In 1994 an attack on FedEx HQ was avoided, would have destroyed the entire company

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From The Dollop a comedy show on real world history we talked about this show on gaf in the past.
Just finished the ep from last week and HOLY SHIT it was insane like wow totally insane.

Federal Express Flight 705

On April 7, 1994, Federal Express Flight 705, a McDonnell Douglas DC-10-30 cargo jet carrying electronics across the United States from Memphis, Tennessee to San Jose, California, experienced an attempted hijacking for the purpose of a suicide attempt.

Auburn Calloway, a Federal Express employee facing possible dismissal for lying about his reported flight hours, boarded the scheduled flight as a deadheading passenger with a guitar case carrying several hammers and a speargun. He intended to disable the aircraft's cockpit voice recorder before take-off and, once airborne, kill the crew with hammers so their injuries would appear consistent with an accident rather than a hijacking. The speargun would be a last resort. He would then crash the aircraft while just appearing to be an employee killed in an accident. This would make his family eligible for a $2.5 million life insurance policy paid by Federal Express.

Calloway's plan was unsuccessful. Despite severe injuries, the crew was able to fight back, subdue Calloway and land the aircraft safely. An attempt at a mental health defense was unsuccessful and Calloway was subsequently convicted of multiple charges including attempted murder, attempted air piracy and interference with flight crew operations. He received two consecutive life sentences. Calloway's appeal was successful in having his conviction for interference ruled as a lesser included offense of attempted air piracy.

You can read about it on the wiki page below but I would STRONGLY argue to listen to the podcast not a very long one this time only like 40 min.

DOWNLOAD THE EP HERE (Direct link to .mp3).


NSFW picture here

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Express_Flight_705
 
I don't think this would've destroyed the company, especially in 1994.

Now if it was when the company started, then maybe you could have an argument.
 
Despite loud ringing in his ear and being dazed, Peterson grabbed the gun by the spear between the barbs and the barrel. A lengthy struggle ensued with the flight engineer and captain as Tucker, also an ex-Navy pilot, performed extreme aerial maneuvers with the aircraft.

Tucker pulled the plane into a sudden 15 degree 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 combatants along the smoke curtain onto the left side of the galley. Eventually, Tucker had rolled the plane onto its back at 140 degrees, while attempting to maintain a visual reference of the environment around him through the windows. Peterson, Sanders and Calloway were then pinned to the ceiling of the plane. Calloway managed to reach his hammer hand free and hit Sanders in the head again. Just then, Tucker put the plane into a steep dive. This pushed the combatants back to the seat curtain, but the wings and elevators started to flutter. At this point Tucker could hear the wind rushing against the cockpit windows. At 530 mph, the elevators on the plane became unresponsive due to the disrupted airflow. Tucker realized this was because the throttles were at full power. Releasing his only usable hand to pull back the throttles to idle, he managed to pull the plane out of the dive while it slowed down.

Like some sort of action movie, christ. Props to the crew.
 
I think he means the building,but I'm not sure.

I don't even think this is accurate. The Wikipedia page doesn't mention anything about him trying to crash into HQ. Considering the ultimate goal was make it look like an accident to defraud FedEx, smashing it into HQ probably would've been counterproductive.
 
I was living in Memphis at the time and remember when this happened, but no, I don't think he had any intention to crash it into headquarters.
 
FedEx has an entire airline. One plan wouldn't kill the company.

Fun fact: They still allowed employees to 'jump seat' in their planes like this guy did until 2002 or so when they changed it because of 9/11
 
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