THE PHILIPPINES: Routine Flight

Among the seven passengers on the Philippines Air Lines DC-3 that morning was a young Chinese in a leopard-skin jacket. As the plane took off from north Luzon's Laoag Ilocos Norte airport, on the coast of the South China Sea, the passengers settled down for the routine half-hour flight to Aparri. Suddenly the plane lurched into a 45° bank. Purser Eduardo Diago came down the aisle reassuring passengers: "That was a terrific downdraft." He tried the handle of the pilot's cabin, tried again, and began hammering on the door. Then the passengers saw him slump to the floor, blood...