Surviving a plane crash landing.

I wanted to share a very personal story and something that changed my life forever. In the very late hours of the 31st of October 2011 I boarded a plane from Newark, USA to Warsaw, Poland. It was a Boeing 767 operated by LOT Polish Airlines. I was travelling with a music band I played for at that time, we completed a North American tour and were heading home after a month of an intense touring experience. Half an hour after the take-off I asked a flight attendant for a few beers for our crew, however the response was negative. It was not possible to buy any alcoholic drinks, I was told to get back to my seat. Very odd, I thought at that time. The lights were off for over an hour after the take off, no service provided, just silence and waiting for somebody to make any announcement. After I got back to my seat a friend who was sitting behind me patted me on my back and said that he had never felt so anxious on a plane. As it later turned the air crew had already known what was about to happen. The rest of us went into slumber, unaware of the danger.

I woke up an hour or so before the planned landing. After a few moments there was a message given through the radio. The flight attendants were to show us a demo of emergency landing. After the demo the passengers were left with no other information whatsoever. My friends asked the flight attendant why we had been given the demo in the first place. She said that the landing gear wouldn't open. I looked to my left and my friend's face went pale. He said that our survival rate was very slim, below 10%. That is the moment we all realized we were probably going to die.

The situation was becoming more hectic every minute. There was no panic on board, many people didn't know what was going on really. They didn't understand the seriousness of the situation and there was no official radio message. The flight attendants though were as frightened as the people who knew what was about to happen. We asked one of them if she had undergone an emergency landing before. She said that she hadn't and that she wanted to see her two sons, who were waiting for her at the airport, one more time. She almost burst into tears. That was terrifying.

At some point the pilot stated that we would perform an emergency landing and that we should stick to the procedures from the demo. That was it. I didn't know what to do at that point. Try to send a text to my family? My phone was dead. Talk to my friends? They were all as confused as I was. One of my bandmates said that if we didn't survive it was great to play music together. Everybody said thank you to each other. I just hoped that it would be painless. I imagined the engines blowing, a massive explosion and a few seconds of pain and agony. However, I had some hope.

I tied my shoes and tucked legs of my jeans. I thought that if the pilot managed to miraculuously land the plane I would be the first person out of there, running for my life. The flight attendants shouted, 'Emergency position, emergency position, emergency position!' I crouched and put my hands on my head. I thought I would experience some kind of revelation, a divine intervention maybe, an enlightenment. Nothing of this sort happened. I just felt I was a being no better than any other mammal going to be slaughtered.

The plane was going down gently. My heart was beating as fast as never before. Then, the plane touched the surface of the airstrip. It was very gentle, more gentle than an ordinary touchdown. There was this horrible noise of the plane's belly grinding the airstrip. The plane's speed was gradually going down. At some point people started to clap their hands. It was obvious at that point that the plane would stop. The passengeres were ecstatic, clapping their hands and shouting. I couldn't understand it, ignorance is bliss, apparently. I just looked at my friend and said, 'Why are they so happy? It's not over yet. Let's get the fuck out of here!'

We ran to the emergency exit, we were the first ones to get there. The door opened and my friend wanted to jump before the slide came up. The flight attendant grabbed hold of him. After a few second we were sliding down and I had one thing in my head, to run as fast as I could. I saw a fighter in the air and a fire engine on the ground. When my feet touched the airstrip I was running for my life. After a few hundred meters I stopped, turned around and got on my knees. I saw this: