The Ethiopian Airlines tragedy yesterday is huge news and will continue to be because of how shocking it is when a commercial airliner crashes (it’s become rare), because it’s a new flagship aircraft from Boeing operated by airlines around the world and in the United States, and because it will take some time to truly learn the probably cause of the incident.

Beyond the technical stories of what happened, and the policy response, there are also untold human stories coming out of the loss of lives on that Boeing 737 MAX 8 flight from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.

One compelling story was told in the first person on Facebook — the passenger who was running just a few moments late and missed the flight while he watched the final passengers board and the door at the gate close in front of him. He declares it his lucky day, and indeed it was that, though of course luck probably had nothing to do with it — just a series of unrelated choices that put him in the position to make, or not make, his flight.

Antonis Mavropoulos was running and stressed as he made his way through the airport noting “there was no one to help me go fast” and he wound up two minutes late. Translated from Greek by Facebook,

[W]hen I arrived, the boarding was closed and I watched the last passengers in tunnel go in – I screamed to put me in but they didn’t allow it. In fact, the flight lost it because I didn’t give a suitcase (otherwise they would expect me for 10-15 minutes or more, because finding a suitcase loaded wants at least 40 minutes). Also, as I learned later, I lost her because I came out first and very quickly from the plane and the connection ambassador who came to receive me didn’t find me

He was a connecting passenger. He was supposed to be met on arrival in Addis Ababa and escorted to this flight to Nairobi but he failed to connect up with the airline’s representative when he landed. That would have gotten him to his connection on time.

So he was sent on to the Ethiopian Airlines lounge and rebooked on the next flight. That’s where he learned that he wouldn’t be allowed to board that flight — he was to be questioned by airport police.

[The officer] told me gently not to protest and say thank you to God, because I am the only passenger who did not enter the flight et 302 which is missing. And that this was why they can’t let me go, until I determine who I am, because I didn’t get on the flight and everything. At First I thought he was lying, but his style left no margin of doubt.

All of this leads Mavropoulos to wax philosophical, offering his own take on Hegelian internal relations, “It’s millions of small threads we almost never feel – but one to break is enough to feed the whole web instantly.”

And he ends, “Maybe not too old to rock n roll – but certainly too young to die…”

Mavropoulos lived to tell his story, but the 157 passengers and crew on board Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 have their own tragic stories to tell as well. The family of the captain of that flight shares this statement:

Statement from my family: pic.twitter.com/0mJZJvZNzQ

— Adnan Mohamed (@AdnanFMohamed) March 10, 2019

(HT: David F.)