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Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771

January 29, 2023

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 was a scheduled flight along the West Coast of the United States, from Los Angeles, California, to San Francisco. On December 7, 1987, the British Aerospace 146-200A, registration N350PS, crashed in San Luis Obispo County near Cayucos,[3][4] after being hijacked by a passenger.

Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771
N350PS, the aircraft involved,
at Los Angeles International Airport in 1986
Hijacking
DateDecember 7, 1987
SummaryMass murder–suicide, aircraft hijacking
SiteSan Luis Obispo County
near Cayucos, California, U.S.
35°31′20″N 120°51′25″W / 35.52222°N 120.85694°W / 35.52222; -120.85694Coordinates: 35°31′20″N 120°51′25″W / 35.52222°N 120.85694°W / 35.52222; -120.85694
Aircraft
Aircraft typeBritish Aerospace 146-200A
Aircraft nameThe Smile of Stockton
OperatorPacific Southwest Airlines
RegistrationN350PS[1]
Flight originLos Angeles International Airport, California, U.S.
DestinationSan Francisco International Airport, California, U.S.
Passengers38[2]
Crew5
Fatalities43 (including the perpetrator and five victims shot before impact)
Survivors0

All 43 passengers and crew aboard the plane died, five of whom, including the two pilots, were presumably shot dead before the plane crashed. The perpetrator, David Burke, was a disgruntled former employee of USAir, the parent company of Pacific Southwest Airlines.[5] The crash was the second-worst mass murder in Californian history, after the similar crash of Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 in 1964.

Incident

USAir, which had recently purchased Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA), terminated David A. Burke, a ticketing agent,[6] for petty theft of $69 from in-flight cocktail receipts; he had also been suspected of involvement with a narcotics ring.[7] After meeting with Ray Thomson, his manager, in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated, Burke purchased a ticket on PSA Flight 1771, a daily flight from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to San Francisco International Airport (SFO). Thomson was a passenger on the flight, which he regularly took for his daily commute from his workplace at LAX to his home in the San Francisco Bay Area.[8] Flight 1771 departed from LAX at 15:31 PST, scheduled to arrive in San Francisco at 16:43.[9]

Using USAir employee credentials that he had not yet surrendered, Burke, armed with a Smith & Wesson Model 29 .44 Magnum revolver that he had borrowed from a coworker, was able to bypass the normal passenger security checkpoint at LAX.[10] He gained access to the plane via the locked crew door using the access code scratched above the lock as reported by one of the lawyers representing families of two dead passengers. After boarding the plane, Burke wrote a message on an airsickness bag, but whether or not he gave the message to Thomson to read before shooting him is unknown. The note read:

Hi Ray. I think it's sort of ironical that we end up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family. Remember? Well, I got none and you'll get none.[7][11][12]

The exact sequence of events remains undetermined, though some details were able to be determined based on information from the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder (CVR). Due to the poor quality of the recording, it was not possible to decipher everything spoken in the cockpit, nor was it possible to positively attribute phrases to specific individuals.[13]: 348  As the aircraft, a four-engined British Aerospace BAe 146-200, cruised at 22,000 feet (6,700 m) over the central California coast, the CVR recorded either Captain Gregg Lindamood (43) or First Officer James Nunn (48) asking air traffic control about reports of turbulence. During the controller's reply, the CVR picked up two "high-level gunshot-like sound[s]."[13]: 349  Burke had likely shot Thomson at this time.[11] One of the pilots reported twice to the center controller that there had been gunshots fired aboard the aircraft. As the controller asked the pilots whether they wished to divert to Monterey, the sound of the cockpit door opening could be heard, followed by the sound of a female voice, believed to be Flight Attendant Debbie Neal. What was said by her could not be discerned, aside from the word "captain."[13]: 349  This was followed one second later by a male voice saying something that was mostly unintelligible on the recording but ended with the word "problem." The FBI's transcript notes that this may have been Burke's voice. Although it is popularly believed[by whom? – Discuss] that the complete phrase spoken by Burke had been "I'm the problem," this does not appear in the official FBI report. Immediately following this exchange, two more gunshot sounds were registered, followed by another gunshot six seconds later.[13]: 350 

Most likely, Burke shot Lindamood and Nunn, incapacitating them, if not outright killing them. Fifteen seconds later, the CVR picked up the sound of the cockpit door either opening or closing, as well as increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and accelerated. Thirty-two seconds after the sounds made by the cockpit door, a sixth and final gunshot was heard.[13]: 350  All that could be determined was that this shot occurred in the passenger cabin. Some speculation arose that Burke shot himself, though this seems unlikely because a fragment of Burke's fingertip was lodged in the trigger when the investigators found the revolver. This indicated that he was alive and was holding the gun until the moment of impact.[14] The most probable victim was an off-duty pilot that was working for PSA, Douglas Arthur, who was likely trying to enter the cockpit in an attempt to get the plane out of the dive. For the remainder of the recording, the sound of windscreen noise and "distant voices" could be heard.[13]: 350 

