TMJ4 A Midwest Airlines pilot is sharing the harrowing details of his brush with history.

He's featured in a new book on 9/11. Pilot Gerald Earwood and Midwest Flight 7 almost collided with one of the planes that ultimately hit the World Trade Center.

The book is called "Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11.”

One of the previously untold stories is that of Midwest Pilot Gerald Earwood who shared his thoughts with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel's Tom Daykin.

"I said, ‘hey Eric. What's that on top of the World Trade Center?’” Earwood said.

“That” was smoke rising from the north tower. Terrorists had flown a jet straight into it and Midwest Flight 7 from Milwaukee to New York would soon encounter another airliner on a course with destiny.

"Midex 7. Midex 7. Are you with me?" Earwood said.

Earwood noted the frantic call of the flight controller who would soon order him to take evasive maneuvers.

"He said, 'tighten up Midex. Keep it tight. Keep it tight. Roll left, hard left, hard as you can.’ I never had a controller scream at me like that,” Earwood said.

A flight attendant hit the floor. The couple dozen passengers were frantic, but the crew avoided a mid-air collision. A collision which Earwood noted would have drastically altered history.

"I never knew, to this day I don't know how close we were. I never saw the guy,” Earwood said.

But Earwood and the others saw what happened next. Barely a minute after the encounter, United Flight 175 struck the south tower of the World Trade Center.