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“Everything slows down, every second seemed like a minute.”

You’ve heard that a thousand times — or you’ve lived it once. Writer Bob Sabbag lived it.

It was around midnight, June 17, 1979. He was strapped into his seat on Air New England Flight 248. The commuter plane was trying to find the runway in deep fog.

Suddenly, the slow-motion crash through the trees, the gray chaos in the cabin, the survivors crawling out into the silent woods and waiting — and waiting — for help.

Some of Bob Sabbag’s best friends never knew he lived through a plane crash 30 years ago. He just never talked about it. Then he decided to let the memories, and the eight other survivors, in.

This hour, On Point: Living through the million moments of the crash of Flight 248.

You can join the conversation. Tell us what you think — here on this page, on Twitter, and on Facebook.

-Jane Clayson, guest host

Tom Ashbrook is on vacation.

Guest:

Robert Sabbag joins us in our studio.  He has written for The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Playboy and the Los Angeles Times, and is the author of the best-selling “Snowblind: A Brief Career in the Cocaine Trade,” “Smokescreen,” and “Too Tough to Die.” His new book is “Down Around Midnight: A Memoir of Crash and Survival.”

Read an excerpt from “Down Around Midnight.”

More links:

The Cape Cod Times looks back at the 1979 crash of Air New England Flight 248 in a recent article and in this video featuring author Robert Sabbag:

For thirty years now, more and more Americans have flown at the drop of a hat. Cheaper flights and more flights made the country seem smaller.

Home in Dallas. Cabin in Vermont. Kids in California. Parents in Florida. Vacation far away — no problem, we’ll all fly.

But the oil price surge that is spiking gas prices and rattling the economy is whipping up jet fuel prices, too. Nobody knows when or if they’ll come down. Airlines are chopping flights, mothballing planes, preparing for “extreme” fare hikes.

An era, it appears, is ending. This hour, On Point: Grappling with the end of affordable air travel.

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Micheline Maynard, correspondent for The New York Times covering business and the airline industry.

Andrew Goetz, professor and chair of the geography department at the University of Denver

Deborah Smith, professor of sociology at the University of Missouri, Kansas City

With fuel costs skyrocketing, and just in time for summer, the airline industry is again facing monumental losses. Just this week United, JetBlue and AirTran announced sharp losses, and Delta reported a first quarter loss of $6 billion.

The airlines are cutting everything they can: employees, flights, fleets, and frills. If you’re a traveler, prepare to be nickled, dimed, and worse — charged for a second checked bag, not to mention extra leg room, headsets, and meals.

Air travel isn’t what it used to be. Will it ever come back?

This hour, On Point: airlines in crisis, and the future of flying.

-Jayne Clayson

Guests:

Lisa Stark, correspondent for ABC News, she covers aviation.

David Field, Americas editor for Aviation Business magazine.

Joe D’eon, airline pilot and host of the podcast “Fly with Me.”

When the American Air Force takes to the skies and needs fuel, its jets have fueled up, mid-air, forever, from American-made Boeing air tankers. You’ve seen the pictures: The long hose comes down, the jet tops up, and off it goes.

Last week, the gigantic contract to build the next generation of air tankers took off as well. It won’t be a Boeing tanker, but Europe’s Airbus topping up American military planes.

That’s a $40 billion dollar contract — maybe a hundred billion. Gone are jobs, profits, pride. Today we ask why.

This hour, On Point: American tax dollars for Europe’s Airbus for the U.S. military. Why?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Richard Aboulafia, vice president of analysis at the Teal Group, an aerospace and defense consulting firm in Fairfax, Virginia.

James Wallace, reporter for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer covering the aerospace industry, including Boeing and Airbus.

Rep. Norm Dicks, Democratic congressman from Washington’s 6th District, which includes many Boeing employees. He is a member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Defense Subcommittee.

Rep. Duncan Hunter, Republican congressman from California, ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, and a candidate for the Republican nomination for president until January.