When Employees get Disgruntled

November 22, 2007 12:41 PM

Imagine you're a pilot trying to control a jet when your skull has been smashed with a hammer and your co-workers are trying to subdue a madman with a speargun.

That was the grisly scenario aboard FedEx Flight 705 in 1994 when a pilot on the verge of being fired hatched a bizarre plan to both wreak revenge on his employer and provide for his family afterward. The crew survived, but their careers as commerical aviators didn't.

posted by Oriole Adams (49 comments total)

All right, let me imagine this scenario ....

AAARRGGGHHHH!
posted by Astro Zombie at 12:47 PM on November 22, 2007 [3 favorites]

goatrope

Watch that language, Captain Sanders!
posted by M.C. Lo-Carb! at 1:08 PM on November 22, 2007

The way the fpp reads, I initially thought this was going to be some crazy flash game somewhat akin to the one where you defend your building against zombies.

As it turns out, the real situation on the aircraft didn't sound fun at all.

Anybody wielding a spear gun and twin hammers has got to be at least part zombie.
posted by isopraxis at 1:12 PM on November 22, 2007

Within days, the FBI searched Calloway’s apartment and uncovered detailed evidence of his plan. Calloway would attempt to have that evidence suppressed for lack of probable cause, but was unsuccessful.

The judge does not agree, and he tells them so-o-o-o
posted by hal9k at 1:14 PM on November 22, 2007 [6 favorites]

I also assumed this was a flash game on first glance. Weird, that.
posted by JHarris at 1:29 PM on November 22, 2007

Wow, great story!
posted by Locative at 1:37 PM on November 22, 2007

Holy shit. Putting a DC-10 into a barrel-roll at 400 mph while partially paralyzed and suffering massive head trauma while being attacked by a madman with a speargun and then SUCCESSFULLY LANDING THE PLANE.

If anyone deserves a commercial pilot's license, it's this guy. I would feel very, very safe flying with him.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 1:38 PM on November 22, 2007 [4 favorites]

When this is made into a movie, they should replace the villain with a killer shark.
posted by Krrrlson at 1:42 PM on November 22, 2007 [2 favorites]

Within days, the FBI searched Calloway’s apartment and uncovered detailed evidence of his plan.

Wouldn't that kind of defeat the purpose of making this seem like an accident?

[img]Somehow, I don't think you thought your cunning plan all the way through[/img]
posted by splice at 1:45 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

As Thanksgiving stories go, this rocks.
posted by Epenthesis at 1:49 PM on November 22, 2007 [2 favorites]

Imagine you're a pilot trying to control a jet when your skull has been smashed with a hammer and your co-workers are trying to subdue a madman with a speargun.

OK, I'm imagining that, and it's not pleasant. It might be better if I knew how to fly a plane. But on balance, still pretty bad.
posted by spiderwire at 1:55 PM on November 22, 2007

Kramer: Yeah, yeah. Then, all of a sudden, this guy pulls out a gun. Well, I knew any delay is gonna cost her her pinky toe, so I got out of the seat, and I started walking towards him. He says, "Where do you think you're going, Cracker Jack?" I say, "Well, I got a little prize for ya, buddy." (Makes punching moves.) Plow! Plat! Ke-yah! Knocked him out cold.
George: How could you do that!?
Kramer: Then everybody is screaming, because the driver, he's passed out because of all the commotion. The bus is OUT of control. So I grab him by the collar, I take him out of the seat, I get behind the wheel. Now I'm driving the bus.
George: You're Batman.
Kramer: Yeah, yeah, I am Batman. Then the mugger, he comes to, and he starts choking me. So I'm fighting him off with one hand and I kept driving the bus with the other. Then, I managed to open up the door, and I kicked him out the door, you know, with my foot, you know, at the next stop.
Jerry: You kept making all the stops!?
Kramer: Well people kept ringing the bell!
posted by blue_beetle at 2:05 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

I had just heard about this story two weeks ago. I'd been meaning to actually find out what the story was. Jumpseating has been taken away, but only a few years ago. Mainly at the request of the crews I believe. I'm pretty sure I've loaded this plane many times before I'll keep an eye out for it. I love having stories about the planes I'm loading.
posted by Phantomx at 2:05 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

That transcript is unreal. I'm fairly sure the CVR site has been linked before, because I remember being creeped out by it. It's looking to be a macabre Thanksgiving...
posted by spiderwire at 2:07 PM on November 22, 2007

3rd on the flash game... no go on someone and make this spear-gun-toting fantasy a reality...
posted by geos at 2:23 PM on November 22, 2007

That flight crew is bad ass and I hope they have received a lot of support and compensation in the past decade.

