East

Chapter 21

 The aircraft was still sitting under the lights at Cheongju. 

The swarm of service vehicles had been moved away from her body and Bob was double checking his calculations. Everything looked fine; they had enough fuel to get across Russian air space, although they might have to stop at Helsinki to refuel if the winds were not as advertised, and they would be just below maximum landing weight at Seongnam.

The crew were assembled on the flight deck and Paul was turned in his seat to address them. "Does everyone understand the plan?" 

Everyone nodded. 

"Anyone not want to do this? Speak up, now is the time to say something." 

Everyone remained silent as he moved his eyes between the other three men.

"Okay, then let's make this happen."

There was a flurry of activity as the engineer triple checked his instruments and they all adjusted their seats and fastened their harnesses. The co-pilot had the charts for Seongnam ready.

Paul keyed his microphone to talk to the people on the ramp.

"Ground, Flight Deck, we are ready to push."

"Release brakes."

"Brakes are released."

"Starting push-back."

After a moment the aircraft began to move slowly rear-wards and away from the warehouses which held the cargo they had delivered the previous day. Two minutes later, the last piece of ground equipment was disconnected and they started the engines, one by one.

"Cheongju Ground, Albatross one zero three heavy is ready to taxi."

"Albatross one zero three heavy taxi to runway zero six left."

Paul acknowledged the instructions and applied power to begin their short journey to the runway. The large aircraft gently moved forward and the crew continued their pre-takeoff checks. Soon the alternating lights ahead of them announced the runway and the aircraft came to a stop.

"Cheongju Tower, Albatross one zero three heavy is ready for takeoff, zero six left."

The tower approved their request and they moved forward again on to the runway, turning until the concrete and lights stretched ahead of them. Paul moved the throttles forward and they watched the instruments to make sure the engines were spooling together. Satisfied, a final movement made them move forward, slowly at first but gradually increasing speed.

The first officer called out the speeds and Paul rotated the aircraft toward the sky. The landing gear was raised and the flaps retracted, the aircraft gaining more speed as it climbed toward the north west and Seoul.

They flew in silence for a few minutes, altering course slightly to the north to stay on their path.

The first officer broke the heavy silence. "We just passed Suwon Air Base. Time to start the plan."

Suwon was a little over half-way to Seoul.

"Seoul Center, Albatross one zero three heavy."

"Go ahead."

"Seoul, we are experiencing a problem with a warning indicator on our number three engine and would like to enter a hold at Anyang while we investigate."

The request was approved and they followed instructions to descend. Soon they were flying a race-track pattern.

"Everyone know the plan?" said Paul. "Pickup time is between 00:30 and 01:00, so if we hold for another ten minutes, we should arrive there right on time. Bob, are you ready?"

"Yes, sir."

"Okay then." He turned to the flight engineer. "How is our weight looking for the landing?"

"It's looking good."

Silence returned to the flightdeck as they continued to fly their holding pattern. Ten minutes later, he called the controller again.

"Seoul Center, Albatross one zero three heavy."

"Go ahead."

"Albatross one zero three heavy is requesting diversion to Seoul Air Base."

"Standby." There was a pause and they could all picture the controller coordinating the request with Seongnam. "Albatross one zero three heavy, their ramp is closed due to VIP traffic, can you accept an alternate?"

"Seoul, ramp space not required. We think we know what the problem is and we will only need to be on the ground for a few minutes. No ground support is required."

There was another pause and everyone on-board the freighter held their breath.

"Albatross one zero three heavy, request approved. Turn right heading zero nine zero. Contact Seoul Approach one two three decimal eight."

Paul acknowledged the instructions as he turned the aircraft toward Seongnam. "That was easier than I expected, I hope it's a good omen."

***

As they descended through six thousand feet, the lights of Seoul filling the view to the north, Paul retarded the throttles a little more.

"We're going to be on the ground soon," he said. "Everyone ready for this?"

This wasn't the first time he had asked the crew, but not all of them had military experience and he wanted to make sure they had thought about what they were about to do. At best they would make it out of Seoul with no one suspecting what they had done. At worst someone would find out and they would be intercepted in Chinese or Russian air space on their way back to Europe. Everybody nodded but didn't say anything.

"Albatross one zero three heavy, report established on the ILS for runway zero two."

Paul acknowledged the instruction and began a gradual left turn to intercept the landing system.

A few minutes later the airfield lights were visible ahead of them.

"One thousand feet," the co-pilot called out. "Five hundred."

Paul brought the throttles back and concentrated on his landing spot. He gently flared the aircraft and they barely felt the main gear begin rolling on the concrete behind them. The spoilers deployed, destroying the lift created by the wing.

"Reverse thrust."

The co-pilot pulled the throttles all the way back and past the detent and into the reverse position. They pictured the engines now pushing forward instead of back and felt the aircraft lose speed as they headed down the runway.

"Ninety knots," said the co-pilot and moved the throttles to idle.

Paul maintained his braking.

"Sixty knots."

"Tower, one zero three requesting backtrack on runway one nine. We think we have the problem fixed and just need a couple of minutes at the hold before we're ready to depart."

"Approved."

Bob said what they were all thinking. "Is this too easy?"

Nobody answered him.

---

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