Newsletter for alumni of The Abbey School, Mt. St.
Benedict, Trinidad and Tobago, W.I.
Caracas, 1 of May 2021 No.1014 May
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Dear Friends,
Today, the day we celebrate and do not work, haha.
I am
including a reportage on an adventure that Capt. Michael Rezende had in !970.
Sorry
to report that he has left for greater pasture recently.
Also,
a picture of Raymond Morris
At the
end of this issue, the way that you can contribute to keep the Newsletter
going, you will find the instructions to send funds, I know your limitations.
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BWIA HIJACKING IN 1970..DID YOU KNOW? I DIDN'T
6/19/2018
This
unsung hero, Former BWIA pilot, Capt. Michael Rezende has folded his wings on
June 16, 2018.
His good friend and a pilot
too, Darrell Lou-Hing, wanted to let you know that Michael died at 10:06 a.m
Barbados time....very peacefully ......
He was 72 his birthday
would have been July 16.
Darrel does not have access
to the BWIA sites....and has asked that this message be posted so that his
friends will know and that his life and accomplishments live on......
He fought a good fight, but
really missed being able to jump in his car and go to the beach for his swim,
could not ride his motorcycle.....So all those restrictions are gone.
Here is the story that I am
sure most of you never knew.
May 1, 1970
1970 BWIA HIJACKED
BW 400 Capt.Keith Melville, Mike Rezende, Michael Bower May 1, 1970,
Jennifer Hanna, then Selman, was the purser aboard the flight which originated
in Trinidad and Tobago, with scheduled stops in Jamaica and the Grand Cayman.
Jennifer Selman found herself at the centre of a hijacking drama aboard
a British West Indian Airways (BWIA) Boeing 727 Sunjet enroute from Kingston to
Miami, which absolutely terrified her.
"We had just taken off from Kingston and I was standing in the
galley when two men approached from the economy class.
I instinctively went up to them and asked if I could help, because they
were headed to the first-class section which was not allowed.
The men, Black North Americans, never answered.
Instead, they put a knife to the neck of air hostess, Elizabeth Wrigley
and told her to go to the cockpit.
"She didn't see what was happening as she wasn't facing them; however, I saw clearly and so I said 'Go Liz
go, just go' I then pressed the
emergency several times to alert the captain."
First Officer Michael Rezende said that “the cockpit door was opened and
he saw Elizabeth Wrigley being forceably held by a large Black guy with a knife
to her throat and a gun that looked like a German Luger who held his gun to my
head, declared to the crew that this flight is “Afro American Freedom Fighters
One.”
This was in the framework of American Black Power activism in America.
Flight Engineer Michael Bower told the Hijacker that this aircraft can’t
fly to Africa for lack of sufficient fuel.
The Hijacker replied that we will then land in the sea.
Michael Bower then suggested in his wisdom, why don’t we fly to Trinidad
where he can commandeer a Boeing 707 which could carry enough fuel to get to
Africa.
This clearly annoyed the hijacker who pointed the gun to Bower’s head
and said, “You will be the first to die”, then pointing the gun to the Captain
Melville, “and You second.”
Realising that this was a nut case, Rezende, in an effort to calm the
situation, said to the Hijacker, “But you are Hijacking the wrong airline, all
of us in the Caribbean are Black. We
have Black Power.”
This seemed to please the hijacker and hold Rezende in favour as he
turned to the flight attendants in the galley,
“You see this Man, bring him anything he wants Coffee, cigarettes anything.”
He then let Elizabeth go and she exited the cockpit, the hijacker then
demanded that the captain change course and fly to Algiers.
Bower then showed the hijacker the flight log which showed the #2 engine
was losing oil and needed to be topped up frequently.
This seemed to put some doubt in the hijacker’s mind about the aircraft.
One of the hijackers announced from the cockpit,
"This is your new commander and the flight's name is changed to
AAFF, Afro American Freedom Flight Number One."
The Captain then suggested that they stop in Cuba to refuel and put some
oil in the engine."
