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ATC? what happens when I dial in 7700 transponder??

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Johnny Smith

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May 27, 2001, 4:29:10 PM5/27/01
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As a student pilot with 26 hours...I was in the middle of doing
my cross-country night requirements with my instructor awhile
back...and the thought occurred to me...WHAT exactly happens
on the ATC side of things when I drop in 7700 on my transponder?
I have read that, "bells and whistles start blaring"...but was
curious as to what exactly that means? Can any of you folks
give me a detailed description?


Thanks,

Johnny


Steven P. McNicoll

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May 27, 2001, 4:46:35 PM5/27/01
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"Johnny Smith" <Johnny...@home.com> wrote in message
news:qsdQ6.78662$I5.17...@news1.rdc1.tn.home.com...

In a center, the data block flashes EMRG, but no bells or whistles as I
recall. In a terminal facility there is a pulsating alarm.


Par Thind

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May 28, 2001, 4:11:12 AM5/28/01
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Well, at the start of my training a few years back we had a chance
to visit the tower at Edmonton City Center (CYXD). And they did
a simulation squak of 7700...and man, if they described it as
merely "bells & whistles" that is a HUGE UNDERSTATEMENT!!!

The tower "alarm/bell" virtually made you go deaf, it was frighteningly
loud and then afterwards the controllers told us why they get pissed
when new pilots accidentally squak the code. Also, when the code is
squaked on the radar screen; the plane which squaks the code is
singled out and the "dot" is much bigger and flashes from what I
can recall (but I'm not 100% certain).

On a side note, I've read in some magazines that cycling the
transponder from 7500 (hi-jack) to 7700 (emergency) alerts
the police/army and they will have armed intervention when you
arrive on the ground. I'd love to see the face of someone who
accidentally cycled that and then arrived to land with armed
security all over the place...hehehe


Steven P. McNicoll wrote in message ...

T H

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May 28, 2001, 1:42:22 PM5/28/01
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Reposted without permission:


From today's Bloomington, IN _Herald Tribune_:

"Teen arrested in '91 hijacking pleads guilty to lesser charge"
By Kurt Van der Dussen
H-T Staff Writer

A Monroe County teen charged with hijacking a private plane
and its pilot at Monroe County Airport last year has agreed to plead
guilty to reduced criminal charges in Monroe County Circuit Court.
Robert A. Sparks, 18, 670 S. Kirby Road, will be found guilty
of confinement, a lesser felony reduced by plea agreement from
felony kidnapping. He will be sentenced June 15, following his
graduate from high school.
Sparks was charged with kidnapping after an incident on the
night of Sept. 22, 1991. According to police, Sparks took
pilot Gregory Travis hostage with a shotgun and hijacked his
private plane, forcing Travis to take off shortly after midnight
on what Sparks wanted to be a flight to Montana.
Once airborne, Travis transmitted a secret radio code
indicating to Federal Aviation Administration control towers
that he had been hijacked. When it started to rain, FAA air
controllers tracking him ordered him to divert to Kankakee, ILL.,
where he persuaded Sparks he had to land because of the weather.
Once on the ground, Travis told police, Sparks seemed to have
second thoughts and decided that perhaps he should turn himself in.
He unloaded his shotgun and left it in the plane and the
two walked into the airport terminal where waiting police arrested
Sparks.
Though Sparks was 17 at the time, he was charged with
kidnapping as an adult and was eventually released on $50,000
bond.
The plea agreement accepted Monday by Judge Elizabeth
Mann would require Spraks to serve 90 days on work release out
of the Monroe County Jail and receive psychological counseling
for a year. He could earn reduction of the conviction to
a misdemeanor if he successfully completes probation.
Monroe County Prosecutor Bob Miller said he agreed to
the plea agreement significantly reducing the charges against
Sparks because of Sparks' psychological problems, his
youth, his lack of any previous criminal record and the
approval of hijack fictim Travis.
"It was a very bizarre act by a very emotionally
disturbed young man," said Miller.

