Comments on: Aches on a Plane

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 19 May 2021 05:20:18 +0000

Just finished the book “Hijacked” which is all about this incident and gives important and clarifying information plus up close and personals on the heroes of FedEx 705 and Calloway, himself. The fight scene is so well described that it puts you there. After having just read the book, and as filled as I am with awe and reverence for the skill and courage these men showed on that day, April 7th, 1994, I would have picked a more respectful title to the article and dispensed with the “Airplane” asides. To me, it’s like making light of The Holocaust to appear clever and “with it.” What’s truly “with it” is appreciating a rare display of true heroism.

By: Shantanu

Shantanu — Mon, 05 Apr 2021 18:03:30 +0000

Interesting read, however it shows how complex a human brain is.

Very appropriate plot for a thrilling movie.

By: Augie Wren

Augie Wren — Thu, 21 Aug 2014 04:14:54 +0000

Well written and interesting piece. True edge-of-your-seat dialog.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 27 Mar 2014 03:56:04 +0000

I love damn interesting keep the articles comming
!

By: John Peterson

John Peterson — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 14:18:40 +0000

This was a well written, interesting account of the attack. There is much more background on the attacker, Auburn Calloway that never made it into the news.

I’m a former Navy pilot, now retired airline captain and I flew with pilots who knew Calloway prior to his employment with FedEx. This is what they told me.

Calloway was a sub-standard pilot. His first response to any criticism was to cry “racism.” It got to the point that during Naval pilot training, no instructor was allowed to give him below average ratings despite his poor performance. He just got extra time and was “trained to proficiency.” This does not happen, normally. I know. I was a Navy instructor pilot. Once he was deployed to his fleet squadron, Calloway was so poor a performer that he was never advanced to aircraft commander, relegated to being only a co-polot.

Calloway exited the Navy and was hired by Flying Tigers, another historic cargo company that subsequently was bought out by Federal Express. Calloway did not make it through his probationary year at Tigers. He was fired. He then went to Federal Express and lied on his application, omitting that he had been hired and fired by Flying Tigers. Some of the FedEx pilots who were former Tigers pilots recognized Calloway and reported him to management. Whether Calloway was going to be terminated for employment fraud or just poor performance is not known. What is known is that he was a low skilled pilot with an over-inflated image of himself and a hair trigger for claiming racism whenever any deficiency was pointed out.

By: madastonniesuh

madastonniesuh — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:09:46 +0000

[quote]Hejo said: “If we reverse the roles here (angry white guy who believes the blacks in his life are all racist against him) then we would have had a major news story which would’ve fit the media narrative of “racist white attacks black co-workers”. …[/quote]

Not just media narrative, it is because it evokes history. When a black guy attacks a white guy, people tend to take it as a personal fight because blacks haven’t dominated whites before and the incident does not fit a formula in the past. i am not saying it is correct in anyway. Doing a little analysis of what the audience thinks. Do I make sense?

[quote]white racist/black victim = “sexy news!!” = fits media narrative.
black racist/white victim = “never happens”, “don’t want to hear it”, “you must be a racist for suggesting that blacks can be racist” = does NOT fit media narrative.
Alan Bellows, well done on an well written piece!!”[/quote]

When whites are the victims, they downplay it. When blacks are the victims, everyone knows about it. It is all down to the victims’ willingness to talk about the episode.

By: madastonniesuh

madastonniesuh — Wed, 22 May 2013 15:50:25 +0000

I saw the documentary on National Geographic I think.

Sometimes it is the fear of being discriminated that is the problem. If you think people will discriminate, you will act suspicious and generally unfriendly. People will not like you and they will let you know of the fact. You in turn will hate them more and you will probably feel helpless if they have control over your life. Then one day, you get unhinged and do something like what this guy did. It is obviously wrong, but I am answering the most important question here: Why would anybody do this?

“This proves it is possible to fly while hammered..” nice one.

By: Hejo

Hejo — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 18:43:20 +0000

If we reverse the roles here (angry white guy who believes the blacks in his life are all racist against him) then we would have had a major news story which would’ve fit the media narrative of “racist white attacks black co-workers”. We would’ve had endless coverage where the victims families were interviewed by Oprah (ex: what kind of racist do you think could attack your husband crushing his skull with a hammer simply because he is black?). That two headed monster aka racial shakedown con-artists Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton would’ve been going mental and stirring up their fellow blacks that this attack was motivated by race hate. I state all this as one of the earlier posts wondered why this horrendous crime got so little by way of press coverage. So to be very clear; this got limited coverage simply because it did not fit the media dogma of white racist/black victim. In other words:

white racist/black victim = “sexy news!!” = fits media narrative.
black racist/white victim = “never happens”, “don’t want to hear it”, “you must be a racist for suggesting that blacks can be racist” = does NOT fit media narrative.

Alan Bellows, well done on an well written piece!!

By: sid

sid — Thu, 26 Jul 2012 17:50:47 +0000

Not that I would argue with your assessment of this individual, but I would guess there is a physical component to the exam.

By: Alan Bellows

Alan Bellows — Wed, 18 Jul 2012 23:26:06 +0000

[quote]raymilton said: “An unforeseen consequence of affirmative active based hiring policies. Less that 4% of military pilots are black for a reason, they are unable to pass the mental portion of the exam. That’s a damn interesting story I’d like to read!”[/quote]

Which part of an exam is not the “mental” portion?

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