Americans in the Air.

Between 1971 and 1973 more than half of the U.S. population boarded scheduled airliners, and Americans were responsible for some 60 percent of the world's air traffic. By 1973 there were thirteen thousand flights a day as Americans took advantage of the convenience of air travel. The airlines made flying easy. Student discount fares allowed travelers under age twenty-one to buy tickets at half price; standby fares could be purchased at deep discounts on the basis of the availability of space at flight time; and other discounts attracted casual travelers who filled the seats left after business travelers bound to set schedules had purchased their seats at full fare.

Skyjacking.

Airline hijacking became a serious problem at the beginning of the decade. Between 1930 and 1970 there had been about two hundred skyjackings, as airline hijackings were called, and over half of them occurred in...