At first, they said he should put the oil in engine number one into
engine number two, and the captain explained that that would take at least two
days with the help of a trained engineer.
Instead of flying to Miami, the aircraft was forced to go to Havana,
Cuba where the men held the 63 passengers, including the crew, hostage for
approximately seven hours while demanding that the plane be refuelled and flown
to Algiers for a meeting with American Author Eldridge Cleaver, a Black Panther
who was living there in exile.
It was really terrifying.
They had a map with them and they were pointing out from a layman's
perspective how they wanted to go from Cuba to Guyana, from Guyana to Natal in
Brazil and then to Dakar, Africa.
They were talking about uncharted territory and all the time I remember
thinking that they might kidnap me and keep me in Africa since I was the only
visibly black crew member," said Hanna.
F/O Rezende attempted to set the Transponder to the international
distress code for a hijack but the hijacker said “Don’t Fuck with that!” making
the crew realise that he knew something about aircraft.
Communications were made with Havana and permission to land was received
from the Cuban Authorities.
Wesley Chang, BWIA Area Manager for Jamaican and the Grand Cayman
Islands said the two hijackers, identified as Robert Wiggins of New York and
Robert Alonzo of North Carolina wanted to go to Senegal a Republic in Africa.
Quick-thinking and experienced captain, Keith Melville who told the men,
who threatened to shoot up the passengers and throw their bodies outside, that
there was a leak in the second engine.
On landing in Havana airport Rezende observed many fox holes dug around
the perimeter of the runway with armed soldiers and anti-aircraft gun
emplacements, they were prepared for war.
Capt Melville put the aircraft firmly on the ground and applied full
reverse thrust as approaching fast from the other end of the runway directly at
the aircraft was cherry picker vehicle (like what T&TEC uses to fix wires)
with the arm fully extended and in its bucket were armed soldiers with
automatic weapons pointing directly at the cockpit.
The aircraft was immediately surrounded by military vehicles and troops.
As soon as the aircraft came to a stop on the runway the cherry picker
pulled up to the captain side window and the soldiers pointed their weapons
directly at those in the cockpit who made hand signals to shut down engines and
open the window and cabin door.
There must have been another truck with an air stair and the Cabin door
was opened from the outside and a well-dressed Cuban authority entered the
cockpit and spoke in perfect English, who said “Only One Hijacker, why did you
not tell us? We would have shot him out as we approached the aircraft!”
Rezende thought, “You not serious? you would shoot the terrorist behind
Capt Melville?”
The Authority then quite nonchalantly declared, “Get the Passengers and
Baggage off the aircraft!” and told the Captain, “That’s US$50,000:00 for
landing fees and US$50,000:00 for hotel accommodation!”
Captain Melville protested that he did not have US$100,000:00. “No
Problem, call Trinidad, have them call Mexico, Mexico will send money tomorrow!
No Problem!”
"The hijackers walked off the plane straight into the arms of the
Cuban authorities and that was that, end of drama.
We asked the Cuban Authorities what would happen to the Hijackers?
They replied “If genuine counterrevolutionaries we will train and send
out, if not, they will cut cane!”
Passengers and crew were put on a bus and taken to downtown old Havana
with its old Spanish Colonial buildings and to a hotel where everyone was
assigned and individual room.
The Cuban Authority told them they could go anywhere they liked in
Havana but not out of the front door.
At Dinner time everyone was called down for dinner which they expected
would be on the ground floor but the elevator would only go as far as the 4th
floor, where dinner was served.
Next day the crew was informed that the Mexicans had paid the required
fees and they were free to leave, the bus took them back to the airport where
they boarded and cleared for take-off and to the Cuban airspace boundary, where
the US Air Force escorted them to Miami.
Joseph Denicola, Manager for North America operations, said the
hijackers had surrendered to Cuba officials and the aircraft will continue to
Miami.
After being Hijacked on Friday the Aircraft was released by Cuban
Authorities on Saturday and allowed to fly on to Miami.
On Arrival in Miami Rezende said, we were met by every imaginable
Government agency, FBI, CIA, Police Dept etc. And everyone was interviewed
numerous times individually.
