Hetzer
NES Member
Who remembers Alfred J Hunter, who in May 1989 killed his wife (see why below), stole a Cessna and flew over Boston, and under the Tobin bridge, for hours, shooting his AK out the window at Kenmore Square, Newbury st, the Logan tower, The Prudential building, and the South Boston postal facility where he used to work? It was reported as an AK but who knows.
This story is nearly lost to history, showing the contrast between then and todays media driven hysteria.
Yankee Magazine had a detailed article about it but all that's left is the almost comical artists rendering from the inside of the magazine:
Here's a Dan Rather news report video, with the second half being amateur footage showing the plane making runs on what I believe is the postal facility at Fort Point Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wQyiqg0qwY
Here's a New York Times link and the story:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/11/us/pilot-buzzes-boston-airport-shooting-up-the-city.html
Pilot Buzzes Boston Airport, Shooting Up the City
AP
Published: May 11, 1989
A man who the police said had just killed his ex-wife commandeered a small plane and terrorized the city for three hours early today, firing a semiautomatic weapon while flying within 50 feet of motorists and buildings.
Traffic controllers at Logan International Airport said the plane buzzed them repeatedly, forcing officials to close the airport for an hour and reroute several late-night flights. Controllers fled the tower twice.
Bullets struck a variety of targets, including parked cars and the Prudential tower's 50th-floor skywalk. One pedestrian was struck by ejected casings from the spent rounds.
''We didn't know if he was on drugs, drunk, or if he was suicidal,'' said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport. ''We had not one word of radio contact throughout the flight.'' Pilot Held Without Bail
The pilot, Alfred J. Hunter, pleaded not guilty today to one count each of murder and armed robbery after the midnight flight. Judge John T. Doyle of Essex County District Court ordered Mr. Hunter held without bail at Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days of psychiatric observation.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Hunter, a 42-year-old mail handler, was placed on a year's probation after being found guilty of assaulting his former wife, Elvira, 26, last December. The assault occurred after he ordered her not to change a television channel.
Mr. Hunter was convicted of assault and battery, making threats and violating a restraining order his wife sought in January 1988. The couple were divorced last May.
Mr. Hunter's only previous conviction stemmed from a 1979 incident in which he pleaded guilty of assaulting a group of people with a machete. He was sentenced to a year's probation.
The police said they believe Mr. Hunter went to his former wife's home and shot her in front of their 5-year-old son before starting his aerial attack. Flight Instructor 'in Shock'
Mr. Hunter then commandeered a car, and demanded and got a plane at a small municipal airport straddling the Beverly-Danvers border about 20 miles north of Boston.
Robert Golder, a 21-year-old flight instructor, said he was ''basically in shock'' when Mr. Hunter demanded the plane. ''He wanted me to start the airplane for him. He told me not to do anything stupid. He said he had just killed some people.''
Mr. Hunter made no comments when he was captured after landing at Logan early today, the police said.
Richard Fontz, the Federal Aviation Administration's field manager, said Mr. Hunter was not a licensed pilot but had apparently had some instruction. ''It obviously wasn't the first time he flew an airplane,'' Mr. Fontz said.
The flight began about 10:30 P.M. on Tuesday, and in the next three hours ambulance services tried to anticipate where the pilot might land so they could prepare for possible injuries. Two Cars Hit in Lynn
The police in Boston received more than 200 calls from people reporting the sound of gunfire. In Lynn, a suburb of Boston, the police said two cars were hit by a shower of shots believed fired from the plane.
Mr. Hunter's flight also took him over Boston's Kenmore Square neighborhood, where the Boston Red Sox had just finished losing a baseball game at Fenway Park to the Minnesota Twins.
Andrew Smith said he was walking along Newbury Street in the city's Back Bay section when he heard popping noises from the sky.
''About two seconds later, several shell casings landed all around. I realized that the guy was shooting out of his plane,'' said Mr. Smith, who notified the police. ''Nobody believed me at first. I didn't believe it at first.'' Fear of Endangering Public
Barbara Bennett, a state trooper, said officials decided to wait until the gunman ran out of fuel rather than send up a state police helicopter. If the plane had been shot at, she said, it could have endangered the public.
''We have a very thick handbook on the rules of air traffic control, but there's nothing in there about what to do if a maniac comes shooting an AK-47 at you in the control tower,'' said John Leyden, an F.A.A. spokesman.
Mr. Hunter landed briefly at Logan at 12:57 A.M. but took off again. He landed again 17 minutes later and was captured after a minor scuffle, the police said.
Two shell casings and two live shells were found in the two-seater Cessna, which had about five minutes of fuel left when it landed. The police found no weapon and said it was probably discarded in the flight. They also said there was no way to tell how many shots were fired.
Alfred J. Hunter in custody at the state police barracks in Peabody after he was arrested early yesterday morning at Logan Airport in Boston after commandeering a small plane and firing a semiautomatic weapon during a flight over Boston (Associated Press); map of Boston
This story is nearly lost to history, showing the contrast between then and todays media driven hysteria.
