I was a Dead Man as I Flew My Plane into the High Voltage Lines (1990)
I was in the middle of receiving my airplane license. I had finished ground school and had completed all my cross country flying. One day I was at the York airport doing simple go-arounds (That’s where you land and you just keep going after you land, and take back off again).
I later found out that the Spirit of God had quickened my wife and told her to pray for me. She had already been really upset at me for wasting all this money on flying. The Lord told her that if she did not forgive me and get her heart right, I was going to die. She repented, and cried out to God, and said, “Lord, I give it to you. Please protect him.”
Everything seemed to be going okay as I did go-arounds, but as I was getting ready to land, the wind shifted to another direction. They called me from the tower and told me that they felt it should still be okay to stay in the same pattern one more time; and that the next time around I could land in the opposite direction. As I made my approach for the runway I began to meticulously go through all of the processes of making a proper landing: I lowered my flaps, turned on my carburetor deicer, and began to bring my airspeed down to where I would be landing at about forty mph. I was still about 30 feet above the runway. Everything seemed perfectly normal.
As I began to pull back on the yoke to flare the plane, suddenly, my speed indicator dropped to zero. As a young pilot, I did not realize what this meant. It was an indication that the wind was now coming in from behind me. This meant I had just lost all my lift. I dropped like a rock and my plane slammed into the runway. I hit the runway very hard. I pulled back on the yoke. The minute I slammed into the runway, I bounced back up into the air like a basketball. I made a terrible mistake: instead of going around, once again I pulled back on the yoke and tried to land my plane. Once again, I dropped like a rock, slamming just as hard into the runway as the last time. Not being very intelligent, I tried to land once again. This time when I bounced I was really in trouble.
Now my plane was completely turned away from the runway. There was nothing but a grassy field ahead of me with electrical power lines. I gave the little Cessna 152 full power. I kept my flaps down, in take-off position. Yet, I made another major mistake by keeping my carburetor deicer on. This means, I did not have the full horsepower of my engine. Now, I was headed right for the power lines! My airspeed was barely enough to keep me in the air. I knew that I could not turn away from the power lines. If I tried to turn away I was a dead man. Moreover, I knew that I didn’t have enough skill to fly underneath them. In addition, I knew that I could not get over the top of them. If I pulled back too much on the yoke, it would cause the plane to go higher, but it would drop like a rock again, because my speed was way too slow.
At that very moment, I knew I was a dead man. My whole life flashed in front of me in a matter of seconds. My heart was filled with thankfulness and prayer to God for all the wonderful things He had done for me in my life, for giving me my precious wife and four beautiful children. The second thing that hit me was tremendous sorrow and regret: I would never see my beautiful wife, Kathleen, again in this world—I would never be able to hold her in my arms, never be able to hold my three sons and precious little girl to my chest.
I desperately wanted to get on the radio and tell the tower operators to tell my wife and my children that I was so very sorry and that I loved them beyond expression. I wanted to tell my wife and kids that I wished I could be there to see them graduate from school and one day get married—to see my precious girl walking down the aisle to stand at the side of her groom. But My time had run out. I did not have time to say my good-byes. I was headed straight for the power lines.
As I approached my certain death, these electrical power lines filled my eyes. It was if the wires were magnified in size. They looked to be six inches wide in diameter. They filled the windshield of my plane.
I realize that the wires are not anywhere near that size, but as I approached them, that’s how I saw them. At that moment, all I could do was cry out for Jesus. The next thing I knew, I was through the power lines. I went right through them! I did not go underneath them, and I did not go over the top of them. As I flew my plane straight ahead, I was overwhelmed with amazement, thankfulness, and tremendous joy.
I kept rehearsing over and over in my mind what had just happened. Could it really be? Did I really go through the power lines? I know I did. I was headed right into the High Lines. Amazing! The tower kept calling out to me over the radio, “Mike, are you there? Are you okay? Please answer!”
They had, to some extent, seen what happened. When they finally got me to respond, all they could get out of me was, “Thank You Jesus! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you, Jesus!” The airport radio frequency at that time was also picked up by three other airports. All the traffic controllers and radio personnel on that frequency heard me say over and over, “Thank you Jesus!”
After I landed, the mechanical personnel took the plane into the hangar. They had seen me slamming into the runway three times. In their thoughts, there is no way that this plane did not have structural damage. They went over it with a fine-toothed comb. Amazingly, they came back with a report that everything was absolutely fine.
Kathleen’s perspective:
My husband had disappeared early in the morning. He probably told me where he was going while I was still asleep, but I never remembered. As the day went on, I decided to call his cell phone to figure out where he was. After several futile calls, I called Debra, Mike’s sister, who worked in our church office at the time. Upon hearing that he had gone for flying lessons, my anger began to rise. My thoughts were, who does he think he is, going off and spending thousands of dollars on flying lessons, when we have enough bills to pay, and we need things for the house, the children, and me!
Immediately, the Spirit of God arrested me and rebuked me. Within my spirit came, which is more important, the money, or your husband’s life? Brokenness clenched my soul, and I quickly repented. Asking God to forgive me for my selfishness, I told the Lord that my husband was more important than millions of dollars, and that the money wasn’t worth Mike’s life!
The devil had lost the battle to keep me bitter and unforgiving and the unity between us, as husband and wife, was not broken. Directly, a spirit of fear tried to grip my heart, and I knew that fear was another tool of the devil to bring division and destruction. An urgency to pray and to stand in faith made me stop everything! To this day, I remember where I was sitting when I began to pray: right at our kitchen bar. As I sat on the bar stool reiterating my repentance of selfishness, I implored the Lord to spare Mike’s life, keep him safe, and bring him back to me and the children. Little did I know that I was truly pleading for my husband’s life!
Through my tears, I remember boldly declaring, “Lord, you’ve given Your angels charge over us, to keep us in all our ways, even in our stupidity.” My declaration continued, “In our pathway is life and there is no death. So, Father, I put Michael in your hands. I know you’ll bring him home safely.”
At this point, I made a covenant in my heart. I made my stand, “I trust You, Lord, because there is no one else to trust. If, I can’t trust You to keep Mike safe, then I can trust no one. Thank You for bringing my husband back to me!” I refused to give into bitterness, fear, or worry. My hope was in the Lord who is always faithful.
The devil had lost the fight on my side to cause division, bitterness, anger, fear, and lack of peace. I did not fail to repent and intercede for my husband when the Spirit of God dealt with me. God’s grace had helped me through the test. God’s faith had brought victory and brought my husband home alive. When Mike came through the door of our home that day, he told me of his near-fatal flight.
My response was, “If the Lord hadn’t dealt with my heart, you might have eaten those power lines!” I embraced Mike with a thankful heart and a grace in my heart towards the Lord’s goodness and mercy. God surely knew what He was doing in both of our lives to keep us under His protection. If I had given into bitterness and fear, or failed to intercede and stand in faith, I may not have my husband today!
Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil (Ephesians 4:26-27).