The next day, says Rezende, "we operated BW 401, on time, back to
Port of Spain, in spite of our stress.
To this day there has never been a company inquiry as to what took place
so that it may not happen again.
BWIA displayed absolutely no interest whatsoever as to what happened
although we (Capt Melville and Mike Rezende) submitted a written report of the
incident.
And the crew never received either a letter of commendation or
acknowledgment.
I do think the crew under the command of Keith Melville did an
outstanding job considering that we have never had any training on how to
handle such a situation, there were no hysterics, screaming or anything it just
worked itself out completely calmly, must have been for the good training that
the older wartime pilots and the past war experience together with the
excellent training of Bidi Bell and Janet Scott .”
BWIA’s management and the Government of Trinidad & Tobago’s response
to this life-threatening incident was non-existent and Staff were not told of
the event, very poor in that it made no effort to analyse the implications of
it and prepare and train all of its staff on how to deal with such incidents
should they reoccur in the future, it was just swept under the carpet.
Source:
his friend Darrell Lou-Hing
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Jeanine Rezende Jones
3/5/2021 02:55:33 pm
Darrell's words were exactly as Mike
Rezende had reported the incident. I was
married to Mike Rezende at the time.
I never tire of this article....I remember exactly where I was when
breaking news broke on the television station (in California.)
We were so scared, as we knew Michael was on that flight.
RIP Michael we miss you so much
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Mike Rezende left BWIA to Join CariCargo
after negotiating a retirement settlement with BWIA’s Captain Eric Mouser.
He joined as the senior Training Pilot, in fact he assisted Mike Bento
in putting together the companies training manual which was a patchwork of a PANAM
and BWIA operating manuals.
By and large the training was equal to the training BWIA’s Pilots
received.
Captain Rezende said, “The cargo airline started with simple routes
initially like Barbados Trinidad Guyana etc. but before long they were suddenly
thrust into the international arena with flights to the USA, Brazil and other
parts of South America, then to Europe, Africa and the Far East including
India, China and Australia.
CariCargo was the only airline to be awarded a contract for Canadian
Mail delivery both domestically and internationally.
Caricargo was fun to fly but it was gruelling work and almost like
driving a Tractor Trailer big truck.
Mike said he soon learned that to be roster-ed to do a flight, as Earl
Preudhomme suggested, always pack and carry a suitcase as you never know where
you will land up going.
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Another look at so called
"education"?
This is my story.
An elementary school "failure", a Belmont Intermediate
"failure", a Progressive Educational Institute "failure"
and when I found my element an Abbey School Mount St. Benedict super success.
Sadly, the generation of local monks after Frs. Cuthbert and Odo didn't
understand what education is about, they being products of the same brutal
elitist grammar school system.
In one's element we thrive.
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Bernard
Fontaine
Happy birthday on
this special day, have a good time and up to 120 with a lot of health and
lucidity. I keep receiving your very interesting emails about Mount.
Your high school
buddy at Mount St. Benedict, Tunapuna.
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|
Re: Abraham Laquis |
From: RicardoFiguera H.
Sent: Sat 5/10/08 12:02 PM
Dear Ladislao
I've just opened your e-mail and learnt
about Abraham Laquis situation.
I'm terribly sorry. . . I'll get in touch with his son.
I recall we used to call him Brahm. I studied with him in Form II and Form III,
until he left school, and I think my brother Pablo studied with his brother
Pud.
A picture of him which I have not received is mentioned by his son in
his e-mail May 8. Could you please send it to me?
Thank you, Ladislao.
Best regards.
Ricardo Figuera
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EDITED by Ladislao Kertesz, kertesz11@yahoo.com, if you would like to subscribe for
a whole year and be in the circular’s mailing list or if you would like to
mention any old boy that you would like to include, write to me.
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Photos:
15LK2970FBMRE, Michael Rezende
60BF0020HOUSES, Sports field
marching of the houses
63TF0123SPORTS, Photo by Terrence
Ferreira
17LK4439FBRMO, Raymond Morris
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