Summary
Highlights
Pacific Southwest Airlines Flight 1771 crashes in the California hills, obliterating the plane and killing all 43 on board. The wreckage is unrecognizable, indicating an extremely high-speed impact. Investigators recognize that this was no accident.
Flight 1771 departs from LAX for San Francisco with 38 passengers and a crew, including several PSA employees. During the flight, at 22,000 feet, the crew reports gunshots on board and the plane enters a steep dive. Witnesses describe the plane plummeting like a dart. The crash site is devastating; no survivors and little intact wreckage.
Both the NTSB and FBI arrive at the crash site. The FBI takes primary jurisdiction due to reports of gunshots, while the NTSB focuses on the aircraft's failure. The search for the black boxes is crucial, as they could reveal what happened in the final moments.
The plane's two black boxes are recovered, though heavily damaged. The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) is mangled but recognizable, while the flight data recorder (FDR) is almost destroyed. Experts work to retrieve data from these critical devices.
Against expectations, the CVR tape is salvaged. It reveals two gunshots, followed by a female voice saying, 'There's a problem, Captain.' A male voice, believed to be the captain, asks, 'What's the nature of the problem?', to which the male voice responds, 'I'm the problem.' More shots are heard, and the plane enters a dive, confirming a murder-suicide.
Investigators find the barrel and cylinder of a .44 Magnum, containing six spent cartridges. A fragment of a finger is found lodged in the trigger guard. This leads to the identification of the killer: David Burke, a former US Air employee.
An air sickness bag is found with a chilling note written by Burke, directed at Ray Thompson, his former boss. The note, 'Hi Ray, I think it's sort of ironical that we end up like this. I asked for some leniency for my family, remember? Well, I got none and you'll get none,' reveals Burke's motive of revenge. Burke had been fired by Thompson for theft.
A bullet-punctured seat fragment helps confirm that Ray Thompson was the primary target. Analysis of the CVR indicates six shots: three in the cabin, likely targeting Thompson and crew members, and three in the cockpit, killing the pilots. Burke then pushed the plane into a dive, taking control and deliberately crashing it, making it clear his intention was mass murder.
The tragedy of Flight 1771 leads to immediate changes in aviation security, including the elimination of bypass authority for airline employees at security checkpoints and stricter credential management. These measures, though significant, foreshadow the even greater security enhancements that would follow 9/11, such as reinforced cockpit doors and federal air marshals.