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The aircraft, now on autopilot with no conscious crew, continued flying straight and level at 30,000 ft.

For several minutes, no 1 realized the pilots were incapacitated. The flight attendants, unable to reach the cockpit via intercom, assumed the pilots were busy troubleshooting the communication issues. Passengers continued with their activities, only mildly aware that something unusual was happening.

Mia Chin, however, was putting pieces together that the adults around her couldn’t see. Her training had taught her to read the subtle signs of aviation emergencies: the flickering lights, the failed intercom, the way the flight attendants were now congregating at the front of the aircraft, speaking in urgent whispers. Most tellingly, the aircraft was flying too straight, too level, with no corrections or adjustments in its flight path for over 10 minutes.