Recounting of Actual True Events while serving as a Chief Warrant Officer Three (CW3), U.S. Army Fixed Wing Pilot, conducting Military Intelligence Operations in Colombia, South America, (approx. time frame April / 2000).
Aircraft : DHC-7 DeHavilland – (4 engine overhead wing Reconnaissance)
Mission: Conduct Surveillance Operations within the country of Colombia, South America as part of an allied partnership with the United States of America, as part of the “War on Drugs Campaign.”
Note: For security purposes certain details or capabilities of the aircraft will not be detailed, just pertinent information that provides situational / urgent realism.
The pre-mission briefing / preflight/ mission target package for the day had been loaded within the onboard Flight Management System (FMS) and we took off from our base, on the East side of the Andes and were to recon / image all targets contained along our intended route. I was the Pilot in Command (PIC) and my copilot was my unit Commander who was rated as a pilot – along with personnel in the rear of the aircraft conducting imagery, electronic eavesdropping (linguist) + Colombian National, targeting personnel etc.
The objective of the flight was to recon all targets as mentioned previously with the intent of once finished with all targets, to then land in Bogota and refuel. Once refueled then take off, climb, fly over the Andes and land once again at our base.
During the mission, we had taken some extra loitering time around certain targets because we knew that Bogota was very close to the end of our route and that it “should” not be a factor. It was dusk and the sun was setting as we turned toward Bogota. It was then that I called on the radio to Bogota Tower identifying our Call sign and telling them our approx. position and that we were requesting to land. It was at this time the Tower responded and said “Negative, Negative, airfield closed Hijacking in progress, terrorist actions. This immediately put the aircraft and all onboard into an impossible life and death crisis scenario due to fuel starvation.
There were NO options in which to choose. First, since we are a foreign aircraft operating outside our nation – if we landed anyway, it would be considered an international incident!! Second, there were terrorist actions happening on the ground and under no circumstances could we let the aircraft & personnel fall into terrorist control / hands. The aircraft is a Top Secret / highly sensitive U.S. Military Intelligence aircraft. The aircraft / the equipment, the information, and last but not least, the human personnel onboard – would be captured and interrogated. When in war, or in this case a terrorist (the enemy) is about to overrun your position and you have equipment, ammunition, or resources that will be used against you in the future, then you must destroy, if possible, at ALL, costs – even if that means sacrificing your lives in the process.
The only option was to put in a course towards our home base knowing that we had nowhere near the fuel needed to make it. This would mean surely crashing in the Andes, destroying the aircraft, and killing all on board. I laid in the course; my copilot and I didn’t speak – but the computers onboard were all flashing red because there was not enough fuel to accomplish even half of what was needed.
Other factors that compounded and made the flight impossible to complete were the fact that it takes more fuel to climb than it does to fly level or descend. Also, in the operator’s manual for the aircraft it states that even with fuel in the tanks, and at or below a certain amount, an engine could starve itself and die when at a climbing angle. That is exactly the condition that we were in. We were at a climbing angle, guzzling down fuel, making the flight even more impossible to complete. The crew in the rear was never made aware of the situation because we were focused on possible engine failures occurring at any moment.
It was at this time that I pretended to look out the side window of the cockpit as if to try to look for any possible landing areas. Darkness was all I saw. I began to pray.
I said, “Dear Heavenly Father, you said in your words that you are an ever-present help in times of trouble. Lord, WE are in trouble! Lord, I know you are here with me in this cockpit, I know that you can see me and see our gas gauges. I know you can hear me – Lord, I know you are the God of the impossible, and Lord, I’m asking you for a miracle! Lord, if you can take water and turn it to wine, if you can take loaves and fishes and extend them and have more than enough leftover, then I’m asking you to take every molecule of fuel in these engines and extend them. Enough for us to get over the Andes, down the other side, land, and pull off the runway onto a taxiway then I don’t care what happens. Lord, I’m ready to go and meet you in Heaven, possibly in the next few minutes, but I don’t know about the people in the back. Either we live, or we die Lord, but I’m ALL IN with you!!
In Jesus name I pray AMEN. I then went back to my duties not knowing if at any moment engines would begin to die and so would we!”
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to me, back in CA and WA state, with no prior knowledge of my mission or any communication with me whatsoever, my mother received a phone call from one of her intercessory prayer friends with an emergency message. Her friend told her, “We need to pray for Rick right NOW!!! She told my mother that she had seen my plane crash in the Andes and that I was running out of fuel!!!! There was no way that her intercessory prayer friend would have access to immediate information in REAL TIME!! They commenced to pray, and I firmly believe it was at the same time that I was praying in the cockpit.
We continued to fly, and we continued to fly, with gauges flashing red the entire time. We made it over the Andes ( a miracle ) , we continued, we made it down the other side, ( a miracle ) , we landed the aircraft, ( an unbelievable miracle apart from God ) we then taxied off the runway – and at that very moment my right inboard engine died, followed by my left outboard engine, then my right outboard engine (MIRACLE COMPLETE : God ANSWERED my prayer right down to the details ) It was at this time that the tower contacted us on the radio and told us to shut down the other engine and that they would tow us into the refuel point.
My human copilot said “Wow Rick, we made it!!! Can you believe that? “For which I replied “Sir, You have NO IDEA what just happened ….. We lived through about 4 miracles and are alive because of God & His Will that …we not die tonight!!!
A couple weeks later I was able to get back home and call my mother and
when I did – she asked me what happened on this day / at a certain time in the evening / and what happened…… I proceeded to break down and start crying and told her the story of how God miraculously intervened and performed major miracles or that I would be dead and in Heaven and wouldn’t be here to tell the story.
My mother then relayed a message from her intercessory prayer friend to tell me “God said to tell Rick (specifically used my name for personal validation for myself ) that I heard his prayer the moment that I spoke it , and that I /God extended his gas for him as he asked Me to do, because I love him, and he is my son!”