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Chapter I: Boarding Call

Darya Vasnev checked the clock on the wall, and glanced back to the calendar. April 21st, 1985 at 6:30 AM. She was scheduled to pilot a flight from Moscow to East Berlin in just under an hour and a half. A young, intelligent woman in her early 20s with no family, it was a rare opportunity for someone like her to be able to fly outside of the Soviet Union - or be an airline pilot at all. 

Usually they picked married pilots or those with lots of family to fly routes to non-Eastern Bloc countries or to destinations near Western borders, to minimize the chance of defection - people who had a lot to lose. But Darya had slipped through the cracks and ended up as the First Officer on this flight, a failing of the system in her favor. She had thought about it for years, and planned it for months: today was the day she was going to escape to the West.

She would be lying to herself if she said she had second thoughts about this. She had heard stories from her coworkers of people who fled the Soviet Union at the international stopover in Canada, and had considered waiting. But she knew she would never have the chance to do that, by the time she had the standing to pilot a trans-continental flight she'd have too much to lose to flee. Her mother was dead, she had few friends and other family, and there was no future for her here. She would never have another chance to flee like this again. She had to take this one.

As she sat and thought, the intercom in the staff area blared out "Vasnev and Boukreev for Flight 2684 at 8:20 AM, report to Gate 209 immediately." Darya grabbed her flight bag and immediately set out.

When she arrived at the gate, her copilot was already there. "Good morning First Officer Vasnev, I am Captain Boukreev. But you may call me Andrei." He extended his hand to shake.

"A pleasure to fly with you, Captain Bouk-ah, Andrei.” Darya shook his hand, a little embarrassed.

The two boarded their aircraft and took their positions in the cockpit. “Passengers are going to board shortly. Let’s start running through the checklist, shall we?”

“Very well.” Darya responded.

“Alright, let’s see. Oxygen is functional, cockpit door is closed, windows are locked...”

As the pair ran through the aircraft checklist, Darya ran through her plan again in her mind. She was to fly the plane as she would on any other flight until Captain Boukreev (hopefully) left the cockpit. At that point, she was going to lock him out and keep a normal flight to East Berlin’s Schönefeld Airport until she diverted to West Berlin’s Tegel Airport at the last second. Far from a foolproof plan, but she was confident she could make it to the ground before the Soviets could do anything about it.

As they wrapped up the checklist, a flight attendant came in through the cockpit door. “The aircraft is boarded, we’ll be closing the door momentarily.”

“Thank you for the notice, Natascha.” Captain Andrei responded.

He contacted the tower. “Sheremetyevo Ground, AviaSoyuz 2684 is ready for departure.”

“AviaSoyuz 2684, a pushback will be with you shortly. You are to proceed to Runway 24 Left via taxiways A and F.” the tower controller replied.

“Copy, 24L via A and F.” Captain Andrei responded.

Darya sat in silence as the aircraft began to move. “You seem nervous, Vasnev.” Captain Andrei said.

“It’s nothing major, just never flown a route this long before.” Darya said. The aircraft continued until it stopped before the end of the runway.

"Sheremetyevo Ground, AviaSoyuz 2684 is in position, ready to depart on Runway 24L." Captain Andrei called in through the radio.

"AviaSoyuz 2684, you are cleared for departure on Runway 24L to SXF." the tower controller replied.

Andrei accelerated the aircraft and maneuvered onto the runway. Once centered, he set the engines to full throttle and the plane began rolling down the runway. Within a minute the plane was airborne, bound to East Berlin.

Chapter II: Airborne

The first hour and a half of the flight was relatively uneventful, with Darya doing everything she would on any other flight. Eventually, Captain Andrei spoke up:

“I’m quite surprised they have you on this route. It isn’t often they have pilots with your standing flying these kinds of flights.”

“I suppose I just got lucky.” Darya simply responded.

Captain Andrei looked like he’d expected her to say more. When she didn’t, he simply turned his attention back to the aircraft and flew it in silence, glancing back at her occasionally.

