Howard , Hope BWB doesn't mind my stepping in here !

As you probably know Allen flew traffic copter reports in
St.Louis,Mo. & owned a Mini 500 copter.
Another pilot was supposed to take this chartered flight but, got
tied up on previous flight,so Allen volunteered to take this ***
supposed *** real estate developer *had brief case maps -the whole
works* on an overflight survey near Cape Girardu(sp) Mo.. When they
started to get in the chopper(Jet Ranger ,I believe),Allen told her
she could see better in the front seat (as she started to get in
back). She told him she would decide where to sit & for him to just
fly like she told him. Allen said he could tell this was going to be a
fun flight!!!! They loaded up & lifted off,she told him to fly along
the Mississippi river until she told him to turn north. He suggested
to her that in would save time (money) to go direct. He said she told
him in no uncertain terms to do what she told him to do. No
problem,your money,he said(he still figured he could make it back in
time for traffic reporting). Near Cape Gir. she told him to turn north
& fly for (I believe)15 miles,make a 180* turn,then she would tell him
where to land.
He knew almost instantly that that flight path would take them over
the federal prison in the area.(a definate no,no=no fly zone)Said he
turned
his head to tell her they couldn't do that & he was looking down the
barrel of a 9mm pistol. She told him to do as told or else. He said as
he flew over the prison area,he tried to avoid the prison as much as
possible when going north. All the time trying to figure out what to
do. Made his 180* turn,headed south. She told him he was to land in
the prison exercise yard & pick up 2 passengers. He told her ,there is
no way they are going to let us land & take off in the yard,they will
shoot us out of the sky. Again she told him to do as he was told.
He decided if he could talk her into opening the side door,maybe it
would distract(he figured the sudden rush of air would surprise her)
her enough so he could do something to get the gun. He told her by
opening the door in advance the passengers could get in quick & maybe
they could make it out of the yard without getting shot. She agreed.
So when he reached back to unlatch the door,he gave it a shove. As he
let go of the door,he grabbed her hand w/ the gun,then gabbed on w/
the other hand. After wrestling the gun from her hand(helicoper flying
it self)he turned & saw her reaching for another gun on the floor(she
told him,that's ok ,I have another one). So he said he just started
firing away over his shoulder. After the gun was empty ,he couldn't
see her anymore. About this time he looked back up front & realised he
was in a 90* vertical dive headed for mother earth. Said he pulled up
on col.& cranked in all of throttle,just got the ship level before it
hit the ground.
Shut down the engine, climbed out,looked in the back. His lady
friend wasn't moving. Said he turned & noticed a gate in the fence & a
little room inside the fence. (he had landed in the cleared area
between the prison fence & a wooded area) He took off running to the
gate,entered as it was unlock as was the door into the room. There was
a phone in the room but, he couldn't get it to work. He then tought of
the radio in his A/C. Took off running toward the A/C. All of a sudden
he realised there are guards up in the towers w/ guns & he could be
shot. Said,he stopped ,put his hands in the air,turned & looked up to
the towers & waved his hand, one of the guards waved back while
looking down the barrel of his gun pointed at Allen. I guess about
this time people stared coming out of the prison to see what was going
on. Allen slowly walked back to his A/C. Turned on his Radios & made a
call to their base on the river barge they used for a heliport. He
said the owner has radio at home to monitor what's going on. Owner's
wife answered Allen's call & started to laugh,She replied to Allen
that this was his best stunt yet,like it really happened: Yeah,
right,you have killed your lady passenger,you've shot up the
helicopter & crashed the helicopter at a federal prison & you need
help!!!( From what I have been told Allen was good at pratical jokes).
Finally the boss & the other pilot( that was supposed to take this
charter) came up on the radio. The boss told him they would fly out
there but , if this was a stunt,first he was going to kick Allen's
tail,then fire him.
I'm posting this as best I remember it as told by Allen. Allen was
in the process of writing a book about this event when he was killed
in his Mini 500. I wonder if it was ever finished. Would love to read
it for more details.
The lady Allen shot,had a daugther try to break out the same guy
from prison a couple of years later. The police believe she was going
to steal a Saber Liner (as there is a Saber Liner repair facility near
by)& fly them out of the country. Allen said he believed that was the
first lady's plan. They tought because he knew how to fly jet
helicopters that he could fly F/W jets. You know one jet is just like
any other jet,yeah,right!!!

Maybe Fred Stewart,or Bill can tell more details of anything I
forgot.

Ed Randolph #0005
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(Badwater Bill) wrote in message ...
On Thu, 19 Feb 2004 15:23:29 GMT, "Yosimite Sam"
wrote:

Bill, I noticed in one of your posts that you knew Allen Barklage. I never
knew the man, but had heard his name mentioned often. I've know of the
"hijack" story, but have never heard the details. Do you know them? Would
you share?

Howard



Oh, yeah, Allen restled the gun away from the psycho when he was
hijacked. He flew the helicopter and got the gun away from the guy
while in flight. And Allen was the only pilot on the helicotper. It
think it was a Jet Ranger. He landed and the guy was arrested. I'll
have to call Fred Stewart and ask him about the details. I heard
Allen talk about it years ago but didn' t pay much attention to it.
It was sort of like a James Bond thing he did. Very Ballsy. It was
like Beer Talk in those days, but it did really happen.

BWB