On October 17 1996 , the first hijacking that was brought to an end while airborne was carried out by four operatives of the Austrian special law enforcement unit Cobra on a Russian Aeroflot flight from Malta to Lagos , Nigeria , aboard a Tupolev Tu-154 . The operatives escorted inmates detained for deportation to their homelands and were equipped with weapons and gloves . On 12 April 1999 , six ELN members hijacked a Fokker 50 of Avianca Colombian Airlines Flight 9463 , flying from Bogotá to Bucaramanga . Many hostages were held for more than a year , and the last hostage was finally freed 19 months after the hijacking . On September 11 2001 , four airliners were hijacked by 19 Al-Qaeda Islamic extremists : American Airlines Flight 11 , United Airlines Flight 175 , American Airlines Flight 77 and United Airlines Flight 93 . The first two planes were deliberately crashed into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and the third was crashed into The Pentagon building . The fourth , crashed in a field in Stonycreek Township near Shanksville , Pennsylvania after crew and passengers attempted to overpower the hijackers . Authorities believed that the intended target was either the White House or the U.S. Capitol . In total , 2,996 people perished and more than 6,000 were injured in the attacks , making the hijackings the most deadly in modern history
American Airlines Flight 77
American Airlines Flight 77
Aircraft hijacking