The assassination attempt
In early 1974, Byck made his decision to assassinate Nixon. He planned to do so by hijacking an
airliner and crashing it into the White House on a day when Nixon would be there.
Since Byck was already known to the Secret Service, and because legal attempts to purchase a
firearm might have resulted in increased scrutiny, Byck stole a
.22 caliber revolver from a friend of his to use in the hijacking.
Byck also made a bomb out of 2
gallon jugs of
gasoline and an igniter. All through this process, Byck made audio recordings explaining his motives and his plans; he expected to be considered a hero for his actions, and wanted to fully document his reasons for the assassination.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ramsberg-MdTA.jpg
On
February 22,
1974, Byck drove to the Baltimore/Washington International Airport. He shot and killed Maryland Aviation Administration Police Officer George Neal Ramsburg before storming aboard a
DC-9,
Delta Air Lines Flight 523 to
Atlanta, which he chose because it was the closest flight that was ready to take off. After pilots Reese Lofton and Fred Jones told him they could not take off until wheel blocks were removed, he shot them both, and grabbed a nearby passenger, ordering her to "fly the plane".
After a standoff with police, Charles Troyer, an Anne Arundel County officer, on the
jetway fired four shots through the door of the aircraft with a
.357 Magnum revolver taken from Ramsburg's body. Two of the shots, which managed to penetrate the thick window of the aircraft door, hit Byck and wounded him. Before the police could gain entry to the aircraft, Byck committed
suicide by shooting himself in the head.
According to a special on the
History Channel, he lived for a few minutes after shooting himself, finally dying after saying "help me" to one of the police officers who entered the plane after he had been shot. A
briefcase containing the gasoline bomb was found under his body. The plane never left the gate, and Nixon's schedule was not affected by the assassination attempt.