Byck [Bick] was an emotionally unbalanced, failed businessman who frequently sent long, bizarre taped messages to various celebrities including scientist Jonas Salk, Senator Abraham Ribicoff and composer Leonard Bernstein. Convinced that the American political system was fundamentally corrupt, he began to threaten President Nixon as early as 1972, according to Secret Service reports. He even went so far as to picket the White House on Christmas Eve 1973, dressed in a Santa Claus suit. On February 22, 1974, he hatched a plan called "Operation Pandora's Box" to hijack a commercial airliner and crash it into the Executive Mansion. Byck went to Baltimore/Washington International Airport carrying a pistol and gasoline bomb. He forced his way onto a Delta flight destined for Atlanta by fatally shooting a guard at the security checkpoint. He entered the cockpit and ordered the crew to take off. After the crew informed him that they could not depart without removing the wheel blocks, Byck shot the pilot twice and the co-pilot three times (the co pilot later died). Police outside the airplane shot into the cockpit and hit Byck twice. Byck fell to the floor, put the revolver to his head and killed himself.
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