Sid Roth - Our Plane Was About to Crash, Then This Happens
A voice said to Sandi Frye, "This day you will die". Then the airplane she was on ran out of fuel. History was miraculously changed that day. Next on this edition of "It's Supernatural"!
Sid Roth: Hello. I'm Sid Roth your investigative reporter. How would you like to be on a jet airplane, find out you're out of fuel over a large body of water? No fun. Sandi Frye, you - a few years earlier, you just happened - we have a Hebrew word, "beschert", it just was "meant to be" that you watch on television about airplanes that crash. What did you feel after you saw that program?
Sandi Frye: Well I saw the program and it showed, you know, assimilation of people melting in their seats and so forth. And from that point on I had this gripping fear to fly.
Sid Roth: Did they show planes going into water and crashing?
Sandi Frye: They showed that, yes, so I knew.
Sid Roth: What happens when a plane goes in the water?
Sandi Frye: When it goes in the water, it is not a water landing; it is a crash, and the majority of the time, all the people die. And I knew that from watching this show.
Sid Roth: So what was your thinking about getting on an airplane, in general, after seeing that show?
Sandi Frye: I wasn't real thrilled, but I did it.
Sid Roth: Why did you at this particular - was it May 14, 19-?
Sandi Frye: '96.
Sid Roth: '96.
Sandi Frye: Yes.
Sid Roth: Well why did you?
Sandi Frye: Well my husband and I were celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary. We had some dear friends with us, Doris and Ken Frasier. They were celebrating their 20th, and they talked me into flying. I wanted to take a cruise, and they said, "No; if we fly we'll get there faster; that way we'll be able to enjoy ourselves", and so forth. So I agreed even though...
Sid Roth: But the day before, what was going on inside of here?
Sandi Frye: Oh, well the day before that we took off, all of a sudden this thought came to me out of the blue: "…the thing that you greatly feared is going to come upon you", and I believe God's Word. And so I believed that that was Satan, because Satan "… comes … to kill", ".. to steal … and to destroy". That's what God's Word says. So I began to come against Satan with that thought that he was putting in my mind. And I said, "No, Satan. That will not happen, in the name of Jesus". And so I just took authority over that and then continued on.
Sid Roth: And how about you? Allen, what was going on inside of you? Were you afraid of flying at all?
Allen Frye: I've never had a fear of flying. I have to fly often as part of my work, so that's something I've never had to deal with. I've always helped her when she is fearful.
Sid Roth: So Sandi, you're getting on the plane, and did you happen to look at your - I guess maybe your passport? What happened?
Sandi Frye: Well I had my birth certificate with me.
Sid Roth: Okay.
Sandi Frye: To go into Cancun, and I was just sitting there reading my birth certificate: "Sandra Jean Roberson, born February 10, 1959", and immediately, a thought came into my mind, "And died this day, May 14, 1996". And again, I knew that that was Satan putting that evil thought in my head. And so I began to say God's Word, and I said to Satan, "I cast down that evil imagination", and "I take captive every thought to make it obedient to God's Word". So from that point on I just continued enjoying the flight.
Sid Roth: When was the first time either of you had any trepidation or any concern something was going wrong on that flight?
Allen Frye: Well Sid, it was an hour-and-a-half flight from Orlando, Florida to Cancun, Mexico, right - straight across the Gulf of Mexico. And we had already been into the flight two hours, and the pilot had been circling for 45 minutes, and I thought that was unusual. Normally if you are over a body of water as big as the Gulf of Mexico, you get close to the land, close to the airport before you might circle, waiting to go into the airport. So I asked a steward what was happening, and they didn't - they hemmed and hawed, and didn't have a clear explanation. So I thought something was up at that point.
Sid Roth: Sandi, were you aware? I assume you didn't tell Sandi this, or did you?
Allen Frye: We did because I asked the steward what was going on. Of course, she was right there.
Sid Roth: So fear coming on you at all?
Sandi Frye: Not at all.
Sid Roth: Not at all.
Sandi Frye: I didn't think a thing about it because they said the delay is air traffic.
Sid Roth: Right.
Sandi Frye: I just assumed that's what it was at that point.
Sid Roth: What happened next?
