Wings of Prayer: Interviews with Air Disaster Survivors

Author: (USA) Michael P. Flanagan
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2003-11-01
Features: In this book, "Prayers on the Wings," the author has selected 15 cases from interviews with air crash survivors conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board of the United States. Passengers recount their thoughts, feelings, and actions taken at the time. What did these survivors consciously or unconsciously do that increased their chances of survival in the darkness, fire, smoke, and twisted wreckage of the plane? How did they face their fear? Let’s see what they themselves have to say.
When a passenger plane collided with a military bomber at an altitude of 5,220 meters, the fuselage broke into two parts. After 8 minutes of freefall, would anyone still survive? When rescuers found a woman not only alive but also surviving in the wilderness on wild fruits for three days, what else could they say besides exclaiming in awe? Some experts explained why she could survive after falling from such a high altitude: the piece of the plane she was on descended like a leaf, either spinning in a circular motion or swaying left and right, which saved her. Others classified her as belonging to the category of small cats and children with special abilities who don’t fall when they jump from high places, believing that under emergency conditions, some kind of emergency mechanism in their bodies temporarily blocked gravity. No matter what the experts say, wouldn’t we rather hear firsthand accounts from air crash survivors like her about their experiences and feelings at the time?