Speaker 1: Coming on to the landing, we felt the brakes were
hit really hard, and we were all in the sense
of nervousness, like we all lurched forward in our seats
a little bit just by how hard the brakes were hit.
And then all of a sudden, it was just this
really loud bang and everybody's head basically hit the seat
in front of them, and in that moment it was
just chaos and panic. I mean, this planet immediately felt
like there was no one in control.
Speaker 2: This is the Miracle Files. I'm Emily Jones and.
Speaker 3: I'm Holly Worthington.
Speaker 4: Sometimes the news and social media can feel pretty dark.
Speaker 5: And true crime can leave you afraid to even crawl
into bed. But we're here to prove that there are
more miracles than murders.
Speaker 4: In these special Miracles in the News episodes, we dig
through the headlines for.
Speaker 5: You because miracles still happen and God is still good.
Welcome back to Miracles in the News. All right, Hollywood,
he got for us today.
Speaker 4: Okay, you may have seen the viral footage for this
story because it's kind of been all over in national news,
but I want to recognize the miracles that took place
because that's what I think a lot of people don't
know about.
Speaker 3: Our story starts.
Speaker 4: Today in Montreal, Canada. It's ten twelve pm Eastern time,
and Air Canada flight eight six four six departs heading
to LaGuardia Airport in New York. But the flight doesn't
go according to plan even from the beginning. It's about
a ninety minute flight, and unfortunately the passenger jet, which
is carrying seventy two passengers and four crew members, is
running late. It's running over two hours.
Speaker 2: Okay, So I know the story you're talking about.
Speaker 5: I have seen this viral footage online, but I just
I don't know the full details. And I didn't know
that there were miracles, So keep going.
Speaker 3: Yeah, just wait, there really are.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: So while Air Canada flight eight six four six is
in the air, something else is happening in New York.
At ten thirty pm, the overnight shift at LaGuardia's air
traffic control tower begins with a reduced staff of only
two air traffic controllers. At eleven twenty one pm, another
passenger jet United two three eighty four is planning to
take off, but instead calls the tower reporting an unusual odor,
saying it wants to return to the gate. Then about
ten minutes later, the United plane is still on the
ground and it's pilots declare an emergency, saying that flight
attendants are feeling ill and they need to return to
the gate. A fire truck is dispatched to assist the aircraft.
Speaker 5: Okay, so there's two planes, one in the air, the
other one on the ground. Smells something funny. A fire
truck is now heading to that one on the ground.
Speaker 3: Yes, exactly, check on it.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 4: So over the next few minutes things start getting really complicated.
Air Canada flight eight six four six. The plane in
the air checks in with the LaGuardia tower and is
cleared to land.
Speaker 6: The plane with clear to land on runway four just
after eleven thirty five pm Local time, TIE two Clane
four okay.
Speaker 4: Almost at the same time, a tower controller clears the
fire truck to also cross runway for.
Speaker 6: Truck one company with boardy tower requesting to cross for
at Delta Truck one. Company it cross for at Delta
Truck one and company crossing for at Delva.
Speaker 3: Okay.
Speaker 4: So the Air Canada plane calls out that it is
one hundred feet above ground and is about to land. Unfortunately,
the fire truck is still planning to cross the same
runway that the airplane is about to land on. The
air traffic controller recognizes his air at the last second
and begins frantically telling the fire truck to stop.
Speaker 6: Stop there, stop up, truck, stop stop stop stop, truck
one stop, sap, truck one stop.
Speaker 5: I remember hearing that on the video. And just like
each time he says stop, stop, stop, you can tell
he's like getting more frantic with each one, like stop.
Speaker 7: I can't imagine the terror of this air track.
Speaker 2: Well, it's his job to prevent this. That's that's got
to be the worst moment exactly.
Speaker 4: So it's now eleven thirty eight pm. The Air Canada
plane touches down on the runway. It's going somewhere between
ninety three and one hundred and five miles an hour
and is headed straight for a collision with the fire truck.
With no time to avoid the fire truck, the pilots
of Air Canada have to react immediately, deciding if they
will hit the fire truck head on, likely ending their
own lives, or possibly try to turn the plane and
risk the lives of all the passengers if the plane
tips or rolls, they decide to hit the fire truck
head on.
Speaker 8: Surveillance video posted online shows the moment the Air Canada
jets slammed into a fire truck crossing the runway.
Speaker 3: That is that's hard to watch.
Speaker 5: I mean you can see like at the last second,
these firemen in the fire truck know what's about to happen.
It looks like they try to get out the way,
but there's like no time to react.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that is awful.
Speaker 2: It's so sad.
Speaker 9: Well.
Speaker 4: Jack Cabot is one of the passengers on the plane
and the news interviewed him and this is what he says.
Speaker 1: Coming on to the landing, we felt the brakes were
hit really hard, and we were all in the sense
of nervousness, like we all lurched forward in our seats
a little bit just by how hard the brakes were hit.