At 4:16 pm, the plane crashed into a hillside on the Santa Rita cattle ranch[15] in the Santa Lucia Mountains between Paso Robles[16] and Cayucos. The plane was estimated to have crashed slightly faster than the speed of sound, around 770 mph (670 kn; 340 m/s; 1,240 km/h), disintegrating instantly. Based on the deformation of the titanium black box data recorder case, the aircraft experienced a deceleration of 5,000 g (49,000 m/s/s) when it hit the ground. It was traveling around a 70° angle toward the south. The plane struck a rocky hillside, leaving a crater less than two feet (0.61 m) deep and four feet (1.2 m) across. Only 11 of the passengers were ever identified.[citation needed]

After the crash site was located by a CBS News helicopter piloted by Zoey Tur, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation. After two days of digging through what was left of the plane, they found the parts of a handgun containing six spent cartridge cases and the note on the airsickness bag written by Burke, indicating that he may have been responsible for the crash. FBI investigators were able to lift a print from a fragment of finger stuck in the revolver's trigger guard, which positively identified Burke as holding the weapon when the aircraft crashed. In addition to the evidence uncovered at the crash site, other factors surfaced. Burke's coworker admitted to having lent him the gun, and Burke had also left a farewell message on his girlfriend's answering machine.[17]

David A. Burke

 
David Burke

David Augustus Burke (18 May 1952 – 7 December 1987) was born in Croydon, England, to Jamaican parents. Burke later emigrated to the United States with his parents. He had previously worked for USAir in Rochester, New York, where he was a suspect in a drug-smuggling ring that was bringing cocaine from Jamaica to Rochester via the airline. Never officially charged, he reportedly relocated to Los Angeles to avoid future suspicions.[7][17] Some former girlfriends, neighbors, and law enforcement officials described him as a violent man before the events of Flight 1771.[18] He had seven children from four women,[19] but never married.[7]

Aftermath

Several federal laws were passed after the crash, including a law that required "immediate seizure of all airline and airport employee credentials" after an employee's termination, resignation or retirement from an airline or airport position.[20] A policy was also implemented stipulating that all airline flight crew and airport employees were to be subject to the same security measures as airline passengers.[21]

The crash killed the president of Chevron USA, James Sylla, along with three of the company's public-affairs executives.[22] Also killed were three officials of Pacific Bell, prompting many large corporations to create policies to forbid travel by multiple executives on the same flight.[23]

In the "Garden of Hope" section of the Los Osos Valley Memorial Park, a granite and bronze marker honors the 42 victims of Flight 1771, and a number of the passengers and crew are buried in that cemetery.[24]

Dramatization

An episode of the Canadian documentary TV series Mayday titled "I'm the Problem" ("Murder on Board" for UK broadcasts) chronicled the events of Flight 1771 and its ensuing investigation.[14]

Flight 1771 was also dramatised in Aircrash Confidential.