Another 30 minutes pass. By this time they were over Poland, and more than two-thirds of the way there. Darya was starting to get anxious.

Damn it, will he ever leave? she thought to herself. She could see her plan unraveling in front of her eyes every second Andrei was still in the cockpit.

Just then, Andrei activated the autopilot and said "I'm going to the bathroom, keep an eye on things here until I return." Darya simply replied "Yes, captain." as he left the cockpit.

Darya immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Finally, he was gone. And then she was hit with the true shock of what came next. Should I really do this? The moment I lock that door, I'm past the point of no return. This would be her only chance to do this. She had to take the risk, she would never get this chance again. Darya immediately locked the door.

Within a few minutes, Andrei had returned to the cockpit. He was audibly startled to see the door locked, and started knocking on it. "Vasnev, I need you to let me back in."

Shit, shit, shit, what can I say? Darya thought. She needed to buy as much time as she could, but she couldn't think of any other excuse for why she couldn't open the door. She remained silent.

"Vasnev, what the hell are y-" Andrei stopped mid-sentence. "Oh my god." he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear. He ran away from the door back into the cabin.

"Oh hell." Darya cursed under her breath. He knew now, and soon enough everyone on the plane who could do anything about this would too. Sure enough, within a few minutes Andrei returned with backup.

"I think she's trying to find asylum. She'll probably be landing us in West Berlin." Andrei panicked. “It’s the only Western area on our route. What do we do!?”

Another man responded to Andrei, but he was just quiet enough that his words were inaudible. But Darya had a good guess who the man was: likely the KGB agent stationed on the flight. They always had one on board any flight of risk. Sure enough, a moment later the KGB agent kicked on the door. "Vasnev, open this door! Stop this charade, you know full well the punishment for defection is death! If you do not comply, I will break this down myself!"

Darya yelled in response "If you break in here, I'm going to crash this fucking plane with all of us in it! I'll send us right into the Baltic!" It frightened her to make these threats, but how else could she get them to back down? “Don’t fucking try me!”

More inaudible speech came from outside. Darya could just barely make out the phrase “Don’t provoke her” from the conversation. She breathed a sigh of relief. Well, that’s one way to buy time, she thought.

Chapter III: Full Alert

The flight continued on for another half hour. Darya flew the plane as normally as she could with the situation. She was about 20 minutes away from Berlin at this point - 20 minutes from safety. Shortly before crossing the Polish border she began turning to the north, in the direction of West Berlin’s Tegel Airport. Almost immediately, Schönefeld’s tower picked up on the change of course: “AviaSoyuz 2684, you are off course for Schönefeld approach. Adjust heading to 230°.”

“Acknowledged Schönefeld Approach, adjusting to 230°.” Darya proceeded on course to Tegel. They were catching on, she’d only have a few minutes before they went to full alert. A few minutes later, the tower radioed again” AviaSoyuz 2684, you are still off course for Schönefeld approach. Change your course immediately.”

Darya did not respond. “AviaSoyuz 2684, this is your final warning. Acknowledge and change course or fighter jets will be scrambled to respond.” Darya again did not respond. She decided this was the time to react, and tuned to Tegel. In broken German, she radioed “Tegel Tower, this AviaSoyuz Flight 2684. We are 15 minutes out, seeking landing clearance. We have intentions to defect!”

The Tower immediately responded. “AviaSoyuz 2684, you DO NOT have clearance. Change course immediately or we will be forced to take action.” Darya’s heart sank. She was so close to freedom, and this guy on the radio was the only thing in her way. No, she was not going to let this stop her! “Tegel Tower, we are landing with or without your permission. This is your call.” Silence. Then, a minute later the controller responded. “AviaSoyuz 2684, the tarmac is yours. Approach for 26 Right granted. God be with you.”

Darya breathed a sigh of relief. All she had to do was guide the plane down on the ground. She didn’t care what happened after, she knew she would be safe. Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye she saw an East German fighter pull up on the right side of her aircraft. A moment later, another pulled up on her left. The pilot of the right plane radioed her in Russian. “AviaSoyuz 2684, do you read? Over.”

