PSA Flight 1771
Encyclopedia
Pacific Southwest Airlines
Flight 1771 was a commercial flight that crashed near Cayucos, California
, United States, on December 7, 1987, as a result of a murder-suicide scheme by one of the passengers. All 43 people on board the aircraft died. The murderer who caused the crash, David Burke (born May 18, 1952), was an angry former employee of USAir, the parent company of PSA.
to San Francisco. Burke's supervisor, Raymond F. Thomson, was a passenger on the flight, which he took regularly for his commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles International Airport
(LAX).
Using his unsurrendered USAir credentials, Burke, armed with a loaded .44 Magnum
revolver
that he had borrowed from a co-worker, was able to bypass the security checkpoint at LAX. After boarding the plane, Burke wrote a message on an airsickness bag which read:
As the plane, a four-engine British Aerospace
BAe 146-200
, cruised at 22,000 feet (6700 m) over the central California coast, the cockpit voice recorder
(CVR) recorded the sound of two shots being fired in the cabin. The cockpit door was opened and a female, presumed to be a flight attendant
, told the cockpit crew "We have a problem." The captain replied, "What kind of problem?" Burke then announced "I'm the problem," and fired three more shots that incapacitated or killed the pilots.
Several seconds later, the CVR picked up increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and accelerated. A final gunshot was heard, and it is speculated that Burke shot himself. The plane descended and crashed nose-first into the hillside of a cattle ranch at 4:16 p.m. in the Santa Lucia Mountains
near Paso Robles and Cayucos
. The plane was estimated to have crashed at a speed of around 700 mph (1100 km/h, 600 kn), disintegrating instantly. The crash was witnessed by three different people on the ground, all of whom were able to see the plane until a fraction of a second before its impact. Two men in a pickup driving east on Highway 46
saw the plane against a clear blue sky. A third witness, who was very near the impact site never publicly came forward. The plane was completely intact until it crashed, and was traveling at an approximately 70-degree angle toward the south. The plane impacted a rocky hillside, leaving a crater less than 2 feet deep and 4 feet across, presumably where the landing gear struck the ground. Unburnt paper flew everywhere as small aircraft fuel fires burned on the ground. No one survived the crash. The human remains were in very small pieces, the largest of which were feet in shoes. The force of the impact caused such extensive damage that 27 of the passengers were never identified.
After the crash site was located by a CBS News
helicopter piloted by Bob Tur
, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board
(NTSB) were joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
(FBI). After two days of digging through what was left of the plane, they found a handgun containing six spent bullet casings and the note on the airsickness bag written by Burke, admitting he was responsible for the crash. FBI investigators were also able to lift a print from a fragment of finger stuck in the pistol's trigger guard, which positively identified Burke. In addition to the evidence uncovered at the crash site, other factors surfaced: Burke's co-worker admitted to having lent him the gun, and Burke had also left a farewell message on his girlfriend's telephone answering machine.
n parents living in Britain.
Previously Burke had worked for an airline 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. He was never officially charged, but is reported to have relocated to Los Angeles to avoid future suspicions.
The crash killed the president, James R.Sylla, 53, and three other managers of Chevron USA along with three officials of Pacific Bell
, which prompted many large corporations to create or revise policies on group travel by executives.
The crash also killed Stephen E. Cone, a lawyer in San Francisco with the firm Farella, Braun and Martel.
Pacific Southwest Airlines
Pacific Southwest Airlines was a United States airline headquartered in San Diego, California, that operated from 1949 to 1988. It was one of the first large discount airlines in the United States and is considered a precursor to Southwest Airlines...
Flight 1771 was a commercial flight that crashed near Cayucos, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, United States, on December 7, 1987, as a result of a murder-suicide scheme by one of the passengers. All 43 people on board the aircraft died. The murderer who caused the crash, David Burke (born May 18, 1952), was an angry former employee of USAir, the parent company of PSA.
