1 Fire in Midair

On March 31, 1998, England's Leeds United soccer team lost a match by a score of 3-0. So the players weren't very happy as they rode in the bus to the airport. But soon they weren't thinking about the defeat at all. They were thinking about how grateful they were to be alive.

The team was 50 minutes late getting to the airport. It was after midnight before everyone was settled into his or her seat. Captain John Hackett and the rest of the flight crew were busy preparing the plane for flight. During this time, one of the passengers thought he smelled airplane fuel. He mentioned it to the person sitting in the seat beside him. No one else seemed to notice anything, however. Finally, at 12:20 A.M., Captain Hackett steered the plane down the runway.In a moment,the 67-foot turboprop plane,with 44 people on board,was airborne.

The plane climbed quickly. In just a few seconds it was 150 feet off the ground. Its speed was up to 140 miles per hour. Then, without any warning, the right engine caught fire. Before long, it was completely engulfed in flames.

Captain Hackett did not know about the fire right away. His instruments did not show any trouble. He found out only when a crew member entered the cabin and told him. Meanwhile, the flight attendants rushed to calm the passengers. They also told them to prepare for a crash landing.

When the passengers saw the flames,they screamed in terror.

“Fire! ” yelled some. “There's a fire! ”

Others hollered, “Stop! Stop! ”

But this was a plane, not a car. Captain Hackett couldn't just put on the brakes. Still, Hackett had to find a way to land the plane in a hurry.The flaming right engine could explode at any moment.

Hackett knew what he was supposed to do. Safety rules stated clearly what should be done in such an emergency. He was supposed to circle the runway.Only then could he land.But Hackett didn't think he had enough time to do that. So he tried something bolder.

The runway at the airport was long. Looking down, Hackett saw that the plane was flying over the last part of it. He had to make a split-second decision. Hackett turned the nose of the plane toward the ground. He knew the only chance of anyone surviving this crash was if he could land the plane on whatever bit of runway was left.

Hackett brought the plane down fast. When it landed, it bounced hard several times. Then it rolled off the end of the runway, its nose plowing into the grass. The plane skidded for 100 yards and stopped just before hitting a fence. The plane's nose was buried in the ground and its tail hung in the air.

The passengers were desperate to get off the plane. They knew it might still explode at any time. David O'Leary, the soccer team's assistant manager, was sitting near an exit door. He tried to open it,but it was stuck. O'Leary rammed the door with his shoulder. It flew open. Quickly, he helped people off the plane. Meanwhile the crew opened the two other exits.Because of the plane's awkward position, some people had to jump a long way to the ground. Some sprang from the wing, others from the tail.

Although it took about 30 seconds to get everyone off the plane safely, it probably seemed like hours. People were clamoring to get out, but those near the exits knew they should wait. They wanted to make sure they weren't going to leap into the flames.

After one player watched his teammates jump from the plane, it was his turn. “I thought for a moment I couldn't do it, ” he said. When he jumped and rolled over, everyone shouted to him to get away from the plane.No one knew whether or not the aircraft was going to blow up. “I'm lucky to be alive, ” he said.

With the plane's right engine still burning,the passengers scurried to the airport building. A fire crew, wearing special suits, worked quickly to put out the fire.

Both passengers and crew agreed that Captain Hackett was a hero. He had done the right thing in landing immediately. To circle the airport for a proper landing would have taken 8 or 10 minutes. There was a strong possibility that a wing would have caught fire.Or fuel leaking from the engine could have caused another explosion. That would have meant certain death for every person on board.

Thanks to the quick thinking of Captain Hackett, everything turned out all right. To Hackett himself, however, it was all in the line of duty. He didn't see himself as a hero. “I think any other pilot would have reacted the same way, ”he said.