at 8:25 p.m. est, twa flight 841 departed jfk international after a 45-minute delay due to traffic congestion. after traveling nearly , while cruising at near the city of saginaw, michigan, captain harvey "hoot" gibson says the aircraft was operating with the autopilot on "altitude hold" mode when it began a steep roll to the right. the crew immediately disconnected the autopilot and tried to bring the aircraft back to a wings level attitude. despite the best efforts of the flight crew, the aircraft spiraled out of control, diving about in just 63 seconds. during the course of the dive, the plane rolled through 360 degrees twice and crossed the mach limit for the 727 airframe.