A Flight Instructor, a Student, and a Gun
On October 27, 1939, 29-year-old Earnest Pletch chartered a training flight over Missouri. Midway through the session, while flying at 5,000 feet, he pulled a revolver and shot his instructor, Carl Bivens, twice in the head. He then took the controls, landed, dumped Bivens’s body in a thicket, and took off again. It was the first fatal airplane hijacking in U.S. history.
From Runaway to Killer Pilot
Pletch, born to a wealthy Indiana farmer and legislator, left school in 1926 after his father refused to buy him a plane. He married impulsively and drifted across jobs. In 1938, he joined the Royal American Shows, a massive traveling fair, where he learned from thrill-ride pilots. That summer, he stole a plane and successfully flew it solo for the first time.
A Romance, an Arrest, and Another Plane
Soon after, Pletch wooed a 17-year-old passenger named Goldie Gehrken, but fled after she refused to marry him. He was arrested for theft but released on bond. Within weeks, he married again, lost his wife, and then killed Bivens during a flight lesson—possibly to avoid his upcoming trial.
Bloodstains and a Hamburger
After the murder, Pletch flew north, circling over his family’s home before landing in Clear Creek, Indiana. Locals noticed blood on his clothes, and a suspicious storekeeper stalled him at the lunch counter. Police arrived and arrested him without incident. He confessed, saying, “I would rather fly than eat.”
Courtroom, Commutation, and a Quiet Life
Pletch pleaded guilty to avoid the death penalty. Etta Bivens, the widow of the murdered pilot, asked for leniency. The judge sentenced him to life with no parole. However, Missouri commuted his sentence in 1953 and released him in 1957, after fewer than 20 years. Pletch lived quietly afterward, remarrying and dying in 2001 at age 91 in Eldridge, Missouri.
Unintended Consequences
Pletch’s was the first U.S. airplane hijacking to end in murder. His release decades earlier than expected was due to prison overcrowding—not petition or pardon. He never publicly expressed remorse, nor was he known to commit further crimes. The mercy shown by Etta Bivens, it turns out, helped a man who had shown no mercy in return.
In 1939, Earnest Pletch committed what became the first fatal airplane hijacking in U.S. history.
During a flying lesson in Missouri, he pulled a revolver at 5,000 feet and shot his pilot, Carl Bivens.
What followed was a flight, a murder, and a capture like no other…🧵👇 pic.twitter.com/MxEU71GITm
— Detective Tiger’s Stories (@TigerDetective) June 13, 2025