D. B. Cooper was an unidentified man who hijacked Northwest Orient Airlines Flight 305, a Boeing 727 aircraft, in United States airspace on November 24, 1971. During the flight from Portland, Oregon, to Seattle, Washington, the hijacker told a flight attendant he had a bomb, demanded $200,000 in ransom, and requested four parachutes upon landing in Seattle. After releasing the passengers in Seattle, the hijacker instructed the flight crew to refuel the aircraft and begin a second flight to Mexico City, with a refueling stop in Reno, Nevada. About 30 minutes after taking off from Seattle, the hijacker opened the aircraft's aft door, deployed the staircase, and parachuted into the night over southwestern Washington. The hijacker has never been found or identified conclusively.
Pan American World Airways, originally founded as Pan American Airways and more commonly known as Pan Am, was an airline that was the principal and largest international air carrier and unofficial overseas flag carrier of the United States for much of the 20th century. It was the first airline to fly worldwide and pioneered numerous innovations of the modern airline industry, such as jumbo jets and computerized reservation systems. Until its dissolution on December 4, 1991, Pan Am "epitomized the luxury and glamour of intercontinental travel", and it remains a cultural icon of the 20th century, identified by its blue globe logo, the use of the word "Clipper" in its aircraft names and call signs, and the white uniform caps of its pilots.
The Tenerife airport disaster occurred on 27 March 1977, when two Boeing 747 passenger jets collided on the runway at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish island of Tenerife. The collision occurred when KLM Flight 4805 initiated its takeoff run during dense fog while Pan Am Flight 1736 was still on the runway. The impact and resulting fire killed all 248 people on board the KLM plane and 335 of the 396 people on board the Pan Am plane, with only 61 survivors in the front section of the aircraft. With a total of 583 fatalities, the disaster is the deadliest accident in aviation history.
A flight attendant, traditionally known as a steward or stewardess ; or air host or hostess, is a member of the aircrew aboard commercial flights, many business jets and some government aircraft. Collectively called cabin crew, flight attendants are primarily responsible for passenger safety and comfort.
Pan Am Flight 73 was a Pan American World Airways flight from Bombay, India, to New York, United States, with scheduled stops in Karachi, Pakistan, and Frankfurt, West Germany.
James Duff is an American television writer, producer and director. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana and has written plays and television screenplays. He is credited as the creator of the TV series The Closer and Major Crimes.
Neerja Bhanot was an Indian flight purser. On 5 September 1986, she saved a large number of passengers onboard Pan Am Flight 73, which had been hijacked by four terrorists from the Abu Nidal Organization after it made a stopover at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, Pakistan. Around 17 hours into the standoff, after she opened an emergency exit door and began helping passengers escape from the plane, Neerja was shot and killed by the hijackers. Shortly afterwards, Pakistan's Special Service Group stormed the aircraft and captured all of the hijackers.
The Closer is an American police procedural television series starring Kyra Sedgwick as Brenda Leigh Johnson, a Los Angeles Police Department deputy chief. A CIA-trained interrogator originally from Atlanta, Georgia, Brenda has a reputation as a closer—an interrogator who not only solves a case, but also obtains confessions that lead to convictions, thus "closing" the case. The series ran on TNT from June 13, 2005, to August 13, 2012.
Jonathan Frederick Tenney is an American actor. He played Special Agent Fritz Howard in TNT's The Closer and continued in its spinoff Major Crimes.
Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. The transatlantic leg of the route was operated by Clipper Maid of the Seas, a Boeing 747 registered N739PA. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, while the aircraft was in flight over the Scottish town of Lockerbie, it was destroyed by a bomb, killing all 243 passengers and 16 crew in what became known as the Lockerbie bombing. Large sections of the aircraft crashed in a residential street in Lockerbie, killing 11 residents. With a total of 270 fatalities, it is the deadliest terrorist attack in the history of the United Kingdom.
Tom Hewitt is an American actor and Broadway stage performer, and a native of Victor, Montana.
William Albert Burke is an American actor and songwriter. Burke is known for his role as Charlie Swan in Twilight and its sequels. In 2011, he played Cesaire in Red Riding Hood. In 2012, he was cast as one of the lead characters, Miles Matheson, in the NBC science-fiction series Revolution. From 2015 to 2017, he starred in the CBS series Zoo. He has also appeared in the supernatural horror film Lights Out (2016) and the thriller Breaking In (2018).
Bradley Thomas Rowe is an American actor, writer, producer, and public policy advocate. He appeared in Billy's Hollywood Screen Kiss (1998) and TNT's Purgatory. Other roles include a short stint as recurring character Walt on NewsRadio, Murphy Sinclair on General Hospital, Ty Swindle on Wasteland, and Dan Murphy on Leap of Faith.
Raymond Cruz is an American actor, best known for his starring role as Detective Julio Sanchez in the series The Closer and its spinoff Major Crimes, as well as his recurring role as drug lord Tuco Salamanca in the crime drama Breaking Bad and its prequel series Better Call Saul.
QantasLink Flight 1737 was an afternoon Australian domestic flight from Melbourne Airport to Launceston Airport, which was subject to an attempted hijacking on 29 May 2003.
Graham Patrick Martin is an American actor. He is best known for his recurring role as Eldridge on Two and a Half Men (2010–12) and former teen hustler Rusty Beck on the series finale of The Closer and in its spinoff series, Major Crimes (2012–2018). Martin also portrayed Bill Engvall's older son in the sitcom The Bill Engvall Show (2007–09). He starred in the films Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door (2007) and Rising Stars (2010).
The Librarian is a series of original fantasy-adventure made-for-television films from Turner Network Television (TNT) starring Noah Wyle as the Librarian, who protects a secret collection of artifacts.
Major Crimes is an American police procedural television series starring Mary McDonnell. It was a continuation spin-off of The Closer, set in the same police division, now headed by McDonnell's character, Sharon Raydor. It premiered on TNT on August 13, 2012, following the finale of The Closer.
The Flight Attendant is an American dark comedy drama mystery thriller television series developed by Steve Yockey based on the 2018 novel of the same name by Chris Bohjalian. It stars Kaley Cuoco in the title role and premiered on HBO Max on November 26, 2020. In December 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on April 21, 2022. In January 2024, the series was canceled after two seasons.
The 1985 Pan Am strike was a labor strike involving several thousand workers, all members of the Transport Workers Union of America (TWU), at Pan American World Airways. The strike began on February 28 and ended one month later on March 28. It involved roughly 19,000 workers.
