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The China Airlines plane (front) that was involved in an attempted hijacking, at Kai Tak airport, in March 1978. Photo: SCMP

When a China Airlines plane was almost hijacked by a Taiwanese flight engineer

As the Boeing 737 was making its descent into Hong Kong, Shih Ming-cheng struck the pilot, ordering him to redirect the plane to the mainland

“Pilot tells of battle to foil China hijack,” ran a headline in the South China Morning Post on March 14, 1978.

“[Kao Chih-shiang] the pilot of a China Airlines plane [who was] involved in last week’s mid-air battle near Hongkong said today that the flight engineer [Shih Ming-cheng] ordered him to fly to China,” the story continued, recounting for the first time a deadly incident in the cockpit of a flight from Kaohsiung, in Taiwan, five days earlier.

As the Boeing 737 was making its final descent into Hong Kong on March 9, Shih, a native of Changhua, in Taiwan, leapt up and struck Kao in the head with a hammer and, brandishing a pair of scissors, made his demand, the pilot told reporters.

Co-pilot Kung Chung-kang rushed to his aid, giving Kao time to broadcast a cry for help over the plane’s announce­ment system. Plain-clothes sky marshal Cheng Liang, an army veteran and former boxing cham­pion, broke down the locked cockpit door and shot the attacker dead.

The front page of the South China Morning Post on March 10, 1978.

“Forget it, I don’t want to live any more,” were the dying words of Shih, who carried in his pocket a flight plan he had hoped would help him navigate to the mainland.

The plane had veered towards Chinese air­space during the tussle, but the pilots managed to land at Kai Tak airport. It wasn’t until a full cadre of police, fire engines and ambulances surrounded the plane on its landing that many of the passengers became aware of the nature of the incident.

The attempted hijacking was a first in China Airlines’ 18-year history, and even more surprising given that it was an “inside” job, perpetuated by some­one who, like all China Airlines flight person­nel, was a member of the Republic of China Air Force.

The incident occurred three weeks after the People’s Liberation Army called on members of the Taiwanese Armed Forces to defect to the mainland with their military craft, the Post reported. That call detailed “the amounts of reward in gold for particular types of aircraft and naval ships”, although it did not include civilian planes.

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