-------------------end text-------------------------

Ok, so you get the general idea. Here's an eyewitness account:

The night in question, Saturday September 22, found our hero at the
local airport about 9pm cleaning his plane. Of all the things I've had to
deal with, explaing what the hell I was doing at the airport on a saturday
night washing my plane has been the most difficult. For the rec.aviation
record, yes I love my plane. I also have a real life though and she
happened
to be working late that night - we were supposed to rendezvous around
10pm. At 9 I was just finishing up doing a micro-mesh job to
the windshield and getting ready to head out.

My plane was in its hangar. The closest source of water was a few hangar
rows away. I took my tools (bucket, mops, etc) over to rinse them out.
In a few minutes a young man appeared (out of nowhere) with a shotgun and
announced that I was his hostage. Well, hey, I've been around the track
a few times, been mugged in Cleveland, New York (twice), and San Francisco.
A guy in fatigues with a shotgun in the middle of the midwestern plains
wasn't terribly scary. So I tried to laugh it off and asked the guy if
he had been hunting, thinking that he was, perhaps, just trying to
see if he could rattle me.

Well, the guy had it bad for somebody. He wanted to know where the tower
controllers were and if anyone else was at the airport. No one was, but
I told him the tower controllers would be back VERY soon (they actually
wouldn't be back till 7am the next day) thinking that if he thought people
were going to show up he might beat it.

Turns out he was looking for authority figures to blow away. He told me he
had
tried to kill his boss that night, but couldn't find him. Heh-heh thinks
I. So, we were going to wait for the controllers to come back and then
we were all going to be his hostage. Great, I think, I can't wait to be
part of the unholy mess that'll ensue when this guy has a bunch of
"hostages" and we call the local police out of the doughnut shops with a
fresh
load of sugar and caffeine in their systems.

So I ask if we can at least go back to my hangar. He says OK, but no funny
stuff. He's real nervous, sweating a lot, says he has lots of weapons.
Fine, I think. We get to the hangar, he checks it out, we go inside.
I show him my plane he says "We might be going for a ride later." Bonehead
move on my part I think - I was trying to be freindly and show him that
we could talk about other things than large burnt holes in my body - he
sees it as a transportation device. I told him it wasn't airworthy - that
I was doing some work.

We talk for two hours - during which time he is getting more and more antsy
and nervous - starting to wave the gun kind of menacingly at me and stuff.
Wants to know where the controllers are. I confess that I lied and that
they
won't be there until next morning. I ask him what he wants to do. He's
not sure. I am, at this point, getting VERY tired of the whole thing
and want a resolution. I have this strange feeling that the whole thing
is completely unreal and that he will go away and I can go home and sit
on the toilet and read Chief Aircraft catalogs and drink twenty five
beers. (not in that order)

I think about jumping him a few times. Not sure what he's got under his
coat. He intimated that he was packing a pistol also. Never jumped a
guy with multiple weapons before. Never really jumped anyone before except
Eric Strobel in fifth grade when he punched me. I was totally victorious
in that situation. How about this one? But, the situation seems to be
relatively stable, although he is getting real antsy. I ask him if he
intends
to kill me. He says I'll be fine as long as I don't try anything and do as
he asks. Sounds reasonable.

I suggest that we walk across to the FBO where there is a telephone. If
he wants, I will call the cops and be his hostage (I am not wild about this
idea - same reasons as above). Or I can call the FAA, or, or...

We get there. He sees other airplanes on the rame. Starrts talking about
how we're going to go to montana in one of them and I am going to
fly. Should be easy to get it going.

I say that if we're going to do that, let's take mine 'cause I know it
and its condition. He says "I thought it was broken." I say that it
is minor and that I can fix it shortly.

[STUPID! I could have gotten time in the King Air on the ramp, or the
AeroStar, for FREE!!]

We go back to the hangar. I show him my intrument charts. Show how
we'll get there. I told him we only had about 3 hours of fuel because I
had been flying earlier. Does he want to stop in Indy first where we can
get
more fuel? NO! He is very agitated by the mere suggestion of going into
a large airport. I told him we could make it into Iowa (the truth) and
land
at the Quad Cities airport which would be open but was smaller than
Indy (not the truth). He accepts that.

During my preflight of the airplane I reach in and set a certain box. I am
almost nailed but lie and say I was reaching for a chart (which was next
to the box, thank god.)

