After he exited the plane, he heard a baby crying, and went back into the burning craft and rescued an infant who was inside an overhead bin beneath his feet (the plane was upside down). One man noticed that a woman was holding down her baby during the crash, but the child flew away upon impact. Gonzales was impressed by accounts of human resilience and compassion. Some were so disoriented by the surreal scene, they thought they had died and gone to an afterlife, he said.

When the plane finally came to rest, it was upside down in the cornfield, and many of the survivors who escaped found themselves wandering amongst 9ft. 'He went flying through the air.like Superman, and his feet went through the fireball as he was flying, and he flew hundreds of yards and landed in a cornfield,' Gonzales reported. One survivor, seated in the second row, said that when the plane hit, his seat belt popped open and he found himself watching the plane disintegrate as he began to float. Amazingly, of the 296 aboard, 184 people survived. Upon landing, the right wing of the jet hit concrete, and about 10,000 pounds of fuel ignited, with the tail snapping off and rocketing down the runway at 250mph, he recounted. The DC-10 flight bound for Chicago suffered catastrophic engine failure which led to the loss of flight controls, but somehow the pilots and a DC-10 flight instructor who happened to be a passenger, managed to crash land the plane at the Sioux City, Iowa airport. He was drawn to the intense drama of the incident, with passengers exhibiting feats of heroism, and caring for people they didn't even know. Award-winning author and journalist Laurence Gonzales discussed his work researching the 1989 crash of United Airlines Flight 232, and the incredible stories of those who survived this deadly disaster.

Flight 232 by Laurence Gonzales