by Tom Clancy
He shut the engines down to take the pressure off the hydraulic system. Then he, a mechanic, and I climbed up in the wheel well, and with hydraulic fluid spraying all over us, repaired the hose well enough so the plane could fly with its wheels down.
They took off just at the break of day and flew at low level to Sigonella, where the plane was fixed properly.
WASHINGTON
For all of Thursday, the four hijackers remained at the air base northeast of Cairo, but now they had a destination. They were to be flown to Tunisia (the new location of the PLO headquarters after they'd been forced out of Beirut by the Israelis).
While this drama was playing out in Cairo, a few members of the NSC staff in Washington came up with a brilliant idea. They were aware, from intelligence intercepts, that the Egypt Air aircraft had not yet left the ground. So why not use planes from the aircraft carrier Saratoga, which was nearby in the Mediterranean, to force the plane down at some friendly airport and take the terrorists into U.S. custody?
After some discussion, the NATO base at Sigonella was chosen as the friendly location that would cause the fewest potential problems. Sicily was Italian, and so was the Achille Lauro. After further discussion, it was determined that intercepting a civilian airliner was indeed physically possible. The President was contacted, and Reagan gave his approval.
Meanwhile I was still on the ground on Cyprus with my two C-141s, awaiting darkness so I could launch for home. I had with me my battle staff, my communications (including my low-level intercept capability), and my medical unit, as well as Captain Bob and two of his SEAL platoons — my reaction team, in case anything unforeseen happened en route.
I was just about to launch Bob's C-141, when I received a call from Vice Admiral Moreau, who briefed me on a concept plan — approved in principle by President Reagan — for capturing the terrorists should they be flown from Egypt to Tunisia. "F-14s from the Saratoga will be responsible for intercepting the Egypt Air plane and forcing it down at Sigonella. You are to follow the plane into Sigonella, capture the terrorists, and fly them back to the U.S. in chains to stand trial. Stand by for word to launch in order to link up with the F-14s that will make the intercept." And then by way of conclusion: "The Italian government has given its approval of all this, both for the landing and for our taking the terrorists."
This last proved to be over-hopeful. At this point the Italian government had no idea that we were going to do anything of the kind, and it's doubtful that they would have approved it if they had known. The mistake was a screwup — a mixed-up communication somewhere along the line. But as it turned out, it was a welcome failure, since it afforded an opportunity to capture the terrorists who had hijacked the ship and killed Leon Klinghoffer.
After my conversation with Art Moreau, I walked over to brief Bob and his men. The first thing I noticed was the look of disappointment on all their faces — disappointment that they'd missed the opportunity to conduct the ship assault and deal appropriately with the criminals who had brutally killed an American. But as soon as I got to the part of my briefing that said we had another opportunity to capture the terrorists, several of the SEALs began forcing themselves to puke out the sleeping pills they had taken so they could sleep on the way home. they were ready for the new mission.
THE INTERCEPT
A secure — and urgent — call came to Rear Admiral Dave Jeremiah on the USS Saratoga from 6th Fleet headquarters. They were to change course and prepare to launch what was called their "alert CAP" (the Combat Air Patrol consisted of two F-14 Tomcat interceptors and an E-2C Hawkeye radar plane, which would direct the fighters). Though the Saratoga's captain had no idea what was going on, or why they were changing course, he couldn't miss the 6th Fleet's urgency, and he launched the alert CAP.
At 7:10 P.M., local time, an F-14 took off, soon followed by an E-2C radar plane. Moments later, the mission came through: "To intercept and divert to Sigonella, Sicil, a Boeing 737 charter with the Achille Lauro hijackers on board now en route from Cairo to Tunis." More F-14s were launched. Eventually, six of them (supported by aerial tankers) made a fence over the Mediterranean between Crete and Egypt.
As I was preparing to launch from Cyprus with my two C-141s shortly after the F-14s had launched, shit once again happened: The pilot informed me that one of the engines on my plane would not start. It was probably a "glow plug" problem, he told me.
"How many glow plugs are in an engine?" I asked the mechanic (we always carried a mechanic on special operations missions as part of the crew). "And how many does it take to start it?"
"There are six per engine," I recall him saying, "but it only takes one good one to start an engine."
"So why can't we take one or two from a good engine and put them in the failed engine to get it going?" I asked.
"We can give it a try," he said.
Four or five of us then deplaned to give the mechanic a hand removing and replacing the engine cowlings, while the mechanic transferred the "glow plugs." This took about thirty minutes.
Now the engine was ready to go. However, because the earlier attempts to start it had "loaded it up" with fuel, the mechanic was concerned about chances of a fire. "Now let's get everybody off the plane," he announced, "and get ready for the fireball if it starts." Everybody quickly deplaned, and the mechanic gave the pilot the signal. The three good engines were started, and then the failed engine was given a try. Nothing happened for maybe thirty seconds, and then some smoke came, and then all of a sudden a flame jetted out as far as the tail of the airplane — or at least that was how it seemed. The pilot smiled and gave a thumbs-up to all of us outside, then we quickly reboarded the aircraft.
