Ex-fighter pilot Ly Tong, who hijacked Vietnam Airlines plane with plastic knife and coat hanger before parachuting into swamp, dies at 74
- Ly Tong was famous for hijacking an Airbus A310 in 1992 and dropping leaflets over Ho Chi Minh City
- His sentence of 20 years in prison was cut short after the US and Vietnam normalised relations. Tong was granted amnesty in 1998
Ly Tong, the former fighter pilot known as the “Vietnamese James Bond” for his daring stunts – including hijacking a plane to drop 50,000 political leaflets over his homeland, calling on citizens to overthrow the communist government – has died in San Diego. He was 74.
He slipped into a coma on March 21, with his stay at Sharp Memorial Hospital drawing hundreds of visitors, some of whom called him a hero for his constant attacks against Hanoi’s oppressive regime.
Hoa Thai Cu, president of the South Vietnamese Air Force Association of San Diego who has been handling Tong’s medical care, said he had just paid the patient’s April rent and extended his housing lease – optimistic that he would recover.
“Many people have been worried because they are looking for strong anti-communist voices and he was that voice for so long,” Cu added.
While members of an older generation of Vietnamese admired Tong’s fighting spirit, many younger people acknowledged that they had never heard of him – nor did they care to involve themselves in community politics.