See also

References

  1. ^ "FAA Registry (N350PS)". Federal Aviation Administration.
  2. ^ "ASN Aircraft accident British Aerospace BAe-146-200 N350PS Paso Robles, CA". Aviation-safety.net. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  3. ^ "California jet crash kills 44". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 8, 1987. p. A1.
  4. ^ "44 die in valley plane crash". Lodi News-Sentinel. (California). UPI. December 8, 1987. p. 1.
  5. ^ "Fired worker's note to ex-boss found". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. December 11, 1987. p. 3.
  6. ^ "From the Archives: Crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner centers on fired employee". Los Angeles Times. December 9, 1987. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  7. ^ a b c d Cummings, Judith (December 11, 1987). "Kin of Suspect Defiant and Contrite". The New York Times. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  8. ^ "Gun-toting fired employee linked to PSA plane crash; ex-boss was also on flight," Los Angeles Times, December 8, 1987
  9. ^ Pollack, Andrew (December 8, 1987). "California Plane Crash Kills 44; Gunshots Are Reported in Cabin". The New York Times. Retrieved April 3, 2018. The flight, PSA 1771, left Los Angeles shortly after 3:30 and was scheduled to arrive in San Francisco at 4:43 P.M.
  10. ^ . Houston Chronicle. December 17, 1987. Archived from the original on October 12, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  11. ^ a b "Note of doom found in PSA jet wreckage; message apparently written by fired USAir employee supports FBI's theory of vengeance," Los Angeles Times, December 11, 1987
  12. ^ "PSA Gunman's Note Told Boss He Was About to Die: Message Written on Paper Bag". Los Angeles Times. December 10, 1987. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  13. ^ a b c d e f "Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771". FBI Records Vault.
  14. ^ a b Produced in association with: Discovery Channel (Canada), Canal D (Canada) and National Geographic Channel (US & International) (February 10, 2012). "I'm The Problem". Mayday (TV series). Season 11. Episode 10. 40–55 minutes in.
  15. ^ "Witnesses See Plummeting Plane Moments Before Crash With PM-Plane Crash, Bjt". AP NEWS. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  16. ^ . Houston Chronicle. December 16, 1987. Archived from the original on October 3, 2012. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  17. ^ a b "PSA Flight 1771". Check-six.com. December 7, 1987. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  18. ^ "Jet Crash Suspect Had Violent Side". Chicago Tribune. December 11, 1987. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  19. ^ Magnuson, Ed (June 24, 2001). "David Burke's Deadly Revenge". Time.
  20. ^ Pescador, Katrina; Renga, Alan; Gay, Pamela (2012). San Diego International Airport, Lindbergh Field. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 110. ISBN 978-0-7385-8908-4.
  21. ^ Malnic, Eric (June 5, 1989). "PSA Crash Liability Case May Hinge on Airport Security". Los Angeles Times. ... the Federal Aviation Administration changed security procedures as a result of the incident.
  22. ^ Fisher, Lawrence (December 9, 1987). "4 Chevron Officials Died in Air Crash". The New York Times. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
  23. ^ Lapidos, Juliet (April 13, 2010). "Do Obama and Biden Always Fly in Separate Planes?". Slate. Retrieved February 22, 2012.
  24. ^ "PSA Flight 1771 Memorial Cache". Geocaching. Retrieved October 22, 2017.

External links

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  • [Usurped!] ([Usurped!])
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  • Aviation Safety Network criminal occurrence description

