors
- 78
- 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
- 12
- 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 727-223
- 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
- N876AA
- Operator
- American Airlines
- Onboard fatalities
- 0
- Route
- From Chicago O'Hare International Airport (ORD)To Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
American Airlines Flight 444 was a scheduled American Airlines flight from Chicago to Washington, D.C.'s National Airport. On November 15, 1979, the Boeing 727 serving the flight was attacked by Ted Kaczynski (also known as the Unabomber), who sent a pipe bomb in the mail and set it to detonate at a certain altitude. The bomb partially detonated in the cargo hold and caused "a sucking explosion and a loss of pressure," which was then followed by large quantities of smoke filling the passenger cabin, forcing the pilots to make an emergency landing at Dulles International Airport. Twelve passengers had to be treated afterward for smoke inhalation.
The FBI found similarities between the still relatively intact pipe bomb and two bombs that had previously detonated at Northwestern University, and dubbed the unknown University and Airline Bomber the "Unabomber". 17 years later in 1996, Kaczynski's arrest ended one of the longest and most expensive manhunts in FBI history.
Text from the Wikipedia article “American Airlines Flight 444” (revision 1373796837, 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: American Airlines Flight 444
- Article
- American Airlines Flight 444
- Revision
- 1373796837 · 2026-09-08 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q4742954
- 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 "American Airlines Flight 444" (page 5732402, revision 1373796837)
- 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
- 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.