I am curiously relieved that we are going flying. I like flying. I like
being in my airplane doing things that I understand, even though I am
pretty scared. I am often scared in my airplane. It is a normal feeling
in that environment. I feel, for the first time since 9PM, in control
of the situation even though I have no idea what's going to happen.

We taxi out. He is sitting in the back set of my 172 with his shotgun (not
pointed at my skull, thanks!)

At this point BMG is VFR clear, it's about midnight. We
take off and head towards Terre Haute. The box is blinking in a soothing
way.

We have on headphones, but I have not used the radio at all. I have the
audio turned off because I am afraid someone, somewhere, will yell "Who's
the bozo who's <doing the thing I did to let people know my predicament>"

As I pass over Terre Haute airfield I look down and notice that they are
flashing a red light at the aircraft and also flashing the runway lights.
I do not alert my passenger to this phenomena.

At that point it begins to rain. I have an excuse to confirm my situation!
I knew that the "radio code" was probably not sufficient to really get them
going. I tell my passenger that I do not have a good picture of the
weather
ahead but that I believe we may encounter some instrument weather and
that if "they" see us flying in instrument weather without a clearance
that "they" will be suspicious and might follow us. I explain that I will
call
Terre haute rado to get the weather and to file a flight plan and that he
can listen to everything and I won't do anything goofy. He agrees with
the admonition that I "better not try anything."

[Calmest, most normal voice I can muster]

"Terre Haute Radio, Terre Haute Radio, N5457E"

"N5457E Terre Haute, go ahead"

"Terre Haute Radio, N5457E is a C-172 at 4,500' directly over Terre Haute
Northwestbound like to get the weather into, ahh, Montana. We're doing
110knots, outside temperature 50 degrees, squawking 7500, heading 330"

"57E, roger, right now we're showing generally VFR conditions throughout
although radar indicates a band of showers from Chicago to approximately
100
miles south of your position. Mostly level one And, 57E, confirm that
you're <doing that thing that makes them so curious>"

<A bit pissed that they tried to blow it for me> "57E, roger, that's
affirmative where does the best area for penetrating that line of
rain seem to be [pre-WX-900 days for 57E don't you know...]"

"Ahh, looks like just south of Chicago is pretty good."

"Roger, I'll call you back with an IFR flightplan."

"Roger"

I thrn turn almost due north so that I am parallel to the line of showers
as I work out a flight plan. It seems VERY difficult for me. We are
over Danville, IL when I figure out a route that goes, basically, direct
Kankakee, direct Moline. My passenger told me he does NOT want to get
too close to Chicago.

I call back Terre haute on the same frequency. They are very scratchy.
I give them the plan. They tell me to talk to Chicago Center on XXX.YY
for my clearance. A few minutes later I call Chicago:

[calm voice like nothing is at all wierd]
"Chicago Center, good evening, Cessna 5457E looking for instruments to
Moline."

"57E, roger, loud and clear, cleared to Moline via radar vectors, climb and
maintain 6,000' verify <doing that thing I was doing that got them so
friendly in the first place>"

[thinking to myself, in a Homer Simpson voice, "Duh-oh! Radar Vectors! I
filed to Kankakee so I could avoid the rain he's about to drive me through!
Duh-oh! Why do they keep asking me if I'm really the bonehead they
think I must be?"]

I am too tired to fight with the controller though and accept his turn
direct
Moline. It is about 1AM now and I am becoming alarmingly fatigued and want
this to be OVER. It is raining pretty hard now, but the weather does not
bother me at all. I actually remember thinking how nice it was to fly at
night
without worrying about the engine because I am so scared of getting my head
blown off. My passenger is getting very nervous due to the rain.

"57E, Chicago Center, Moline airport is CLOSED due to a runway light
power failure. Say intentions."

[What the hell is he talking about? Is he serious? Is this some kind
of ploy? Or is it really closed? This is a BIG airport after all - I
can't believe it closed because of a "runway light power failure" What
does he REALLY MEAN? I am tired. I don't want to play games.]

