Greg Newton
09-30-2011, 06:06 PM
Before 9/11, in 1994, a curiously disturbing incident happened that underscores the fact that violence can happen anywhere or anyplace. A disgruntled Fedex pilot who was facing dismissal due to lying on his resume about his Navy flight experience had decided to crash a plane in a suicide attempt. He was hoping that his ex-wife and children would get a $200,000 life insurance settlement, since he would die at work.
He prepared accordingly. He brought on board three hammers and a spear gun in a guitar case. The pilot, Auburn Calloway, planned to go as a passenger on the plane. He would take the crew out with the hammers so that the injuries would be compatable with a crash. The spear gun was extra insurance.
Calloway was a powerfully built man and a martial arts expert. He attacked the unsuspecting engineer and the two pilots with a 20 ounce framing hammer. After all, who is going to suspect a fellow flight crew member? The co-pilot had a chunk knocked out of his skull the size of small pancake. The engineer and the pilot, also both severely injured, tried to restrain Calloway. The copilot, with one side paralyzed, was trying to keep the plane in the air.
A former navy pilot himself, he said, "You trained that when a bogey comes after you, you go to take out the bogey." So somehow, on guts and pure adrenalin, flying with only one hand operational, he began spinning and flying the plane upside down to throw Calloway off and out of the cockpit. The pilot and engineer fought Calloway and tried to wrest the speargun away from him. After an intense and brutal bloodbathe, they finally had Calloway pinned to the floor and had wrested the hammer and speargun away from him.
The pilot, who was also a former navy pilot called for the copilot to come back and let him fly the plane. The copilot was in shock at what he saw. Blood covered the floor, the ceilings and the cabin walls. Both jump seats were ripped to shreds. However, after the pilot took over the controls, Calloway got free. The pilot put the plane on auto pilot and this time he said that he had every intention of killing Calloway rather try to restrain him any longer.
Fortunately the copilot and the engineer, both severly injured with life threatening injuries, managed to get Calloway back under control. The pilot then took the plane down, having to fly the overloaded cargo plane into a U-shaped pattern on it's side to be able to make the runway. Desperate measures for desperate times. They made it and a firefighter came up the shoot to help them out.
It is an amazing story of survival. All three suffered permanent injuries that kept them from ever flying commercial planes again. Calloway went to a federal prison for the rest of his life. It was all so random. In the history of American aviation there had never been a hijacking by an airline employee. That is why we always need to live with our eyes wide open. It is just like the animal in the wild. Always expect the unexpected.
Greg Newton
He prepared accordingly. He brought on board three hammers and a spear gun in a guitar case. The pilot, Auburn Calloway, planned to go as a passenger on the plane. He would take the crew out with the hammers so that the injuries would be compatable with a crash. The spear gun was extra insurance.
Calloway was a powerfully built man and a martial arts expert. He attacked the unsuspecting engineer and the two pilots with a 20 ounce framing hammer. After all, who is going to suspect a fellow flight crew member? The co-pilot had a chunk knocked out of his skull the size of small pancake. The engineer and the pilot, also both severely injured, tried to restrain Calloway. The copilot, with one side paralyzed, was trying to keep the plane in the air.
A former navy pilot himself, he said, "You trained that when a bogey comes after you, you go to take out the bogey." So somehow, on guts and pure adrenalin, flying with only one hand operational, he began spinning and flying the plane upside down to throw Calloway off and out of the cockpit. The pilot and engineer fought Calloway and tried to wrest the speargun away from him. After an intense and brutal bloodbathe, they finally had Calloway pinned to the floor and had wrested the hammer and speargun away from him.
The pilot, who was also a former navy pilot called for the copilot to come back and let him fly the plane. The copilot was in shock at what he saw. Blood covered the floor, the ceilings and the cabin walls. Both jump seats were ripped to shreds. However, after the pilot took over the controls, Calloway got free. The pilot put the plane on auto pilot and this time he said that he had every intention of killing Calloway rather try to restrain him any longer.
Fortunately the copilot and the engineer, both severly injured with life threatening injuries, managed to get Calloway back under control. The pilot then took the plane down, having to fly the overloaded cargo plane into a U-shaped pattern on it's side to be able to make the runway. Desperate measures for desperate times. They made it and a firefighter came up the shoot to help them out.
It is an amazing story of survival. All three suffered permanent injuries that kept them from ever flying commercial planes again. Calloway went to a federal prison for the rest of his life. It was all so random. In the history of American aviation there had never been a hijacking by an airline employee. That is why we always need to live with our eyes wide open. It is just like the animal in the wild. Always expect the unexpected.
Greg Newton