After launch, we remained in radio contact with the E-2C, so as not to interfere with the intercept operation. Flying time from Cyprus to Sigonella was about three or four hours.
Back in the United States, at 4:37 P.M., Washington time, President Reagan directed Defense Secretary Weinberger to intercept the plane and its hijackers.
"National Command Authority" is two men, the President and the Secretary of Defense, who is second to the President in control of the armed forces. This means command authority passes through the Defense Secretary on the way down to, say, the 6th Fleet
Weinberger called the Pentagon and gave the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Admiral Crowe, the okay to proceed.
Meanwhile, the E-2C watched for the Egypt Air 737. When they picked out likely contacts flying the route from Cairo to Tunis, F-14s then had to check the tail numbers. Around midnight, they began checking out possible radar contacts.
The first two blacked-out aircraft they examined turned out American C- 141 transport planes — our team on the way to Sigonella.
The F-14s intercepted their target two tries later — tail number 2843. A pair of F-14s with lights out now flew, one on each of the commercial aircraft's wingtips. The crew and passengers of the Egypt Air plane were in total ignorance that they'd been bracketed by U.S. fighters.
The formation proceeded westward. No problem. That was where the Americans wanted them to go — for the time being.
Meanwhile, the State Department had asked the Tunisian government to deny the Egyptians permission to land, and the Tunisians had agreed. When the Egyptians tried Athens, they again got a negative response. Their only recourse was to return to Cairo, and Cairo control had to comply with their request.
At this point, the Egyptian pilots got a surprise: "2843, this is Tigertail 603. Over," the E-2C Hawkeye radioed. The Egyptians did not reply.
The Hawkeye repeated: "2843. Tigertail 603." It took four tries before the Egyptians got nerve enough to acknowledge.
"Tigertail 603. Egypt Air 2843. Go ahead."
"Egypt Air 2843. Tigertail 603. Be advised you're being escorted by two F-14s. You are to land immediately… immediately… at Sigonella, Sicily Over."
This can't he, the Egyptian had to be thinking. "Say again. Who is calling?"
"Roger. this is Tigertail 603.
I advise you are directed to land immediately, proceed immediately to Sigonella, Sicily. You are being escorted by two interceptor aircraft. Vector 280 for Sigonella, Sicily Over."
"Repeat again," the Egyptian requested.
The E-2C complied: "You are to turn immediately to 280. Head 280 immediately."
The Egyptian had no choice. "Turning right, heading 280."
The F-14s had by then switched on their running lights, and the Egyptian had realized that they were only a few feet from each of his wingtips. "I'm saying you are too close. I'm following your orders. Don't be too close. Please."
"Okay, we'll move away a little bit," the Hawkeye answered (he was actually a hundred miles off). And the F-14s edged away a little. It was time for a change anyway, since the F-14s were too short-ranged to escort the 737 all the way to Sigonella. Soon, these E-14s were replaced by three others, who were to take the Egyptian airliner to Sicily.
AT Sigonella, Bill Spearman was in his office in gym shorts. He'd been playing racquetball when he got word that I needed to talk to him.
"Bill, it's coming," I told him. "You arc the only one that's going to know about it, and you're going to make it happen. We are coming to your location with an Egyptian 737 with the terrorists aboard, followed immediately by my two C-141 s. Get hold of my people that I left there and tell them that I want the 737 to clear the runway immediately, for I will be landing blacked out seconds behind it. Tell them to block and hold that 737 and don't let anybody off or on. When I get there I'll take charge. Also, Bill, I want you to make sure that we are granted permission to land and that the Italians don't try to block us."
Spearman then went to brief the Italian base commander, Colonel Annicchiarici. As it happened, this was Annicchiarici's last day on the job. The next day, a lot of Italian brass would be on hand for his change-of-command ceremony, including an army three-star. Annicchiarici was not especially pleased at the going-away present that we had dropped on his lap; but it thankfully didn't take him long to realize that his friend Bill Spearman had been as much in the dark about it as he was.
"Beel, if you were in uniform, I would have known that you knew about this all along," Annicchiarici told him when he learned about the Egypt Air plane, "but since you are in your shorts, I believe that you didn't know anything about it either."
At about midnight, Italian Prime Minister Craxi received a telephone call from the White House, informing him, in his words "that U.S. military aircraft had intercepted an Egyptian civil aircraft which the U.S. government believed with a reasonable degree of certainty to be carrying the four Palestinians responsible for the hijacking of the Achille Lauro. The U.S. President asked the Italian government for its consent to proceed with the landing of the civil and U.S. military aircraft at Sigonella." They were hoping that the Italians would not want the hijackers and would get themselves off the hook by agreeing to let the Americans take them.
And in fact, Craxi was not pleased to learn that he was on the hook. He wanted the whole terrorist situation as far from Italy as possible.
Craxi didn't know what to do. So he decided to punt. The Egypt Air 737 would be allowed to land at Sigonella base.
Shortly after midnight, my pilot informed me that if things continued to go as planned, we'd be on the ground at Sigonella in about an hour.