I know I am close to the Kankakee airport because I am close to its VORTAC
and I know that Kankakee has a 24-hour FSS but is uncontrolled. "Perfect"
I
think, "Knowledgeable aviation professionals will see to it that the plane
is completely surrounded by able-bodied SWAT members and Secret Service
agents as soon as I leave the active. Yet, the size of the airport
will not alarm my passenger on approach."

I brief my passenger that we are running low on fuel and should land at
Kankakee where we can get fuel. "Have we been flying that long?" he
asks "Yes, says I - we've been flying nearly two hours" He heard them
say Moline was closed. I tell him that we should be able to
get fuel at Kankakee and be on our way.

"Chicago Center, 57E, we're running low on fuel [we actually had over an
hour
left] - we would like to land at Kankakee."

"57E, Chicago, Roger, turn right 350 plan the ILS 5 [I believe] into
Kankakee."

"57E, we'll plan on the ILS 5." [I get set up]

"57E, Chicago, India Kilo Kilo [Kankakee] has no 100Lima Lima, suggest you
try Peoria. Turn left now, 280 vectors Peoria."

[What the F*ck? "100Lima Lima" is that some kind of code? Why didn't
he just say "fuel" or 100 "Low lead" What does "Lima Lima" mean in
this context? How does he know? Are they playing games again? What
DO they want?]

Peoria is NOT going to work though. I know it is a LARGE airport and that
it will alarm my passenger to go there. I am also under the [mistaken]
impression that it is quite a wayfurther and I have a genuine concern that
I do not have sufficient fuel to make it there. Turns out that it
is actually very close. Anyway, I am MUCH too tired to drag out the
flightplans, etc. for Peoria and figure out how to get there.

"57E, negative. We're going to land at Kankakee and see what we
can find."

"57E, roger, turn right heading 350 vectors for the ILS"

The ILS is very close by and very routine. It is raining very hard, but
out
of a high overcast. I pick up the runway just past the outer marker
inbound.

I do not realize it, but we are moving with the wind. Final is very bumpy.
Touchdown is not the best landing I've ever made, although the plane and
passengers survive.

Now I'm wondering what's going to happen. I realize that my dream of
agents in blackface behind every bush and building may not have been
the most realistic thing. The airport seems deserted. We taxi to the
ramp. I am beginning to wonder if its really going to come to an
end here or if, nightmares, we'll take off again with a full load of
fuel for Montana.

At this point a cruiser appears without its lights on. My passenger sees
it.
It is a ways away from us I say "Looks like the airport patrol. Pretty
standard. They're just looking for drunk teenagers necking on the
runway." Like even drunk teenagers would neck in the pouring rain.

We get out, I explain that there is a weather office across the road where
we could get a weather briefing and that he can come and I won't pull any
funny stuff. He says he;'s going to leave the shotgun in the plane.
I wonder what that means? Is he giving up? He starts to talk about
those whole thing being pretty dumb. I tell him it's all up to him but I
do not like standing in the open so let's go to the FSS.

We pass several large bushes. No agents jump out. What's going on? I see
behind us that the cop has started cruising up and down the runway
WITH HIS LIGHTS ON. I do not point this out. We go to the FSS and enter:

THE ROOM OF THE STONEFACED BRIEFERS.

"Hello, I need a briefing for an instrument flight to Montana [where are
the cops?]"

They mechanically peck at they keyboard. FINALLY two of Kankakee's finest
enter the room, no BURST into the room. The briefer nods at us. We are
both
grabbed, handcuffed and taken outside where we are thrown against a wall
and frisked.

I do not look at my passenger. I feel ashamed that I have betrayed him.

It takes the cops 15 minutes to sort out who is who. I produce a checkbook
and my wallet bearing my name and demonstrate to the police how that name
matches the registration in the airplane. Passing this hurdle earns me a
ride
in the FRONT seat of the squad car. Hijackers ride in back!

The police confiscate the gun and some shells from my aircraft.

