Chapter Two: Crash Landing
Several hours earlier…
Rick Castle was fidgeting in his seat as he checked his watch one more time. They'd barely been in the air three hours, with a little under two and a half to go. He was anxious to get back to his fiancée, and a supersonic fighter wouldn't have been fast enough for him. He hadn't liked leaving Kate after a fight, but there was no avoiding the book tour, even shortened as it was. Granted, they'd talked and forgiven, and there was the promise of make-up sex when he got back. He fidgeted again. If there'd been any way for him to get out and push the aircraft to make it go faster, he would have.
There was a sudden lurch that brought Castle abruptly out of his reverie. The aircraft dropped off and to the right as the cabin lights momentarily went out, and then came back on.
Several people screamed as the aircraft veered, and several more started to panic as they realized that the plane had righted but was still losing altitude. A flight attendant stepped into the center aisle. Her face and voice were calm, her professionalism in place as she said, "Is there a pilot on board?" Several second passed with no response, the people looking around at each other. Castle finally stood.
"I'm a pilot. Not commercial, private multi-engine and ex-military."
The woman glanced at a seat chart then said, "Please come with me, Mr. Castle." Castle followed her through the plane until they reached the front. The co-pilot was laid out in the galley section of the plane just aft of the cockpit. He was moaning in pain, his face flash burned and his eyes swollen shut, temporarily or maybe permanently blinded. They entered the cockpit. The pilot asked, "Have you ever flown a jet?" The man didn't look at Castle. He was too busy controlling the aircraft.
Castle sat in the co-pilot's seat and buckled in. "I flew F-4E's in the ANG and my company owns a Beechcraft Premier business jet which I've flown as pilot in command. I've also got an older Beechcraft Baron of my own."
Without even glancing at Castle the pilot said, "Good. Help me fly this beast. We've lost the starboard engine and all communications. We're flying this thing by the seats of our pants. We've got to get this thing on the ground as quickly as possible." The 787 was designed to be able to fly on one engine if it had to, but not indefinitely. They could have made it to an airport for an emergency landing if the weather had cooperated. It didn't. They descended into a howling storm.
They were bouncing around, shaking the whole aircraft. Wind gusts slammed into the plane from every possible direction. Snow swirled around the windscreen, alternating with the clouds themselves. Ice was forming on the wings, making the plane heavier. The control wheels bucked in their hands and the rudder pedals slapped against their feet. The pilot growled in frustration and no small amount of worry.
"We've got to get this on the ground before the wings fall off." Castle glanced over at him briefly and looked away. The grim set of the pilot's jaw spoke volumes to him about their predicament. They flew for a few more terrifying minutes before they finally broke into a clear area at about 500 feet above the ground. There were wide expanses of open snow-covered ground below them.
"Give me sixty percent flaps, Number One."
Castle moved the flap control to sixty per cent. He turned his head to answer the pilot. "Flaps at sixty percent." The plane began to slow and the bucking eased up somewhat.
The intercom system was still functional. The pilot took a deep breath and opened the com.
"Everyone, we have lost one engine and need to set down as soon as possible. I'm afraid that this is not going to be a soft landing. I need you all to get ready for a crash landing and brace yourselves for impact."
He and Castle could hear the concerned murmurs through the com before they shut it off. Castle wished the flight attendants luck with soothing the no doubt terrified passengers. He tightened the buckle of the seat and held on.
The pilot nosed the aircraft down and then pulled up sharply at the last second as he cut power to the remaining engine. Castle gritted his teeth and braced himself for impact.
Snow went flying in huge clouds as the fuselage ploughed along. The starboard wing impacted something solid and was ripped from the fuselage, which sent the plane spinning around.
There were screams and cries coming from the passenger compartment as the tail section impacted a rock outcropping and crumpled slightly. The windshield shattered on the pilot's side and he ducked his head with a cry of pain as flying debris hit his face.
Castle was thrown hard against the seat restraints and suffered a minor cut along his cheek bone. With a tired groan, the plane finally stopped moving. Castle took several deep breaths to get his hammering heart under control before he released the restraints, stood up and checked the pilot.
"Are you all right?" he said. The pilot groaned and put his hand to his head, where blood was streaming down from a nasty cut on his scalp. His face was also littered with small bleeding cuts, and his lip was bleeding. Castle released the pilot's restraints and helped him out of the seat. He was alive and awake, but clearly in no state to take charge of things.