Allen Frye: Well within five minutes, a very shaken steward came on and stood in front of us. There was about 42 people on board, and he could hardly get the words out because he knew what situation we were in. By that time we were two hours into the flight, and we didn't have enough fuel to make it to land. So he explained that to us, and said that we needed to prepare for a water landing. Of course, we knew that that meant we were going to crash and break up.
Sid Roth: Sandi, that documentary you saw a few years earlier, what kind of pictures were you imagining when they said that, "water landing"?
Sandi Frye: Well first of all, when they proclaimed that emergency, at first you just sit there thinking, "Did I hear them right"?, and then suddenly it hits you; "Yes, this is what they said". And my first response was I looked over at my friend who was across the aisle from me. She had tears welling up in her eyes. And suddenly, the confidence that is from God came on me; that's the only way I can explain it. I got actually mad at Satan and what he was trying to do. And I looked at her, and I said, "No. We are not going in the water. Furthermore, we will be in church on Sunday giving our testimony, to the glory and saving power of Jesus Christ".
Sid Roth: Now did you say it that strong?
Sandi Frye: I did. I did.
Sid Roth: That strong.
Sandi Frye: Yes I did.
Sid Roth: I mean, it's easy to say that now.
Sandi Frye: Yeah.
Sid Roth: I mean, you're about ready to crash. You've seen videos of when you crash; the whole thing gets destroyed; and you said that.
Sandi Frye: Yes I did. I did.
Sid Roth: What's going on in the plane with the other passengers?
Sandi Frye: Panic. But they didn't start screaming. It was as though they were in shock, and it wasn't until later that people began to cry. But we just sat back there and it was God's boldness that came over myself and my husband. I took my Bible at that point, went over to my friend, laid it in her lap, and I read out of God's Word in Psalms 91. And it talks about how that the Lord, when you "… dwell in that secret place", in close, intimate friendship with God, how He wants to protect you. He wants...
Sid Roth: You know something? She really believes that. But more important, what happens to the plane? We'll be right back after this word.
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth your investigative reporter. I know that none of you went away, because here I've got the Frye's. They're on an airplane. They're going on an anniversary. It's supposed to be fun, fun, fun. Instead, they're running out of fuel. They've got to make a crash landing into the Gulf of Mexico; not what they wanted. And Sandi looks at her friend; and her friend, another couple that were going with them, what did you say to them?
Sandi Frye: I said to her, I said, "No, we are not going in the water. We are going on dry land. And furthermore, we will be in church on Sunday giving our testimony, to the glory and saving power of Jesus Christ".
Sid Roth: Now were you just saying that because you wanted to hear that? Why were you saying that?
Sandi Frye: I said it because I believed it with all of my heart. I had no doubt in my mind that that is - that was what was going to happen.
Allen Frye: Sid, the Bible says, "Death and life are in the power of the tongue". So at that point, death was trying to take that situation and rule that situation, and over that whole plane; in fact, 42 people's lives were at stake, and plus the pilot, and so on. So we knew we had to do something. The first thing that we knew we should do is proclaim life and say, "No, we are not going to crash into the water".
Sid Roth: But what about what the steward or stewardesses are saying, the people all around you? Doesn't this have any influence, Sandi?
Sandi Frye: Well actually I was ignoring them, because I had had fear with flying and with other things in my life. I actually put my fingers in my ears like this. When the stewardess started to give the emergency procedures and everything, I didn't want to hear what she had to say; I wanted to keep my focus on what God's Word said.
Sid Roth: But Allen, didn't you want your wife to hear, so she could brace herself for such a crash?
Allen Frye: Yeah, I did. I – So what do you do with your wife going like this?
Allen Frye: Well I told her, "Honey, you need to listen, because there will come a time you'll need to do what they're saying".
Sid Roth: So were you - what did you do?
Sandi Frye: I went like this: "No".
Allen Frye: She didn't want fear to take advantage of that.
Sandi Frye: That's right. I knew that if I did listen, that that would cause that fear to come in. And I was feeling the confidence of God, and I wanted to remain that way.
Sid Roth: So beyond having your fingers in your ears, what else were you two doing?
Allen Frye: At that point we had prayed with our friends; and we prayed out loud so that the whole plane could hear us, and that had a calming effect on the whole plane. They became quiet and listened to what we were praying. And we read Psalm 91 out of the Bible, and they wanted to hear that, too. They were...
Sid Roth: Paraphrase what they were hearing. What does Psalm 91 say?
