The Aviation Diaries

CHAPTER 8

"Jenny forced landings on water end in disasters! our plane may cartwheel on ditching the water!! It may even explode on striking!!"I saw her grip the yoke tightly.

"We ought to do something Harry!!" She replied pressing the first engine control on her right. We were upside down and it was difficult to locate the controls.

'AIR TRAFFIC CONTROL- bird strike, she has lost the thrust in the engines, returning immediately'

'She is at 15,000 feet'

"Check ..CHECK.. WE ARE INVERTED AND THERE'S NO POSSIBILITY OF RETURN!!" Jenny screamed. Why was air control messing with us???!

"Jenny why don't we take it to the near by airport??"

"We won't be able to make it there Harry. It's catastrophic not only for those on board but also for the people on the ground! The only viable alternative, only level smooth place, sufficiently large to land is the water." She was right but it seemed very risky and I was nearly accepting defeat.

"Harry, Candice do you have faith in me?" Jenny asked looking at me first and then at Candice behind us.

"Ye- yeah" my voice couldn't leave the larynx.

Candice nodded her head.

"Air control is not going to help us. Take off your headset and we have to do this ourselves"

"JENNY DON'T ACT DUMB" we were dying in the first place and she wanted to give up over the only support we had from the ground!

"TRUST ME!" She was sure that we weren't going to land safely if we kept asking for help. Her hair were now falling loose and our bodies was hanging in the air. The seatbelt kept us in place.

"We ...we need to ...revive one of the engines." She was thinking desperately.

"MY CONTROLS ARE NOT WORKING JENNY." I tried so hard to push ..pull .. move the yoke but nothing worked. I didn't want to imagine but a picture of the aircraft crashing on the ground came in my head repeatedly.

"Okay okay.. CANDICE .. CANDICE??" Jenny tried to call Candice but she had passed out on the jump seat behind us. Her head, hands and legs were flying in air.

"Shit."

"Okay Harry.. stay strong. Let's land in the water. We're descending at 18 feet per second. If we somehow slow our descent.....Harry what does the guide instruct us?? How do we revive the engine??" My head was spinning with the position we were in.

"I'm on it!" My hands were trembling with fear. The manual fell on my face when hands lost the power to hold it above my head.

"Harry!! Harry!! My controls are working!! We just need to revive the engine!!" She did something with the yoke and immediately her controls were back in action. She moved the yoke skilfully and from an inverted state we shifted back to normal. Slowly things were moving from upside down to inclined to erect and normal. However, the engines weren't working and we were still facing a crucial problem of an uncontrolled dive.

"CAPTAIN THE ENGINES ARE ON FIRE!!!" Jane rushed in the cockpit screaming about the fire.

The passengers were shouting for help and I could see the luggage carriers were open. Suitcases were falling on the passengers from above.

"WE'RE GONNA DIE, WE'RE GONNA DIE, AREN'T WE?" One of the passengers shouted noticing the door of our cockpit open.

"900 feet" Jenny tightened her grip on the yoke.