air pirates
Hijackers of aircraft
Air pirates are hijackers who seize control of aircraft, or fictional pirates who operate airships in steampunk and fantasy settings.
The term gained currency during the wave of airline hijackings in the 1960s and 70s: The air pirates demanded to be flown to Cuba.
In popular culture, air pirates typically crew flying vessels in imagined worlds where the sky replaces the sea.
- skyjackSeize aircraft by force
- banditsArmed robbers, often roving
- hijackSeize a moving vehicle
- D.B. CooperUnidentified 1971 hijacker
- hostage situationCrisis involving held captives
aviation · airships · outlaws · capturer · kidnap · smuggling · zeppelins · black market · ransom · theft · flights · flight crew · parachutes · contraband · goggles · propellers · no-fly zone · freebooting
- Airship FictionJules Verne
air piratesbuccaneers
Caribbean sea raiders
corsairs · privateers · pirates · train robbers · highwaymen
air piratesair marshals
Covert inflight law enforcement
sky marshals · aviation security · airport security · air traffic controllers · flight crews
air, airs, airy, aired, airing, airship, airline, airplane, aircraft