Los Angeles Times

October 25, 1975

Man Pleads Guilty to 1971 Hijacking of Airliner to Cuba

SAN DIEGO (AP) – A 29-year-old man pleaded guilty to air piracy Friday in the 1971 hijacking of a National Airlines plane to Cuba.

“It was just talk” when he and a friend first discussed it, Carl White told a federal judge. “As time went on, it became more serious.”

He said he and Arthur Wilson were students at Mesa College in San Diego before the skyjacking on Jan. 3, 1971.

The plane, en route from Los Angeles to Tampa, Fla., was taken over at gunpoint 15 miles out of Tampa while White watched the passengers and Wilson stayed in the cockpit with the pilot, White said. In Cuba, White and his wife Norma finally agreed to return voluntarily.

An air piracy charge against her was later dropped. Wilson presumably is still in Cuba. Sentencing of White was set for Nov. 24.