Plane Downed by a Former Employee for Revenge

This incident is unlike any accident we have seen before. The difference is that David Burke, a former employee of the airline, deliberately crashing the plane.

Burke’s revenge, the cockpit crew manager It was against Ray Thompson. When he neutralized the cockpit crew and took control of the plane, the plane was dragged into a path of no return.

The incident that took place on Pacific Southwest Flight 1771 is like something out of a Hollywood movie.

December 7, 1987in , near the town of San Luis Obispo, California, owned by Pacific Southwest There were 38 passengers inside the British Aerospace 146-200A type plane.

Every detail is full of tension and “It only happens in the movies!” This accident, which is of the type we can call 43 passengers It resulted in his death. But how did it start?

David Burke, who carried out the incident, He was working for USAir in New York. After 15 years with the company, Burke was caught stealing money from in-flight cocktail sales in 1987.

This was the reason why he was fired from the company. He later appealed to his manager, Ray Thompson, to reinstate him, but it was not accepted. The fire of revenge inside him sprouted from then on.

It is said that he became a very tense and angry person after he was fired.

manager ray thompson, had regular flights between Los Angeles and San Francisco. On the day of the crash, Burke was seen at the USAir office to find out which flight Thompson was flying on. Since he spent 15 years here, he was also familiar with the security measures.

Gun inside the airport Although it is still not clear how he bypassed the security measures while stinging, it is thought to be due to his considerable friends with whom he once worked together.

Flight 1771 British Aerospace 146-200A aircrafttook off at 15:30 local time on December 7, 1987 and was supposed to land in SFO at 16:43.

There were 38 passengers and 5 crew members on the plane. Burke also entered the plane. But everyone on the plane was wearing a Smith & Wesson brand. 44 Magnum model 6 fires his gun He was unaware that he was carrying it with him.

Burke entered the plane with a gun, neutralized the cockpit crew and took control of the plane.

Although the information obtained from the black box is not clear, it indicates that he fired with his gun loaded with bullets. According to the FBI report, while the plane was at altitude, Burke loaded his gun with bullets in the restroom. Afterwards tragic event It was also revealed that he wrote a note to Thompson after the accident.

in the note “Hello Rey. I guess it’s a bit ironic that we ended up this way. I asked for some tolerance for my family, remember? I have nothing, and you will get nothing.” it said. However, it is not known whether he gave this note to Thompson or not.

to CVR records It is said that two gunshots were heard in the background while a message was received from air traffic control. Long after the incident, in 2001, Time Magazine reported on the sound of a person repeatedly knocking on the cockpit door during CVR analysis and by FBI “Entering the cockpit without permission” He reported that a voice described as “.

This chaotic process brought with it a terrifying chaos. More on the plane Gun sound was heard, which meant that the pilots were either killed or rendered unable to control the plane. Then the final gunshot, thought to have killed another pilot, was heard on the cockpit voice recorder.

It was learned that the pilot was trying to balance the plane while the plane was diving rapidly.

But all efforts were in vain. The plane crashed in the Santa Lucia Mountains at 16.16. The moment the plane crashed A witness said in a statement about the incident that “it sounded like it was breaking the sound barrier.”

As a result of the investigations carried out after the accident, they found the written note and parts of the gun. A piece of Burke’s fingertip was also He was found stuck with the trigger of a gun.

among the dead Pacific Bell There were three managers of the company. After this accident, a rule was added to aviation policies that executives of a company should not travel on the same flight. It has also become an accepted policy that all personnel will be subject to the same security measures as passengers.

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