Steve and his wife Jan were coming home from a successful trip to Jinja, Uganda, where they joined other Assist members and GE medical staff in installing a state of the art ICU monitoring system in the Jinja Regional Referral Hospital.
It had been a long and emotional draining week for the Savelichs. In addition to outfitting a medical clinic, they helped hand out new pairs of shoes to 2,500 orphans through AOET (donated by Soles4Souls) and distributed shoes to 400 former LRA "girl soldiers" (abducted for sex slaves) and their 150 children at an IDP camp.
"The extremes in hardship and the overwhelming need is still very fresh in my mind," said Steve. "We met with former girl soldiers and their children who were trying to put back together their lives after escaping from the LRA. These young women are just like you and me who are trying to live out their lives as caring and productive people," he said.
United Flight 949
The Savelichs, reflecting on their trip, began the long journey home to Ripon, California. In London, they boarded United flight 949 bound for Chicago. Steve was excited they were seated in the exit row, which meant a little more room for his 6'8" frame. Maybe he would even get a little sleep.
About 2 hours into the flight, people could smell something burning. It was an electrical fire and smoke began to pour out of the cockpit.
According to the first captain, the pilot's were having a hard time breathing and could not see the controls. They had to use their masks to help them guide the plane. The electrical circuits for everything on the airliner is located under the cockpit and the worry was that the fire would cut the wires that control the hydraulics.
The passengers noticed that the audio and video system went out very quickly with a 'pop'. The pilots began to check the flaps on the wings.
One man later said that no one on the flight was too worried until the PA system was left on (the pilots could not see the switch to turn it off), and they heard, “we need to get down now.”
There was an announcement from the crew that they would divert the plane to Iceland. No one was sure if this was to be a ground or a water landing.
"I didn't know if we'd make it to land or if we did that the landing gear would work," said Steve.
"I thought about Paul and his prayer on the ship and prayed in a similar vein."
Being located in the exit row, Jan and Steve were called upon to get ready for action. The steward took them through the emergency procedures again. People began to gather their passports and other valuables and put them in their pockets. Some figured it was for body identification, others were hoping to use them again to get out of Iceland.
The plane decreased in altitude and the passengers and crew could began to see Iceland in the distance. The entire plane exhaled a giant sigh of relief when the plane came to a halt on the runway. Surrounded by fire trucks and emergency vehicles, every one walked off the plane shaken but uninjured.
"I know that men far better than myself have gone down in plane crashes, but God who is merciful to the poor and pathetic had mercy on me and on all who were on the plane," laughed Steve. "It was quite an experience and of course, the upside is we've been to Iceland."
Read news story here.
Another first hand account of United flight 949 here.
No comments:
Post a Comment