- Albany, New York to
- La Guardia, New York City to
- DFW to
- San Antonio
The departure out of Albany was early in the morning and it was uneventful, as was the landing at La Guardia.
The airplane was loaded and it was at the maximum weight for takeoff. There was 169 passengers and a full crew. There were thunderstorms forecasted enroute to DFW so we were carrying extra fuel for route deviations. The airplane was one of the newest in the fleet and had a lot of new automation. It was a shiny red airplane and it was spotless inside and out.
The runway wasn't real long but it was still an everyday takeoff. Takeoff power settings are figured by the Flight Engineer for each takeoff. The more power you use in a jet engine the hotter the internal temperature gets and consequently they engine won't last as long (a simple explanation). We were near our maximum weight and we need maximum power.
It was a normal takeoff and the landing gear was raised and the flaps were just starting to come up when the Tower said: "Braniff flight one... contact departure control and give your company a call." Contacting departure control is normal but giving company a call was not.
The pilots were very busy so it was up to me to contact company. So... i got on one of the radios and called company.
Company said: "We have a sabotage alert against your aircraft, land immediately!"
I said: "Say again?"
They repeated the same phrase which I had a hard time understanding so I asked them to say it again...
Company said: "We think you have a bomb on the airplane and you need to land right now !"
Well... I understood that !
I tapped the Captain on the shoulder and said: "We have a sabotage alert against our aircraft and they want us to land immediately.
He said: "Say again?"
I repeated it and he said "Say again"...... again...
So I said: "They think we have a bomb on the airplane and we need to land immediately!"
The non-standard phrase of "sabotage alert" confused us all.
The captain immediately reduced the power on all three engines and leveled off... he was thinking altitude armed bomb. Later I would be very impressed by this move by the captain, but right then my instrument panel lit up with lots of amber lights. I laughed and thought the bomb had blown up and we have got big problems. I started fixing all the problems right then and there. In the process of fixing the problems I realized that some automated systems tripped non-essential equipment off line to give more power to the engines. The automated system thought we had an engine failure... because the power was pulled back so fast when the captain leveled off before the flaps were raised.
The Captain told me to get a phone patch with dispatch in Dallas and determine the exact course of action. I had never done that but I learned quickly. Dallas repeated the same story.
We were 20,000 pounds overweight. The captain told the air traffic controller that we had to dump fuel and we would need vectors to a safe area to do that. The controller said 'Just start dumping right there !" So I did. I dumped 20,000 pounds of jet fuel right over the top of New York City in about 4 minutes... we were only at 3,000 feet above the ground.
I was really busy pumping fuel out the back of the aircraft and running emergency checklists. When I finally finished all my work we were on final approach and about 60 seconds from touchdown... that was a long 60 seconds and we seemed to just hover in the air. We hadn't told the cabin what was going on... only that we had to land.
We landed normally and rolled out to the end of the Pier Runway... the runway actually goes out over the water on piers... it is about a 20 foot drop to the water.
The Captain told me to walk to the back of the cabin and lower the aft air stairs... remember the 727 had a stairs that could be lowered underneath the tail. I tried to look casual as a wandered down the aisle saying; "everything is ok" and "Howdy"... I actually put my hands in my pockets and tried to whistle.
When I lowered the aft air stairs I looked back up the aisle and gave the Captain the thumbs up. He made the announcement to evacuate the airplane out the aft stairs but didn't tell them why. I waited at the bottom of the stairs and told the most logically looking person he was in charge and told him to walk down the taxiway about 300 yards or so and don't let anyone fall over the edge into the water. I stayed at the bottom of the stairs and made sure everyone followed the first guy. It was an amazing evacuation. Everyone could walk but one man was on crutches. Everyone was orderly and quick but there was no panic. Eventually I went down to the crowd and moved them a little further away in a safer spot. Finally the Captain and Co-pilot joined us as we waited for a bus. That is when we told the passengers that there may be a bomb on board.
Eventually a bus was sent to pick all of us up. The FBI wanted to keep us contained so they dropped us off at a remote area of the ramp and we milled around for hours. Twice we got updates that the airplane was about to blow up and we watched eagerly... but there was no boom. The passengers were a mixed group and many were international travelers. Since we were stranded on the ramp for hours it was like social hour. They brought drinks out to us but there was no where to sit... except on the concrete.
