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Reginald Levy, pilot of plane hijacked by Palestinian militants in 1972, dies at 88

Reginald Levy, a pilot praised for his cool-headed bravery during a 1972 hijacking by Palestinian militants, has died at the age of 88, his daughter said Thursday.

Linda Lipschitz said her father died Sunday in Dover, southern England, of a suspected heart attack or blood clot.

Levy was a pilot for Belgian airline Sabena when he took off from Brussels bound for Tel Aviv on May 8, 1972 — his 50th birthday — with 90 passengers onboard. Mid-journey, the Boeing 707 was hijacked by four armed members of the group Black September, who ordered Levy to land at Israel's Lod — now Ben Gurion — airport and threatened to blow up the plane if Israel did not release more than 300 Palestinian prisoners....

Read entire article at AP