The Bush Administration has steadfastly maintained that prior to 9/11, no one ever gave any thought to the idea that someone might try to hijack a plane by killing the crew and then using the aircraft as a missile, crashing it into a building.
The truth of the matter is that just such an attempt was made right here in our own country nearly seven and a half years before the events of September 11, 2001. Had it not been for the heroic actions of the crew on that flight, the hijacker would have been successful.
The incident that I am referring to occurred on April 7, 1994 when Auburn Calloway, a Federal Express pilot who was about to lose his job and who held a grudge against the company, boarded Fedex Flight 705 as a deadheading pilot.
Like American Airlines Flight 11 and United Flight 175, Fedex 705 was a wide-body jet (a DC-10) loaded with fuel for it's flight from Memphis, TN to the West Coast (destination San Jose, CA).
Shortly after take-off, as the plane was entering Arkansas airspace, Calloway stormed the cockpit and brutally attacked the crew with a claw hammer and spearguns, with the intention of killing them and flying the aircraft back to Memphis where he planned to crash it into the Fedex headquarters at the Memphis International Airport.
NTSB Identification: ATL94LA077 .
The docket is stored in the (offline) NTSB Imaging System.
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121:
Air Carrier FEDERAL EXPRESS, INC.
Accident occurred Thursday, April 07, 1994 in MEMPHIS, TN
Probable Cause Approval Date: 12/7/94
Aircraft: McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30, registration: N306FE
Injuries: 3 Serious, 1 Minor.
This occurrence was the result of criminal activity. Consult Federal Bureau of Investigation.
More details of this incident and the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder can be read at the link below.
Federal Express Flight 705
Now granted, there were some differences in the 1994 incident.
The 1994 incident involved one aircraft, whereas September 11 involved four. The 1994 incident was attempted by a single hijacker, whereas September 11 was carried out by multiple hijackers. The 1994 incident was attempted by a disgruntled employee, whereas September 11 was carried out by international terrorists.
And the 1994 incident was ultimately unsuccessful, whereas, sadly, September 11 was.
Still, the overall concept was the same. Hijacker storms cockpit, kills crew, takes control of the plane and crashes it into a building. We had seven and a half years to learn from the mistakes of Fedex 705.
Why is the American public not being reminded of this earlier attempt to do what was accomplished on September 11, 2001 and how can the Bush Administration continue to maintain they never gave any thought that a terrorist might attempt to do the same thing?