The FBI was in charge and it was a slow moving process because there were no bomb dogs at La Guardia... they had to bring them over from Kennedy Airport. The story we got was someone was late for his flight and kept calling and saying there was a bomb on board. Eventually he showed up and wanted to get on the airplane... but they didn't let him on. Eventually we took off for Dallas about 6 hours late. We were full and at max weight. There was free booze for all and it was a party all the way to Dallas.
It was a normal takeoff and the landing gear was raised and the flaps were just starting to come up when the Tower said: "Braniff flight one... contact departure control and give your company a call." Contacting departure control is normal but giving company a call was not.
The pilots were very busy so it was up to me to contact company. So... i got on one of the radios and called company.
Company said: "We have a sabotage alert against your aircraft, land immediately!"
I said: "Say again?"
They repeated the same phrase which I had a hard time understanding so I asked them to say it again...
Company said: "We think you have a bomb on the airplane and you need to land right now !"
Well... I understood that !
I tapped the Captain on the shoulder and said: "We have a sabotage alert against our aircraft and they want us to land immediately.
He said: "Say again?"
I repeated it and he said "Say again"...... again...
So I said: "They think we have a bomb on the airplane and we need to land immediately!"
The non-standard phrase of "sabotage alert" confused us all.
The captain immediately reduced the power on all three engines and leveled off... he was thinking altitude armed bomb. Later I would be very impressed by this move by the captain, but right then my instrument panel lit up with lots of amber lights. I laughed and thought the bomb had blown up and we have got big problems. I started fixing all the problems right then and there. In the process of fixing the problems I realized that some automated systems tripped non-essential equipment off line to give more power to the engines. The automated system thought we had an engine failure... because the power was pulled back so fast when the captain leveled off before the flaps were raised.
The Captain told me to get a phone patch with dispatch in Dallas and determine the exact course of action. I had never done that but I learned quickly. Dallas repeated the same story.
We were 20,000 pounds overweight. The captain told the air traffic controller that we had to dump fuel and we would need vectors to a safe area to do that. The controller said 'Just start dumping right there !" So I did. I dumped 20,000 pounds of jet fuel right over the top of New York City in about 4 minutes... we were only at 3,000 feet above the ground.
I was really busy pumping fuel out the back of the aircraft and running emergency checklists. When I finally finished all my work we were on final approach and about 60 seconds from touchdown... that was a long 60 seconds and we seemed to just hover in the air. We hadn't told the cabin what was going on... only that we had to land.
We landed normally and rolled out to the end of the Pier Runway... the runway actually goes out over the water on piers... it is about a 20 foot drop to the water.
The Captain told me to walk to the back of the cabin and lower the aft air stairs... remember the 727 had a stairs that could be lowered underneath the tail. I tried to look casual as a wandered down the aisle saying; "everything is ok" and "Howdy"... I actually put my hands in my pockets and tried to whistle.
When I lowered the aft air stairs I looked back up the aisle and gave the Captain the thumbs up. He made the announcement to evacuate the airplane out the aft stairs but didn't tell them why. I waited at the bottom of the stairs and told the most logically looking person he was in charge and told him to walk down the taxiway about 300 yards or so and don't let anyone fall over the edge into the water. I stayed at the bottom of the stairs and made sure everyone followed the first guy. It was an amazing evacuation. Everyone could walk but one man was on crutches. Everyone was orderly and quick but there was no panic. Eventually I went down to the crowd and moved them a little further away in a safer spot. Finally the Captain and Co-pilot joined us as we waited for a bus. That is when we told the passengers that there may be a bomb on board.
Eventually a bus was sent to pick all of us up. The FBI wanted to keep us contained so they dropped us off at a remote area of the ramp and we milled around for hours. Twice we got updates that the airplane was about to blow up and we watched eagerly... but there was no boom. The passengers were a mixed group and many were international travelers. Since we were stranded on the ramp for hours it was like social hour. They brought drinks out to us but there was no where to sit... except on the concrete.
The FBI was in charge and it was a slow moving process because there were no bomb dogs at La Guardia... they had to bring them over from Kennedy Airport. The story we got was someone was late for his flight and kept calling and saying there was a bomb on board. Eventually he showed up and wanted to get on the airplane... but they didn't let him on. Eventually we took off for Dallas about 6 hours late. We were full and at max weight. There was free booze for all and it was a party all the way to Dallas.
1 comment:
Takeoff to touchdown was 7 minutes.
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