the pilots, joseph lepore and jan paladino, were composed and focused, like "infantrymen who were well trained." still, sharkey and the other passengers, despite an uneasy calm, grew concerned. "it was very serene," sharkey said. "at first it was just quiet and grimly concern." an engineer on board noticed the damaged wing was starting to peel, and sharkey said it was then that everyone on board started to think about dying. "that’s the point in which it was clear that one way or another we were going down in unpleasant circumstances, and probably, since we couldn’t find a runway, we were going to ditch."