In addition to her 11/30 interview Mucklow gave a second FBI interview over two days at her home: 12/1-2/71 Do you have it? The crew interviews are in The Vault on Shutter's site. ...
Interview of Mucklow 12/1-2 at her home in PA:
Tina Mucklow, residing at the home of her family, provided the following information:
On November 24th 1971, while employed as a stewardess for Northwest Airlines, Ms. Mucklow was on Flight No. 305 which originated in Washington DC, and arrived at Minneapolis Minn about 10:00 a.m., and Ms Mucklow boarded shortly thereafter. She says the crew for her flight was Pilot Wm Scott, Co-pilot Wm ‘Bill’ Rataczak, Third officer and Engineer Harold ‘Andy’ Anderson, Senior Stewardess Alice Hancock, B Stewardess Florence Schaffner, and finally C Stewardess (herself) Tina Mucklow, the junior member of the crew.
Mucklow advised that her flight departed Minneapolis at 10:35 am CST with a light load of less than half its compliment of passengers, flew to Great Falls, Montana, then to Missoula, Montana, and then to Spokan, Washington, and then Portland, Oregon. She said that the aircraft departed Portland at 2:53 pm Pacific Standard Time, and arrived two hours and fifty three minutes later at Seattle, Washington, which is normally a 36 minute flight.
Just before the Second Officer (Rataczak) gave the word for takeoff from Portland, Hostess Schaffner took a beverage form to the aft jump seat. There was a man in seat 18-E middle after passenger seat, and as Mucklow faced the barrier strip, she observed Hostess Schaffner dropping a note, stand up and she unfastened the barrier strip and sat down next to the man in seat 18-E. Mucklow says that Hostess Schaffner appeared ‘emotional’ in that she was trying to speak to her (Mucklow), was moving her lips, but other than a gasp, no other words came out.
Mucklow picked up the note lying at her feet and read it. To the best she can remember, it said: “Miss. I am hijacking this plane. I have a bomb. Sit next to me.”
The aircraft lifted off the runway at 2:58pm and Mucklow used the interphone to advise the pilot the plane was being hijacked. She saidL :We’re being hijacked, he’s got a bomb, and this is no joke.” Mucklow replaced the phone and leaned down in the isle near Schaffner and saw her writing something on an envelope. After Schaffner finished writing she said to the man next to her that she would take the note to the cockpit. Mucklow says she asked Schaffner if she wanted her to take the note forward and Schaffner said “no”. Mucklow asked “Do you want me to stay here?” and the man replied, “yes”. Schaffner then took the note forward to the cockpit.
Mucklow sat next to the man and shortly thereafter he opened a black cheap appearing imitation leather attache case and showed her a device, with eight red cylindarsand a wire running from the cylindars toward a large 6x8x2” battery. The wire had a red plastic coating on it except for the last inch which was bare and the man was holding between his fingers. He told (me) it was an electronic device and suggested the aircraft radio be used as little as possible. He then said ‘he didn’t think radio transmissions would bother it, but he wanted the crew warned’ .
(After these statements from the hijacker) Mucklow called the pilot over the interphone and advised him of the device (and the hijacker’s statements) and from that point on she acted as the communications intermediary, between the hijacker and the pilot using the interphone.
During one message to the pilot the hijacker specified that all of the previously requested items be at the airport when he landed. Mucklow later learned that the note which Schaffner had carried to the pilot contained a list of (specific) demands. The hijacker later told (repeated to) Mucklow that he wanted $200,000 in circulated US currency, two back and two front parachutes, and fuel trucks to meet the plane when it landed. One of the specific demands that he made was that the fuel was to come first and start fueling the plane immediately. Everyone in the plane was to remains in their seats and he indicated that Mucklow was to be the liaison and the one to go out and get the money and the parachutes. After fueling was completed and the money was on board, the hijacker indicated that the passengers would be released, and the last item to be brought aboard would be the chutes, and that only the crew members were to be aboard and they must stay out of the isle and remain in their seats.
During the flight from Portland to Seattle Mucklow had light conversation with the hijacker. She asked him where he was from but he became upset and said he didn’t want to answer that. . She steered the conversation into remarking ‘that if they were going to Cuba airline personnel were advised to warn passengers against buying Cuban rum or cigars because US Customs would confiscate them when they returned to the United States. (Mucklow says) the hijacker laughed and said ‘they weren’t going to Cuba, but she would like where they were going’.
He asked her where she was from and she told him she was from Pennsylvania but was living in replied that ‘Minneapolis, Minnesota is very nice country’.
refused everything. She asked him why he picked Northwest Airlines to hijack and he laughed and said “It’s not because I have a grudge against your airlines (plural), it’s just because I have a grudge”. He paused and said ‘that the flight suited his time, place, and plans.’
