Survival and chance: Air India IX-812
By now you have probably heard the news of the crash of Air India Flight IX-812. The plane overshot the runaway and broke into pieces, bursting into flames. Fire seems to have claimed the lives of most of the passengers who died.
Horrible, horrible.
Since the plane was on the ground when the accident occurred (it tumbled down a wooded hill), there was a chance of survival for some people. The common denominator for the eight who lived to tell the tale appears to have been a combination of two things: being in the right location, and quick action. The survivors all were situated by chance near the breaks—they saw a hole or crack, made an almost instantaneous decision, and jumped out.
We like to think that we control our destinies. And to a certain extent we do—but not to as large an extent as one might think or wish. Those of you who are religiously inclined might want to say a prayer for the victims and their families, and likewise for the survivors, who have a long road ahead of them.
Ernest K. Gann, from his classic flying memoir Fate Is The Hunter, ruminating on why some of his fellow flyers lived while others were not so lucky:
Prayers for all who were aboard IX-812. I have a cousin who’s an airline pilot, and I always think of him and the passengers he serves whenever a disaster like this occurs.
Most pilots realize that are limits to our own control over our fate; but, also that good training and sound judgment extend the range of control significantly.
In this case, the fate of the passengers was apparently sealed by the lack of one or the other.
I have been around long enough not to discount “the luck of the draw”, it has manifested itself in so many instances to my personal knowledge. Still, I take Gann’s statement with a huge grain of salt. There is a simple and valid reason why the worship of Pagan Gods is no longer fashionable.
I was supposed to be on Pan Am 103, but for some inconsequential reason asked my secretary to move up my departure by a day. As a consequence I flew on the last Pan Am 103 to make it to JFK.
Strange feeling.
Wow, Occam, I’ll bet it gives you a strange feeling. That is way too close for comfort.
A long time ago, after surviving unscathed from an auto crash in which I should have been killed or maimed, I decided that there must be some kind of karma that determines these things. Not long after that a song, “The Wheel of Fortune” sung by Kay Starr became popular and it struck me as a kind of description for the cosmic rolling of the dice of fate.
A few years later I saw a Marine pilot’s airplane explode in mid air. The plane just became a formation of parts flying through the air. No way the pilot could have survived. And yet he did! The wheel of fortune……?
That is always in the back of my mind when there are uncanny survival stories such as this.
How to cope? Ah yes, that is the question. Different people deal with it in different ways. I chose reliance on a Higher Power, others will do it differently.
You’d think, but in my darker days, I’d have checked in with a smile on my face.
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When I first heard about the incident, my thoughts when to an acquaintance of mine…who happens to be traveling in India right now. Fortunately she has posted on Facebook since then…