3. Nikolai Gastello

Nikolai Frantsevich Gastello was an aviator, hero of the Soviet Union. He is one of the best known Soviet war heroes, being the first Soviet pilot to conduct a "fire taran" - a suicide attack by an aircraft on a ground target.

Nikolay Gastello was born in Moscow on May 6, 1908. Some sources mistakenly claim that his father was German; however Franz Gastello was a Belarusian. He had recently moved to Moscow and changed his Belarusian last name Gastylo to an exotic-sounding Gastello.

Nikolay Gastello graduated from a Sokolniki high school in Moscow in 1918, and his family then moved to Bashkiria escaping the horrors of the Russian Civil War. By 1923 Gastello was back in Moscow, where he worked at a factory as a fitter.

In 1928 he became a member of the communist party, and in 1932 by special decree he was sent to the Lugansk Pilot's School. Graduating in 1933 as a bomber pilot, Gastello initially flew the Tupolev TB-3 heavy bomber. Gastello fought against the Japanese in Battle of Halhin Gol in 1939, where he was awarded; he then saw action in the Winter War with Finland.

By the time Germany attacked Soviet Union on June 22 of 1941, Gastello was a squadron leader in a long-range bomber regiment equipped with Ilyushin DB-3 medium bombers. On June 26, five days after the war started, a pair of aircraft led by Gastello bombed German position near the village of Dekshany in Belarus. Gastello's bomber was reportedly hit by flak, with his wing fuel tank being ruptured and the aircraft subsequently becoming engulfed in flames. He then deliberately directed the doomed aircraft into a German Panzer column, performing the first "fire taran" of the German-Soviet War.

Gastello was posthumously awarded the Hero of the Soviet Union, one of the first Soviet soldiers to receive the title in World War II. Subsequently he became one of the best-known heroes of the war, with his story taking up the bulk of Soviet text books on the early years of the German-Soviet War.

4. Continental captain dies on flight to Newark

A Continental Airlines flight from Brussels landed safely at Newark Liberty International Airport after the plane’s captain died mid-flight. A Boeing 777 with 247 passengers on board, landed at Newark with numerous emergency vehicles standing by.

Continental officials told that 60-year-old Craig Lenell died of natural causes. He worked for the company for 32 years and was based out of Newark, though he was originally from Huston.

The crew on this flight included an additional relief pilot who took the place of the deceased pilot. The flight continued safely with two pilots at the controls. The plane had departed Brussels at 9:45 a.m., and Lenell died about three or four hours into the flight. The crew alerted passengers there was a medical situation and asked if there were any doctors on the flight. Dr. Julien Struyven, 72, a cardiologist from Brussels who was aboard, responded to the call for doctors, went to the cockpit and examined the pilot. “He was not alive,” Struyven said. There was “no chance at all” of saving him, he said. Struyven said he suspected the pilot had a heart attack. He said he used a defibrillator to try to revive the pilot, but it was too late. Passengers were not told of Lenell’s death during the flight. “There was no point in telling people, it would have created a lot of panic and stress, and for what?” said passenger Steven Weitz, who learned the pilot died after his son called him when the plane landed.

Officials say in addition to the two first officers on flight there was a reserve crew as well. “In this particular case, it was an overseas flight, so because of the length there is usually a second first officer.” said aviation expert Al Yurman.

Airlines have precautions in place in case of such emergency. If a captain becomes incapacitated, the first officer is expected to take control of the aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot eat different meals to avoid the possibility of both becoming ill from food poisoning. As for general health considerations, pilots are required to undergo regular medical check-ups.