I called the Pentagon to give an update and to verify that my mission was to take the terrorists off the plane, place them in chains, and fly them back to the United States to stand trial. (I never could figure out the "bring them back in chains" part. In the first place, I didn't have any chains except for "cargo tie-down chains" on the C-141, and I had already decided that I would put the terrorists on the plane with Captain "Bob" and his two SEAL platoons. 1 couldn't think of anything more secure than that.)
By this time the Chairman and the service chiefs had assembled in a small conference room in the National Military Command Center (NMCC) at the Pentagon and were listening to my radio traffic.
Vice Admiral Moreau answered my call.
"We should be on the ground at Sigonella in about an hour," I told him. "The SEAL detachment that I left behind at Sigonella will set the trap and hold the plane until 1 get to it."
"Your mission is as stated," Moreau replied. "And the Italian government has agreed that you can take the terrorists."
"Roger," I said. "Then we shouldn't be on the ground long. My goal is to have everything out of here before daylight."
Craxi's okay did not in fact make much of a difference — except later for official purposes. Admiral Crowe had already directed Jeremiah to bring Egypt Air 2842 into Sigonella whether the Italians liked it or not.
In any event, Craxi's approval did not reach Italian airport approach control at Sigonella, who wanted no part of what was going down. They refused the F-14s permission to land, and told them to go to a civilian airfield nearby.
The Navy squadron commander tried one more time, but directed the Egyptian to follow him in — permission or no. Together, they began their descent toward Sigonella. Approach control's answer was again no.
At this point, the commander used the old pilots' trick. He switched his transponder to emergency mode, declared a fuel emergency (though he had plenty of fuel left), and brought the Egyptian airliner into its final approach. The trouble was, the Egyptian was coming in too low.
The commander told the Egyptian to break off his approach, which he did. He then circled around to try again.
Meanwhile, in the Sigonella tower, a Navy lieutenant pushed the Italian controller out of the way, took the mike, and radioed the Egyptian permission to land.
Once the Egypt Air plane was safely on the runway, the F-14s took aerial photos of the plane and headed back to the carrier — their part of the operation now complete.
My team took over from there.
SIGONELLA
As the Egypt Air plane rolled down the main runway to a taxiway at the end, where it was directed to stop, the SEALs who had remained at Sigonella raced to meet it in pickup trucks and set up a perimeter around it.
Soon after that, my two C-141 s landed, with lights out, and stopped on the active runway where the Egypt Air had pulled off. Moments later, we added the men on the C-141 s to the SEALs already surrounding Egypt Air 2843.
On the way to Sigonella, Captain Bob and I had been in constant contact, planning and coordinating what his SEALs had to do in order to secure the Egyptian plane and take control of the terrorists.
One of the two team leaders, Lieutenant "Bo," was to assemble his assault team off the tarmac behind the 737, and be prepared to assault the plane on order, should a takedown become necessary.
Lieutenant "Randy" was to establish a security perimeter around the plane, but outside the security already being provided by the team we had previously dropped off in Sigonella.
Bob also placed his snipers in firing positions where they could see what was happening inside the plane,
By about 2:00 A.M., Friday, October 11, Bob and I had established our command post under the tail of the plane. When I looked, I could see lights on inside and a couple people walking around.
Bob and I went to the nose of the 737 and plugged into the intercom jack. I identified myself and asked the pilot who he had on board. IIe did not answer.
"If you don't cooperate, we'll find out one way or another," I told him.
That brought an answer. "I have my crew and an 'ambassador' on board," the pilot said, leaving open the possibility that there may be additional people on the plane.
"Then come down off the plane," I told him. "And bring the ambassador with you."
Before they opened the door, Bob told me that his snipers were reporting armed men in uniform. "No sweat, boss," he told me. "They've got them in their sights."
The door opened and the pilot, followed by the "ambassador," came down the ladder. They were both very nervous, particularly the "ambassador." They got even more nervous when they saw the SEAL shooters, all in black c
ombat gear and equipped for business.
I was very suspicious of the "ambassador." Although he was dressed in a business suit, I figured him for a general officer, perhaps from the Egyptian Intelligence Service, who had been sent along to ensure that everything went right in Tunisia.
When I met him, the "ambassador" produced an authentic-looking diplomatic passport and a letter claiming he was an authorized representative of the Egyptian government.
"My orders are to take the terrorists off the plane and fly them back to the U.S. to stand trial for killing Leon Klinghoffcr," T told him.
This seemed to make him even more nervous, and he asked if anybody had an aspirin.
"We can handle that," I said.
In the air on the way to Sigonella, I'd felt a headache coming on. By then it was October 11, and none of us had had more than a couple of hours sleep since October 7. When I'd asked our team doctor for a couple of aspirin, Darrel had stuffed what felt like a handfull of aspirin into my pocket.
I accommodated the ambassador with about half of what I had, and he gulped down several of them. He then asked for a cigarette, and one of my radio operators satisfied that request. At that point he wanted to make an urgent telephone call. I told him we would escort him over to base operations (Bill Spearman's operations center) and assist him with his call.
As he was escorted to the operations center, I sent one of my intelligence officers along with a couple of our people to tap the phone. They were to stay with him as long as necessary, and keep me posted on what they were hearing.