Death at the Terminal

The man in the bright orange sports shirt was about to board TWA Flight 335 at New York's La Guardia Airport when something he was carrying tripped the airline's metal-detecting device. A TWA agent searched the man's hand luggage, asked him to open his coat and, finding nothing suspicious, allowed him to board the 727 jetliner bound for Chicago.

It did not get that far. Just after takeoff, Stewardess Idie Concepcion, 21, noticed that the passenger was sweating profusely and acting nervous. She was about to report him to the pilot as a possible hijacker when the young man, Rich ard Allen Obergfell, 26, of New York City, grabbed her by the neck and, with an automatic pistol at her back, forced her toward the cockpit. He told the captain, Albert Hawes: "Take this plane to Milan. Italy."

It was the 15th skyjacking attempt on scheduled U.S: airlines this year.* Only this time the destination seemed reminiscent of the 1969 skyjacking in which Raphael Minichiello, a U.S. Marine, commandeered an airliner for a 17-hour odyssey to Rome. Minichiello was released from an Italian jail last spring after serving only 18 months of a 71-year sentence for the crime.

Roman Holiday. Pilot Hawes convinced Obergfell that his craft could not reach Milan, so they arranged to return to La Guardia for one that was properly equipped. Obergfell seemed distracted, talking vaguely about personal problems. "If you knew," he told the stewardess, "if you knew." Later he asked Miss Concepcion if she wanted to go to Rome with him. "What can I say?" she asked, aware of the gun pointed at her head. "You haven't had a vacation yet, have you?" he asked. In fact, the stewardess had worked for TWA only two months and was on her fourth flight.

Back at La Guardia, Obergfell released the 55 passengers. He was told that only Kennedy Airport, nine miles away, could handle transatlantic planes. His gun at Miss Concepcion's back, Obergfell demanded a car to take him to Kennedy. But before it could arrive, he commandeered an airport maintenance truck and was driven, surrounded by an escort of police cars, to the international airport. Being towed out for him at a remote corner of a runway was a fully fueled Boeing 707. Its crew was to be headed by Captain Bill Williams, who flew Minichiello to Rome.

Also waiting, behind a steel blast fence not far from the plane, were two FBI sharpshooters armed with .308 Norma Magnum rifles with telescopic sights. Their instructions: "If you get an opportunity for a clean shot, take it." Two other FBI agents approached Obergfell on the runway and tried to persuade him to give himself up. A priest offered to have the Catholic Church buy him a ticket to Italy. Obergfell grew tense, still clutching the girl and waiting for the 707 to taxi to where he stood. "Get that goddamned plane out here!" he shouted.

Calculated Risk. As the plane approached, Obergfell moved toward the boarding ladder that had already been placed on the runway. He was holding the stewardess so close that twice she stepped on his foot. "What are you trying to pull?" he demanded. Then, for a moment, he pulled three steps away from her. FBI Agent Kenneth Lovin, who had been tracking Obergfell in his hairline sight from about 75 yds. away, fired. The first bullet slammed into the skyjacker's right shoulder and came out the left. He dropped to the ground, scrabbling to reach his pistol, and Lovin put a second bullet through his stomach, killing him.

Obergfell was the first skyjacker to die attempting to commandeer an American plane. His motives remained murky; he was apparently unemployed, emotionally unstable, and may have had a girl friend in Italy that he hoped to marry. He was raised in New York City and was, according to his sister, "a plain, quiet guy whom life had kicked around a lot." Some wondered about the FBI's judgment in blasting him with a deer rifle. Had the agent missed, Obergfell might have shot the stewardess. John Malone, the assistant FBI director in New York, explained it simply as "a calculated risk."

* The 16th followed the next day, when a National Airlines DC-8 carrying 83 passengers and crew was skyjacked to Havana. A stewardess and one passenger were slightly wounded when the skyjacker's gun went off.

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