When Captain Ricoseta Mafella trusted an unexplained inner voice and took off three minutes early from Palu Airport in 2018, his instinct defied aviation logic but ultimately saved 148 lives — a miraculous decision made moments before a deadly earthquake destroyed the runway, leaving the world in awe of a mystery beyond reason.

It was a quiet Friday evening in late September 2018 when Captain Ricoseta Mafella prepared to take off from Mutiara SIS Al-Jufrie Airport in Palu, Indonesia.

The clock read 5:52 p.m.

His aircraft, a Batik Air Airbus carrying 148 passengers and crew, was scheduled to depart for Jakarta at 5:55 p.m.— but something unusual stirred inside him.

“I felt uneasy,” Mafella later recalled in an interview.

“Something in me kept saying, Go now. Take off early.It wasn’t logic.

It wasn’t procedure.It was…a voice.”

It was a decision that defied every standard in aviation.

Pilots are trained to follow schedules, air traffic instructions, and strict clearance procedures.

But that night, Mafella’s instincts — or something far beyond — urged him to act differently.

He checked his instruments one more time, confirmed the weather, and without any apparent reason, radioed the tower for immediate takeoff clearance.

“Tower, Batik 6231 ready for departure, request early clearance,” he said.

The controller, later identified as 21-year-old Anthonius Gunawan Agung, cleared the flight.

“Batik 6231, you are cleared for takeoff.

Good evening, Captain.”

Three minutes later, at exactly 5:55 p.m., Flight 6231 lifted off the runway — three minutes ahead of schedule.

From the cockpit window, Captain Mafella could see the golden light of sunset reflecting off the Sulawesi coastline.

Everything seemed normal.

Until it wasn’t.

At 6:02 p.m., just after the plane reached cruising altitude, a violent 7.

5-magnitude earthquake struck Palu.

The ground split open, swallowing cars, buildings, and parts of the very runway they had just left behind.

The control tower collapsed seconds after their departure.

The same young controller who had cleared them for takeoff, Anthonius, stayed at his post to ensure the plane was safely airborne — a decision that cost him his life.

When Captain Mafella learned what had happened below, his blood ran cold.

“If we had waited,” he said quietly, “we would have never made it out.”

Later, the Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management confirmed that the Palu earthquake and tsunami struck with little warning, destroying the airport’s runway and communications within minutes.

Dozens of flights were canceled, and the airport was shut down indefinitely.

Batik Air Flight 6231 was one of the last aircraft to leave the area before disaster hit.

Investigators later reviewed the data: there were no warning signs before takeoff — no tremors, no alerts, nothing that could have predicted the quake.

Everything about that early departure defied explanation.

Psychologists have suggested that Captain Mafella’s decision could have stemmed from subtle environmental cues — slight vibrations or atmospheric pressure changes that triggered subconscious reactions.

Others, including Mafella himself, believed it was something more profound.

“I don’t know if you can call it God, or instinct,” he said.

“But I know one thing — if I hadn’t listened to that voice, 148 souls would not be here today.”

The story spread quickly across Indonesia and the aviation world.

Many praised the captain for his calm under pressure and his willingness to trust his intuition when every system told him to wait.

Others dismissed it as coincidence.

Yet, for the families of the 148 passengers, coincidence was not the word they used — it was miracle.

In the years since, Captain Mafella has spoken publicly about that day, often emphasizing humility and faith in his speeches.

“Sometimes,” he tells young pilots, “you must listen beyond the instruments.

There are things science cannot yet explain.”

The haunting detail of his story — that “voice” — continues to fascinate investigators, pilots, and spiritual thinkers alike.

Was it divine intervention? Was it subconscious awareness? Or was it simply one man’s courage to act when reason said not to?

Whatever the answer, one fact remains undeniable: three minutes changed everything.

Today, Flight 6231 stands as a reminder of how the smallest decision — a flicker of intuition, a whisper before takeoff — can alter the course of human lives forever.