Laura Falci of Chicago was already asleep in seat 24A when United Airlines Flight 811 took off for New Zealand early Friday, her hair falling over her black double-breasted jacket. Like most airline passengers, she never paid much attention when the flight attendants went through all those instructions about how to adjust oxygen masks in an emergency.
Nearly at the back of the jetliner, Dr. Jack Kennedy, a surgeon from Melbourne, Australia, casual in shorts with big red-and-white stripes, had found a couple of vacant seats to sleep.
And then, as the passengers later recounted their experience in interviews, the routine became the extraordinary. There was a bang, a whoosh of air, and suddenly the cabin filled with flying debris and terror.
Ms. Falci gripped the hand of the Japanese man next to her and started to read the little plastic emergency card in the seat pocket. Dr. Kennedy looked out the window and saw fires from the two starboard engines and said to his sons in front of him, ''I think this is it - you'd better say your prayers.''
Read Full Article »