Background
Burke had been terminated by USAir, which had recently purchased and was in the process of absorbing Pacific Southwest Airlines, for petty theft of $69 from in-flight cocktail receipts. After meeting with his supervisor in an unsuccessful attempt to be reinstated, he purchased a ticket on PSA Flight 1771, a daily flight from Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to San Francisco. Burke's supervisor, Raymond F. Thomson, was a passenger on the flight, which he took regularly for his commute from San Francisco to Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport
Los Angeles International Airport is the primary airport serving the Greater Los Angeles Area, the second-most populated metropolitan area in the United States. It is most often referred to by its IATA airport code LAX, with the letters pronounced individually...
(LAX).
Using his unsurrendered USAir credentials, Burke, armed with a loaded .44 Magnum
.44 Magnum
The .44 Remington Magnum, or simply .44 Magnum, is a large-bore cartridge originally designed for revolvers. After introduction, it was quickly adopted for carbines and rifles...
revolver
Revolver
A revolver is a repeating firearm that has a cylinder containing multiple chambers and at least one barrel for firing. The first revolver ever made was built by Elisha Collier in 1818. The percussion cap revolver was invented by Samuel Colt in 1836. This weapon became known as the Colt Paterson...
that he had borrowed from a co-worker, was able to bypass the security checkpoint at LAX. After boarding the plane, Burke wrote a message on an airsickness bag which read:
- Hi Ray. I think it's sort of ironical that we ended up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family. Remember? Well, I got none and you'll get none.
As the plane, a four-engine British Aerospace
British Aerospace
British Aerospace plc was a UK aircraft, munitions and defence-systems manufacturer. Its head office was in the Warwick House in the Farnborough Aerospace Centre in Farnborough, Hampshire...
BAe 146-200
BAe 146
The British Aerospace 146 is a medium-sized commercial airliner formerly manufactured in the United Kingdom by British Aerospace, later part of BAE Systems. Production ran from 1983 until 2002. Manufacture of an improved version known as the Avro RJ began in 1992...
, cruised at 22,000 feet (6700 m) over the central California coast, the cockpit voice recorder
Cockpit voice recorder
A cockpit voice recorder , often referred to as a "black box", is a flight recorder used to record the audio environment in the flight deck of an aircraft for the purpose of investigation of accidents and incidents...
(CVR) recorded the sound of two shots being fired in the cabin. The cockpit door was opened and a female, presumed to be a flight attendant
Flight attendant
Flight attendants or cabin crew are members of an aircrew employed by airlines primarily to ensure the safety and comfort of passengers aboard commercial flights, on select business jet aircraft, and on some military aircraft.-History:The role of a flight attendant derives from that of similar...
, told the cockpit crew "We have a problem." The captain replied, "What kind of problem?" Burke then announced "I'm the problem," and fired three more shots that incapacitated or killed the pilots.
Several seconds later, the CVR picked up increasing windscreen noise as the airplane pitched down and accelerated. A final gunshot was heard, and it is speculated that Burke shot himself. The plane descended and crashed nose-first into the hillside of a cattle ranch at 4:16 p.m. in the Santa Lucia Mountains
Santa Lucia Mountains
The Santa Lucia Mountains or Santa Lucia Range is a mountain range in coastal California, running from Monterey southeast for 105 miles to San Luis Obispo. The highest summit is Junipero Serra Peak, in Monterey County...
near Paso Robles and Cayucos
Cayucos, California
Cayucos is a census-designated place located on the coast in San Luis Obispo County, California along California State Route 1 between Cambria to the north and Morro Bay to the south...
