It is almost 8 p.m. on the 24th of November 1971.

In the skies over Seattle, Washington, a Boeing 727 passenger plane struggles through heavy weather.

Horizontal rain lashes against the cockpit window, as Captain William Scott pushes the throttle and carefully eases the aircraft up into the gathering storm clouds.

At this altitude and in this weather, he's flying blind. All Captain Scott can see, is drizzle and fog.

Eventually they break through the clouds and emerge into the black moonless sky.

Alongside Scott, co-pilot Bill Ratichack radios down to air traffic control to confirm the successful completion of takeoff.

51-year-old Scott makes his final configurations, methodically going through the same procedure he has run thousands of times before.

But this is far from a routine flight.

For starters, they are cruising at an altitude of just 10,000 feet, at a speed of no more than 200 miles per hour.

That is much lower and slower than usual for a commercial airliner.

In addition, they are flying with a landing gear down, the wing flaps set to 15 degrees and the cabin unpressurized.

It's an extraordinary abandonment of protocol, but these are the instructions they were given, and they don't dare to fire them.

Because the man calling the shots is a hijacker, and he's got a bomb.

Huh?

After having stopped off to let the passengers free and collect the parachutes and bag full of cash he demanded from the FBI, instructed the pilots to fly to Mexico City.

Now Captain Scott navigates south, keeping one eye on the speed indicator.

Though after decades of flying commercial aircrafts, he knows how to handle pressure.

Beneath the surface, Captain Scott is terrified.

He knows that all he can do now is comply with the hijacker's demands and pray.

Suddenly the cockpit door flies open. It's the juniors' duodesk, Tina Mucklow.

She's been in the cabin with the hijacker, and the flight crew are immensely relieved to see her alive.

Without taking his eyes off the controls, Captain Scott listens intently as Tina breathlessly describes her ordeal.

...