And then all of a sudden, it was just this
really loud bang and everybody's head just basically hit the
seat in front of them, and in that moment it
was just it was chaos and panic. I mean, this
plane immediately felt like there was no one in control,
and people were screaming, people were crying.
Speaker 2: That would be so frightening.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's an incredibly tragic moment, and the fund of
the aircraft is basically gone, like annihilated, and both pilots
are killed on impact.
Speaker 5: And that's what I think what makes this video so
hard to watch is you know that this is the
moment when lives ended, and these are two completely innocent people, unsuspecting.
You know, this is just a normal day going to
their normal jobs, like they would have had no idea
what was about to happen.
Speaker 3: I know, it is so sad.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: So the captain's name is Antoine Forrest and the first
officer is Mackenzie Gunther, both young, passionate, skilled pilots tragically killed.
And meanwhile, in the chaos, the senior stewardess, Solange Tremblay,
is also ejected from the airplane. Inside the cabin, as
you can imagine, there is total chaos, total panic. Their
plane is just crashed, but beyond that, there's only one
crew member left on board who happens to be injured.
The radio system is destroyed and people don't know like
if the plane could explode, Like, yeah, this is just
one of those really terrifying, awful moments, and yet in
this moment of just darkness and spare you begin to
see God's hand in this story. Several heroes step forward,
and for passenger Rachel Mariotti, part of her miracle came
in the farm of another passenger named Rachel Lcory. They
were seated in the emergency exit row and they worked
together to remove the emergency exit door and help people
off of the plane.
Speaker 10: I pulled the door out, and it was very heavy,
so protocol is for you to throw it out the window.
I was so panicked. I didn't remember that part. But
I did open the door and Rachel helps me move
it out of the way so that all of the
passengers on our side could get out.
Speaker 9: I had a moment to maneuver the door around. I
give credit to Rebecca for getting that door off. I
don't know what I would have done. You know, honestly,
I've heard those exit instructions and I passively pay attention.
I'm going to pay attention next time. I mean, I
remember looking at the stickers on the door and it's
kind of like, but I wasn't registering. Okay, that's what
I have to do, And I mean, she did it.
Speaker 5: Quickly, yeah, I mean I sat in the exit row before.
I have never paid very close attention to those either,
and I'm sure in a moment like that, I would freeze.
Idn't know what to do either, But yeah, sounds like, yeah,
I kind of like sitting on the exit row. But
you're right, I tell them I'm perfectly capable of taking
out that door. But at the same time, yeah, it
makes me want to take that all so much more
seriously when I go on these flights, right, and amazing
that these women actually did step up to the plate
and do what they were supposed to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 4: Thankfully, Rebecca finds strength beyond her own and manages to
help get everyone out. And I'm sure that that had
to be such a horrible moment for her. But when
Rebecca finally gets off the plane, she pauses to process,
and these are her thoughts.
Speaker 3: In that moment.
Speaker 10: I was thinking that I'm a walking miracle and God
gave me a second chance at life, and I could
have almost not made it home to my boys in
my family.
Speaker 5: I'm sure all of the passengers who made it off
that plane felt that way.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm sure they did too.
Speaker 4: And Rebecca isn't the only one who sees miracles in
this plane crash, and unbeknownst initially to the other passengers,
when the front of the airplane is ripped apart, the stewardess,
Solange Tremblay, hasn't just been injected from the plane.
Speaker 7: She's been thrown over three hundred feet.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh, that's insane.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and as you can imagine, at that distance, no
one expects to find her life. But when first responders
find her, she's lying on the tarmac, still strapped into
her jump seat. And even more shocking, Solange is alive
and conscious.
Speaker 8: Wow, how did she survive? The flight attendant thrown three
hundred feet from the air Canada plane is confounding everyone today.
Her daughter tells a Canadian news outlet her mom suffered
a broken leg, but says it's a miracle she survived.
Speaker 2: Wow, that is crazy.
Speaker 5: You think about three hundred feet that's almost the length
of a football field, right and.
Speaker 2: Going one hundred miles per hour.
Speaker 5: It's like getting shot out of a can Like, how
do you survive that?
Speaker 3: I know it is truly a miracle.
Speaker 4: Crazy, And when I've looked into this further, I think
she may have actually broken both of her legs. But still,
I mean, it's just incredible that this woman even survived.
Speaker 2: Amazing.
Speaker 4: Yeah, this story, you know, sits right there at that
intersection between tragedy and miracles. And when you look at
the timeline, I mean, things just were lining up for
an absolute disaster. You had a delayed departure, an emergency
on another flight, and airplane traveling it over one hundred
miles per hour carrying seventy six people, colliding, two people
in a fire truck.
Speaker 2: Everything seemed to be going wrong.
Speaker 4: Yeah, and in the middle of all of that and
even more disastrous outcome that could have happened didn't.
Speaker 2: That's true.
