Before the 1970s, airport screening was very rarely heard of. In fact, it was only in response to a hijacking on Southern Airways Flight 49 in November 1972 that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) demanded that airport security should be strengthened.  

According to Brendan Koerner, the writer of ‘The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking’, the requirement for all airline passengers to be screened only came about on January 5, 1973.  

In the four years leading up to that date, the United States witnessed over 130 hijackings, with demands to be taken to communist Cuba among the most common reasons behind the terrorist attack.  

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