The Doomsday Flight

In 1971, a time before metal detectors and body scans, a single man boards an Air Canada DC-8 flight with a sawed-off shotgun, 54 sticks of dynamite, a parachute and a desperate plan for a $1.5 million ransom. But it's the two twisted wires in an ordinary Woolco shopping bag that will hold an entire plane hostage.

Trapped at 37,000 feet, flight attendant Mary Dohey becomes an unwilling participant in a deadly game, forced to hold live detonator wires for hours. One wrong move, one trembling hand, and the aircraft could explode. Around her, passengers wrestle with their own mortality while the hijacker, Paul Cini, plays a high-stakes game of psychological warfare with authorities on the ground.

But in this meticulously researched true-crime thriller, nothing is quite what it seems. As the FBI, Air Canada and the flight's crew race against time to prevent disaster, the truth behind Cini's elaborate deception slowly unravels—revealing an even more chilling reality about how vulnerable we all are to the power of suggestion.

"The Doomsday Flight" masterfully weaves together the intense drama of a hijacking, the psychological complexity of human nature, and the fascinating history of an era when the skies were a lawless frontier. Drawing from extensive interviews, photographs, newspaper archives, and witness accounts, which are all included in the book, this heart-pounding narrative puts readers in the cabin alongside passengers and crew as they face what they believe to be their final hours.

Taking place just days before the copycat infamous D.B. Cooper hijacking, this is perfect for fans of "Captain Phillips", "The Taking of Pelham 123" and "Air Force One". This unforgettable story exposes how the most dangerous weapons aren't always the ones we can see.

© 2024 Mark Hagenson (Audiobook): 9781069202833

Release date

Audiobook: 18 December 2024