Makes me think of all the pundits and politicians who were all, "no one could imagine terrorists using planes as missiles." Let's see: Auburn Calloway imagined it. Dylan and Eric imagined it. Tom Clancy imagined it. Hell, the Japanese kamakazi imagined it.
posted by Skwirl at 2:31 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

That pilot is a frequent speaker here in Memphis. I'm still impressed whenever I read or hear his story. He's a hell of a guy. Obviously.
posted by absalom at 2:35 PM on November 22, 2007

The judge does not agree, and he tells them so-o-o-o

Haha, brilliant reference!

(Ever seen the HotDiggedyDemon animation?)
posted by hjo3 at 2:37 PM on November 22, 2007

Calloway would attempt to have that evidence suppressed for lack of probable cause, but was unsuccessful.

Really? After you smuggled weapons onto an airplane and brutally attacked the flight crew, you still thought the FBA lacked a reasonable belief that you had committed a crime?

Really?

I love trial antics.
posted by Mr. President Dr. Steve Elvis America at 2:55 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

Imagine you're the pilot of one of those (then) new Boeing 767s. The plane has a known bug in the fuel-level indicators, but you, your crew, and the ground crew have all done multiple manual checks and assured yourselves that there's enough fuel on board for the flight. Then, more than fifty miles from your destination, one of the two engines shows a low-fuel-pressure warning, and then quits. You can fly the plane on one engine though, so no danger. Then the other engine does the same thing. You're now flying an almost-200-ton glider, with no instruments and only partial hydraulic pressure. Fortunately, you're also an experienced glider pilot. Have fun.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 3:03 PM on November 22, 2007 [7 favorites]

Can we blame Mr. Asoh for any of this?
posted by Astro Zombie at 4:11 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

Great post. Thank you.
posted by veggieboy at 4:26 PM on November 22, 2007

A charge of air piracy? Is that more serious than attempted murder??
posted by Estragon at 4:44 PM on November 22, 2007

Wow.

JT: Do you, uh, live over in Arkansas, Dave, or...?
DS: Naw, I live in Fisherville.
JT: Aw, Fisherville, great spot.
(Sounds of hammer blows striking pilots.)

posted by you at 4:44 PM on November 22, 2007

Those CVR transcripts would make really weird amateur radio plays (Metafilter podcast special?):

(Sounds of hammer blows striking pilots.)
AP: Ow!
JT: God!
JT: Oh, ah, shit.
DS: God almighty!
AP: Ow!
JT: What the fuck are you doing?
posted by Free word order! at 4:47 PM on November 22, 2007

Here's a continuation of the YouTube video linked in the post.
posted by veggieboy at 4:49 PM on November 22, 2007

Nice. Sure beats the DHL plane that flew into the forest up here because the pilot got confused between the airport and the paper processing plant.

Would saying "well, no wonder all my FedEx packages arrive mangled" be too much black humor?
posted by subbes at 5:05 PM on November 22, 2007

Actually, I think I can see why they went with a charge of air piracy. While Calloway's plan to crash the plane for death benefits seems clear, it might have been harder to establish that intention in court.

After watching the video, I'm wondering what kind of security measures FedEx pilots have to endure these days. While riding the moon-shuttle busses at Dulles, I've heard support staff bitching about the security measures to which they're subject, and it sounds pretty tiresome.
posted by Estragon at 5:16 PM on November 22, 2007

From Kirth Gerson's link:

"Meanwhile several astute racetrack workers dashed to the nose of Flight 143 and doused a small friction-induced fire using hand-held extinguishers."

*jaw drops*

What's going through these guys' heads? Well, that's a fire over there, and I have a fire extinguisher in my hands, so...
posted by sdodd at 7:30 PM on November 22, 2007

None of those three attacked men has ever flown again. So tragic.
posted by orange swan at 7:40 PM on November 22, 2007

UA to Tower: 35.9er, good job with emergency.
(sounds of struggle in rear)
posted by bicyclefish at 8:05 PM on November 22, 2007

Do a Barrel Roll!
posted by tarheelcoxn at 8:42 PM on November 22, 2007

I wonder if also there is also a dual jurisdiction issue with an attempted murder charge. At any rate, in the federal court system assault, with intent to commit murder is a 20 max, while air piracy is potentially eligible for the death penalty. So yes, at least in the eyes of the U.S. government, aircraft piracy is the offense with a harsher penalty and incorporates most crimes committed against crew members.
posted by KirkJobSluder at 8:50 PM on November 22, 2007

Great post, Oriole Adams - what a scary story!
posted by madamjujujive at 9:36 PM on November 22, 2007

... they should replace the villain with a killer clever shark.

Fixed that for you.
posted by bwg at 10:19 PM on November 22, 2007

Wouldn't that kind of defeat the purpose of making this seem like an accident?

Agreed. And didn't he know that the "black box" recorders nearly always get found in a information-retrievable state (happy to be corrected on that, of course)?

British Airways flight. Pilot gets sucked out the window at 17,000 feet. Steward holds onto his legs the whole time. He survives and is still flying. Absolutely amazing story. A good TV version (re enactment, interviews) can be found on Air Crash Investigation.