January 29, 2023
pacific, southwest, airlines, flight, 1771, scheduled, flight, along, west, coast, united, states, from, angeles, california, francisco, december, 1987, british, aerospace, 200a, registration, n350ps, crashed, luis, obispo, county, near, cayucos, after, being,. Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 was a scheduled flight along the West Coast of the United States from Los Angeles California to San Francisco On December 7 1987 the British Aerospace 146 200A registration N350PS crashed in San Luis Obispo County near Cayucos 3 4 after being hijacked by a passenger Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771N350PS the aircraft involved at Los Angeles International Airport in 1986HijackingDateDecember 7 1987SummaryMass murder suicide aircraft hijackingSiteSan Luis Obispo Countynear Cayucos California U S 35 31 20 N 120 51 25 W 35 52222 N 120 85694 W 35 52222 120 85694 Coordinates 35 31 20 N 120 51 25 W 35 52222 N 120 85694 W 35 52222 120 85694AircraftAircraft typeBritish Aerospace 146 200AAircraft nameThe Smile of StocktonOperatorPacific Southwest AirlinesRegistrationN350PS 1 Flight originLos Angeles International Airport California U S DestinationSan Francisco International Airport California U S Passengers38 2 Crew5Fatalities43 including the perpetrator and five victims shot before impact Survivors0All 43 passengers and crew aboard the plane died five of whom including the two pilots were presumably shot dead before the plane crashed The perpetrator David Burke was a disgruntled former employee of USAir the parent company of Pacific Southwest Airlines 5 The crash was the second worst mass murder in Californian history after the similar crash of Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 in 1964 Contents 1 Incident 2 David A Burke 3 Aftermath 4 Dramatization 5 See also 6 References 7 External linksIncident EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed September 2019 Learn how and when to remove this template message USAir which had recently purchased Pacific Southwest Airlines PSA terminated David A Burke a ticketing agent 6 for petty theft of 69 from in flight cocktail receipts he had also been suspected of involvement with a narcotics ring 7 After meeting with Ray Thomson his manager in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated Burke purchased a ticket on PSA Flight 1771 a daily flight from Los Angeles International Airport LAX to San Francisco International Airport SFO Thomson was a passenger on the flight which he regularly took for his daily commute from his workplace at LAX to his home in the San Francisco Bay Area 8 Flight 1771 departed from LAX at 15 31 PST scheduled to arrive in San Francisco at 16 43 9 Using USAir employee credentials that he had not yet surrendered Burke armed with a Smith amp Wesson Model 29 44 Magnum revolver that he had borrowed from a coworker was able to bypass the normal passenger security checkpoint at LAX 10 He gained access to the plane via the locked crew door using the access code scratched above the lock as reported by one of the lawyers representing families of two dead passengers After boarding the plane Burke wrote a message on an airsickness bag but whether or not he gave the message to Thomson to read before shooting him is unknown The note read Hi Ray I think it s sort of ironical that we end up like this I asked for some leniency for my family Remember Well I got none and you ll get none 7 11 12 The exact sequence of events remains undetermined though some details were able to be determined based on information from the aircraft s cockpit voice recorder CVR Due to the poor quality of the recording it was not possible to decipher everything spoken in the cockpit nor was it possible to positively attribute phrases to specific individuals 13 348 As the aircraft a four engined British Aerospace BAe 146 200 cruised at 22 000 feet 6 700 m over the central California coast the CVR recorded either Captain Gregg Lindamood 43 or First Officer James Nunn 48 asking air traffic control about reports of turbulence During the controller s reply the CVR picked up two high level gunshot like sound s 13 349 Burke had likely shot Thomson at this time 11 One of the pilots reported twice to the center controller that there had been gunshots fired aboard the aircraft As the controller asked the pilots whether they wished to divert to Monterey the sound of the cockpit door opening could be heard followed by the sound of a female voice believed to be Flight Attendant Debbie Neal What was said by her could not be discerned aside from the word captain 13 349 This was followed one second later by a male voice saying something that was mostly unintelligible on the recording but ended with the word problem The FBI s transcript notes that this may have been Burke s voice Although it is popularly believed by whom Discuss that the complete phrase spoken by Burke had been I m the problem this does not appear in the official FBI report Immediately following this exchange two more gunshot sounds were registered followed by another gunshot six seconds later 13 350 Most likely Burke shot Lindamood and Nunn incapacitating them if not outright killing them Fifteen seconds later the CVR picked up the sound of the cockpit door either opening or closing as well as increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and accelerated Thirty two seconds after the sounds made by the cockpit door a sixth and final gunshot was heard 13 350 All that could be determined was that this shot occurred in the passenger cabin Some speculation arose that Burke shot himself though this seems unlikely because a fragment of Burke s fingertip was lodged in the trigger when the investigators found the revolver This indicated that he was alive and was holding the gun until the moment of impact 14 The most probable victim was an off duty pilot that was working for PSA Douglas Arthur who was likely trying to enter the cockpit in an attempt to get the plane out of the dive For the remainder of the recording the sound of windscreen noise and distant voices could be heard 13 350 At 4 16 pm the plane crashed into a hillside on the Santa Rita cattle ranch 15 in the Santa Lucia Mountains between Paso Robles 16 and Cayucos The plane was estimated to have crashed slightly faster than the speed of sound around 770 mph 670 kn 340 m s 1 240 km h disintegrating instantly Based on the deformation of the titanium black box data recorder case the aircraft experienced a deceleration of 5 000 g 49 000 m s s when it hit the ground It was traveling around a 70 angle toward the south The plane struck a rocky hillside leaving a crater less than two feet 0 61 m deep and four feet 1 2 m across Only 11 of the passengers were