PA841 was a scheduled Pan Am commercial passenger flight, on a Boeing 747, which departed from San Francisco on 2 July 1972 destined for Saigon with stops at Honolulu, Guam and Manila.

[1][2][3] About 45 minutes after the plane departed Manila with 153 passengers and crew aboard for the final leg of its trip to Saigon, a 24-year-old South Vietnamese native, Nguyễn Thái Bình, passed a note to a flight attendant that stated in English, "You are going to fly me to Hanoi and this airplane will be destroyed when we get there."

The only reported injury other than the death of the hijacker was that of a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, a passenger on the flight, who broke his leg exiting via the inflated evacuation chute.

[5] Many U.S. anti-war protesters viewed Bình as a martyr for their cause,[6] and shortly after the incident a break-in occurred at Vaughn's home in Scottsdale, Arizona, with "animal intestines, paint and broken bottles" thrown into his swimming pool.

"[8] However, Vaughn was also lauded as a hero who acted to save his passengers, craft and crew, and his actions were described as an expression of frustration with the many hijackings that occurred during the period.

Vaughn was quoted as saying, at an event to honor him at the Phoenix airport on his return to the United States, "A lot of time and effort has been spent on trying to prevent hijackings, but the only thing that will be effective is a mandatory death penalty, without any loopholes.

[10] Among those involved in establishing the collection were noted clergyman and peace activist William Sloane Coffin and academic and author Bruce E.

[10] A street is named for Bình in present-day Ho Chi Minh City, honoring him as a hero of the 1970s anti-colonial movement in Vietnam.