6.2 Legislative Acts

 


In the 1960s and 70s, hijackings and crimes on aircrafts were rather rampant. It was becoming a major concern with some sources citing as much as 100 hijacking cases during that time, with 77 of them being successful. Before 1961 hijacking was a rather foreign concept to the US and soon it became a term popular among the households, prompting the government decided to intervene. In order to counter this threat and as a result of that Section 902 of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 was amended in 1961 with a few new subsections added. These included the following- "Aircraft piracy", Interference with flight crew members or flight attendants", " Certain crimes"," carrying weapons aboard aircraft", "false information" to name some of the main subsections that were added.

    The highlights of the amendment included the introduction of severe punishments for piracy as well as violence against the staff members. The punishment for piracy(seizure or control of an aircraft by violence or threat) was set as death or imprisonment for not less than 20 years. The punishment for using a weapon against a crew member or attendant also would lead to lifetime imprisonment or any terms of years.

    The amendments to the existing act were necessary due to the amount of air crimes that were happening at that time. The 1960s and even the early 1970s were riddled with hijackings and shootings, with US aircrafts being involved in a large number of these incidents. More than 150 of these hijackings involved the American airspace.

    The amendments in the Federal Aviation Act of 1958 were a necessity in a situation of the stature and by making the punishments more severe, it served as a stern warning sign to the terrorists. Although the implementation did take some time and the rate of apprehension was quite low in the 60s, the amended laws did set the blueprint for the future success, which saw the apprehension rate increasing as well as the severity in the punishments set out for them. The 1970s saw a rise in number of measures being taken by aircrafts. The 1961 amendments criminalized many acts which enabled the authorities to take actions against parties who initiated such acts of crime. This paved way for stringent measures by the government as well as the aircraft industry in the future.

    The US had seen very little of such incidents prior to 1961. There weren't much importance or focus given to the areas of aircraft violence and crimes. The hijacking incident in 1961 changed it all, and the government decided to act immediately. The amendments in the Federal Aviation Act 1958 set the precedent for an atmosphere needed to combat terrorism and violence in aircrafts. It also changed the attitude of the whole industry towards aircraft terrorism and violence and set standards on matters such as dealing with people behind such acts. It can be said that it did have a great impact on the aviation industry.

References 

  Redford. (1961). Congress passes the Federal aviation act of 1958. Published for the ICP by University of Alabama Press.

   Legislative History of the Federal Aviation Act of 1958: P.L. 85-726: 72 Stat. 731: August 23, 1958. (1958).


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