As we approach this eve of September 11, I am reminded of the fact many people think the idea of forcefully taking command of a carrier class air craft solely for the purpose of crashing it into the ground was a novel one. Actually it occurred twice, in not so ancient history , in this country.
On December 7, 1987, Pacific Southwest Airlines flight 1771 crashed into the ground near Cayucos, California, killing 43 people. The BAe 146-200 was on a flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Pacific Southwest Airlines, (PSA) had recently been consumed by a conglomerate that would eventually become USAir. The NTSB concluded a USAir employee had recently been terminated for stealing $59 from an in flight beverage service. He had attended a meeting with his Supervisor, Raymond Thompson, asking to be reinstated. He was turned down. His supervisor commuted from LA to San Francisco and was aboard flight 1771. An airsickness bag was located at the crash site which read “Hi Ray, I think it is sort of ironical that we ended up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family. remember? I got none and you’ll get none”
The cockpit voice recorder recorded a female entering the cockpit and saying we have a problem, a male voice was heard to say “the problem is me”, then two shots were heard. As the flight plummeted toward the ground another shot was heard. The aircraft was approaching 700 MPH when it impacted the ground. The investigation concluded the disgruntled employee, David Burke had borrowed a .44 magnum handgun from a friend and used his employee credentials, still in his possession to sneak the weapon onto the aircraft.
On April 7, 1994 FedEx flight 705 a DC-10-30 was departing Memphis with a flight crew of three. The NTSB concluded an employee pilot, Auburn Calloway was facing termination for inaccuracies on his resume about his flight experience while serving in the United State Navy. He attempted to disable the CVR, however he was unsuccessful. He hid a speargun and a several hammers inside a guitar case as he boarded the flight to hitch a ride to California. He planned to kill the crew, take over the aircraft, and crash it into FedEx headquarters in Memphis making it appear to be a plane crash so his family would collect on 2.5 million in insurance money.
About twenty minutes into the flight he began his attack. The CVR recorded the sounds of a struggle. The crew used a combination of abrupt flight maneuvers to fight back and eventually restrain Calloway. All of the flight crew suffered severe injuries during the attack and at one point the aircraft approached the speed of sound while nearly inverted. It was able to return and land at Memphis. Callloway was sentenced to two life sentences. None of the heroic flight crew have been able to return to commercial flying due to their injuries. You can download the CVR recording here http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/atcwav.shtml
9/11 certainly raised the consciousness of the flying public. Pity the poor fool who stands up in an aisle today and says ”I am taking over” The FAA has added additional protections to keep flight crew somewhat protected. Prior to 9/11 it was easier to barge into a cockpit than it was to get in the monorail cockpit at Wally World. It is unfortunate it took a large tragedy to bring this weakness to light. Two tragedies of smaller overall proportions failed to get noticed adequately by the FAA and the public at large.
