Good for your son for thinking about this early!
Think about which story you would rather read. The hijacking story sounds much more interesting to me than another cliched sports story, and its such a unique experience that it could make for a very memorable essay. One advice that my kids got along the way was don’t just tell me the story, show me. Don’t just say you were scared, show them you were scared. Also, the story needs to reveal something about your son so however good a story it may be, the focus needs to be on what he wants the admissions people to learn about him from that story.
But it doesn’t have to be a life or death experience to be a great essay. My kids both got into highly selective schools with essays on somewhat mundane topics. Good luck!