When Captain Ricoseta Mafella of Batik Air trusted an unexplainable “voice” urging him to take off three minutes early, that instinct — later proven to have placed his plane just ahead of the deadly 2018 Palu earthquake and tsunami — turned what could have been tragedy into one of aviation’s most miraculous escapes.

On September 28, 2018, Captain Ricoseta Mafella sat in the cockpit of Batik Air Flight 6231 at Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport in Palu, Indonesia.

It was a clear evening, and everything about the flight appeared perfectly normal.

The Boeing 737 was scheduled for takeoff at exactly 5:55 p.m., bound for Jakarta.

But something inside the veteran pilot told him otherwise.

“I felt an urge — like a whisper — saying, ‘Go now,’” Captain Mafella would later recall in an interview.

“It didn’t make sense.

The control tower hadn’t cleared me for early departure.

But something in me said it wasn’t safe to wait.”

Against standard aviation protocol, Mafella requested early clearance.

After a brief pause, the tower granted permission, and at 5:52 p.m.— exactly three minutes ahead of schedule — Flight 6231 lifted off the runway.

What happened next would turn that small decision into one of the most extraordinary moments in aviation history.

As the aircraft climbed through 2,000 feet, Mafella’s co-pilot, still adjusting the controls, noticed an unusual vibration.

It wasn’t mechanical — it was the shockwave.

Seconds later, a magnitude 7.

5 earthquake struck the city of Palu.

Within moments, the runway they had just departed from cracked open.

The control tower collapsed.

Buildings around the airport were torn apart by the violent tremors, and a massive tsunami began forming along the nearby coast.

Every other aircraft on the ground was engulfed in chaos.

But Batik Air Flight 6231, now airborne and climbing steadily, was safe.

Passengers had no idea what had just happened below.

From the cockpit, Captain Mafella looked down and saw plumes of dust rising from the city — a sight that made his stomach drop.

“I realized in that moment that if I had waited just three more minutes, none of us would have survived,” he later said.

The tower controller who cleared him for early departure, Anthonius Gunawan Agung, remained at his post until the very last second, ensuring the Batik Air flight had safely taken off before the tower collapsed.

He was later hailed as a national hero for his bravery.

Investigations into the Palu earthquake and tsunami confirmed that the airport runway split within seconds of the takeoff.

The timing was so precise that experts calculated only a two-minute window separated the plane’s departure from disaster.

Engineers later noted that had the Boeing 737 been on the runway when the ground shifted, its landing gear would have been torn apart by the fractures.

Aviation analysts have since debated Captain Mafella’s “inner voice.

” Was it divine intuition, subconscious awareness of subtle tremors, or simply a coincidence that defied probability? “Human instinct sometimes operates faster than data,” said former Garuda Indonesia captain and flight instructor Joko Purnomo.

“In rare cases, pilots just feel something before the instruments can detect it.”

Captain Mafella himself never described the experience as luck.

A devout Christian, he referred to it as divine intervention.

“I believe God spoke to me that day,” he told local media during a remembrance service in 2019.

“He told me to move, and I obeyed.”

The story of Flight 6231 became a symbol of faith, instinct, and the mystery of timing — how a seemingly trivial decision can alter hundreds of lives.

The 148 passengers aboard later learned that the airport they left behind was destroyed within minutes of their departure.

Some returned to Palu days later, only to find their homes gone.

Today, the “Three-Minute Miracle” remains one of aviation’s most talked-about near-disasters — not because of a technical error, but because of a moment no instrument could predict.

Captain Mafella continued flying for Batik Air and later became an inspirational speaker, sharing his story around the world.

“Every time I enter the cockpit,” he said, “I remember that voice.

I learned that sometimes, rules keep us safe — but sometimes, something greater tells us when to break them.”

For the 148 people aboard Flight 6231, those three minutes were the difference between life and death — and a reminder that courage sometimes speaks in whispers.