The Off-Duty Flight Engineer

A flight engineer for an air-cargo company boarded one of its cargo jets, a DC-10 leaving Memphis for California, although he was not scheduled to work the flight. Before departure he was in the cockpit adjusting instruments and controls as if he were a crew member, and beforehand he had rearranged his finances and changed his insurance beneficiaries. Shortly after takeoff he entered the cockpit and attacked the three crew members with hammers and then a spear gun, causing severe injuries including skull fractures. The crew managed an emergency landing in Memphis. He was charged with attempting to seize or exercise control of the aircraft by force. The defence argued there was no proof he tried to gain control of the plane; if anything, the evidence suggested he contemplated a situation where no one would control it.