UNBELIEVABLE

 

You are reading a book.

It describes a hair-raising  episode of an ordinary plane flight, consisting of  166 Israeli passengers (including 30 children) and eight other nationalities, making 174 altogether.

With no prior warning, the co-pilot (a Muslim from Oman), suddenly begins to viciously stab the captain multiple times with a sharp axe-like instrument, which was behind him on the plane. Despite his almost fatal wounds and severe bleeding, the Indian captain Smit Machchhar (our main hero), somehow succeeded  in sending two distress codes denoting "general emergency" and "unlawful interference/hijacking".    Most importantly, while literally fighting for his life, he made a superhuman effort and managed to open the cockpit door a moment before collapsing.

[The Israeli who eventually saved his life by doing all in his power to stop his profuse bleeding, and never left his side, is another hero - a dentist called Shota.]

The first to set the alarm was a mother and small daughter who came out from the toilet which was adjacent to the cockpit, where all hell was breaking loose.

As soon as he saw that the cockpit door was opened,  Hayoun, a short middle-aged passenger sitting in the front row, leaped into the cockpit. Although he was physically no match for the armed, murderous co-pilot he somehow managed to get a chokehold around the attacker's neck. Three other passengers took over and managed to restrain him by tying him up with cables from earphones.

The co-pilot had also been trying to sabotage everything  in the cockpit. Afterwards, it transpired that he had most probably managed to switch off both generators.

With nobody at the controls, the plane began a free fall. It made a radical left turn and plummeted down at the rate of about 30,976 feet per minute, exceeding the structural  integrity of the plane. The severely stressed aircraft reached near-supersonic speed.

Hayoun, rushed back into the cockpit and pulled back the flight controls, stopping the plane's dive. This unassuming hero, who is a plumber by trade, almost certainly  saved the plane and its passengers from a certain immediate crash.  As the plane pulled out of its rapid downward plunge - it caused further stress - at three times the force of gravity.  This exceeded the normal design load limit of the Boeing 737 - leading to severe structural damage to the aircraft's rudder. This action could very well have caused the plane to fall apart midair. 

Hayoun, who had never been in a cockpit in his life, claims he knew what to do because he had watched a similar situation in the 'Air Crash Investigation' (part of a TV documentary series).

While this was going on, the vulnerable passengers were harboring  thoughts of  impending death. Their main concern was in protecting their children, who were behaving very well under the circumstances.

Which gives rise to the question of what happened to the flight attendants, who were supposedly  responsible for the welfare of the passengers?

With perfect timing, two off-duty foreign pilots - who just happened to be  sitting at the back of the plane - immediately took over the controls and made a precise, remarkable job of landing the wreck of the  plane.

That makes about 8 heroes - which is rather overdoing it.

I read a reputable report somewhere, that the chances of saving a plane that dives thousands of meters when the pilots are neutralized, are zero.

I am naïve enough to believe almost anything, but this story simply defies reality. The author should stick to science fiction.

Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but what are we to believe when truth surpasses reality?