KLM Flight 861

KLM Flight 861, operated by a Boeing 747 registered as PH-BUA and named "The Mississippi", was hijacked on 25 November 1973, in Iraqi airspace whilst on a scheduled Amsterdam-Tokyo flight with 247 passengers on board.

KLM Flight 861, captained by Issac Risseeuw, was a scheduled flight from Amsterdam to Tokyo-Haneda with planned stops at Athens, Beirut, and Delhi. The airplane was en route over Iraq when it was hijacked by three passengers, claiming to be members of the Arab Youth Organization for the Liberation of Palestine. They forced the plane to Damascus, Nicosia, Tripoli, Malta, and finally Dubai where the hijackers surrendered to authorities. All 247 passengers and 17 crew survived the hijacking.

The hijack was claimed by the Arab Nationalist Youth Organization. The flight number is still used for the Amsterdam to Tokyo direct route.^{[citation needed]}