passengers who are tourists and honeymooners, small is on his way to work as a helicopter pilot and mechanic on a large koreanowned fishing boat. the jet lifts off from seoul, south korea at 10:05 p.m. local time. the date, august 6th, 1997. the flight itself from seoul to guam was nothing out of ordinary. just a pleasant night flight. with a median temperature of 89 degrees, guam has an agreeable climate, but there s a grim flip side to that. august is rainy season with an average rainfall of more than 12 inches. as the 747 approaches the airport it runs right into a cell of heavy rain moving in from the northeast but small in seat 36k over the right wing doesn t worry. i can see the lights of guam out of the righthand side of the aircraft, and we were ascending without a carriage down.