. The plane was estimated to have crashed at a speed of around 700 mph (1100 km/h, 600 kn), disintegrating instantly. The crash was witnessed by three different people on the ground, all of whom were able to see the plane until a fraction of a second before its impact. Two men in a pickup driving east on Highway 46
California State Route 46
State Route 46 is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is a major crossing of the Coast Ranges, connecting SR 1 on the Central Coast near Cambria and US 101 in Paso Robles with SR 99 at Famoso in the San Joaquin Valley. East of Paso Robles, where it carried U.S...
saw the plane against a clear blue sky. A third witness, who was very near the impact site never publicly came forward. The plane was completely intact until it crashed, and was traveling at an approximately 70-degree angle toward the south. The plane impacted a rocky hillside, leaving a crater less than 2 feet deep and 4 feet across, presumably where the landing gear struck the ground. Unburnt paper flew everywhere as small aircraft fuel fires burned on the ground. No one survived the crash. The human remains were in very small pieces, the largest of which were feet in shoes. The force of the impact caused such extensive damage that 27 of the passengers were never identified.
After the crash site was located by a CBS News
CBS News
CBS News is the news division of American television and radio network CBS. The current chairman is Jeff Fager who is also the executive producer of 60 Minutes, while the current president of CBS News is David Rhodes. CBS News' flagship program is the CBS Evening News, hosted by the network's main...
helicopter piloted by Bob Tur
Bob Tur
Robert A. "Bob" Tur is an American scientific researcher that used his knowledge of sensor physics and systems integration to build the first modern news helicopters for live new reporting. As a broadcast reporter, and eventual 10,000 hour commercial pilot, Tur created the Los Angeles News Service...
, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
(NTSB) were joined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is an agency of the United States Department of Justice that serves as both a federal criminal investigative body and an internal intelligence agency . The FBI has investigative jurisdiction over violations of more than 200 categories of federal crime...
(FBI). After two days of digging through what was left of the plane, they found a handgun containing six spent bullet casings and the note on the airsickness bag written by Burke, admitting he was responsible for the crash. FBI investigators were also able to lift a print from a fragment of finger stuck in the pistol's trigger guard, which positively identified Burke. In addition to the evidence uncovered at the crash site, other factors surfaced: Burke's co-worker admitted to having lent him the gun, and Burke had also left a farewell message on his girlfriend's telephone answering machine.
David Burke
The perpetrator, David Burke, was born May 18, 1952 to JamaicaJamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
n parents living in Britain.
Previously Burke had worked for an airline in Rochester, New York
Rochester, New York
Rochester is a city in Monroe County, New York, south of Lake Ontario in the United States. Known as The World's Image Centre, it was also once known as The Flour City, and more recently as The Flower City...
, where he was a suspect in a drug-smuggling ring that was bringing cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
to Rochester via the airline. He was never officially charged, but is reported to have relocated to Los Angeles to avoid future suspicions.
Consequences
Several federal laws were passed after the crash, including a law that required "immediate seizure of all airline employee credentials" after termination from an airline position. A policy was also put into place stipulating that all airline flight crew were to be subject to the same security measures as passengers.The crash killed the president, James R.Sylla, 53, and three other managers of Chevron USA along with three officials of Pacific Bell
Pacific Bell
The Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Company was the name of the Bell System's telephone operations in California. It gained in size by acquiring smaller telephone companies along the Pacific coast, such as Sunset Telephone & Telegraph in 1917...
, which prompted many large corporations to create or revise policies on group travel by executives.
See also
- List of notable accidents and incidents on commercial aircraft
- Pacific Air Lines Flight 773Pacific Air Lines Flight 773Pacific Air Lines Flight 773 was a Pacific Air Lines Fairchild F-27A airliner that crashed at 6:49 a.m. on May 7, 1964 near San Ramon, California, USA...
- May 7, 1964 - FedEx Flight 705FedEx Flight 705On April 7, 1994, FedEx Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 cargo jet ferrying electronics across the United States from Memphis, Tennessee to San Jose, California, experienced an attempted hijacking for the purpose of a suicide attack....
- April 7, 1994
The crash also killed Stephen E. Cone, a lawyer in San Francisco with the firm Farella, Braun and Martel.