John Travolta recalls near-death experience after his plane suffered 'total electrical failure'

John Travolta opened up about the near-death experience he had while piloting a plane with his entire family on board. 

The 69-year-old Oscar winner, who is a licensed pilot, recalled the frightening moment when the vehicle he was operating suffered complete engine failure during a recent London screening for his upcoming short, The Shepherd. Based on the 1975 novella by Frederick Forsyth, the film follows a young Royal Air Force pilot (Ben Radcliffe) who requires assistance from another pilot (Travolta) after his plane experiences electrical failure.

"The kismet of the project is, 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," Travolta recalled, per the BBC. “So when I read the book, it resonated more because of this experience I'd personally had."

While Travolta did not specify when the incident took place, the actor recounted in a 1995 New Yorker interview that he suffered engine failure while flying with his family in 1992 and was forced to make an emergency landing at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

The Grease star said the incident taught him “what it felt like to absolutely think you’re going to die," adding, “I had two jet engines, but I had no instruments, no electric, nothing.”

"I thought it was over," he said, "just like this boy, portrayed so beautifully [by actor Ben Radcliffe]. He captured that despair when you think you're actually going to die. I had my family on board and I said, 'This is it. I can't believe I'm going to die in this plane.'"

Travolta was able to safely land the aircraft. "And then, as if by a miracle, we descended to a lower altitude," he said. "I saw the Washington D.C. Monument and identified that Washington National Airport was right next to it, and I made a landing just like [the character Freddie] does in the film. So I'm reading this book saying, 'I've lived this.'"

Travolta discovered Forsyth's novella shortly after he purchased his own Vampire jet, the same plane the pilot in the film operates, and knew instantly that he wanted to bring the story to the big screen. He purchased the rights to the book, but because it was after his acclaimed project Pulp Fiction, Travolta had to put his dream of adapting it on pause. 

“I was doing one movie after another,” he said. “So after 10 years, I let it go and decided I was never going to get to do it. Then this hero [director Iain Softley] came along who had also fallen in love with it, and brought me back into the group.”

The Shepherd lands on Disney+ on Dec. 1. Watch the trailer above.

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