Take the Plaque, Not the Plane

Under a yellow-and-white-striped tent at the Harrisburg (Pa.) International Airport last week, 120 guests of American Airlines, including Miss Pennsylvania, sipped champagne as a band played Happy Days Are Here Again. The occasion was American's bubbly celebration of its new service between Harrisburg and Chicago. The highlight of the festivities was the presentation of a plaque to the first passenger booked on the maiden flight. The winner: Ron Rearick, 43, of Bellevue, Wash., who accepted the award and then gave his hosts a shock that flattened the champagne. He presented surprised officials with a copy of his book, Iceman, in which he described his unsuccessful 1972 attempt to extort $1 million from United Airlines by threatening to blow up one of its jets in Salt Lake City.

An American Airlines spokesman, John Hotard, tried to shrug off the embarrassing episode. Said he: "It happened, and now all we can do is laugh about it." The details of Rearick's life emerged following the ceremony. After his arrest and conviction on an extortion charge, Rearick was sentenced to 25 years in a federal penitentiary in Washington State. But after less than two years in prison, where he became a born-again Christian, Rearick received a pardon.