1979年4月4日,美国环球航空公司开往明尼阿波利斯—圣保罗城的一架波音727客机突然失去控制,以每小时630英里的速度向地面坠落。眼看就要坠毁的前几秒钟,飞机又奇迹般地被控制住了。在这可怕的44秒钟里,这架飞机下落了34000英尺。一架下落速度如此之快、下落时间如此之长的民用飞机竟然安然无恙没有坠毁,这在航空史上是空前的。对于飞机上的82名乘客及7名机组人员来说,这44秒钟简直像是44分钟。经历过这场不寻常的考验之后,他们中几乎没有人还会像以前那样地生活了…… On April 4, 1979, a United States-based Global Air Line flight to Minneapolis-St. Paul City suddenly lost control of a Boeing 727 aircraft and dropped to the ground at a rate of 630 miles an hour. A few seconds before the crash, the plane was miraculously held. In this dreaded 44 seconds, the plane dropped 34,000 feet. A fledgling speed so fast that civil aircraft landing for so long as to be safe and sound were not crashed, which is unprecedented in aviation history. For a total of 82 passengers and seven crew members on board, the 44 seconds is like 44 minutes. After experiencing this unusual test, few of them will live as before ...