Other conversation centered around personal habits such as smoking and he asked her if she did and she said she used to but quit, and he offered her a cigarette which she took and smoked. She asked him if he wanted any food or drink and he
During the flight from Portland to Seattle, a male passenger started aft down the isle and Mucklow met him at about Row 14. She asked him what he wanted and he replied ‘he was looking for a sports magazine’. Mucklow took him to the aft section of the plane immediately behind the hijacker where they looked and finally he accepted a New Yorker Magazine, and returned to his seat. After the man was seated Mucklow returned to seat 18-D, next to the hijacker, and he said “If that is a Sky Marshall I don’t want any more of that”, and Mucklow reassured the hijacker it wasn’t (a sky marshal) and further ‘that there are no sky marshals on this flight’.
A short time later the pilot called and asked Mucklow to ask the hijacker if he wanted the passengers informed of the situation, and the hijacker said “No”. The pilot replied that he would come up with an excuse to explain the extension of the flight beyond its normal 36 minutes. It was at this point that the hijacker instructed Mucklow to tell the pilot he wanted his note and envelope back. He also wanted the empty matchbook cover from which he had been lighting his cigarettes; Mucklow had thrown that into the trash pouch on the seat in front of 18-D where you would normally throw personal trash. Mucklow indicated he had another similar book of matches and the cover was blue and said “Sky Chef”. He retained that book of matches in his pocket.
While in the holding pattern over Seattle the hijacker noted: ‘It is 5:15 and we are still waiting. I wanted everything by 5:00 o’clock!’ Mucklow called the pilot on the phone and got an update and informed the hijacker ‘we are waiting for the front pack chutes to arrive at the airport from McChord’. The hijacker replied: “McChord is only 20 minutes from Tacoma; it doesn’t take that long.” Mcklow called the pilot again and the crew said the chutes were ‘en route’ and the cockpit requested permission from the hijacker to start the descent without the chutes being present at the airport. The hijacker said “yes provided the chutes are there by the time the fueling is completed”. A few minutes later the pilot called back and advised ‘the chutes have arrived and we are going to land’.
The flight landed at Seattle International Airport at 5:45pm Pacific time. Prior to the landing the pilot wanted permission from the hijacker to park the aircraft away from the terminal and the hijacker said “ok”. The pilot said he would park in a semi-lighted runway not being used and this pleased the hijacker. While the aircraft was being taxied to that area Mucklow asked the hijacker’s permission to move five passengers away from the area of seat row 18 and the hijacker approved of that.
Stewardess Mucklow stood at Row 15 in the middle of the isle to make certain no one came aft. When the aircraft stopped the pilot got permission from the hiajcker to let the fuel trucks approach the plane. The stairs truck came to the front door and Mucklow left via the front door and went to the car carrying the money, chutes, food, maps, and a radio for cockpit communications.. At this time the hijacker got up and went to the aft lavatory. When Mucklow returned the hijacker was back in his seat. Mucklow dragged a white canvas money bag down the isle (right in fron ot the passangers) to where the hijacker was sitting and placed it on seat 18-D next to the hijacker. The hijacker looked through the bag and said that it was ‘now alright for the passengers to get off the plane’. Mucklow notified the pilot and the pilot made an announcement ‘the passengers could now leave the aircraft’.
After the passengers left Mucklow asked the hijacker if he wanted her to get the other items waiting outside and he said “yes”, but he wanted the other crew members to remain seated. Mucklow then left and brought in one large parachute (back pack). The hijacker told her to lower the window shades, which she did. Mucklow then left again and brought in two small chutes (front packs). Her next trip she got the last ‘big chute’ and placed it with the others in Row 18. At this time Mucklow handed him a sheet of instructions on ‘how to jump and use a parachute’ and he said ‘he didn’t need that’. Prior to all of this Mucklow asked the hijacker if he wouldn’t rather have one of the cockpit crew (men) get the chutes, but the hijacker told her ‘they aren’t that heavy and she wouldn’t have any trouble’.
When Mucklow returned to the plane with the last back pack chute, she saw that the hijacker had one of the small chutes open and was cutting nylon cords out with his pocket knife. He took the nylon cord and wrapped it around the neck of the money bag numerous times and then he wrapped it a few times from top to bottom, and with the same piece (of cord) he made a loop like a handle at the top. This nylon cord was pinkish in color. He appeared irritated that they hadn’t given him a knapsack for the money as requested, and after trying to put the money in an unfolded parachute, he decided to leave it in the canvas bag (and fabricate a holding line for that, instead).
She told him that they had crew meals and maps, and requested permission to go get them. He replied “yes” and Mucklow went to get the items and returned taking a seat next to him.
He said, “We’re going to Mexico City, gear down, flaps down, you can trim the plane to 15, you can stop anywhere in Mexico to refuel, but not here in the United States. The aft door must be open and the stairs down. The altitude, under 10,000 feet, they know they can’t go over that. Cabin lights out and everyone is to be forward of the first class curtain.”
Mucklow relayed these instruction to the pilot. (Stewardess Hancock appeared!)) Hancock came back to where the hijacker was seated and asked if she could get could get her purse. The hijacker said she could come on back, he wouldn’t bite her. Then she asked if the stewardesses could get off and he said “yes”
About one hour had passed since landing and Mucklow was taking information for the hijacker from the pilot (???) and she told the other stewardesses to go ahead and she would be with them in a second, and they went forward to the cockpit. She told the hijacker that the plane ‘could not’ take off with the ladder down and he said in a low voice: “Yes they can, but the cockpit can put it down after they get airborne.” [important passage] She told him that the stairs had to be let down from the rear and at this point he appeared disturbed because of the duration of time the refueling was taking, and her told her to stay (with him).
