Carlos Lopez

Jeffrey Price

Aviation Safety Program Management

On April 7, 1994, the FedEx 705 cargo plane was to make a trip from Memphis,
Tennessee to San Jose, California. The crew consisted of 3 people, the pilot, co-pilot, and a flight
engineer. Request received from Auburn R. Calloway another FedEx flight engineer to fly with
them to California. Auburn Calloway was carrying a guitar case that was not searched before
boarding because he was an employee of the company. Inside this case he carried several
hammers and a spear gun, his intention was to hijack the flight.

After several minutes flying, Calloway enters the cockpit and hits the crew with a
hammer. He doesn't leave them unconscious, but he does leave them disoriented without
knowing what was happening for a few minutes. After this Calloway looks for the spear gun and
threatens to kill them if they don't keep quiet. At that moment the flight engineer Andy Peterson
takes the spear gun by the tip and begins to struggle with Calloway, the pilot Dave Sanders helps
him, and they try to control him. Co-pilot James Tucker begins to maneuver the plane, to help his
companions. Taking the plane to speed limits and maneuvers that put the structure of the plane at
risk. After several minutes of performing these maneuvers, James Tucker contacted Memphis air
traffic control requesting help and indicating that they had an emergency and needed to land.

After struggling for several minutes, they control Calloway and pilot Dave Sanders
returns to the cockpit to fly the plane back to Memphis. Everything seemed to be under control.

Meanwhile, emergency vehicles were ready in Memphis to receive the 705 aircraft.

Although they thought Calloway was in control he kept trying to fight, with Peterson and
Tucker on top of him he started to crawl to try to get back to the cabin. In addition to this, the
landing was very dangerous, the plane was overweight to land, and it was also going too high
and too fast to be able to descend to the runway assigned to it.

As Sanders did his best to land the plane, Peterson and Tucker tried to overpower
Calloway a second time. Peterson, who was already very weak, takes a hammer and Tucker tells
him that he should hit Calloway. Finally, Sanders manages to land the plane and emergency
personnel enter to help Peterson and Tucker. Calloway is handcuffed, the crew is taken to the
hospital for treatment.

After analyzing the tragedy, the conclusion is reached that Calloway was trying to
commit suicide by causing a plane crash and that way his children and his ex-wife would be
covered by his life policy.

Calloway is sentenced to life in prison and the crew of the 705 was awarded the gold
medal for heroism by the Airline Pilots Association. Thanks to these brave men no life was lost.

Analyzing a little some controls that could avoid this situation, I think that if Calloway's
luggage had been scanned or searched, the hammers and spear gun it contained would have been
detected. Also, even if he is an employee of the company, outsiders should not be allowed to
travel on these cargo flights. Being an employee of the same company, certain controls were
overlooked, and this could have been detected and avoided with strict inspection and security
controls at the airport and by the airline.
 Works Cited

A Life Or Death Battle | Fight For Your Life | FULL EPISODE | Mayday: Air Disaster
. August 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKO7k0Kh7Nw