Allen Frye: The favorite part of Psalm 91 is Verse 14 through 16, where it says that, "The Lord will honor those", that love Him, and "…rescue them and … give them long life". In fact the word is "satisfy", Sid. "… satisfy them with long life and show them His salvation". And we wanted that "long life" that day; that's what we were concerned about.
Sid Roth: So did you actually have an effect of calming these - I mean, these people are preparing for death.
Allen Frye: There's no doubt they did, because they had begun to cry. Imagine if you're in that situation; you start to think about your family, your friends, your children. We have three children. Those mental images started going through our mind, and the only way that we could deal with that was to speak God's Word to that situation.
Sid Roth: What else were you doing?
Sandi Frye: Well, we had just learned a song at church the week before, and that just fell on my heart, and I just started singing it, and that's the whole –
Sid Roth: Sandi, that's not very logical. You started singing as the plane is going down into the water.
Sandi Frye: Yes.
Allen Frye: Right.
Sid Roth: You didn't have your ears plugged when you were singing?
Sandi Frye: No. No.
Allen Frye: No.
Sid Roth: I mean, just picture it! Would you - do you mind if I put you two on the spot? I just did; I'm going to do it!
Sandi Frye: Okay.
Allen Frye: Okay.
Sid Roth: Would you two sing a little bit of that song for me right now?
Sandi Frye: Sure. Sure.
Allen Frye: Okay. Jesus, You are so good, Jesus, You are so good. There's nothing to fear, because I'm here in Your presence. Jesus, You are so good.
Sid Roth: You're singing like that, as people are going down into the water.
Allen Frye: Oh yeah.
Sid Roth: You know, we have a Hebrew word, it's called "meshugana". It's called "crazy".
Allen Frye: I know.
Sid Roth: But you were just crazy enough to believe you would be supernaturally helped. So now what's going on with the fuel about now?
Allen Frye: Well it had run out.
Sid Roth: And you're still singing.
Allen Frye: Yeah. You got your ears plugged and the fuel has run out. I mean, these people really believed. Two hours was gone when he announced the emergency. Now another half-hour had gone and the - we heard the engine shut off, and all there was was wind noise. We found out later that it takes 140 miles per hour speed to keep a DC-9 jet in the air. 140 miles an hour is pretty fast, so you to have to keep tipping the nose down if you don't have engines. And we felt the plane just tipping, tipping, tipping, so we, you know, pretty soon we're on a steep incline to keep in the air. And we're saying, "God, we just believe that your angels are going to be sent to rescue this plane, that the tower control people will have the wisdom to instruct the pilot the way it should be instructed; that no matter what physics says, this plane is staying up in the air".
Sid Roth: You're pretty calm right now. How calm were you telling this to God? How calmly were you doing that?
Allen Frye: Well I got to tell you, to be honest, there were times that those mental images of my family came into my mind, and I had to deal with that. You have to refuse to think about that, and refuse to deal with the fear that could try to come in at that moment. And so I would shut that out, and deal with the situation at hand, because I really felt –
Sid Roth: Now, the situation at hand is pretty bad. We'll be right back after this word.
Sid Roth: Hello. Sid Roth your investigative reporter. Oy vey. It's Hebrew. You know what it means? Oy vey. How would you like to be on a jet over the Gulf of Mexico and you're about ready to crash into the water, and you've already seen some video footage that when you crash, that's it; "it's curtains". Now back to the Frye's. Okay, you're about ready to get "fried". I mean, it's joking now, but it wasn't at the time. So you're going down. As a matter of fact, what was the - what were the last words the flight attendant said over the loud speaker, that you remember?
Allen Frye: He said that we were going to land in the water. Of course, we knew what that meant.
Sid Roth: No, but she said you weren't going to. I remember that.
Allen Frye: We knew what circumstances said, that typically you break up, and people die. We were proclaiming life over that situation. And the last thing the steward said was we've got to prepare you with all these emergency routines, so we were going through the formalities of that.
Sid Roth: How do you know that you were literally out of fuel? How do you know that?
Allen Frye: The head of the FAA in Orlando came in, and he said that we were out of fuel; of course, we learned that later on. But the engines went off. We heard the engines shut down, and all you hear is wind noise. DC-9s, we learned later on, you need 140 miles per hour air speed to stay in the air. And as a result of needing that air speed - no engines, no propulsion forward - you have to tip the nose down. So we kept feeling the plane, tipped down, to maintain air speed.