(Finally) Just prior to takeoff he became very excited because they had been on the ground over an hour so Mucklow relayed his displeasure to the cockpit and they answered ‘that they had only 1500 pounds of fuel left to be put in, and this was about one-quarter of the total capacity’. Mucklow relayed that to the hijacker and he calmed down.
She then told him it would be a few minutes longer while they filed a flight plan and he replied: “Never mind. They can do that over the radio once we get up. Let’s get the show on the road!”
The cockpit called to address the issue of Mucklow lowering the stairs once the aircraft was airborne; they told her to use the ‘escape rope’ to secure herself. [The escape is located …?] Mucklow related this to the hijacker and he vetoed the idea saying “No”. He said he didn’t want her to go back up front or them to come to the back. Mucklow asked if the Second Officer could shut the front door and he said “Yes”. Mucklow got up and opened the rear door and locked it open (as per hijacker’s request) and the pilot started the engines and a short time later began taxing toward the runway. During the taxi Mucklow said, “You know we have oxygen´and the hijacker replied, “Yes I know where it is. If I need it I will get it.”
Mucklow asked him to cut some nylon cord from the parachute for her to use as a safety line when opening the rear ladder (with the door open) and the hijacker said: “Never mind” that he would (open it himself). She showed him where the control panel was and the controls and how to do it, and she reminded him to put the ladder up before landing or the aircraft would be damaged and could not take off again.
She returned to seat 18C, he to 18E, the money was in 18D, and the bomb was in 18F. [so he did not have personal control of the bomb the whole time!]
The plane took off (with the rear door ajar) and she held her ears because of the loud noise from the engines. Approximately four minutes after take off he stood up and told her to go the cockpit and close the first class curtain, and for no one to come back behind the curtain. The lights were out in the rear compartment and she went forward, faced the curtain, (and turned around and looked?) and the last time she saw him he had a nylon cord tied around his waste and he was standing in the isle. Before she secured the curtain she called back and pleaded with him to take the bomb with him or disarm it before he left.
After securing the curtain she entered the cockpit and approximately ten minutes later, one of the officers received an interphone call from the hijacker advising that he could not get the rear stairs down. [could he have bailed without the rear stairs being down?] The pilot responded that he would ‘level the aircraft and reduce the air speed. And a short time later the red indicator light went on on the second officer’s panel indicating that the stairs had been lowered, and approximately five minutes after the first call one of the officer’s received another call from the hijacker, which was the last communication anyone had with the hijacker.
Before descending at Reno, Mucklow called repeatedly over the intercom system to the hijacker to cooperate, that the aircraft must land. The last message was: “Sir, we are going to land now, please put up the stairs. We are going to land anyway, but the aircraft may be structurally damaged and we may not be able to to take off again after we’ve landed”.
The pilot landed the aircraft and parked it away from the terminal. Mucklow and the pilot entered the cabin area and called to the hijacker a number of times to cooperate, and we asked for instructions (from him). There was no answer so we went behind the curtain. Mucklow went to the galley but did not see the man, and at the same time we flipped on all of the cabin lights and there was no one there.
The Captain and Mucklow ran to the rear of the aircraft and looked for the bomb. Mucklow
The Captain and Mucklow ran to the rear of the aircraft and looked for the bomb. Mucklow looked in the aft lavatory and checked the oxygen bottles compartment, then they began crawling up the isle looking under seats fpr the bomb. While she was doing this the first officer was coming down the isle from the cockpit on his knees with a flashlight looking under seats for the bomb. Then after a few more minutes the first officer tol her to get off the airplane which she did. Mucklow walked between two blue lights down the taxiway away from the aircraft. It was dark.
Mucklow recalls that upon entering the after section of the aircraft she saw the one chute that had been cut open and another chute. One was on Row-17, the other on Row-18, both on the left side of the ship.
Mucklow said that about five minutes after she left the aircraft three cars came to the nose of the plane.
Mucklow described the hijacker as follows:
Sex, male. Race, white. Age 44-46. Height 6’. Weight 180-190 lbs. Complexion Medium to dark. Build medium. Hair Dark, flat, straight, sideburns narrow, mid ear. Eyes not observed. Characteristics: Wore sunglasses, dark plastic wrap around frames.
The man impressed her as being an executive type by his dress, special mannerisms, and consideration that he exhibited for her while he was on the aircraft.
The only time she can recall any actual threat to her life was during the flight from Portland to mentioned to her to impress on everybody that would use the device he had, that he would not be taken off the plane. Mucklow could detect any accent in his voice.
Clothing: Dark brown suit possibly with thin black stripes, brown socks, brown ankle length pebble grain shoes, not type shoes (loafers).
She does not recall any rings or facial scars, marks, or tattoos.
Weather: Mucklow advised that her recollection of the flight from Seattle (south) was that the weather was extremely murky and that the ground could not be seen.