Speaker 4: And despite the chaos and the injuries, not a single
passenger lost their lives and the firefighters both lived as well.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 4: Truly miraculous outcome. And I don't think anyone can explain
how Solange survived other than a miracle.
Speaker 2: No, for sure, that was a miracle.
Speaker 4: But I also really believe that these pilots are incredible
heroes and are a big part of why these people
experience this incredible miracle.
Speaker 1: I'm so incredibly grateful for the pilots and their actions.
I mean, it was a high impact plane crash, and
they laid down their lives to save everybody else. It
was a miracle that so many people were okay, and
that's only really thanks to them. I remember smelling gas
and being worried that the whole planet was going to
blow up for a few minutes. But I mean it's
a miracle that the plane didn't blow up. I mean
had the truck hit the wing or the side of
the wing or the fuel tank, I mean, every single
person would have died.
Speaker 3: The pilots sacrificed their lives.
Speaker 9: And I learned about these two guys, Antoine Forrest Mackenzie Gunter.
I think it's important to say their names, and I
really want to say thank you to their families for
raising such brave young men. I know that they were
both from Canada from what I recall, and they're both
young and passionate about flying. People go into professions that
take a lot of risk to keep other people safe
and to testament to their training that they'd put on
the brakes versus what a human instinct would say is
to serve out of the way. Who knows it could
have caught on fire, a plane could have rolled over whatever,
So I'm not sure because those pilots they hit the
brakes and I'm pretty sure they knew that they were
going to not make it, and we're all able to
go home because of them.
Speaker 5: Wow, you can hear the gratitude and like they're almost
add that they have when they talk about these pilots
who saved their lives. And it's interesting to think about
my own reaction. If I was about to hit something,
I would probably try to swerve.
Speaker 9: Out of the way.
Speaker 5: Sure, yeah, And obviously that wouldn't have gone well, Like
you probably could have caused the plane to flip or whatever.
Speaker 4: And it's possible the pilots could have lived through that
if they had swerved, but it definitely would have put
the passengers' lives.
Speaker 3: More in danger.
Speaker 4: Right, And these were incredibly well trained, selfless men, and
we want to honor their lives. We may never know
why their lives were taken, but we do believe that
God has a purpose in all things. And interestingly, Dancing
with the Stars Alarmed Charlotte Jorgensen happened to be on
the airplane, and this is what she.
Speaker 3: Said of the pilots.
Speaker 4: They made the ultimate sacrifice so that we could all live.
I'm indebted to them and my thoughts are with their families.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's really poignant.
Speaker 5: I mean I imagine all of these passing will remember
these two pilot's names forever.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but it.
Speaker 5: Does lead me wondering, like why did this happen? Like
what went wrong to cause something like this to happen.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I think a lot of people want to know the
answer to that question, and they are investigating, and they're
thinking they may.
Speaker 3: Have some answers.
Speaker 6: Investigators looking at if the same air traffic controller was
in charge of traffic for both the airline and that
fire truck, because that's against procedures anytime before midnight.
Speaker 2: Interesting.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so apparently this happened at about eleven thirty five pms,
so just before midnight. But I'm sure there are several
factors that may have led to this collision, right, and
it's still under investigation. Either way, it's a terrible tragedy,
but as with many many tragedies, I think it's so
important that we look for the miracles as well.
Speaker 5: Yeah, it's really interesting when you first brought up the
story and like I, you know, remembered that video and
hearing that the pilots had passed away.
Speaker 2: I was like, how is this a miracle?
Speaker 5: Because if somebody passed away, how can that be a miracle.
But I agree that it is really important to look
for the miracles in every aspect of life, in every
story and every experience. This kind of reminds me of
like the very tragic moment when the flash flood hit
the girls camps in Texas. Yeah, so many tragedies came
out of that story. But also if you look for
the miracles, so many miracles. How many countless miracle stories
did we also hear about? And I mean, if you
look for the miracles, you will find them.
Speaker 4: You will find them, Yes, absolutely, And we are so
grateful for the miracles that took place in this story,
in this terrible disaster that could have been so much worse,
and made these pilots rest and peace. And our condolences
are with their families. You're in our prayers, and we
want to thank everyone for joining us today. I just
to end by quoting John fifteen thirteen, because I couldn't
help but think of this verse when I heard this story.
Speaker 3: Greater love hath no.
Speaker 7: Man than this, that a man laid down his life
for his friends.
Speaker 11: One of the young pilots killed and Twan Forrest identified
by family online, his brother writing, you've again left in
a whirlwind, too soon to say goodbye. I love you, brother.
You can leave with your head held high.
Speaker 4: Thank you for joining us. If you have a miracle
to share, contact us at the Miracle files dot com
or find us on social media. We release new episodes
each Monday.
Speaker 5: Yeah, so don't forget Miracle mondays. Subscribe on your favorite
podcast platform and YouTube for amazing video content as well.
Speaker 4: Join us next time as we discover more of God's miracles,
and don't forget to look for His light in your
own lives.