This might be the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvkuMwSOjEc

Wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390

I think this story is slightly cooler, but.

And if y'all are gonna be quoting your fave bits, here's mine:

JT: Get him, get him, get him!
AC: I'm gonna kill you!
AC: Hey, hey! I'll kill ya!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:34 PM on November 22, 2007

The left windshield, on the captain's side of the cockpit, had suffered a catastrophic failure. Lancaster was jerked out of his seat by the rushing air and sucked head first out of the cockpit; his knees snagging onto the flight controls. This left him with his whole upper torso out of the aircraft, and only his legs inside. The door to the flight deck was blown out onto the radio and navigation console, blocking the throttle control which caused the plane to continue gaining speed as they descended, while papers and other debris in the passenger cabin began blowing towards the cockpit. On the flight deck at the time, flight attendant Nigel Ogden quickly latched his hands onto the captain's belt [oh, I say!]. Susan Price and another flight attendant began to reassure passengers, secure loose objects, and take up emergency positions. Meanwhile, Lancaster was being battered and frozen in the 500mph slipstream, and was losing consciousness due to the thin air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Airways_Flight_5390

Yep. He survived and was physically fit enough / get-back-on-the-horse enough to resume flying.

Bloody amazing.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:50 PM on November 22, 2007

There's a couple MP3s from the flight recorders of the FedEx highjacking at this page: http://www.airdisaster.com/cvr/atcwav.shtml

Scroll down to FedEx Flight 705.
posted by vertigo25 at 10:56 PM on November 22, 2007 [1 favorite]

This is all just a big commercial, like that movie Cast Away.
posted by breezeway at 11:37 PM on November 22, 2007

And didn't he know that the "black box" recorders nearly always get found in a information-retrievable state (happy to be corrected on that, of course)?


In the dramatization/docutmentary, he kept disabling the cockpit voice recorder.
posted by Locative at 12:12 AM on November 23, 2007

What's going through these guys' heads? Well, that's a fire over there, and I have a fire extinguisher in my hands, so...

Generally there's a lot of guys at racing events sitting around with fire extinguisher, and figured that it's basically the same principle as a burning racecar... I mean, it makes sense if you consider that it basically landed on the same principle as a glider.

And didn't he know that the "black box" recorders nearly always get found in a information-retrievable state (happy to be corrected on that, of course)?

In the dramatization/docutmentary, he kept disabling the cockpit voice recorder.

Yeah, if had been able to kill the crew, he'd have plenty of time to take those hammers to the recorder. Of course, that might be giving him too much credit considering that he left he plans for his scheme lying around -- seems like that might put a cramp in the life insurance claim he wanted for his family.
posted by spiderwire at 12:33 AM on November 23, 2007

Yeah, if had been able to kill the crew, he'd have plenty of time to take those hammers to the recorder.

Er. OK. Did not know you can access black boxes from inside the plane. In fact, logic would dictate that you shouldn't be able to.

But I'm no expert and there are soooo many propeller head (pun intended) aviation fanboys out there I don't particularly wanna get in an argument about it!
posted by uncanny hengeman at 12:39 AM on November 23, 2007

I could swear this was on mefi before, but I can't find it. Pretty bizarre what lengths some people will go to though.
posted by caddis at 12:46 AM on November 23, 2007

UA 232 had the opposite problem that the gimli glider had -- one of their engines blew out, which conseqently gave fuel and thrust, but no navigation. (Anyone here want to guess on you do that? How would you find someone who knew how?)

Fortunately, there was an experience DC-10 Trainer pilot on board who was able to land the plane intact and with the majority of passengers and crews alive. Very few no-control-surface landings do occur -- one of my favorite stories is The DHL Jet shot by a SAM that had no hydraulics but still managed to land
posted by spiderwire at 12:53 AM on November 23, 2007

caddis, perhaps it was shown as dramatisation on TV? Over here there's been one of these amazing stories almost every night so I knew about this one, the amazing glide-flight and that pilot that hung outside of his cockpit window - making the mistake of watching every single one before boarding a flight to Boston. Most. Tense. Flight. Ever. for me.
posted by dabitch at 1:07 AM on November 23, 2007

man oh man. while tragic, that is all kinds of awesome. thanks for the extra links to the audio and second part of the documentary.
posted by dawson at 1:15 AM on November 23, 2007

Can we blame Mr. Asoh for any of this?
As you Americans say, Asoh $%@&-up.

Quite a story.
posted by ersatz at 4:50 AM on November 23, 2007

Great link, great story.

Nutter, though.
posted by triv at 6:36 AM on November 23, 2007

And then you also have the Amazing Convertible 737; and the Azores Glider (curiously enough, also Canadian).
posted by Skeptic at 7:00 AM on November 23, 2007