In September 1995, our Mother boarded a small plane with three nuns and her spiritual son Mr Nabil Gendy who was a ground engineer. The plane took off from Cairo and was en route to the region of Agiba in Marsa Matrouh, a coastal city on the Mediterranean. Shortly after take off, the pilot attempted to retract the landing gear i.e. the wheels; however, the nose landing gear got stuck in the middle of the motion, whilst the back landing gear retracted successfully.
Mr Gendy realized what was happening and once the plane had reached the Egyptian Delta, the pilot redirected the plane back to Cairo. Not only was the nose landing gear not retracting back, they were not deploying either. This was obviously a very dangerous situation because the pilot would not be able to land the plane.
Furthermore, since the aircraft is pneumatic and not hydraulic, as the pilot repeatedly tried to lower the nose gear, the plane lost pneumatic pressure. This eventually led the pilot to lose control over the aircraft. Flying over Cairo airport, the plane kept turning around in the air like the turbines of a windmill.
Everyone panicked and screamed and turned towards Mother Erini. Feeling the terrible consequences that might happen if they moved, Mother Erini looked at everyone, and as a tender mother, while raising her hands to calm them down said, “Stay where you are. Do not be afraid. Nothing is going to happen to you.” She looked at Mr Nabil and said to him “Are you reassured?”
With spontaneous faith Mr Nabil answered, “Of course. Our Lady the virgin would support the wing and the plane from the side, Abu Seifein would tie the front of the plane to his horse’s tail and adjust it, and Pope Kyrillos VI and Bishoy Makarios (the recently departed bishop of Qena) would support it from the other side.”
In spontaneity and seriousness, Tamav asked, “What about Archangel Raphael? What would he do?” I answered “He would flutter with his wings underneath the plane [and] he would increase pressure underneath the aircraft which will put it in a normal flying condition. This in turn will make it land easily.” Tamav replied, “Yes. Yes. That is it.”
That’s exactly what happened. Tamav was following and witnessing it with great interest from the window. Suddenly the plane was flying normally and ascending. The pilot managed to land the plane smoothly with the main landing gear, then he shut down the engine at the end of the runaway with the nose of the aircraft eventually crashing into the asphalt. The impact the passengers felt was a small shaking akin to a car going over a small speed bump. The plane came to a complete stand still and everyone disembarked completely fine.
Ref: Tamav Erene Leader and mother in the monastic pastures (book 4), p. 3-6
The Art of Orthodoxy 