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. Calloway, a Federal Express employee facing possible dismissal for falsifying his flight hours.

Calloway boarded the scheduled flight as a deadhead passenger carrying a guitar case concealing several hammers and a speargun. He planned to crash the aircraft hoping he would appear to be an employee killed in an accident, so his family could collect on a $2.5 million life insurance policy provided by Federal Express. and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Flight crew and hijacker

Three flight crew members were in the cockpit on this flight: 49-year-old Captain David G. Sanders, who had worked for FedEx for 20 years and previously served with the U.S. Navy for nine years during the Vietnam War; 42-year-old First Officer James M. Tucker Jr., who had worked for FedEx for 10 years and previously served with the U.S. Navy for 12 years during the Vietnam War and People Express Airlines for three years; and 39-year-old Flight Engineer Andrew H. Peterson, who had worked for FedEx for 5 years. The previous flight crew had gone one minute over their eight-hour flight limit the previous day, so they were replaced by Sanders, Tucker, and Peterson. He also carried with him a note written to his ex-wife "describing the author's apparent despair".

About 26 minutes after takeoff, as the plane was passing , 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. All three members of the crew received multiple blows from a hammer. Both Peterson and Tucker, the first officer, suffered fractured skulls, and Peterson's temporal artery was severed. He pulled the plane into a sudden 15° climb, throwing Sanders, Peterson, and Calloway out of the cockpit and into the galley. To try to throw Calloway off balance, Tucker then turned the plane into a left roll, almost on its side. This rolled the men along the smoke curtain onto the left side of the galley. The flight crew eventually succeeded in restraining and disarming Calloway.

With Calloway momentarily under control, Captain Sanders took control of the aircraft from First Officer Tucker, who by then had his sense of touch severely diminished and had additionally become paralyzed on the right side of his body. Tucker went back to assist Peterson in restraining Calloway. Sanders communicated with air traffic control, preparing for an emergency landing back at Memphis International Airport. Meanwhile, Calloway started fighting with the crew again. , Calloway is imprisoned at United States Penitentiary, Coleman I, in Florida.

thumb|N306FE in 2015

On May 26, 1994, the Air Line Pilots Association awarded Dave Sanders, Jim Tucker, and Andy Peterson the Gold Medal Award for heroism, the highest award a civilian pilot can receive. Due to the severity of their injuries, none of the crew was re-certified as medically fit to fly commercially.

The McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 aircraft involved, N306FE, was repaired after the incident then returned to service. In 2008, it was upgraded to an MD-10 which, among other improvements, eliminated the need for a flight engineer. Later, on June 7, 2022, the aircraft diverted to Tulsa due to a fire indication in the rear lower cargo hold. A ladybug infestation from a leaking package in lower cargo caused an erroneous indication. While some sources record this as an actual fire, no smoke or fire was noted. On December 31, 2022, it was among the last of FedEx's MD-10 fleet to be retired, having made its maiden flight on November 5, 1985, and having been delivered to FedEx on January 24, 1986. it is stored at Victorville Airport.

The attempted hijacking of Flight 705 was featured in "Fight for Your Life", a season-three (2005) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the U.S., and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and Australia), which included interviews with the flight crew. The dramatization was broadcast with the title "Suicide Attack" in the United Kingdom, Australia, and Asia.

The sixth episode of UK TV series Black Box (called Survival in the Sky in the U.S.), "Sky Crimes", also features the attempted takeover using audio between air traffic control and the crew.

The book Hijacked: The True Story of the Heroes of Flight 705, written by Dave Hirschman, was published in 1997.

The American History comedic podcast The Dollop covered this incident in its 160th episode.

See also

  • Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas DC-10 family
  • List of accidents and incidents involving commercial aircraft
  • Suicide by aircraft
  • Horizon Air Flight 2059, a similar unsuccessful hijacking attempt by a jumpseating crew member.
  • Continental Airlines Flight 11, a suicide airliner bombing for insurance fraud.
  • All Nippon Airways Flight 61, an unsuccessful hijacking attempt by a passenger.
  • Air France Flight 8969, another 1994 hijack which was also foiled.
  • British Airways Flight 2069, an attempted hijacking by a mentally unstable passenger.

Notes