Fight or Flight

On December 1, Delta Airlines announced that it is resuming flights to Havana, Cuba, as part of the thawing of relations between the United States and its close Caribbean neighbor.

What does this have to do with anything in Sun City?

It is the final chapter in a story that started for a Sun City resident in 1984.

Bill Brindell, a Sun City resident for 10 years, has told a strange, dramatic, funny (sort of), and true story about himself for the past 32 years, and he doesn’t embellish or exaggerate it one bit. He doesn’t have to.

Bill was a pilot and captain for Delta Airlines on March 28, 1984. When he lifted his Boeing 727 aircraft off the New Orleans airport and headed for Dallas-Ft. Worth that evening at about 9:20 p.m., his 19 passengers and six fellow crewmembers expected a short, routine flight. The crewmembers were looking forward to a layover in Dallas and then subsequent flights elsewhere. But at about 9:45 p.m., as his aircraft approached Alexandria, Louisiana, things changed suddenly.

The following quotes are taken from Brindell’s report to his chief pilot about two weeks later.

“Flight attendant Linda Yowell came forward and stated that a man in the back section of the aircraft had a bottle of flammable liquid and a cigarette lighter. He claimed the bottle contained gasoline and he was threatening to light it if we didn’t divert to Cuba.” (In the years following Cuban dictator Fidel Castro’s takeover of power in 1959, hijacking of American commercial aircraft to and from Cuba increased in frequency).

Brindell informed his flight dispatcher of the problem and also informed air traffic control (ATC) that there was a possibility of a diversion to Cuba. Initially, he attempted to work with the dispatcher and the ATC to try and negotiate a landing somewhere short of Cuba. He had sufficient fuel to get to Havana but not to anywhere else from there. There also was extensive thunderstorm activity over the Gulf of Mexico that could worsen the situation.

“We later found out from flight attendants that the man would not let them approach him, and he appeared to be very nervous and agitated,” Brindell said. “He kept repeating his message about going to Cuba. We then found out that he was physically holding flight attendant Linda Blackwell on the rear jump seat and had threatened to pour the liquid on her and set her on fire. When we received this last message, we declared a hijack emergency and asked for a radar vector to Havana.”

At that point, Brindell turned the aircraft to a southeasterly direction toward Cuba.

“A non-revenue passenger later disclosed to me that he had an offer from another passenger, if he was willing, to try and overpower the hijacker, but no attempt was made. I wanted to keep things as low key as possible with him and with the passengers. So I asked the flight attendants to speak to each passenger individually and tell them what was transpiring. Since we had so few passengers, I thought this might work better than taking a chance of misunderstanding using the public address.”

In a recent interview with the Sun Day, Brindell said, “I kept thinking about optimistic outcomes as much as I could, so it kept me, and others on the plane, calm.”

The flight to Havana was uneventful from diversion point to Havana, partly because Brindell was able to fly above the bad weather.

“We received much help from the flight dispatcher and ATC. We had the impression the Cuban officials had no radar, and we had some difficulty understanding the female Cuban air traffic controllers who spoke with heavy Spanish accents. Many times we had to ask them to repeat their transmissions,” he said.

Brindell landed Flight 357 at Havana about midnight in good weather.

“On the rollout on the runway we were told to follow a car to a remote part of the airport and park. The hijacker told everyone on the plane to remain seated and he only wanted Cuban police to approach him. I remained in the front cabin until Cuban military officials removed him from the plane by the rear stairs. I then went over to a small building where Cuban troops were congregated. At that time they were putting the hijacker in a car and I believe they drove off with him.”

Brindell said he has never found out what happened to him. He did say that his plane was refueled by Iberian Airlines (at their expense), while the passengers enjoyed some time in a snack bar, gift shop, and liquor store.

“All the passengers seemed in good spirits and we were assisted in filing a flight plan and arrived in Miami at approximately 3 a.m. On our arrival, all of us, passengers and crew, were interviewed by the FBI,” he said.

Brindell and the crew were then flown to Delta headquarters in Atlanta, where they were debriefed.

“It was a four-day flight in all, and we got paid for all of it,” Brindell said, smiling.

It turned out that this was the only flight into Havana by a U.S. plane during the nearly 80 years of the American air embargo.

Brindell also had a little fun with his wife, Loretta, when he arrived in Miami.

“We were based and lived in the Chicago area, but she was in California visiting her father who was ill,” he said. “There hadn’t been any news report yet, so when I reached her, I said, ‘Guess where I’ve been.’”

In his report to his superiors, Brindell expressed high praise for the flight attendants.

“They bore the brunt of this whole incident and were subject to extreme hostility and intimidation from the hijacker. There is probably not enough praise that could be heaped upon them, but they, in all respects, should be commended for their actions in a time of extreme duress. They truly exhibited the qualities of Delta Professionals.”

Brindell himself received a commendation from a senior manager at Delta, which said, in part, “Yours was a textbook response to a potentially catastrophic event and represents a model for intelligent and professional reaction to an irrational threat…you cannot fail to have impressed your passengers with your performance and with your concern for their safety. Your conduct was in complete accord with the highest traditions of leadership and responsibility.”

Brindell flew A-4 phantoms and F-4 fighters in the Navy for 12 years before joining Delta in 1966. He retired in 1996 after 30 years service and moved to Sun City from West Dundee in 2006. Music is one of the interests of both he and Loretta. He is a former member of the Prairie Singers chorus and is a current performer with the Sun City Concert Band. Loretta is a member of the Prairie Singers and the Prairie Voices.

Oh, one more thing.

Brindell told the Sun Day that when his plane landed in Havana and the hijacker was taken off the plane, one of his flight attendants said the hijacker told her that the bottle was full of vodka and water, not gasoline.

A Hollywood ending, right?

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