Free Modus Operandi by Mauro V Corvasce

Sky Marshals' job an enviable one. Presumably the attractions of the job include travel to exotic and faraway places, independent work free from supervision, and carrying a gun legally. The dangers of the job outweigh these benefits, however.
    Today's skyjacker does not fit into any one mold or physical description. Skyjacking is a violent means of getting a free ride and gratifying a need at the expense of other people. Of course the skyjacker is seldom a thief, however, he may be a malcontent, a dropout from everyday life, a political fanatic, a rebel with or without a cause, or an emotional disaster; he may be literate or illiterate, college-educated or have just barely finished the third grade. He may have long hair or a crewcut. He may wear expensive suits or cheap ones. He may be a cool, intellectual professional or a whimpering coward. Either way, there is no single pattern to skyjackings or skyjackers.
    Some skyjack cases bear close relationships to others while others are unique. In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates the airlines, have psychologists who have been trying to develop a profile of skyjackers for years. It is they who first conducted interviews with what we might call "deactivated" skyjackers —those who failed or who returned home after discovering that there was no haven for them at the end of the line. They also interviewed families of skyjackers who did not return. It was on the basis of this extensive research that the behavioral profile of a skyjacker was devised. However, this profile has been criticized for a number of reasons, among them that it is too broad and based only on American skyjackers and does not have universal applications.
    Why Skyjack?
    Why of all things would you want to grab an airplane? Psychologists have offered different reasons about symbolism and flight and the power of commandeering but to us there is one basic reason: Because the plane happens to be there. Skyjacking is one of the current forms of protest. It is our opinion that skyjackers fall into five, sometimes overlapping, categories: criminals on the run; individuals with personal or political reasons; people or groups with organized political motivations; emotional disaster cases; losers and misfits.
    Now, based on these groupings let's take a closer look at the types of skyjackers and how they operate.
    Categories off Skyjackers
    It has been said that skyjacking has evolved during the last fifty years into the following divisions:
    1. Escaping refugees, 1947-1952, 1958-1972, 1980s
    2. Transportation, 1961-1994
    3. The mentally unbalanced, 1961-1994
    4. Political terrorists, 1968-1988
    5. Escaping criminals, 1971-1973
    6. Extortion, 1971-1973, 1975-1977
    7. Religious fundamentalists, 1983-1988
    8. Bomb saboteurs, 1984-1994
    Escaping Refugees. The escaping refugee skyjacker will seize an aircraft to flee from an oppressive political regime. Under international law, certain immunities or exemptions for foreign aircraft and its occupants entering in distress are recognized. In a majority of these cases, a degree of immunity has been granted to aircraft including those arriving under the control of skyjackers. Political asylum has been given to skyjackers trying to escape from countries whose governments deny or disregard human rights and who do not permit their citizens to leave the country lawfully. This type of skyjacker is usually a desperate and ruthless person and will stop at nothing to get to freedom.
    Transportation. Unlike political refugees, this type of skyjacker uses the aircraft simply as a convenient means of traveling without cost or the legal formalities of entering and departing countries. The majority of these cases involve Castro's supporters in Colombia, Venezuela, and the United States, since no regularly scheduled commercial air service operates between these counties, and Cuba is one of the easiest countries to divert an aircraft to unlawfully. This