Vietnam Airlines Flight 850

Vietnam Airlines Flight 850 was an international scheduled passenger flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. On 4 September 1992, the Airbus A310 operating the flight was hijacked by Ly Tong, a former pilot in the South Vietnam Air Force. He then dropped anti-communist leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City before parachuting out. Vietnamese security forces later arrested him on the ground. The aircraft landed safely, and no one on board was injured. He was released from a Hanoi prison in 1998.

Hijacking

On 4 September 1992, at 17:00, the flight took off from Don Mueang International Airport in Bangkok en-route to Tan Son Nhat International Airport in Ho Chi Minh City. The captain of the flight is Vitkov Tanas Styanov, nationality Bulgarian.

When the aircraft was about 80 miles from Ho Chi Minh City, Ly Tong, a retired South Vietnamese fighter pilot and naturalized U.S. citizen, used a inox knife and a parachute cord to threaten members of the crew. Tong claimed that he had an explosive device and had a flight attendant take him to the cockpit. Tong then forced the pilot to lower the aircraft's altitude to 500 feet, reduce speed to a minimum, and enter the restricted airspace over the city.

For the next 30 minutes, Tong threw sacks of leaflets out of the cockpit window calling for an insurrection against the communist government of Vietnam in order to "build an independent, free and prosperous Vietnam." He claimed that his actions were motivated by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc. Signing himself "Commander of the Uprising Forces," Tong subsequently donned a parachute and jumped out of an emergency exit.

No one on board the plane was injured and the plane was able to continue its flight, landing safely at Tan Son Nhat International Airport with a 38-minute delay. Among those on board the flight were Vietnam's Ambassador to the United Nations, Vo Anh Tuan, and former actress Le Hong Thuy Tien, one of the flight attendants held hostage by Ly Tong, also the mother-in-law of actress Tăng Thanh Hà.