Cos Story Transcript - Pan Am Flight 121

In the middle of the night somewhere over the Syrian desert a plane is signalling for help. A mayday is being sent out by the co-pilot, while the captain tries find an airstrip to bring them into safely. This is in vain. One of their engines has failed and another is on fire. 

In the main cabin another officer makes his way through the passengers. He is preparing them and the crew for a crash landing. Instructing the crew to remain seated, he helps the passengers himself. 

The captain fights in the cockpit to bring the craft down in one piece but the fire in the engine has spread to the wing. A gas has ruptured, and the fire has spread fast. Nearly the whole wing is on fire now. 

The plane beings to plummet to Earth, passengers panicking. The officer in the cabin unbuckles himself and moves between them. A reassuring presence. He moves to comfort a woman, his hands reaching for. Then the plane hits the ground. 

Pam Am Flight 121 crashed at 3:30am on the 18th of June 1947 near the Euphrates River, killing 8 passengers and 7 crew. The officer in the cabin survived, taking charge of the situation. Along with the surviving crew, he dragged the passengers from the wreckage, risking their own safety to evacuate the craft. His name was Third Officer Gene Roddenberry. This tragedy would not only change his life but inspire him to go were no one had gone before. 

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Cos Story; Stories of cosplay and pop culture. 

Episode 4: Pan Am Flight 121

In the early evening sun, the lockhead L-049 Constellation, known as Clipper Eclipse, set off on the first leg of its flight to New York. Flying from Karachi to Istanbul, the flight was expected to take ten and half hours but only made it half the way. 

There was a total of 46 people on the flight, 36 passengers and 10 crew which included Captain Joseph Hart Jr, First Officers Robert McCoy and Third Officer Gene Roddenberry. Though Roddenberry had no official role on the flight, he was “deadheading”, meaning that he was on the flight as a passenger to get home or to his next flight, his duties swiftly changed. 

Roddenberry had been a pilot in world war 2 and had survived crashes during his time in the air force. He’d become a commercial pilot after the war for a more quiet life but it would seem that was not to be. 

Warning signs of the plane’s fate had been flashing up for days prior to this flight. There had been engine failures earlier that week and repairs being done to the engine number two, the one that would later catch fire. A further issue was found merely a few days after the repairs when the Captain and another member of the crew, Anthony Volpe, spotted what was thought to be oil dripping from the craft. In fact it turned out to be hydraulic fluid and yet more repairs had to be made. 

These faults caused two days of delays for Clipper Eclipse but with the work done, everyone was eager to get home and eventually the plane departed Karachi. 

Roughly 5 hours into the flight, the engine failed. When the fuel line blew, about an hour after this, Captain Hart knew he only had one choice, to bring the plane down as safely as he could. The landing would have been successful had the engine of one wing not dug into the ground, sending the plane into a loop and ripping it in two. His heroic efforts to save the plane resulted in the death of both himself and his first officer, but insured the survival of the majority of those aboard. 

In the main cabin, Roddenberry, now the only surviving officer, began the evacuation despite his own injuries. He and the crew helped, dragged and carried passengers from the flaming wreak out into the desert sands. The injured were handed to the uninjured to move to safety as Roddenberry and his crew worked tirelessly to rescue all the survivors. 

With the fire spreading through the cabin it became harder and harder for the crew but they persisted. Roddenberry later described how he had to pull a woman from her broken seat as the flames licked at his back, forcing the seatbelt to come free just in time. 

Once the surviving passengers safe, the crew attempted to retrieve their colleagues and friends from the flight deck. But even as they pounded on the window of the cockpit it was clear that Hart and McCoy were dead. However it was not until it became impossible to stay inside the wreck did they stop in their attempt to recover the bodies. 

The survivors praised the efforts of the whole crew including Captain Hart and First Officer McCoy, for their efforts in saving as many as they could. 

What little could be salvaged from the crash was pulled from the burning wreckage, which miraculously included first aid kits, coats and one of the planes inflatable rafts which was fashioned into a shelter while first aid was administered to those who needed it. By the time the sun rose, the little group were patched up and holed up in their shelter but with no idea if help was coming or how long they would make it in the desert sun. 

Here accounts get muddled. Roddenberry’s version of events could be an episode of Star Trek, and it was known that he elaborated on the truth of the story in various different ways – such as him being so charming and impressive that he convinced a group of local tribes people not to rob the group but only take from the wreckage. Since it was unlikely that Roddenberry or the locals spoke the same language, make of that what you will. 

But what is known is that Roddenberry organised the survivors into groups in order to find help and care for those to hurt to travel from their makeshift camp. Having spotted the line of a telegraph cable in the distance, the search party split again one heading one way along the cable and one the other and they would report back if or when they found civilisation. Soon one of the teams reported back that they had seen a town along the cable and Roddenberry took it upon himself to the 4 mile desert trek to get help. He made it and found a telephone, reporting the crash at around 8am, 5 hours after they had gone down.

Search and rescue was deployed by the Syrian Army and by midday the survivors were found. The uninjured passengers and crew were transported to Damascus and then flown home on the 23rd of June, while the more seriously injured were treated in Beirut. Roddenberry, as the highest ranking officer to survive, remained for two weeks to help with the crash investigation before returning home and retiring from flying for good. 

Roddenberry may have elaborated in his own accounts of this crash, but it clearly changed him. It showed him what the world could be and that life is short, pushing him to aim for his dreams and start writing. 

The camaraderie of the crew and passengers, their ability to overcome insurmountable odd and the fight for survival in the face of the unknown can be seen in his work, carrying the message that even in moments of true tragedy reach out to those around you and help each other. 

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Scripted, read and produced by Holly Swinyard

Information for this episode came from Vintage News, Common Place Facts, Fear of Landing and Snopes

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