----- NEXT: Ordeal at Kankakee -or-
"You don't need no stinking pillow Pilot-Boy!"

greg
--
Gregory Reed Travis D P S I

Data Parallel Systems Incorporated gr...@littlebear.com

From: gr...@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Gregory R. TRAVIS)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: 57E squawks hijack, Part 2
Date: 15 Apr 92 16:13:04 GMT

[At the end of the last episode, we are on our way to the Kankakee
police station]

I am still in a semi-dream state. The whole thing has been totally
unreal. It is now between 2AM and 3AM. Earlier I had a fantasy that they
would take my passenger away immediately at the Kankakee airport, take
my phone number, and allow me to fly right back to Bloomington where I
could eat cold Pizza, drink warm beer, and GO TO SLEEP.

As I ride in the squad car, I still think that the police interrogation
will
only involve a few cursory questions and that I'll then be able to leave.
I have the presence of mind, however, to realize that I am in no condition
to fly back. We pass a Holiday Inn as we turn into the station. I have
no money, but figure my credit cards will be good for a room there in
just a FEW MINUTES.

We arrive. The staff on duty is VERY excited to see us. My passenger and
I
are almost immediately separated. I still feel unbelievable amounts of
shame. I am the betrayer. I told him one thing and thought another. I
cannot
bear to look at him.

The police allow me to calm down a bit. Give me some soda. Ask me if I
need to call anyone. YIKES! You bet I do! I forgot to close my IFR
flightplan! I remember the controller at Chicago Center saying, on short
final: "Report cancellation in the air or on the ground with Kankakee
flight
service."

I did not need FAA hassles on top of what I already had. I dial 1-800-WX-
BRIEF
which is just about the only number I can think of. Luckily, as I
expected,
it connects me to Kankakee AFSS.

"Hello, this is Kankakee AFSS, go ahead."

"Ahh, this is N5457E, I just flew in there about 1/2 hour ago IFR and I
forgot
to cancel my IFR. Could you take care of that?"

"Ahh, yes sir, we already took care of that. Chicago center called and
wanted to make sure you made it in alright and we told them what happened.
Is there anything else we can do for you?"

"No, thanks, I just didn't want to leave that open."

"No problem sir, we were watching you the whole time."

Then I got down to the nitty-gritty of calling people back in Bloomington
to
let them know what had happened. It's pretty hard to describe the
reaction of someone who's been woken from sleep, who's already mad that
you've disappeared, when you tell them you've been hijacked.

Then the police are all in a titter. They don't know what to do, they
don't even have a FORM for this! So I sit down with an officer and we
proceed
to turn a "stolen auto" form into an "aircraft hijack" form. 57E
becomes a two-door sedan, license plate # N5457E (which turns out to be
too many letters, so we leave off the "N"), 160HP, White/Orange
Make "Cessna" Model "172". I am not making this up. We use the serial
number for the VIN.

All this time they are making phone calls to the FBI and the FAA (which
they
call the "FFA" - I kid you not). They escort me to the breathalyzer
room (which is the only room they have open) and tell me to sit tight and
please not to leave. It is about 3-3:30AM now.

At one point, an officer comes in and says "Boy, you're lucky we got to
you before 'Shoney' [not his real name] did. he's an ex-marine and was
pretty fired up about this thing." Apparently the Kankakee police
had thought that a plane was being hijacked FROM the Kankakee airport
not TO it.. "'Shoney' [not his real name, which is ....] was all fired
up to shoot the tires out of any aircraft. That was him racing up and
down the runway with his lights on." I swear this is true.

All I could think was "Gee, it would have heightened the cockpit tension
level somewhat if we had our tires shot out on landing."

At one point I ask if I can lie down in a cell somewhere. "No" they say
we need you here. More time passes, I try and sleep on the table in the
breathalyzer room. I am awakened and told not to do that. I am extremely
tired. They come in about every 40 minutes and ask me the same questions.

I fill out a written report.

Around 5AM they get a call back from the FBI, they're not going to take the
case because the guy was 17 at the time and within the jurisdiction of
the Monroe County Sheriff's department. Can I go now? "No" the FAA is
on its way.

At 7:30AM, Sunday, two gentlemen from the FAA O'Hare district office show
up. They are FAA "Special Agents": I didn't know they FAA had such
personnel. They have been driving all morning down from Chicago.

They ask me the same types of questions, read my report, etc.

