One day last September in Bangkok, 150 people boarded a Thai jetliner for what they expected to be a quick vacation flight to the resort island of Phuket. Instead, they were boarding a doomed airship with a rendezvous with horror. As the plane approached the island, it was buffeted by powerful winds and driving rain. The landing was aborted, and the pilot circled for another try. The terrified passengers gripped their seats while the plane crashed into the runway, slid across the tarmac, smashed into a hillside, and burst into flames. Only forty souls made it to safety.