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The typical skyjacker he studied
generally tended to be passive,
even effeminate, and was often
afraid of the opposite sex. Prac–
tically every one of them told Dr.
Hubbard: "1 never dated. I didn't
know how to ask." Many used ef–
feminate gestures to express them–
selves. Others spoke with an
occasionally feminine choice of
words. One sky pirate was discov–
ered to be wearing women's un–
derclothes when arrested.
Dr. Hubbard discovered that the
typical skyjacker did poorly in
school, being absent a great deal of
the time, nei ther dating nor par–
ticipating in sports. Most dropped
out of school sornetime befare high
school graduation.
Skyjacking appeared to be, for
most, a last-ditch attempt to
achieve greatness after a miserable
lifetime of frustration and failure.
Childhood Difficulties
One of the more unusual of
Hubbard's discoveries about sky–
jackers was the almost singular
preoccupation each roan displayed
with the forces of motion and
gravity. This neurotic fixation
seemed to be directly linked to an
abnormal interest many of them
showed in planes and flying. Inter–
estingly enough, Hubbard found
that such manifestations could be
traced back to their childhoods.
Almost all had an unusually dif–
ficult time learning to control their
bodies as youngsters. Many re–
membered having had consid–
erable trouble learning to walk, to
ride a bike, to roller skate, etc.
Lack of physical coordination
seemed to characterize the whole
group.
In Dr. Hubbard's opinion,
al/
the sky pirates he interviewed ap–
peared to be mentally unstable.
Most were either prone to murder
or suicide. Many shared dreams of
dying a heroic death, but at the
hands of another person. (Suicide
by their own hand, as their think–
ing goes, would doom them to
everlasting hell fire.)
Many of the meo were found to
display unusual "visions of gran–
deur." Last year, an American
commandeered a Swissair jetliner
to Rome, demanding to see Pope
Paul. As he was apprehended by
police, he proclairoed:
"1
want to
be elected President of the United
States because my current position
as General of the Central In–
telligence Agency does not satisfy
me."
Actual Case History
Let's focus in on Ronald (last
name omitted), one of the men Dr.
Hubbard interviewed. Ronald is
typical of the sky pirates.
About all Ronald can remem–
ber about bis father is that he was
drunk most of the time and had a
violent temper. His relationship
with his dad mainly consisted of
receiving an occasional beating or
«cussing out." His mother, who
was extremely nervous, constantly
screamed at the children or her
husband for "drinking or running
around witb other women."
But Ronald also remembers her
as being very religious. He recalls
being told about heaven and hell
at an early age. As he remembers
it, almost anything could eam a
person a one-way ticket to hell,
such as "jaywalking or picking
your nose."
Ronald fared miserably in
schooL largely due to his social
maladjustment. He neither dated
nor participated in sports. He fi–
nally dropped out of school at age
sixteen.
He can't remember ever holding
a steady job and was continually
running around with promiscuous
women. He got two women preg–
nant without marrying either, mar–
ried a third woman (their marriage
!asted two weeks), and married a
fourth (tbis marriage also even–
tually broke up).
Hubbard admits that very few
of the roen he studied carried out
their acts of piracy for "political"
reasons. Yet, be strongly suspects,
on the basis of mounting evidence,
that all skyjackers - even politi–
cally motivated terrorists - fit the
general pattern he has discovered,
no matter what their religion.
Lesson for Us
A substantial portian of the
world's population (as high as
8%
according to sorne experts) is said
to match the "skyjacker profile."
With millions of potential sky pi–
rates around, it should not come as
a great surprise to find air piracy a
majar problem in today's world.
Consequently, the lesson to be
leamed from Dr. Hubbard's find–
ings
is
quite clear: The only real
way to stop skyjacking is to
elimi–
nare the criminal causes
within the
offenders themselves on a human
basis. This means nothing Iess than
total change in the mind and char–
acter. In the final analysis, it
is
people who skyjack airplanes. lt
is
people, therefore, who must be
made willing to change and be
redirected toward concern for
others instead of self. Anything
less is merely treating the effects,
not the cause.
O