The fun stuff starts when they tell me what the reaction on the other
end of the line was.

First, I was picked up IMMEDIATELY when I climbed out of Bloomington and
I was tracked by Terre Haute. However, because they had no secondary
verification they simply watched and waited at a low alert. It was not
until I called Terre Haute AFSS on the radio and confirmed what was going
on that they really started things going. Still, they were not quite sure
that they had a real situation because "I sounded so calm on the radio."

Well, *blush*, that was kind of the whole point.

When I confirmed the second time, while talking to Chicago center, the on-
duty
controller for that sector had been relieved of his position and I was
talking to his supervisor. I was also patched in, live-like, to the
Hostage/Hijack (I forget what they call it) crisis center in
Washington where officials were listening to my communications
with Chicago center. Again, they were unsure of the exact nature of
what was going on because my voice was so calm.

The Chicago district FAA security detail was then woken up around 2/2:30AM.

One of the officers told me had got the call just as he and his wife were
arriving home from a show.

Apparently there were some more wires crossed and there was some
perception, I don't know how deep, in the FAA, that an AIRLINER
had been hijacked to Peoria.

We talked some more. I found out that they had been trying to steer me
to Peoria because they had the necessary equipment (I don't know what
that means, exactly) there. I am also still not sure if Moline was
really closed.

I asked why I was asked to verbally confirm my situation TWICE. They
said they just didn't believe that I was really being hijacked
because I sounded so calm. I still do not know why Terre Haute tower was
shining a red light at me ("Don't land here! We don't want a hostage!"?).

I was asked not to divulge the "secret" code to the Newspapers because
it had "obviously helped me, so you can see that we need to protect
the next guy." Well, I'm not terribly sure about that.

The security men mentioned that both Kankakee AFSS and Chicago Center
were "deeply touched" that I called back to cancel my IFR flightplan;
especially since it was totally unneccessary.

Finally, about 8AM I was allowed, given, a ride back to the Kankakee
airport where I slept on the sofa until about 10AM at which point the FAA
guys came back to wake me and ask me this question: "If I was being
hijacked,
how come my hangar was so neat and the door was closed?" Apparently
the FAA was also all over BMG and had already searched my hangar. I
replied that this was a condition that my passenger had stipulated.
He did not want there to be any appearance of wrongdoing at the airport.
They liked that and went away.

Soon I crawed out and got back in my airplane. It was good VFR for the
midwest, 4 miles in haze, sky obscured. I went back VFR because I
had had enough of rules, regulations, authority, etc.

In my plane I felt violated, like someone who's had their house broken
into. It still smelled funny. Stale tobacco (hint: I don't smoke) and
sickly sweet sweat. I opened the windows for the flight
back. When I called 10 miles out from BMG the tower told me
it was good to have me back. Made me kind of embarassed, actually.

When I got back I had to wait another hour at the BMG airport for the state
police to arrive. Officer Richardson was actually quite nice and human,
even though I had to wait 1.5 hours for him. He took a taped statement,
went through my hangar with me, asked questions and told me it was time
for me to go home, that the media would be all over me and
perhaps I should just take the phone off the hook and have a few Budwisers.

I followed his advice to the letter. But first I took a nap. I finally
got home and into my own bed around 3PM Sunday afternoon, 18 hours after
it had begun. At 8PM I awoke and went to some friends for dinner. I
drank a lot of beer.

NEXT: AFTERMATH - or -
Why do you think they're lawyers?

--
Gregory Reed Travis D P S I

Data Parallel Systems Incorporated gr...@littlebear.com

From: gr...@bronze.ucs.indiana.edu (Gregory R. TRAVIS)
Newsgroups: rec.aviation
Subject: 57E squawks Hijack, part 3
Date: 15 Apr 92 17:10:00 GMT

Some random thoughts about the whole thing:

1. Were there things I could have done differently? Certainly.
First of all I probably should never have divulged that I was
a pilot. But at the time I did, I did not believe I was going
to be hijacked.

