miracle plane

i dreamed of a plane crash.

i was a reporter who just happened to be hiking with a few friends in a peaceful area of desert. suddenly i heard the roar of an approaching plane. it was low in the sky and obviously in need of a quick landing. we all watched, amazed.

what was remarkable about the crash was that it was barely a crash at all. the plane came in low, slow and at the most gentle angle possible. the pilot managed to skim the plane along a shallow river, and it finally came to rest without major incident in the dirt.

this all happened within a couple hundred yards of me. i wasn't scared. i was awe-struck by the graceful beauty of it, and the talent of the pilot.

my friends and i ran to the plane to help. one of the windows in the cockpit had smashed and fallen out, and i yelled through it for the pilots to jump through that small hole. somehow i knew that none of the other doors would open, so i told the crew that everyone would have to exit through this tiny cockpit window.

passengers started squeezing out, one after the other. i would sort of catch them as they jumped. after a few dozen people had exited that way my friends managed to get one of the emergency doors open and more people were able to leave the plane. at no time was there any sense of panic. as the passengers left the plane, though, they were all stunned and would look down at their bodies in disbelief that they were still in one piece. in the air hung the quiet, weighty feeling that a miracle had just occurred.

when everyone had left the plane safely, and my own disbelief had subsided a bit, i walked over to one of the pilots who was just sitting on a big rock near the plane. i wanted to talk to him and get his reaction... more as a human being than as a reporter.

he was so shocked that he managed to land the plane as he did, and that no lives were lost... disbelief was his strongest emotion. i started to cry at his humility. the miracle of the situation was undeniable.

he then turned to me and said that i was really the hero. he remarked about how i hadn't been scared to approach the plane, that i was eager to help. not too many people in this day and age would do that, he said... help other people. i thought he was ridiculous --of course people would help!-- but we both stopped talking, looked into each other's eyes, and felt between us the glory of being a part of this singular event.

Posted by xta at April 3, 2005 10:29 AM | TrackBack