John Travolta has faced his fair share of challenges in life, from the loss of his son Jett in 2009 to the passing of his beloved wife Kelly Preston in 2020. However, few people know about the traumatic near-death experience he had in 1992, an incident that would stay with him forever.
It was Thanksgiving Day, and Travolta was flying his family – wife Kelly and their 8-month-old son Jett – to their vacation home in Maine. As they soared through the skies, disaster struck. The plane experienced a total electrical failure, leaving Travolta with no instruments and no control.
“I knew what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die,” Travolta recalled in a recent interview. “I had two good jet engines, but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing. And I thought it was over.”
Travolta’s quick thinking and piloting skills ultimately saved the day. He managed to make an emergency landing at Washington National Airport, narrowly avoiding a potentially catastrophic collision with a Boeing 727 carrying 182 passengers.
The incident had a profound impact on Travolta, who was just 38 years old at the time. It also inspired him to read Frederick Forsyth’s novel “The Shepherd,” which tells the story of a young Royal Air Force pilot who experiences a similar electrical failure in his aircraft.
Travolta was so moved by the book that he purchased the rights to it, hoping to adapt it into a film. Although it took him 30 years to bring the project to fruition, Travolta finally got the chance to play the lead role in the film adaptation of “The Shepherd.”
Looking back on the experience, Travolta reflects on the significance of that fateful flight. “So when I read the book, it resonated even more because of this experience I had personally had,” he says. The incident was a wake-up call for Travolta, a reminder of the fragility of life and the importance of living each day to the fullest.
