16th June 2020 - Above Jericho, Mississippi, United States
“Like Icarus the Greek who in his hubris, flew too close to the Sun, whence the second fall of man came to pass, it burned.” Writings of Amon High Priest of Thoth (Ancient Egyptian: Djehuty “He Who is Like the Ibis”), New Alexandria, Egypt - 68 A.B.
Erik realized he was screaming along with just about everyone else, and clamped his mouth shut. The aircraft nose was now pointing down at a negative 40 degree pitch and picking up speed. A quick glance out the window, showed smoke coming from the engine. Thinking furiously he thought, This is not good. OK, OK, Okay. That explosive sound was a high altitude compressor stall, this occurs when the airflow in the turbofan compressor is insufficient to maintain engine operation - as if he were answering his university professor on a pop quiz. Both engines have failed, and from the loss of cabin power, the APU is out as well, luckily we have batteries, but from the sounds from the cockpit, the radio is out, which means the batteries are out too.
So no instruments, no radio’s, no radar, no in-flight entertainment and that microwave meal he was looking forward to is now definitely fucking delayed. We’re in a dive now, to pickup airspeed, to maintain lift, thats all we got. Erick briefly thought of the old Air force Maxim, “Speed is life!” Another advantage of increasing speed, aside from not falling out of the sky like a brick, was that it might be possible to windmill the turbofan blades, to compress enough air, mix it with fuel, pass it though the turbine and the self contained igniter within, this should bring the engine back to life.
People where screaming food trays, small bags, magazines and someone’s goddamn shoe all went flying past him as the airplane nose continued to pitch down, a few unlucky passengers weren’t belted in, and were tossed off their feet and onto the ceiling, or sliding down the aisle most hung onto anything they could. Another quick glance out the window, showed Erik that the engine was no longer smoking, it was now on fire, the entire nacelle was burning, with bits and pieces of metal flaming and dropping off in the airflow.
Right then. Erick figured, that one’s out of commission, and I doubt the second engine is doing any better from the frantic, “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!” Sounds he could hear being repeated from the cockpit. OK so a 737 typically has about between a 15 to 18 to one glide ratio, and were still at about 25,000 feet or so, which gives us… Erik crunched the algebra and came up with a glide range of about 100 to 130 or so kilometers, assuming the pilots would give up trying to windmill the engines, and plant us nose first into the ground, and just level out to an optimal glide speed.
“What we need, is somewhere to land” Erick verbalized, seizing on the chance to find a place of safety, lets see preferably an airport, maybe settle for an abandoned runway, or maybe a nice long straight stretch of interstate highway, maybe just a couple of adjacent and flat farmers fields, he'd even settle for a river.
What Erik saw when he looked out the window a third time, and really looked beyond the eye catching jet engine on fire, was a sea of hazy green. Unlike a few minutes before, there was no patchwork of rural ranch or farm fields, no electricity pylons or interstate highways, no roads or cars, houses or cities. There was just a sea of dense forest, and not just any forest, this wasn't recently regrown scrub land, this was old forest, like you see in very few places in the world, Trees hundreds of feet high and a canopy of green streching as far as the eye could see. That was when he comprehended that for all his smart ass, inner monologue and bravado, and all the training instilled into an officer to never show fear in front of his men, he was now terrified, because he could see no way out, they were all going to die.
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It was cathartic in a way, the awareness and acknowledgment of that fear calmed him, most of the passengers were afraid because they didn't know what was happening or what would happen. Erik was no longer afraid, because he knew what would happen, and in accepted that he couldn’t change anything, and these were probably his last moments.
He thought of his parents, he thought of his brother, he looked forward to seeing him again. The ground looked closer now, there wasn't a lot of time left.
Trying not to think about it he turned his head purposefully away from the window. This wasn't something he wanted to watch.
That’s when he saw her sat on the floor clinging to the bottom of the first empty row of seats, between the fold down seat right next to the cabin door usually reserved for the air stewardess, she looked 15 or 16 years old, with dusty short blond locks, and scattered freckles, she had a very tomboyish look. “All elbows and knees” as his mom would say, right at the end of that skinny growth spurt teens go through with puberty. She must have been on her way back from the toilet, when all this started. Their eyes met briefly, but her attention was on her family a long long way away towards the middle of the plane, and she had no way to get to them, she was alone.
Suddenly Erick knew what he could do, unbuckling his seatbelt, he leapt and scrambled over the aisle, and dropped to the floor, crawling and using whatever leverage he could find, sometimes being lifting up into the air and being slammed back down again by the turbulent aircraft maneuvers, he quickly reached her and embraced her pulling her toward the bulkhead and the seats.
She looked startled he thought, well only a little more startled considering the circumstances.
“My Mom, I need to get back to her” she yelled, pulling away from him a little and trying to climb up the aisle, then she came whipping right back, barely dodging the drinks cart that careened past a second later and crashed into the galley, the aircraft had changed pitch and was now nose up and banking, bleeding airspeed in preparation for a landing.
“I know, I know, you can go to her soon, but its not safe now, we just need to wait a little while first OK?”
She looked hesitantly back down the aisle.
“My names Erik, whats yours?”
She looked back at me filled her face now filled with incredulity and disbelief, as if I was the worlds biggest dumbass, because obviously now was the best time, for some strange guy to ask for a fifteen year old for her name and number? She shook her head in irritation, looking back to the aisle.
“Ceri, my name is Ceri.”
“Ceri, is it alright, if I wait here with you?” He asked hesitantly, almost as if an apology.
She nodded her head slowly, as if thinking about it, then moved back and joined him in the corner shoulders touch her back to the bulkhead as well, she lent against him and nodded again.
“Sure, but I miss my mom.”
“I know, I know”. he said, pushing up as far as he could their backs to the bulkhead, and wedged against the seats, he wrapped his arms around her, trying to afford any extra measure of protection he could give. Something of his sincerity must have leaked out, because as she looked at him, she understood he meant it, and that he missed his mom too.
“But its alright, I wont leave you.”
Her hand desperately found his, she squeezed it, he squeezed back. Neither of them wanted to die alone.
When the end came, it was very quick, they were slammed sideways into the seats, and then back into the bulkhead.
There was heat, and fire, movement… pain a flash of blue then darkness.