Sid Roth: And there was something going on as far as the communication between the airplane and the control tower.
Allen Frye: Right.
Sid Roth: What was happening?
Allen Frye: The background; all of this background we learned, later on. The reason why we were out of fuel to begin with, was the pilot had taken off and set the autopilot, as normally most pilots do, and the autopilot follows a grid to fly the plane on. And it had failed, and not picked up a junction off of the coast of Florida at which it should turn, and we went straight instead of turning. The pilot discovered this too late, and by that time, we were off of the radar screen for the Orlando, Florida International Airport. He was out of range for the communications; and the only communications he could make was with the cruise ships down below in the Gulf of Mexico, and that's why he was circling to begin with.
Sid Roth: Okay. You're going down. "Prepare for landing". Uh, Sandi, what are you doing? You got your hands - your fingers - in your ears, and you're singing? What did you tell her to do?
Allen Frye: Well, we were praising God, because we knew; we know "… that death and life are in the power of the tongue", so we were speaking to that situation, so that the circumstances would change.
Sid Roth: Yes, but how did you prepare for a crash landing in the water?
Allen Frye: Well the obvious thing is that people - I have heard it before - you grab your ankles, and put your head in between your legs, to try to protect yourself. And as we came in to land - we finally saw land. About 30 minutes after the jet engines had been turned off - or went off because there was no more fuel - we were told to get into that emergency position. And at that point, we found out later that the airport control tower had been asked by the pilot to put it into the water, right there at the beach. He was afraid that as we came into land, we were so low we were at treetop level at that point, that people would die as a result of our crashing into homes.
Sid Roth: But tell me what you did. How did you prepare for the landing?
Sandi Frye: Well I wasn't paying attention. So my husband said to me, "Sandi, get in the crash position". So I took my Bible and I stuck it under my feet.
Sid Roth: That's the crash position?
Sandi Frye: Well it was for me. I took God's Word, which I had been saying because I knew "… God's promises were true", and it was just something that came to my mind. I put it under my feet, and I said, "Okay God, I'm standing on Your Word". I grabbed my ankles, put my head in my lap, and just began to sing; just kept on singing.
Sid Roth: What happened?
Allen Frye: Well at that point we're about treetop level, and the airport - we could see the airport because - and we're just rejoicing. We're saying, "Thank You, Lord. You've got us to land; now get us to the airport". And the plane banked, and as soon as it banked, it lost air speed, so it came down. And we crashed about 250 yards in front of the airport strip - landing strip. And of course, a crash of that magnitude - a DC-9 is a very large jet - and it came down very powerfully; just bounced and bounced, and dug a groove into the land. Hit the air strip; the front nose gear and all the wheels were broken out from under it. So it was sheet metal to concrete at that point, sparks flying everywhere. Thank God we were out of fuel, because it could have exploded. We - the right wing went into the ground at that point, and spun us off into a field to the right, where we ground to a halt. And then we just rejoiced. We got off that plane, thanking God that He had performed a miracle in our lives. And we had survived that plane ride that was supposed to have ended up in the ocean. God miraculously kept that plane in the air, to get us to land and safely there.
Sid Roth: Sandi, when you're on the ground and you look at a plane going - flying in the sky, hanging by nothing - what do you think? What's going on in your mind?
Sandi Frye: Every time I see a jet now, I say, "Thank You, Lord, "… for satisfying me with long life and showing me Your awesome salvation".
Sid Roth: How would you like to have that kind of confidence? I mean, that's not positive thinking. I mean, that's where "the rubber meets the road", when you're plane is going down. Out of gas. And it finally does land, not in the water; and the wing falls off, and you get out unscathed, unscratched; nothing wrong with you. How would you like to have that confidence? That confidence can only come - not from hearing a story like that; it doesn't do you any good; but from you knowing God for yourself. Not a religious type of situation, not necessarily going to church, not necessarily saying religious things, but knowing Him for yourself. How do you know Him? You do business with Him in honesty and integrity. You say, "God, I've committed many sins against You, for which I'm so sorry. I believe that Jesus died for my sins, and by His blood, my sins are washed away. Live inside of me. Be real". You be real to God, and God will be real to you. I can feel His presence coming on you right now. That's the same presence of peace they experienced.