John Travolta once had near-death experience while flying plane

John Travolta thought he was going to die when the aircraft he was flying experienced a total electrical failure in the ’90s.

The Grease actor, who is a qualified pilot, revealed during a Q&A after a London screening of his short film, The Shepherd, on Thursday that he resonated with the story because he had once had a near-death experience in the air himself.

He explained that he was flying from Florida to Maine with his family for Thanksgiving in November 1992 when disaster struck.

“I actually experienced a total electrical failure, not in a Vampire but a corporate jet, over Washington D.C., prior to my discovering the book,” he said, reports Variety and BBC News. “I knew what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die. Because I had two good jet engines but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing.

“I had my family on board and I said, ‘This is it, I can’t believe I’m going to die in this plane.'”

Miraculously, the 69-year-old was able to land the plane safely after he spotted the Washington Monument.

“Then, as if by a miracle, we descended to a lower altitude, I saw the Washington DC Monument and identified that Washington National Airport was right next to it and I made a landing just like (character Freddie) does in the film,” he continued.

Due to this experience, Travolta connected with Frederick Forsyth’s 1975 novella, The Shepherd, when he read it a few years later. The book tells the story of a young Royal Air Force pilot named Freddie, whose jet suffers total electrical failure when he’s flying over the North Sea to get home for Christmas.

Travolta has long dreamed of adapting it into a film and after three decades, his wish has finally come true. The Shepherd, starring himself and Ben Radcliffe, will be released on Disney+ on 1 December.