Five Prayers
I found this wonderful story in one of the magazines lying around my house and I felt I should share it. It is originally written by Clyde Eggett, which is reprinted with the author's kind permission.
Early one Thursday morning in May, our large military jet rolled down the nearly two-mile-long runway for takeoff. Major Dick Legas, my friend, sat in the left seat. Behind us were 14 ROTC cadets out for an orientation flight and Major Gene Barton's crew waiting for in-flight air refueling drills. As we lifted off the runway, I raised the landing gear of the four-engine jet. When we reached 206 knots airspeed - barely 10 knots about stall speed - I raised the flaps. Immediately there was a loud bang and the aircraft pulled sharply and began to pull to the right, then pitched and bucked violently.
Time seemed to stop. As the instructor, I handled the control in an effort to right the stricken aircraft. Quickly I scanned the engine instruments. Number 4 engine had failed. A quick look out the right window confirmed an unbelievable sight - the 28 foot engine had exploded and was spewing pieced of hot metal into the sky and piercing the fuselage and wings of our fuel-laden aircraft.
I shut down the engine and tried to make the aircraft climb to get a larger safety margin. Since we had taken off with an extra-heavy fuel load for the mid-air refueling exercise, we needed to find a deserted area and climb to an altitude where we could safely get rid of nearly 45,000 pounds of extra fuel so it wouldn't harm people or crops.
I was tiring quickly because I had been continuously fighting to keep the plane under control, all the time worrying that one of the hot engine pieces might hit a fuel tank and set us on fire. Finally, we unloaded the fuel and headed for the runway. Luckily, the wind was light and right down the runway, which meant I didn't have to worry about fighting crosswinds and possibly exceeding the limited control I had over the aircraft.
I brought the aircraft in for landing, braked to a stop, and was met by firefighters. As we exited the aircraft, they and others were there to slap us on the back and congratulate us for saving many lives - and the $100 million plane.
That night, as my wife and I knelt in prayer, I thanked [God] for His protection. Afterwar, my wife said: "Honey, I have something I need to share with you. Last night, when I said my prayers, I felt...to ask that you might have special protection as you flew today." ...
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