On September 14, 2008, a Boeing-737 passenger plane crashed in Perm. On August 22, 2006, a Tu-154 was killed near Donetsk.
Over the past 12 years, four airliners have crashed in Irkutsk … The mournful list of victims of plane crashes is hundreds of people, and every year, sadly, it continues to grow. But there are people who managed to avoid a terrible death: they either were late for the flight, or handed over tickets, or ended up in the part of the plane that survived the accident … There are not many such lucky ones, but they are still there.
Late to their own death
“They say that the writer Yulian Semyonov and his daughter were supposed to return from Adler to Moscow, but at the last moment they handed over their tickets: Semyonov was persuaded for another meeting with readers. Il-18, on which the writer was supposed to fly, fell into the sea. No one was saved.
But I wonder what is the percentage of passengers arriving late for flights that are destined to crash?"
These are lines from a letter from one of our readers. Recently, letters have come to the editorial office, the authors of which ask to explain the reason for the so-called miraculous rescues. Maybe the chosen ones of fate, who managed to avoid death in a catastrophe, have a so-called sixth sense that prompts them to take the right steps? The article that we bring to your attention today may at least partially answer the questions of our readers.
Promotional video:
Molotov makes a decision
Let's start from afar. In January 1946, a Soviet delegation headed by the Minister (then People's Commissar) of Foreign Affairs Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov flew to Paris for negotiations with General de Gaulle. On the way, it was supposed to land in Austria. According to the rank, Molotov relied on a personal plane, the rest of the delegation flew on another. The People's Commissar's plane was the American twin-engine Douglas (in the Soviet version - Li-2), a very reliable aircraft. During the war, he performed not only transport functions, but was also a reconnaissance and light bomber.
The first plane to take off from the Moscow airfield with members of the delegation, then - Molotov. But something strange happened at the airfield: a few minutes before the departure, Molotov climbed the ladder onto the delegation's plane and announced that he would fly on it. His plane followed with assistants, assistants and flight attendants. But without a "master".
"Douglas" with the delegation landed safely at a Soviet military airfield in Austria. And Molotov's plane crashed in the mountains.
When Molotov began to find out why he had boarded another plane, his answer sounded unconvincing: he needed to urgently discuss something with a military expert. But it would be much more logical to invite him on your plane!
Exclusive interview
In the 90s, when all and sundry began to reshape our history and publish ridiculous versions of the events of those years, one of the articles stated that Beria's man was among the secretaries of the People's Commissar, and Molotov took the opportunity to get rid of him. Another version asserted the opposite: by order of Stalin, Beria decided to remove Molotov, but they managed to warn him.
The authors of these fantastic versions, it seems, did not even read the interview of the former minister to the correspondent of one of the central newspapers. In the mid-80s, this journalist accidentally discovered that Molotov outlived almost all of his colleagues and was leading the quiet life of a personal pensioner. The ninety-year-old pensioner did not want to communicate with journalists, but this time for some reason he made an exception, and during a home conversation this old story surfaced. But now that he had nothing more to fear or hide anything, Molotov finally explained his strange act.
It turns out that on the way to the airport, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich had a feeling that he should not fly this plane. When he was in the cabin, an unpleasant premonition literally forced him to leave the plane, go up to another and, under a far-fetched pretext, stay in it.
People who foresaw the sinking of the Titanic
Now let's remember one of the biggest catastrophes of the 20th century - the sinking of the Titanic. After her, journalists tracked down 18 people who, under various pretexts, abandoned this prestigious flight and handed over their tickets. Among them - even millionaire J. P. Morgan.
And practically all "refuseniks" had a premonition of an impending disaster, although expressed in different ways. Clairvoyants advised three of them to refrain from traveling, one had a wife who saw a sinking ship in a dream for several nights, five had an inexplicable fear when they saw the Titanic at the pier or in a photograph in a booklet. One woman got a call from her mother and, without explaining the reason, begged to return the ticket.
All these people believed the prediction, or foreboding, and remained on the shore. Surely there were many more of those who had a presentiment of the tragedy, but could not do anything or did not dare. So, K. MacDonald, appointed the second engineer of the Titanic, three times refused this position, anticipating that something terrible would happen. Journalist and writer W. T. Steed received a letter from a priest who did not advise him to sail on this ship, but did not heed the advice. Among the women who survived, five later mentioned their premonitions, but they could not dissuade their loved ones from the trip, and they decided to share their fate. The rest, who did not heed the presentiment, could not tell about it.
In any case, the percentage of those who in one way or another had a premonition or warning of a catastrophe is quite high.
Providence is not so blind
American sociologist James Stonton, investigating the phenomenon of foreboding of an impending catastrophe, drew attention to the fact that crashed trains and planes left on their last voyage most often underloaded because of a rather significant number of "refuseniks" or simply latecomers. To substantiate his conclusion, he collected all cases of rail and plane crashes in the United States over the past half century and analyzed them. It turned out that the number of passengers who did not appear on fatal flights for various reasons is quite high and averages 10%.
Of course, not all the lucky ones had a premonition expressed explicitly. But it is hardly worth adding to it those who did not start the car, who forgot important documents at home, or stepped on a banana peel and dislocated their leg. And it is even more difficult to suspect Providence that it organizes many kilometers of "traffic jams" in order to someone missed the plane. But here is the curious case of a Frenchman who missed his day's flight because he slept, can already be attributed to a premonition, since the man swore that he never had the habit of sleeping during the day. The airliner on which this sleepyhead was to fly, as you understand, crashed.
Forewarned is forearmed
There is only one conclusion to be drawn from these stories: if you want to live, trust your presentiment, even if the ticket price is high and you want to get to your destination as soon as possible. And, of course, not only his premonition. In the above story about a woman who saw the sinking Titanic in her dream and persuaded her husband to return the ticket, there is one small “but”: he could not convince his friend to do the same.
And it’s not at all worth showing a truly oligarchic stupidity, as his colleague Rothschild did, unlike Morgan, however, on a flight on the Louisitania. A telegram was delivered to him directly on board: "Give up the flight: according to reliable information, the Luisitania will be torpedoed." The oligarch threw this telegram to journalists in the stupid certainty that nothing could happen to the powerful of this world, and paid with his life.
We do not yet know the mechanism of premonition, although there is no doubt that it really exists. Perhaps this is an atrophied sixth sense of a person who is cut off from nature, perhaps a rare gift. This feeling can manifest itself in the form of intuition, an inner voice, or a series of mysterious accidents. It helps to survive …
Elena Gatchina. Magazine "Secrets of the XX century" No. 41 2008