NTSB Identification: DCA88MA008 .
The docket is stored on NTSB microfiche number 34799.
Scheduled 14 CFR Part 121: Air Carrier PACIFIC SOUTHWEST AIRLINES
Accident occurred Monday, December 07, 1987 in SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA
Probable Cause Approval Date: 1/4/1989
Aircraft: BRITISH AEROSPACE BAE-146-200, registration: N350PS
Injuries: 43 Fatal.
A RECENTLY DISCHARGED USAIR EMPLOYEE BOARDED PSA FLT 1771 AFTER HAVING LEFT A GOODBYE MESSAGE WITH FRIENDS. HE BYPASSED SECURITY AND CARRIED ABD A BORROWED 44 CALIBER PISTOL. A NOTE WRITTEN BY THIS PSGR, FOUND IN THE WRECKAGE, THREATENED HIS FORMER SUPERVISOR AT USAIR, WHO WAS ABOARD THE FLT. AT 1613, THE PLT RPTD TO OAKLAND ARTCC THAT HE HAD AN EMERGENCY AND THAT GUNSHOTS HAD BEEN FIRED IN THE AIRPLANE. WITHIN 25 SECONDS, OAKLAND CTR CONTROLLERS OBSERVED THAT PSA 1771 HAD BEGUN A RAPID DESCENT FM WHICH IT DID NOT RECOVER. WITNESSES ON THE GND SAID THE AIRPLANE WAS INTACT AND THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE OF FIRE BEFORE THE AIRPLANE STRUCK THE GND IN A STEEP NOSE-DOWN ATTITUDE. THE CVR TAPE REVEALED THE SOUNDS OF A SCUFFLE AND SEVERAL SHOTS WHICH WERE APPARENTLY FIRED IN OR NEAR THE COCKPIT. THE PISTOL WAS FOUND IN THE WRECKAGE WITH 6 EXPENDED ROUNDS. FAA RULES PERMITTED AIRLINE EMPLOYEES TO BYPASS SECURITY CHECKPOINTS.
The National Transportation Safety Board determines the probable cause(s) of this accident as follows:
CONTROL INTERFERENCE..INTENTIONAL..PASSENGER
SABOTAGE..INTENTIONAL..PASSENGER
EMOTIONAL REACTION..PASSENGER
http://www.ntsb.gov/NTSB/brief.asp?ev_id=20001213X32679&key=1 Date of Accident: 07 December 1987
Airline: Pacific Southwest Airlines
Aircraft: British Aerospace BAe-146
Location: San Luis Obispo, California
Flight Number: 1771
USAir employee David Burke, recently fired for stealing money from a 'beer fund' kept by Flight Attendants, used his airport clearance to gain access to the aircraft, on which the USAir CEO was flying, without going through a security checkpoint. Upon reaching cruise altitude, Burke dropped a hand-written note into the USAir CEO's lap reading 'It's kind of ironical, isn't it? I asked for leniency for my family, remember? Well, I got none, and now you'll get none.' Burke then proceeded to the cockpit with a loaded .44, shot both pilots, and put the aircraft into a steep dive from which it would never recover.
http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=12071987%AE=N350PS&airline=Pacific+Southwest+Airlines I have Flt 1771 noted here with the rest...
http://killtown.911review.org/chart.html#NTSBAlso note that Flt 1771 was the last hijacked plane in the U.S., was a SUICIDE HIJACKING, and is the combined #'s of Flt 11 and Flt 77!