ever identified citation needed After the crash site was located by a CBS News helicopter piloted by Zoey Tur investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation After two days of digging through what was left of the plane they found the parts of a handgun containing six spent cartridge cases and the note on the airsickness bag written by Burke indicating that he may have been responsible for the crash FBI investigators were able to lift a print from a fragment of finger stuck in the revolver s trigger guard which positively identified Burke as holding the weapon when the aircraft crashed In addition to the evidence uncovered at the crash site other factors surfaced Burke s coworker admitted to having lent him the gun and Burke had also left a farewell message on his girlfriend s answering machine 17 David A Burke Edit David Burke David Augustus Burke 18 May 1952 7 December 1987 was born in Croydon England to Jamaican parents Burke later emigrated to the United States with his parents He had previously worked for USAir in Rochester New York where he was a suspect in a drug smuggling ring that was bringing cocaine from Jamaica to Rochester via the airline Never officially charged he reportedly relocated to Los Angeles to avoid future suspicions 7 17 Some former girlfriends neighbors and law enforcement officials described him as a violent man before the events of Flight 1771 18 He had seven children from four women 19 but never married 7 Aftermath EditSeveral federal laws were passed after the crash including a law that required immediate seizure of all airline and airport employee credentials after an employee s termination resignation or retirement from an airline or airport position 20 A policy was also implemented stipulating that all airline flight crew and airport employees were to be subject to the same security measures as airline passengers 21 The crash killed the president of Chevron USA James Sylla along with three of the company s public affairs executives 22 Also killed were three officials of Pacific Bell prompting many large corporations to create policies to forbid travel by multiple executives on the same flight 23 In the Garden of Hope section of the Los Osos Valley Memorial Park a granite and bronze marker honors the 42 victims of Flight 1771 and a number of the passengers and crew are buried in that cemetery 24 Dramatization EditAn episode of the Canadian documentary TV series Mayday titled I m the Problem Murder on Board for UK broadcasts chronicled the events of Flight 1771 and its ensuing investigation 14 Flight 1771 was also dramatised in Aircrash Confidential See also EditAviation safety Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 was a similar mass murder suicide in 1964 Federal Express Flight 705 was a failed hijacking murder suicide in 1994 Samuel Byck attempted to hijack an airliner to fly into the White House in 1974 List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft List of aviation incidents involving terrorism List of Mayday episodes List of homicides in California List of accidents and incidents involving airliners in the United States CaliforniaReferences Edit FAA Registry N350PS Federal Aviation Administration ASN Aircraft accident British Aerospace BAe 146 200 N350PS Paso Robles CA Aviation safety net Retrieved December 19 2012 California jet crash kills 44 Spokesman Review Spokane Washington Associated Press December 8 1987 p A1 44 die in valley plane crash Lodi News Sentinel California UPI December 8 1987 p 1 Fired worker s note to ex boss found Spokesman Review Spokane Washington Associated Press December 11 1987 p 3 From the Archives Crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines jetliner centers on fired employee Los Angeles Times December 9 1987 Retrieved September 12 2019 a b c d Cummings Judith December 11 1987 Kin of Suspect Defiant and Contrite The New York Times Retrieved February 22 2012 Gun toting fired employee linked to PSA plane crash ex boss was also on flight Los Angeles Times December 8 1987 Pollack Andrew December 8 1987 California Plane Crash Kills 44 Gunshots Are Reported in Cabin The New York Times Retrieved April 3 2018 The flight PSA 1771 left Los Angeles shortly after 3 30 and was scheduled to arrive in San Francisco at 4 43 P M Security badges lost Houston Chronicle December 17 1987 Archived from the original on October 12 2012 Retrieved February 22 2012 a b Note of doom found in PSA jet wreckage message apparently written by fired USAir employee supports FBI s theory of vengeance Los Angeles Times December 11 1987 PSA Gunman s Note Told Boss He Was About to Die Message Written on Paper Bag Los Angeles Times December 10 1987 Retrieved February 22 2012 a b c d e f Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 FBI Records Vault a b Produced in association with Discovery Channel Canada Canal D Canada and National Geographic Channel US amp International February 10 2012 I m The Problem Mayday TV series Season 11 Episode 10 40 55 minutes in Witnesses See Plummeting Plane Moments Before Crash With PM Plane Crash Bjt AP NEWS Retrieved November 22 2022 Ex worker s badge found Houston Chronicle December 16 1987 Archived from the original on October 3 2012 Retrieved February 22 2012 a b PSA Flight 1771 Check six com December 7 1987 Retrieved December 19 2012 Jet Crash Suspect Had Violent Side Chicago Tribune December 11 1987 Retrieved February 22 2012 Magnuson Ed June 24 2001 David Burke s Deadly Revenge Time Pescador Katrina Renga Alan Gay Pamela 2012 San Diego International Airport Lindbergh Field Arcadia Publishing pp 110 ISBN 978 0 7385 8908 4 Malnic Eric June 5 1989 PSA Crash Liability Case May Hinge on Airport Security Los Angeles Times the Federal Aviation Administration changed security procedures as a result of the incident Fisher Lawrence December 9 1987 4 Chevron Officials Died in Air Crash The New York Times Retrieved December 24 2015 Lapidos Juliet April 13 2010 Do Obama and Biden Always Fly in Separate Planes Slate Retrieved February 22 2012 PSA Flight 1771 Memorial Cache Geocaching Retrieved October 22 2017 External links EditListen to this article 12 minutes source source source This audio file was created from a revision of this article dated 25 October 2013 2013 10 25 and does not reflect subsequent edits Audio help More spoken articles AirDisaster com article Usurped Archive Usurped Official NTSB Summary PSA Flight 182 amp 1771 Memorial Page at The PSA History Museum Archive Aviation Safety Network criminal occurrence description Portals 1980s Aviation California Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 amp oldid 1134700188, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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