My father was a survivor of China Airlines Flight 006, which in 1985 fell 30,000 feet over 2.5 minutes and corrected tens of seconds before impact with the Pacific. The incident was caused by human error, but also recovered by the skill of the same Captain; after it, the FAA made new guidelines about crew schedules and mandatory rest times.
Stephen passed away January 2021 from COVID (but had an amazing 85-year life) and I was just reading his diary from the incident. The gist:
There was still an hour left before an emergency landing at SFO. The cabin was festering with vomit and tears, but there was a profound sense of love and connectedness and compassion among every passenger. Every one felt touched by a Divine Grace.
However, after a only few hours at the terminal and people could finally leave, it was every person for themselves as they physically and verbally harassed each over to get to where they were going. So quickly back to being selfish humans...
My Mom said she would drive from Los Angeles to get him, but he said that if he didn't get on a plane right then, he would never be able to fly again. So he courageously flew SFO->LAX right away, one of many flights he would continue to take throughout his life.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006
Stephen passed away January 2021 from COVID (but had an amazing 85-year life) and I was just reading his diary from the incident. The gist:
There was still an hour left before an emergency landing at SFO. The cabin was festering with vomit and tears, but there was a profound sense of love and connectedness and compassion among every passenger. Every one felt touched by a Divine Grace.
However, after a only few hours at the terminal and people could finally leave, it was every person for themselves as they physically and verbally harassed each over to get to where they were going. So quickly back to being selfish humans...
My Mom said she would drive from Los Angeles to get him, but he said that if he didn't get on a plane right then, he would never be able to fly again. So he courageously flew SFO->LAX right away, one of many flights he would continue to take throughout his life.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China_Airlines_Flight_006