Pan Am clipper, Vol. 22, No. 12, June 21, 1971

              “These men will be in power to act for me when I am absent from the Pan Am Building or the country, and for each other when one of them is away. There will be no waiting around for decisions or meetings... We have full confidence in this new team to function and function well.”
the big four
Four men have been named group vice presidents in a major reorganization of Pan Am’s leadership.
Frank F. Davis, Frank P. Doyle, Richard L. Knight and James 0. Leet form the new Presidential Executive Group. Their task is to see that Pan Am is organized and managed in the best possible way.
“We are creating the Presidential Executive Group,” President Najeeb E. Halaby said, “to hit hardest at our current very serious problems. We want to have a smart, sensitive, flexible, quick-to-respond group at the top to meet the deep challenges that threaten the basic character of our
industry, and, to anticipate the rapid and dramatic changes that lie ahead.”
Mr. Halaby also announced the retirement of Executive Vice President Richard S. Mitchell.
Each group vice president is fully responsible for the functions assigned to him, Mr. Halaby pointed out, relating this fact with the objectives of the reorganization:
“To delegate authority so that the day-to-day decisions necessary to the conduct of business can be reached profitably and promptly.
“To minimize the number of people reporting directly to me, thereby allowing them to become more accessible to my colleagues, and to give me
more freedom to work on our crucial problems in Washington and around the world.”
The four group vice presidents report directly to Mr. Halaby.
Messrs. Davis, Doyle and Leet also were named to Pan Am’s board of directors. Mr. Knight already is a director.
Mr. Davis, formerly senior vice president-engineering and maintenance, will be responsible for all aspects of operations, maintenance, engineering, properties and facilities and supply functions. In addition, he will report to Mr. Halaby concerning aircraft sales and the Aerospace
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by Bob Bohne
Miami—The captain of a Pan Am 707 jetliner, hijacked to Cuba on May 29, credited a purser and a 13-year-old passenger with keeping things relatively calm aboard the plane during a near three-hour diversion to Havana.
Captain George Ashley said the hijacker, described as wild-eyed and vicious looking, was calmed by Purser Arnold Serrata. Mr. Serrata meticulously carried out the hijacker’s orders and repeatedly assured him in Spanish that no one had any thought of interfering with his plans to hijack the plane.
The knife-threatened hostage, Eileen Story, never once panicked or tried to break away. “She was real cool . . . she was terrific,” Capt. Ashley reported at a Miami press conference.
The plane, Flight 442, enroute to Miami from Buenos. Aires and Caracas with 60 passengers and a crew of nine was hijacked near the Netherlands Antilles by a 22-year-old Venezuelan. He had
boarded the plane with a stolen ticket at Mai-quetia Airport, leaving the rightful owner bound in a men’s room at the airport terminal.
The hijacker later was identified as Gustavo Garcia Landaeta and his victim as Hugo Delgado of Miami.
Flight 442 was the first Pan Am aircraft to be hijacked since September 7, 1970, when a 747 enroute from Amsterdam to New York was pirated to Cairo and destroyed. The last Pan Am flight hijacked to Cuba was a 747 enroute to New York from San Juan on August 2, 1970.
During the 88 hours the jet was held in Havana, the passengers and crew were housed in the Deauville Hotel, entertained at nightclubs on successive nights and taken on sightseeing tours of the city. All were treated well and fed well but were under security at all times.
Release of the Jet Clipper on June 2 was arranged by the Swiss Embassy at Havana working with the U.S. State Department. Previously President Najeeb Halaby had sent a cable expressing concern for the passengers and crew and asking
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their bubble bursts
The mood of the crew of the hijacked plane frequently shifted from tenseness to levity during an hour-long press conference in Miami. The participants from Pan Am were: Arnold Serrata, Carole Munn, Manuel Lab-bee, Candice Adams, Captain Ashley, Yolanda King, William Hammon, Norma Cullom and Charles Steadman.