How a pilot used engine power to steer a plane with severed cables

Wealth & Business · Published 20 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: When a bomb blew off the control cables of Philippine Airlines Flight 434, the aircraft became a rudderless glider. To save 272 lives, the crew had to abandon standard flight mechanics entirely, using a technique from a previous disaster to steer the massive jet using only its engines.

On December 11, 1994, a 'microbomb' planted by terrorist Ramzi Yousef detonated on a Boeing 747-200 flying from Cebu to Tokyo. The blast was severe enough to sever the cables connecting the cockpit to the right aileron and the steering controls for both the Captain and First Officer. This left the aircraft unable to bank or turn using traditional flight surfaces, effectively turning the plane into a heavy, unguided object.

Captain Eduardo 'Ed' Reyes, a veteran with experience handling total engine failures, faced a unique dilemma. The autopilot had stopped responding, and manual inputs did nothing. Drawing on the precedent of United Airlines Flight 232 from five years earlier, the crew decided to use 'asymmetric thrust.' By varying the power output of the engines on different sides of the plane, they were able to induce a roll and steer the aircraft toward Naha Airport in Okinawa.

Several factors prevented a total catastrophe. The bomb's placement in seat 26K was a mistake by Yousef; he incorrectly assumed the fuel tank was in the center, but the specific 747 configuration had it further back. This spared the plane from a massive explosion. Additionally, the blast expanded vertically, and the body of passenger Haruki Ikegami absorbed much of the force, protecting the plane's outer structure. The crew successfully landed the aircraft at 12:45 p.m., just one hour after the explosion.

The incident served as a test run for the Bojinka plot. Yousef used only one-tenth of the explosive power he intended for a larger attack on eleven U.S. airliners. He was eventually apprehended in Pakistan in 1995 and sentenced to life plus 240 years in a U.S. federal prison.

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