It was also very difficult to determine WHAT to do. Things seemed
to lurch from one situation to another - I'll wax poetic and say
I was just a passenger on the train of destiny. *urp*

People kept coming up to me and telling me how well I handled the
situation. Well, I don't see it that way at all. There just were
not THAT MANY CHOICES to be made. Like an engine failure at night
in IMC, you just don't have a whole lot of options. Conversely,
you don't have a lot of ways to screw up. It was pretty much
stimulus-response the whole time.

Should I have tried to jump him? Perhaps. But I did not know
anything about him. He did tell me that
he did not drink. Drugs? Crazy? Scared? Agitated? Mad as
hell? Yeah, I think it was something like that. Perhaps I could
have overpowered him. Next time I might try. However, it was not
until I was actually in the plane that I began to have really
MORTAL thoughts. Before that I was operating under the assumption that
I was going to be able to talk this guy out of what he was doing. That
I could convince him to "go away." That I could conclude the episode
at a low conflict level. Had I felt more directly threatened, had he
started hitting me, I might have tried to get him.

2. Has it been, in any way, "fun"? No, not at all. It has been
personally
embarassing to me. I am sick of it. What kind of a goof-off is alone on a
Saturday night washing his plane?

3. What was his mindset? I had a very hard time sizing up my passenger
on the ground. He was obviously very nervous and very mad. Life just
wasn't going right for him and he wanted to make a statement. This
was perhaps the most difficult of all. He did not want money, or cars,
or anything. He just wanted to make a scene either by killing some
authority figure or taking hostages. Because he did not really have
a plan, I was unable to think very far ahead in the situation.

4. What about my choices of airports? I dunno. Had I known Peoria was as
close as it was would I have gone there? Probably not; remember that I
was operating under the false impression that things at Kankakee would
be smooth and co-ordinated.

Best quote, from the defense lawyer:
"If his gun had gone off in the plane, would that, you know,
have caused a crash?"
Me: "Probably, if it went off into my head." Ta-dum!

She was, of course, referring to rapid decompression. I explained
that my Cessna 172 did not have the pressurization option.

Best dilemma:
There was talk about reimbursing me for the fuel costs, etc.
They asked me how much it costs me to fly my plane. I said about $30/hour,
at 3 hours (roundtrip time to IKK) that it cost me about $90-100 for the
whole incident. Now, I couldn't care less about the money in this case
and I never asked nor expected to be reimbursed. I got to thinking -
I CAN'T take the money, can I? I have to at least SHARE the expense
with my "passenger." Gee, if I had only finished that commercial back
then...


Well, I gotta go work on my airplane...

greg, N5457E, 'packin
--
Gregory Reed Travis D P S I

Data Parallel Systems Incorporated gr...@littlebear.com

Jim Fisher

unread,
May 28, 2001, 7:28:28 PM5/28/01
to

"T H" <howa...@NOSPAMMERSablazecandles.com> wrote in message
news:Xns90AF8ADFCD23Dho...@207.126.101.100...

> Reposted without permission:
>
>
> From today's Bloomington, IN _Herald Tribune_:
>
> "Teen arrested in '91 hijacking pleads guilty to lesser charge"
> By Kurt Van der Dussen

You know, I saw the "eye witness" account posted here a while back and the
story has stuck with me. It's so easy to put yourself in that pilot's
shoes, you know?

Anyway, I've always wondered what happened to the hijacker and now I know.
Thanks for sharing that.

--
Jim Fisher
North Alabama
Cherokee 180

John Galban

unread,
May 28, 2001, 9:14:31 PM5/28/01
to
On Mon, 28 May 2001 18:28:28 -0500, "Jim Fisher" <PA2...@hiwaay.net>
wrote:


>
>Anyway, I've always wondered what happened to the hijacker and now I know.
>Thanks for sharing that.
>
>--

I've always wondered what happened to Greg Travis. He used to post
quite a bit around here.


John Galban=====>N4BQ (PA28-180)

Roy Smith, CFI

unread,
May 28, 2001, 9:25:46 PM5/28/01
to
jga...@hotmail.com (John Galban) wrote:
> I've always wondered what happened to Greg Travis. He used to post
> quite a bit around here.

He got hijacked and was never heard from again :-)
--
Roy Smith, CFI-ASE-IA

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