![]() The blow to Tucker's head drilled shards of bone into his brain and initially rendered him unable to move or react, but he was still conscious. Both Peterson and Tucker, the first officer, suffered fractured skulls, and Peterson's temporal artery was severed. All three members of the crew received multiple hammer blows. Ģ6 minutes after takeoff, as the plane was passing 19,000 feet, and the flight crew carried on a casual conversation, Calloway went into the back to get his weapons, entered the flight deck, and attacked Peterson, Tucker, and Sanders. However, if Calloway had killed the crew members with the CVR still on, he would simply have had to fly for 30 minutes to erase any trace of a struggle from the CVR's 30-minute loop. During the standard preflight checks, Peterson, the flight engineer, noticed the pulled breaker and reset it before takeoff, reactivating the CVR. Flight details īefore takeoff, as part of his plan to disguise the intended attack as an accident, Calloway attempted to disable the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) by pulling its circuit breaker to interrupt CVR power. Just before the flight, Calloway had transferred over US$54,000 (equivalent to $106,600 in 2022) in securities and cashier's checks to his ex-wife. He also carried with him a note written to his ex-wife and "describing the author's apparent despair". To accomplish this, he brought on board two claw hammers, two club hammers, a speargun, and a knife (which was not used) concealed inside a guitar case. To disguise the hijacking as an accident, so his family would benefit from his US$2.5 million (equivalent to $4.9 million in 2022) life-insurance policy, Calloway intended to murder the flight crew using blunt force. Īlso in the airplane was 42-year-old FedEx flight engineer Auburn Calloway, an alumnus of Stanford University and a former Navy pilot and martial-arts expert, who was facing possible dismissal over falsifying of his flight hours. "Andy" Peterson, who had worked for FedEx for 5 years. Navy for 12 years during the Vietnam War and People Express Airlines for three years and 39-year-old Flight Engineer Andrew H. "Jim" Tucker Jr., who had worked for FedEx for 10 years and previously served with the U.S. Navy for nine years during the Vietnam War 42-year-old First Officer James M. "Dave" Sanders, who had worked for FedEx for 20 years and previously served with the U.S. Three flight crew members were in the cockpit on this flight: 49-year-old Captain David G. Calloway successfully appealed the conviction for interference, which was ruled to be a lesser offense of attempted air piracy. He received two consecutive life sentences with no chance of parole. Calloway's legal representation attempted to invoke an insanity defense, but he was found guilty of multiple charges, including attempted murder, attempted air piracy, and interference with flight crew operations. Despite severe injuries, the crew fought back, subdued Calloway, and landed the aircraft safely.ĭuring his trial, the prosecution argued Calloway was trying to commit suicide. Calloway's efforts to kill the crew were unsuccessful. He sought to let his family collect on a $2.5 million life insurance policy provided by Federal Express. He planned to crash the aircraft hoping that he would appear to be an employee killed in an accident. Ĭalloway intended to use the speargun as a last resort. The CVR, however, was switched back on by the flight engineer, believing that he had neglected to turn it on. Once airborne, he attempted to kill the crew with hammers so their injuries would appear consistent with an accident rather than a hijacking. He tried to switch off the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR) before takeoff. He boarded the scheduled flight as a deadhead passenger carrying a guitar case concealing several hammers and a speargun. Calloway, a Federal Express employee facing possible dismissal at a hearing scheduled for the following day for having lied about his flight hours. On April 7, 1994, Federal Express Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 cargo jet carrying electronics equipment across the United States from Memphis, Tennessee, to San Jose, California, was the subject of a hijack attempt by Auburn R. N306FE, the aircraft involved, taxiing at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport in June 1986Īttempted suicide hijacking for insurance fraud, subsequent emergency landing
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