Yankee Magazine had a detailed article about it but all that's left is the almost comical artists rendering from the inside of the magazine:
Here's a Dan Rather news report video, with the second half being amateur footage showing the plane making runs on what I believe is the postal facility at Fort Point Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wQyiqg0qwY
Here's a New York Times link and the story:
http://www.nytimes.com/1989/05/11/us/pilot-buzzes-boston-airport-shooting-up-the-city.html
Pilot Buzzes Boston Airport, Shooting Up the City
AP
Published: May 11, 1989
A man who the police said had just killed his ex-wife commandeered a small plane and terrorized the city for three hours early today, firing a semiautomatic weapon while flying within 50 feet of motorists and buildings.
Traffic controllers at Logan International Airport said the plane buzzed them repeatedly, forcing officials to close the airport for an hour and reroute several late-night flights. Controllers fled the tower twice.
Bullets struck a variety of targets, including parked cars and the Prudential tower's 50th-floor skywalk. One pedestrian was struck by ejected casings from the spent rounds.
''We didn't know if he was on drugs, drunk, or if he was suicidal,'' said Phil Orlandella, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Port Authority, which operates the airport. ''We had not one word of radio contact throughout the flight.'' Pilot Held Without Bail
The pilot, Alfred J. Hunter, pleaded not guilty today to one count each of murder and armed robbery after the midnight flight. Judge John T. Doyle of Essex County District Court ordered Mr. Hunter held without bail at Bridgewater State Hospital for 20 days of psychiatric observation.
Earlier Tuesday, Mr. Hunter, a 42-year-old mail handler, was placed on a year's probation after being found guilty of assaulting his former wife, Elvira, 26, last December. The assault occurred after he ordered her not to change a television channel.
Mr. Hunter was convicted of assault and battery, making threats and violating a restraining order his wife sought in January 1988. The couple were divorced last May.
Mr. Hunter's only previous conviction stemmed from a 1979 incident in which he pleaded guilty of assaulting a group of people with a machete. He was sentenced to a year's probation.
The police said they believe Mr. Hunter went to his former wife's home and shot her in front of their 5-year-old son before starting his aerial attack. Flight Instructor 'in Shock'
Mr. Hunter then commandeered a car, and demanded and got a plane at a small municipal airport straddling the Beverly-Danvers border about 20 miles north of Boston.
Robert Golder, a 21-year-old flight instructor, said he was ''basically in shock'' when Mr. Hunter demanded the plane. ''He wanted me to start the airplane for him. He told me not to do anything stupid. He said he had just killed some people.''
Mr. Hunter made no comments when he was captured after landing at Logan early today, the police said.
Richard Fontz, the Federal Aviation Administration's field manager, said Mr. Hunter was not a licensed pilot but had apparently had some instruction. ''It obviously wasn't the first time he flew an airplane,'' Mr. Fontz said.
The flight began about 10:30 P.M. on Tuesday, and in the next three hours ambulance services tried to anticipate where the pilot might land so they could prepare for possible injuries. Two Cars Hit in Lynn
The police in Boston received more than 200 calls from people reporting the sound of gunfire. In Lynn, a suburb of Boston, the police said two cars were hit by a shower of shots believed fired from the plane.
Mr. Hunter's flight also took him over Boston's Kenmore Square neighborhood, where the Boston Red Sox had just finished losing a baseball game at Fenway Park to the Minnesota Twins.
Andrew Smith said he was walking along Newbury Street in the city's Back Bay section when he heard popping noises from the sky.
''About two seconds later, several shell casings landed all around. I realized that the guy was shooting out of his plane,'' said Mr. Smith, who notified the police. ''Nobody believed me at first. I didn't believe it at first.'' Fear of Endangering Public
Barbara Bennett, a state trooper, said officials decided to wait until the gunman ran out of fuel rather than send up a state police helicopter. If the plane had been shot at, she said, it could have endangered the public.
''We have a very thick handbook on the rules of air traffic control, but there's nothing in there about what to do if a maniac comes shooting an AK-47 at you in the control tower,'' said John Leyden, an F.A.A. spokesman.
Mr. Hunter landed briefly at Logan at 12:57 A.M. but took off again. He landed again 17 minutes later and was captured after a minor scuffle, the police said.
Two shell casings and two live shells were found in the two-seater Cessna, which had about five minutes of fuel left when it landed. The police found no weapon and said it was probably discarded in the flight. They also said there was no way to tell how many shots were fired.
Alfred J. Hunter in custody at the state police barracks in Peabody after he was arrested early yesterday morning at Logan Airport in Boston after commandeering a small plane and firing a semiautomatic weapon during a flight over Boston (Associated Press); map of Boston
![[laugh]](/xen/styles/default/xenforo/smilies.vb/012.gif "Laugh [laugh]")
