In August of 1978, Olympic Airways Flight 411 accelerated down the runway, one of its engines exploded. But the aircraft had reached rotational speed so there was no turning back. Without one of its engines, the plane struggled to climb quickly enough and threatened to stall.

With the plane now headed to the densely populated city of Kallithea at such a low altitude, the pilot had to act fast. But what he did shocked everyone. This is the story of Olympic Airways Flight 411 and how a captain’s out-of-the-box thinking saved 418 lives.