Wikipedia's first sentence called it “boeing 737 aircraft on a flight from athens to cairo”. Today it says “regularly scheduled international flight between athens ellinikon international airport”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Airliner hijacking in November 1985”. It now reads “1985 aircraft hijacking in Malta”.
Measured, not asserted. Every count, date and revision on this page was taken from Wikipedia's own history and checked against the live article. The words quoted are theirs.
Machine-checked against the full current article on 2026-08-03.
We saved snapshots of this article over twenty years; you are reading the 2005 one. Red dashes: removed from Wikipedia since.Pale dots: rewritten; the numbered note shows what it says now.Red text: written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot.1 tap a number or a side note to jump between them
The opening as it read in 2005
EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737 aircraft on a flight from Athens to Cairo , carrying 96 people. On November 23 , 1985 , three men of the Abu Nidal terrorist group hijacked the aircraft over the Mediterranean. An Egyptian sky marshal shot one of the hijackers, setting off a gunfight that depressurized the aircraft and forced it to land in Luqa , Malta . On the ground in Malta, the hijackers demanded fuel. When they did not get it, they shot two American and three Israeli passengers in the back of the head, three of whom miraculously survived. After hours of negotiations, Egyptian commandos stormed the aircraft by using an explosive device that killed many passengers. The commandos boarded the aircraft and fought with the hijackers, who threw several hand grenades inside the cabin. The explosions and fire severely damaged the aircraft. 58 passengers died, as well as two of the six crew members. Only one hijacker survived the commando raid. Omar Rezaq , the man who allegedly shot the five passengers while demanding fuel, was arraigned in court in Malta, sentenced to 25 years in jail, but released after serving just seven years. He was later arrested in Nigeria and turned over to the FBI, and is now serving a life sentence in the United States after being found guilty on one count of air piracy. Until September 11, 2001 , this was the deadliest airplane hijacking in history.1
This is Wikipedia's own text, saved in our repository. Their copy of it is revision 16270357.
The opening as it stood in 2010 12 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737-200 airliner registered SU-AYH hijacked in 1985 by the terrorist Abu Nidal Organization .The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops led to dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history.(Incidentally the same aircraft was diverted by the US Navy in 1985 after the Achille Lauro hijacking.) " EgyptAir Flight 648 ." Aviation Safety Network .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 370940173.
The opening as it stood in 2015 1 passage from the previous snapshot no longer appear
EgyptAir Flight 648 was a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, hijacked on November 23, 1985 by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal . The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. (The same aircraft had been diverted by Grumman F-14 Tomcat Fighter jets of the U.S.Navy a month earlier, after the Achille Lauro hijacking on October 7.) " EgyptAir Flight 648 ." Aviation Safety Network .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 665344358.
The opening as it stood in 2020 2 passages from the previous snapshot no longer appear
EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens Ellinikon International Airport in Greece and Cairo International Airport in Egypt.On 23 November 1985, a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, servicing the flight was hijacked by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal . The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops resulted in dozens of deaths, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. " EgyptAir Flight 648 ." Aviation Safety Network .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 937512260.
The opening as it stood on October 6, 2023
Airliner hijacking in November 1985 EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens Ellinikon International Airport ( Greece ) and Cairo International Airport ( Egypt ). On 23 November 1985, a Boeing 737-200 airliner, registered SU-AYH, servicing the flight was hijacked by the terrorist organization Abu Nidal . The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops killed 56 of the 86 passengers, 2 of the 3 hijackers and 2 of the 6 crew, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. " EgyptAir Flight 648 ." Aviation Safety Network .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1178475162.
The opening as it stood in 2025
Airliner hijacking in November 1985 EgyptAir Flight 648 was a regularly scheduled international flight between Athens Ellinikon International Airport ( Greece ) and Cairo International Airport ( Egypt ). On 23 November 1985, a Boeing 737-266 airliner, servicing the flight was hijacked by the Palestinian terrorist organization Abu Nidal . The subsequent raid on the aircraft by Egyptian troops killed 56 of the 86 passengers, 2 of the 3 hijackers and 2 of the 6 crew, making the hijacking of Flight 648 one of the deadliest such incidents in history. " EgyptAir Flight 648 ." Aviation Safety Network .
Red text was written in or rewritten since the previous snapshot. Their copy is revision 1289524407. This is our newest snapshot; the live article may have moved again since.
Today
Wikipedia's first sentence called it “boeing 737 aircraft on a flight from athens to cairo”. Today it says “regularly scheduled international flight between athens ellinikon international airport”. The one-line description Wikipedia serves to search engines and AI systems read “Airliner hijacking in November 1985”. It now reads “1985 aircraft hijacking in Malta”. Read the current article and compare.
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Counts in the opening at each snapshot. Green: the word gained ground. Red: it was cut. Grey: no change.
What Wikipedia says this is
Every article opens by defining its subject. This one was redefined since 2005, and today's defining sentence is their current revision.
Then
boeing 737 aircraft on a flight from athens to cairo
Now
regularly scheduled international flight between athens ellinikon international airport
Sections that no longer exist
Present on October 6, 2023, absent today, with no near-matching heading in the current article and the article shorter overall, so this is not a renamed heading or a topic absorbed into a fuller treatment. 1 section of 400 characters or more gone since October 6 2023, with the article 1,419 characters shorter.
Aftermath and criticism
Struck red text is no longer in the article; dotted amber text was rewritten. Every revision id links to Wikipedia's copy; the text shown is our own saved copy. Data: /data. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA; quoted for the record; not affiliated with Wikipedia.