Oh god, the fighters. Darya thought. “This is AviaSoyuz 2684, I copy.” she responded. 

“AviaSoyuz 2684, you are to divert course to Schönefeld Airport.” the fighter pilot responded.

“Negative, we are on course to Tegel.”

“AviaSoyuz 2684, you are to divert to Schönefeld immediately or we will be forced to shoot you down. This is your final warning.”

Darya was in a panic. “We have already communicated to Tegel Tower our intent to land and been given clearance for landing. We are 5 minutes away from the West Berlin border, and we have over 100 innocent souls on this aircraft. If you want to claim the lives of everyone on this plane and cause an international incident, then do it! BE MY FUCKING GUEST!”

Radio silence. The fighter jets continued to trail her for a moment, and then pulled back. Oh god, they’re actually going to do it, Darya thought. She winced, waiting for the moment her plane was going to be ripped to shreds. But it never came. After a minute, she looked out the side window behind her. There was no sight of the fighters. She breathed a sigh of relief, and began silently crying tears of joy. They’d pulled off. The Bloc didn’t care any more. She was free.

Chapter IV: Safety

After a moment she pulled herself together and focused out the window. She was over West Berlin now, only a few minutes away from Tegel. “Okay. Almost there. Let’s do this.” She pulled down the flaps in preparation for landing and aimed straight for Runway 26R. “AviaSoyuz 2684, downwind to Tegel.” Darya called to the tower, again in broken German.

1000 Meters.

Reduce thrust.

800.

600.

400.

Gear down.

200.

100.

Right by the runway by now. She could see the entire airport was at a standstill, and emergency vehicles were everywhere. Firetrucks, ambulances, police vans.

75.

50.

25.

Darya began lightly flaring the aircraft.

10.

She pulled back on the throttle, flaring even harder.

0.

Suddenly, the touchdown. Not her smoothest landing, but given the circumstances she’d give herself a pass.

Now, reverse thrust! Darya managed to bring the aircraft to a halt three-quarters way down the runway. “Welcome to Tegel, 2684.” A Tower controller responded, this time in Russian. “Proceed immediately to the left to the apron in front of the Lufthansa hangar. Do not deviate from this course.”

“Copy, Tegel Ground.” Darya began maneuvering the aircraft towards the apron. As she pulled into the designated spot, she breathed a sigh of relief. This was it. It was over. Whatever happened now, she’d be safe from here on. Suddenly, the radio blared to life one more time. “AviaSoyuz 2684, this is Commander Ziegler of the GSG-9. Anyone in the cockpit is to immediately exit the aircraft via the left side window and kneel on the ground with your hands behind your head.”

“AviaSoyuz 2684, acknowleged.” Darya responded. She opened up the escape rope compartment behind the pilot’s seat and opened the window.

She roped down the window of her aircraft, and knelt with her hands behind her head. This was it. She was safe. She was free! Suddenly, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the passenger door of the aircraft fling open. She had no time to react as the KGB agent leaned out the door and shot at her several times, striking her down.

She fell to the ground, writhing in pain and hardly able to move. She looked over in the direction of the door, and saw the agent get taken out by bullets from the West German soldiers who had surrounded the plane. She prayed that this would be over soon.

A West German police officer cautiously came to her side. "Bist du in Ordnung? Kannst du mich verstehen?" Darya couldn't understand a word this man was saying, and just stared blankly at him. He turned to look behind and yelled at some people in the distance "Beeil dich hier, sie ist schwer verletzt!"

The officer stayed by her side as an ambulance crew arrived and loaded her onto a stretcher. As they took her away, she began sobbing. "Please God, I don't want to die! I'm not ready!"

The paramedic rolling her stretcher to an ambulance, a young man no older than his mid-20s, leaned over to her and spoke in broken Russian "You will be okay my friend, just hang on!"