1952 Philippine Air Lines Douglas DC-3 hijacking

A hijacking of a Philippine Air Lines Douglas DC-3 occurred on 30 December 1952. On this day a Philippine Air Lines Douglas DC-3 operating a Philippine domestic flight from Laoag to Aparri was hijacked. In the incident there were 2 fatalities among the 10 occupants on board the aircraft.

Course of the incident

During the flight, the 23-year-old Chinese passenger Ang Cho Kio suddenly stood up, went to the cockpit and pointed a .45-calibre handgun at First Officer Gaston, who was flying the aircraft at the time. He presented a note on which it was written that he demanded a diversion to Xiamen. Captain Perlas then took control of the aircraft and put it into a steep dive, intending to incapacitate the hijacker. Ang Cho Kio, however, was able to keep his balance and fired two shots at Perlas, who then slumped over the control column. First Officer Gaston then took over the controls again. In the meantime, the purser Esteban Diago had hurried to the front of the aircraft to see what was going on in the cockpit. Ang Cho Kio fired two shots through the closed cockpit door, fatally hitting the purser. First Officer Gaston set course for the Chinese mainland and maintained a flight altitude of 6,000 feet. The hijacker took out a map and showed the first officer on it where he should land the aircraft. Shortly before the Chinese mainland, over the airspace of the Republic of China (Taiwan), the aircraft was pursued by two makeshift fighter aircraft of the type North American T-6D of the Republic of China Air Force, which shortly afterwards opened machine-gun fire on the Douglas. The fighter pilots mistakenly assumed that the aircraft belonged to a communist invasion by the People's Republic of China. The aircraft was considerably damaged in the process. Further fighter aircraft joined and forced the aircraft to land. The first officer flew a manoeuvre with which, in accordance with international conventions, he signalled that he was travelling with peaceful intentions and intended to land. Five hours after the start of the hijacking, the aircraft was successfully set down on the runway of the airport on the island of Kinmen.