The plane landed safely with only one wing

The pilots noticed odd noises and shakes after only twenty-five seconds in the air. They tried everything to improve the situation, but none of them worked. In less than a minute, the plane reached 3,000 feet, but the engine surges continued until both engines failed.

Two seconds after the right one, the left one arrived. The pilots decided to return to the airstrip after taking off. Simultaneously, they tried to start the engines again.

Nothing seemed to be working. The flight crew opted to pitch the plane down and then level it off. They might gain a bit extra speed for the glide from it.

However, they quickly learned that they would not make it to the airport. Was a plane disaster in the horizon? That was the moment of Gotrura's miracle. The morning flight departed on time.

favorable conditions and customary pre-flight protocols. Experienced pilots made up the flying crew. A 44-year-old Danish captain, with over 8,000 flying hours, and a 34-year-old Swedish first officer, with 3,000 hours.

So what could possibly go wrong? The actual aircraft was seldom utilized at all. It was a McDonnell Douglas MD-81, commonly referred to as the Dana Viking. It made its first flight on March 16, 1991.

On that fateful day, the aircraft had barely been in service for nine months. There were 122 passengers and seven employees on board. Scandinavian Airlines flight 751, a scheduled flight, departed from Stockholm, Sweden and arrived in Warsaw, Poland.

On the way, the plane was supposed to stop at Copenhagen, Denmark. The plane took off from Stockholm at 8:47 a.m. local time, as planned. But by then, the people inside were already doomed because of a terrible chain of events that had preceded the departure. It started the previous evening. The aircraft departed Zurich and touched down at Stockholm Airport.

10:09 p.m. was the time. The aircraft spent the night at the external gate. It was quite cold.

It was just above freezing, with the mercury dropping to thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit. To make matters worse, there were still approximately 6,000 pounds of cold fuel in the wings' tanks that had refrozen over the night. The gasoline was unusually cold because the plane had been operating at cruising altitude, when the ambient air temperature varied from minus 61 to negative 80 degrees.

It took approximately one hour and forty minutes to get there from Zurich. Not long after midnight, a flight technician showed up to check on the aircraft. The laborer had some slush to remove from the landing gear.

Otherwise, he would not be able to examine it. He saw that the tops of the wings had some ice on them as he was leaving at around two in the morning. By daylight, things had become considerably worse.

A layer of pure, almost invisible ice had formed on the wing tops. The plane had to take off from the gate at approximately 8.30 am. An hour before takeoff, the plane's mechanic saw some ice on the undersides of the wings.

He decided to see if there was any ice on the tips of the wings. He stepped onto the ladder and put one leg up on the wing. Leaning forward, he made contact with the wing's leading edge.

Slush was present, but no ice. The mechanic decided to examine the state of one of the air intakes on the engines. There was nothing unusual that he discovered.

The crew then used around 220 gallons of de-icing fuel to remove the ice off the aircraft. The mechanic instructed the staff to de-ice the underside of the wings as well after consulting with the captain of the aircraft. After all, he had observed some ice there.

Still, no one bothered to inspect if there was any clear ice covering the tips of the wings. When the process was finished, the mechanic reported to the captain. Our conversation comes to an end here.

The deicing procedure has finished. It's all clear now even though there was a lot of snow and ice. The captain thanked the mechanic and carried on with the pre-flight procedures.

The plane touched down on the runway. Its engine's anti-ice mechanisms worked flawlessly when they were turned on. Nevertheless, several passengers claimed to have seen ice falling over the upper edge of the wings following the trip.

Still, the aircraft departed the runway and made its journey to Stockholm, just like every other time. But shortly after launch, a few pieces of the ignored ice broke off. At full speed, they collided with the engine fans near the tail of the airplane on both sides, causing damage to the blades.

It caused a series of surges, and the rest is history. Per Holmberg, a traveler on Scandinavian Airlines, detected an issue in the cabin in the meanwhile. The flight attendant in the back jump seat was being hit by the right engine, he initially claimed.

She attempted, without success, to contact the aircraft crew. Then the non-uniformed captain went to the cockpit, asking if he could help the pilots. The first officer handed him the emergency checklist, and the captain told him to start the small gas turbine that acts as the aircraft's auxiliary power unit.

Even with Holmberg's invaluable advice and help, was it enough to save the plane and the passengers inside? When the aircraft broke through the clouds at 890 feet, the pilots realized they would not have enough time to get back to the airfield. There would inevitably be an emergency landing. The assistant captain gave the order, and the cabin crew started getting the guests ready.

The pilot came to the realization that they would not have enough time to reach the large field situated to the north of the airplane. So he decided to fly into a much smaller field that was surrounded by trees. Not far away was the Swedish village of Gotrura in Uppland.

The plane was only 1300 feet above the ground when the assisting captain started to open the flaps. As they dropped 183 feet, the captain called out to Stockholm Control, "We're plunging to the ground." Seven seconds later, the plane hit some trees and severed a major section of its right wing. The landing gear had already extended, and the speed had reduced to 139 mph by then.

A few moments later, the plane impacted the ground and its tail split off. The aircraft kept speeding across the field. After traveling 360 feet, the main landing gear left traces on the field.

At one point, the aircraft's nose and main landing gears were lost. Its fuselage shattered into three pieces. Thank goodness, there was no fire.

The images taken at the crash site show how the plane was completely destroyed, with its parts scattered all over the place. It's amazing that all 129 people inside the aircraft made it out alive. It seems like a marvel.

It was, nevertheless, partly a result of the flight attendants' timely intervention and astute guidance to the travelers. They told others not to give up hope and to adopt the brace stance just in time to stop fatalities. Even more astonishing was the fact that almost every passenger—four people excluded—left the aircraft by themselves.

It seems sense that this accident was dubbed a "miracle." The airplane, sadly, was not so lucky. The plane was severely damaged and was immediately written off, even though it was just nine months old.

Everyone commended the activities of the flight crew. It was a really skilled landing, especially considering how swiftly and dangerously the situation was shifting. It was admitted by the captain that very few pilots had to put their training to the test.

Definitely not to this degree. He conveyed his pride in his crew and his relief that everyone had made it out alive. Besides, he never returned to piloting commercial planes.