I learned today of the passing of Scott Kennedy. I met Scott and Sandra Kennedy about two years ago. Scott read a pre-publication draft of the Scapegoat manuscript and not only provided some useful anecdotes that I incorporated, but he provided insight that helped shape the final draft. The picture in this post is of Scott Kennedy, Jim McIntyre, and Hoot. Gary wasn’t present for this award, but the entire crew received a meritorious service award for the handling of the TWA 841 emergency.
The video below is a clip from the interview I did with Scott.
As a passenger in seat 21A on that infamous April 1979 TWA flight 841, I will be forever grateful to Scott Kennedy for suggesting to Captain Hoot Gibson that they drop the landing gear as a last-ditch recovery effort during our spiral nosedive that night over Flint, Michigan. Scott (and Hoot) are heroes — they saved the plane and everyone onboard in spite of the misguided conclusions the NTSB and agenda-driven, CYB airplane manufacture conjured up. They scapegoated our flight-deck crew: Hoot, Scott and Gary.
Last summer I had the deep, heartwarming pleasure of sharing a nice, long breakfast with Scott and his wife — and to personally say, “Thank you Scott for saving the plane and saving my life that night.” Scott warmly and genuinely received my thanks, and proceeded to tell me the very night prior to our nosedive, that he and Gary Banks (flight engineer) had a discussion about airplane stalls, and Gary had told Scott about a particular military maneuver to recover from a stall (it involved finding a way to increase the drag on the tail). God was obviously directing their discussion that night, for little did Scott know that he’d tap into that discussion the very next night when pointing out to Captain Hoot the landing gear option.
It worked.
May the Lord God bless the memory of Scott Kennedy, and comfort Scott’s family and friends (including me!) during this time of mourning the loss of a husband, father — and true hero to the 89 people onboard TWA flight 841 the night of April 4, 1979.
Based on what I’ve researched the crew put you in harms way by monkeying around with the flaps mud flight by disconnecting circuit breakers to fly faster. The least they could do is save your life