A single mother was asleep in the seat 8A… until the commander asked : “Is he a fighter pilot on board ? ”
PART 1
The airliner was flying over the Atlantic ocean for two hours, when the commander’s voice plunged to nearly three hundred passengers in total silence :
“If a pilot is on board, please identify yourself immediately with the crew. ”
No one could have imagined that the woman was asleep in seat 8A would be precisely the one that could save their lives.
The flight between New York and Madrid had started normally. The lights were dimmed. Some of the passengers were sleeping, others were watching a movie, or watched the dark clouds through the windows.
Among them was Emily Carter, a single mother of thirty-eight years old, dressed in a simple green sweater, a blanket on the legs and a closed book in his hands.
For others, it was only a traveler tired.
Nobody knew that once, Emily had been a fighter pilot in the most decorated United States Air Force.
She had participated in combat missions in high-risk, where a few seconds could make the difference between life and death. But after a devastating tragedy, she had left the military aviation.
Emily didn’t want to be a heroine. She simply wanted to live a normal life.
It was for this reason that she had chosen the seat 8A : by the window, a little conversation and a night flight where no one would ask him who she was.
Then the commander’s voice rang out again :
“Ladies and gentlemen, we are currently experiencing a technical problem requiring immediate assistance. If a person on board has a background in military aviation, thank you to identify you with a member of the crew. ”
A heavy silence permeated the cabin.
A mother hugged her baby against her. An elderly man took the hand of his wife. Several passengers looked at each other with concern.
Why an airliner would he need a fighter pilot ?
What was it like in the cockpit ?
Emily slowly opened her eyes.
She recognized that tone. It was exactly the same atmosphere as that experienced in the past in the cockpit of a fighter plane : the urgency, the fear is contained and the voice of a driver trying to stay calm while the systems were beginning to fail.
A hostess came down the aisle, face tense.
Emily closed her eyes.
No.
She had left that life behind her. She no longer wanted to be the one to intervene when all the world was afraid.
Then the hostess stopped near his seat.
“Excuse me, madam… do you Know if someone near you has a background in military aviation ? The commander searching, urgent searching for a driver. ”
Emily looked around her.
Children. Families. Hundreds of people who had no control over what was happening to several thousands of meters above the ocean.
She then remembered the promise she had made to her : never get into a situation where someone’s life depended on it.
But another principle resurfaced, deeply rooted in it after years of service :
A driver never abandons his own.
She took a deep breath.
“I am pilot. ”
The hostess blinked.
“Pardon ? ”
Emily unfastened his belt and straightened up. His attitude changed instantly.
“I am a fighter pilot. A former member of the United States Air Force. I flew the F-16 for several years. ”
The passengers around her began to whisper.
The man sitting beside her and stared at her, stunned.
“You ? ”
Emily nodded just the head.
The hostess seemed both relieved and incredulous.
“Please… follow me immediately. ”
Emily stood up.
As she walked towards the cockpit, she had the impression of returning to a past that she had desperately tried to forget.
But she was still unaware that behind this door was hiding not only a mechanical breakdown.
She was going to discover the dark secret that had destroyed her life years ago…
And most importantly, someone on board knew exactly who she was.
PART 2 is even more shocking… 
If you want to know what happens next, scroll down to the first comment 
PART 2
Emily went into the cockpit. Commander Michael Carter was pale, focused on the instruments, while his co-pilot was lying unconscious, an oxygen mask on the face.
— You have military experience ? asked Michael.
— Yes. I flew the F-16.
— Since how long ?
— Eighteen months.
Suddenly, the plane began to vibrate violently. Emily watched the screens.
— The autopilot is turned off. The flight computer receives conflicting information.
The device vira sharply to the right.
— Don’t fight the orders ! shouted Emily. Isolate this circuit !
Michael followed his advice. The vibrations stopped.
But a doctor arrived soon after.
— Your co-pilot shows signs of poisoning chemical.
Emily looked at the console.
— Where is his thermos ?
He was gone.
And then a new alarm sounds : the hydraulic pressure on the right train dropped dangerously.
At the same time, someone tried to open the door of the cockpit. On the screen appeared to Robert Anderson, the director of flight operations.
— Do not open ! “cried the hostess. It requires to enter !
Emily realized : the co-pilot had been poisoned, and the plane sabotaged.
It took place in the co-pilot seat.
— Land first. We will pay for the rest on the ground.
Under a heavy rain, the plane approached the runway. The train law still refused to lock.
At the landing, the aircraft shifted dangerously. Emily corrected immediately its trajectory. A slam sounds : the train was finally coming to lock.
The air froze. Nearly three hundred passengers burst of relief.
PART 3
Robert Anderson was arrested upon arrival of the aircraft.
— Emily Carter… I never thought I’d see you again at the seat 8A, ” he murmured.
The investigation revealed that it falsified maintenance records, and use of counterfeit parts in order to divert millions. He had sabotaged the plane and poisoned the co-pilot to cause a crash and destroy the evidence.
But the truth shocked him Emily : years in the past, the defective parts supplied by his company, which had caused the death of Daniel Brooks, his teammate and best friend.
Emily had left the army, convinced that it failed to save him.
Then the investigators gave him his last message :
“Tell Emily that this was not his fault. The commands are blocked. She has done everything that he needed. ”
In tears, Emily understood that she had never been responsible.
The mother of Daniel told him later :
— You don’t give up. Thou hast brought with thee. Now, it is time to live.
Robert Anderson was sentenced to life imprisonment.
Emily became a teacher vol., on The first day, she wrote on the board :
“The plane is making fun of your past. ”
Years later, a young passenger on the flight 412 wrote that after seeing it remain calm, he had decided to become a pilot.
Emily put her letter near the picture of Daniel.
Looking at a training plane, disappearing into the sky, she smiled.
For the first time in a long time, she no longer lives in the past.
She saw the future.
I am finally back home with me, ” she whispered.
