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Aircraft Piracy and Related Offenses (49 U.S.C.
§§ 46501-07)
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Pursuant to The Hague Convention, Federal law prohibits
the seizure, by force or violence, of any aircraft within the
special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States, interference
with flight crew members while aboard such aircraft, the carrying
of concealed weapons or explosives aboard such aircraft, and the
commission of certain crimes, including murder (18 U.S.C. §
1111), manslaughter (18 U.S.C. § 1112), maiming (18 U.S.C.
§ 114), sexual abuse (18 U.S.C. §§ 2241-43), assault
(18 U.S.C. § 113) and robbery (18 U.S.C. § 2111), while
aboard such aircraft. The Act also empowers the United States to
prosecute aircraft piracy committed against a foreign civil
aircraft which is outside the special aircraft jurisdiction of the
United States if the foreign civil aircraft was in flight at the
time of its hijacking and if the hijacker is subsequently found in
the United States after the air piracy or, effective as of April
24, 1996, a national of the United States was aboard such aircraft
or a national of the United States was a perpetrator of the
offense. The aircraft piracy statute authorizes the Government to
seek the death penalty if the death of another person results from
the aircraft piracy. See USAM
9-63.100, et seq. The definition of "special aircraft
jurisdiction of the United States" is found at 49 U.S.C. §
46501(2). To be within the "special aircraft jurisdiction of the
United States" the aircraft must be "in flight." Among the
aircraft covered are all United States civilian and military
aircraft (anywhere in the world as long as they are "in flight"),
foreign aircraft within the territorial jurisdiction of the United
States, and certain foreign civil aircraft that land in the United
States after certain crimes have been committed aboard the aircraft
while it was in flight outside of the United States.
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