1979 was a year of dramatic firsts and high-stakes drama in aviation, beginning with the delivery of eight Bell 212 helicopters to China—the first US-made helicopters ever supplied to the People's Republic. In a unique milestone, Braniff International Airways became the only American carrier to operate the Concorde, launching a complex interchange service on January 13 where Air France and British Airways jets were temporarily leased and re-registered to Braniff for flights between Washington Dulles and Dallas-Fort Worth. The year was also marked by several hijackings, including a United Airlines 747 where a woman demanded that actors like Charlton Heston or Jack Lemmon read her message on TV, with actor Sam Jaffe aboard. Tragedies included an Aeroflot Antonov An-24 crash in Minsk that killed 13, and the mysterious disappearance of a Varig cargo 707 over the Pacific, which was lost along with 53 paintings by Manabu Mabe. In industry news, Pilatus Aircraft acquired Britten-Norman in January, while McDonnell Douglas completed its last A-4 Skyhawk, ending a 25-year production run of 2,960 aircraft.