The second worst U.S. air disaster occurred August 16, 1987. A Northwest airliner was cleared for take-off from Detroit. The passengers heard the First Officer Dodds announce, "Ladies and gentlemen, ah, we're currently number one for departure . . . Should be rolling in a couple of minutes."¹

Fourteen seconds into the flight, when the airliner should have been 600 feet in the air, on its was to Phoenix, the plane was traveling 222 mph, 45 feet above the ground. The automated stall signal was activated indicating that the plane lacked the necessary lift to take-off. The flight lasted 19 seconds before it lost 18 feet of its left wing when it sheared off a light pole in the National Car Rental lot, then struck another pole in the Avis lot, skidded down a two lane road, leaving 146 passengers, along with six crew members, two Northwest pilots who had hitched a ride, and two motorist, dead. One passenger survived!

That lone survivor was a blonde, pigtailed girl, Cecelia Cichan. Some firefighters thought they heard a moaning and spotted a woman lying among crash debris. After lifting the seat off of her, they determined that she was not alive, but under her seat an arm moved. It was four-year-old Cecelia's! They checked her vital signs and within 15 minutes of the disaster, whe was rushed off to the hospital. The woman that they checked for life and under whose seat Cecelia was found was her mother, Paula. Dad's and David's (her brother) bodies were found near by. It was believed that one of the reasons she survived is that mom shielded her body with hers, while dad tried to do the same with David.

Cecelia was hospitalized for 54 days, over which time she received 32,000 cards and letters, and 2,000 gifts such as dolls and teddy bears, most of which were given to other children's hospitals. Cecelia's favorite color was purple, which was the color that her grandmother painted her fingernails that fateful morning. It was the purple fingernails that helped identify her two days after the crash. Twenty-five bottles of purple fingernail polish were also sent to her during her hospitalization.

The April 4, 1988 edition of Life magazine covered the story of this disaster and encouraged readership by putting these words on the cover, "why little Cecelia survived" The truth was that even the writers of the Life story had no answers. They closed their article stating, "The most persistent question in the wake of the crash has been how Cecelia could have escaped death." One of the investigators stated, "The amount of damage to the occupied portion of the airplane was so compromised by impact forces that the potential for survival was virtually nil. . . No one knows why she survived" But then the writer goes on to say, " I don't know about miracles."¹

It is always amazing that when we read about such amazing accounts of survival midst horrendous disasters that no one wants to even say it was a miracle! There is never any lack of questions about why God allowed such an event, but when someone is miraculously delivered, heavenly miracles are not worthy of honest reflection. The Lord is ruled out and "fate" or unresolved speculation is all that is left.

Midst all the human failures that caused this disaster, the Lord used the loving protection of mom and dad, the strength of the seatbelt, the protection of the seat, and the angels of heaven to spare Cicilia, and that ought to make her life special, as well as remind us that God still steps into the disasters of life and shows His grace!

1. Anatomy of a Plane Crash, Life, 04-01-1988, pp. 66 / Cover Story