[3] When the aircraft was about 80 miles from Ho Chi Minh City, Ly Tong, a retired South Vietnamese fighter pilot and naturalized U.S. citizen, used a plastic knife and a clothes hanger to threaten members of the crew.

Tong then forced the pilot to lower the aircraft's altitude to 500 feet, reduce speed to a minimum, and enter the restricted airspace over the city.

A Vietnam Airlines spokesman said that the plane was slightly damaged when a door opened "for technical reasons" in flight between Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City but denied that a hijacking had taken place.

[5] On 24 February 1993, the Supreme People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City charged Tong with air piracy and sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

On 2 September 1998, Vietnamese President Trần Đức Lương signed a decision to pardon and deport Ly Tong to the United States.

After being pardoned, Tong continued to carry out plane hijacking missions to spread leaflets calling for the overthrow of the Cuban, Chinese, and North Korean governments.