James Pierce

Air Pirates in Lake Jackson James Pierce

The ?most electrifying day? in the history of Lake Jackson, Texas, was July 13, 1972, when a hijacked Boeing 727 landed at the tiny Lake Jackson Dow Airport. With no time to prepare for the unexpected arrival, local and federal law enforcement officers rallied to deal with two hostile hijackers, four hostages, a horde of news people, and crowds of curious, local residents. Before the drama on the steamy airstrip ended one day later, Jessica Savitch, who was to become a national TV news anchor, was jailed on an assault charge. The story of Air Pirates in Lake Jackson is enlivened with the untold accounts of eyewitnesses who still have vivid memories of the incident that happened more than four decades ago.