Pierre suffers from amnesia after a war-time accident in which he might have killed a young Vietnamese girl while crash-landing his stricken plane.

It was still a record-setting flight, and there would be many months to repair the damage to the stricken plane.

After the ordeal, Captain Bradley Chic, who landed the stricken plane, praised passengers for their calm response.

In the accident last month, three aviators managed to eject from the stricken plane through emergency escape systems.

The co-pilot, who was stuck in the aircraft for more than two hours, was among the last evacuated from the stricken plane.

With neither of its engines working, the stricken plane glided safely - if in terrifying silence - almost a hundred miles, and landed without serious injuries.

Mr. Marchese, of the Port Authority, said it had taken emergency personnel only three minutes to reach the stricken plane.

Somehow, the crew managed to land the stricken plane safely and not one of the 138 passengers was killed, although one was seriously injured.

Captured upon ejection from his stricken plane, he was held captive for 30 days.