The helicopter hovered just a little under one hundred feet in the air. The massive piston driven rotors of the UH-60 black hawk spinning at a rate that was impossible to see with the naked eye. The helicopter struggled in the air against the wind as the pilot worked the stick trying to keep it steady. He cursed under his breath as he risked the glance to the fuel gague. Next to him his co pilot a man he had met mere hours ago was too struggling with the controls trying to help him steady the air craft.
Outside there was a thunderous boom and roll of thunder as the two men worked. Looking out the front glass windshield was useless to both of them. Instead they kept their eyes focused on the electronic read outs before them. The blue and orange ball on the dashboard helping tell which side was up and which side was the roaring crashing ocean below. Behind them a third man leaned out of the helicopter while holding onto the fitted handrail to keep from slipping out. He was looking into the water below at what used to be a NJ street. Now it was a rush of sea water. His free hand held the metal rope trying to help keep it away from the skids of the helicopter.
The pilot spoke into the helmets built in microphone, "we are three minutes to bingo we gotta do something here guys." Below him a new surge of water was broken by what used to be a roof of a house. Now completely submerged under water the only resemblance it had was the black asphalt roof.
"I'm hooking up the first now stand by." The radio crackled and the pilot moved the stick a little to the right to compensate for the wind shift.
"Alright steady now," he said glancing to his partner. He swallows hard hoping it wasn't noticeable. His hands inside the gloves he wore was sweating. In fact he was soaked by now and was hoping they'd get this over with fast.
"First ones coming up." The sound inside the helicopter was muffled by the forceful winds of the hurricane. But the pilot could still hear the sound of the winch winding on the outside of the aircraft. Then he felt it through the controls. The helicopter shifted more and he had to fight more to keep control. The wind was threatening to take the man on the string they were reeling in and toss him around. He reached for the throattle and increased the power to help maintain the hover.
The third crew member reached out and grabbed the man. He was soaked, his clothes adding close to ten pounds to his weight. Still he didn't have a problem swinging him into the helicopter. A flash of lightning lit up the inside of the helicopter. He unhooked the waist belt from the man and pulled it off him.
"Two minutes guys we need to go!" He called back
"Still got a swimmer down there." He reached and adjusted the controls lowering it back down into the water for the diver.
"I don't know how much longer I can hold it." The copilot said
He didn't bother to speak. Focusing back onto trying and compensate for the wind and drift. As soon as they got moving again it would become more manageable. But now holding a hover above the water was the hardest part of the job.
Stolen story; please report.
"Cables down!"
Just a few more seconds he thought. Then the unthinkable happened. The wind shifted suddenly and fast. He felt the stick slacken and the helicopter bank off to the left quickly. He cursed and rotated the stick to try and right the helicopter. Below the metal cord snapped like a whip. The diver dove out of the way as the cord ripped into the roof of the building.
"Power!" He yelled reaching to push the throattle to the max. The increased power would help from sending them to a sideways dive to hopefully up right and flying normally again. Only he hadn't counted on the impossible happening. The metal cord that had ripped into the roof somehow got snagged. Like that the helicopter which had a chance of correcting the error tried to lift a roof off the house.
The winch didn't give out under the strain and the cord never snapped. Instead the helicopter lost any chance it had. The hydraulics screamed under the weight and started to give out. There was a red flashing light on the dashboard as he realized what was about to happen.
"We just lost hydrollics!" He said, "we are going down!"
The third man lost his grip on the sudden snap and went to topple backward into the helicopter. He hit the back of the aircraft with force and crumbled to the ground groaning. Below them the diver now out of the way watched helplessly as the helicopter crashed into the water. There was a loud boom as the tail slammed into a submerged building.
Quickly he jumped and dove into the water. His mind alive and racing with possibilities. The front of the helicopter sinking fast into the water and raging current. He had been in many storms before but this was something different. The wind snapped and switched directions on a whim. The waters just as dangerous or even more so as any catigory five hurricane. Now they had lost a helicopter ontop of it all. A lightening bolt lit up the sky showing the orange paint job of the tail rotor. There was a erie creak of metal under strain and the helicopter shifted.
He had closed the distance by now and felt the roof under his feet as he climbed the roof. He reached up and grabbed a section of the still spinning rotor pulled himself up.
The the rest of the helicopter was hidden under the black water. He started under feeling along with the tail heading for what he hoped would be the fuselage. He reached for what he expected to be a open door to the inside. Instead his hand found a sharp ragged piece of metal. The current kept his body planted firmly against the tail.
There would be no survivors and if he stayed any longe he knew he would join them. The climb out was much harder then going in and for a moment he wasn't sure if he would make it. This roof was under a inch of water at the very top. He reached for the peak of the roof and climbed over strattling it. There would be no help for him till after the storm passed. He just had to hope that the water level didn't rise and the currents didn't change.
If everything stayed the same he could simply stay here the current keeping him against the tail section of the helicopter while also letting him rest from treading water for hours.