...fascinate. On Nov. 24, 1971, a thin man in his 40s calling himself Dan Cooper showed up at the Northwest Orient Airlines ticket counter at Portland International Airport in Oregon. He paid $20 in cash for a one-way flight to Seattle departing...

...wasn't without violence: At Los Angeles International Airport, a man killed two people at Israel's El Al airlines ticket counter before an El Al security guard shot him. Officials said initial indications were that the killings were not terrorist-related...

...who each of us might become if faced with hijackers, men lighting their sneakers on fire, or armed men at the airline ticket counter. Will we be the townsfolk described by Matthew McConaughey's dragon slayer? The ordinary people who "rose...