The senior flight attendant stumbled through the cockpit door and helped Castle sit the pilot next to the co-pilot. Castle was thankful for the parka, gloves and watch cap he'd bought for a one day ski trip between signings. He was even more thankful that they were in his carry-on bag.
Battery operated emergency lights had come on when the power failed. People were moaning and crying throughout the plane. The senior flight attendant turned to Castle and said, "What do we do now, sir?"
Castle gave her an odd look.
"Why are you asking me? I don't work for the airline."
"I heard you say you were an Air Force pilot. That makes you an officer. You were in the first officer's place when the captain was incapacitated. You're the closest thing we've got to someone who knows what they're doing. With both pilot and co-pilot out of commissions, well, you're in command."
The woman was looking at Castle with an expectant expression on her face. She was probably in her late thirties, trim and pretty as expected, with an air of quiet confidence. Castle didn't want to be responsible for all these people, but he had no idea what FAA regulations had to say on the matter, so he thought it best to go along with the woman.
Castle let out a sigh. "What's your name?" he asked her.
"It's Beth," she replied
"Okay, Beth, I'm Rick. First thing we'd better do is get your attendants together and see how many injured we have and how badly. Next we need to gather as many blankets and pillows as we can and have the passengers get any warm clothes out of their carry-on bags. Then we have to find a way to seal any breaches. We can just close the cockpit door. Last is to see what food we have on board and get ready to distribute it. We'd better try to get everyone as close together as we can. I heard something hit the tail section, and I know the wing is gone. We're going to get pretty cold in here very soon, so the more we can huddle together, the better."
Beth nodded and started in to talk to the other attendants.
While she was doing that, Castle dug his parka, gloves and watch cap out of his bag and put them on. He also pulled out a box of specialty coffee flavored chocolate bars he was taking home to Kate. He dug around until he found a box of yogurt and granola bars that Alexis favored. He took one of each for himself and went to go give the rest to Beth. The grateful woman's eyes lit up at the gift. He smiled.
"The old rules apply here," he said, "women and children first." The two he kept were not out of selfishness. He knew that he would be working and would need the energy. Fortunately, there were three medical doctors and two EMT's on board, and thankfully they were all uninjured.
Damn, I wish I weren't here right now. An adventure is something happening to someone else, far away. I'm a writer. I should be making this stuff up, not living it! The medical personnel began their triage. Some of the seats had broken loose and caused injuries. They were mostly bruises, cuts and minor broken bones. However there were three critical injuries, five serious ones and three dead, two from cardiac arrest.
The aircraft did have emergency medical kits on board, so a scalpel was removed from one and used to cut some of the seat cushions out of their frames and open a few so they could stuff the material into the breaches in the fuselage.
The food distribution did not go well. Castle heard Beth scream as a couple of punks knocked her to the floor and grabbed for the box of chocolates. That was a bad mistake on their part.
Both of the EMT's were big men, one of them an ex-army medic. They made short work of the punks, and then used triangular bandages to bind their hands and belt them into their seats. Several other arguments broke out but they were quickly quelled. Castle lifted a sobbing Beth to her feet and helped her to the seat next to his. He got an instant cold pack out of one of the medical kits.
"Here, hold this to your cheek and rest for a while. The rest of us can handle things." There wasn't a lot of food to be had, since the meals had been served just a couple of hours into the flight, but between what the aircraft had on board and what various passengers had and were willing to share, there was enough to give everybody something to eat, enough to keep their energy levels up.
Castle, the flight crew and several volunteers from the passengers were hard at work for several hours after the crash landing, getting the injured treated as much as possible and made comfortable, getting the aircraft secure and everyone settled. Castle finally collapsed into his seat, pulled a blanket over him and was out like a light.
Castle was awakened by someone shaking his shoulder. He groaned as he sat up, stiff from sleeping in the seat and sore from bruises that were caused by being thrown against the seat restraints.
"Mr. Castle, the captain is awake and wants to see you." It was Beth. She was smiling at Castle despite the obviously painful bruise on her cheek. Castle stood up, a grimace passing over his face.
"All right, I'm up. Where is the captain?"
Beth led Castle over to the crew's section. The captain was sitting up, the left side of his face bruised and bandaged. He looked up at Castle, reached out and shook his hand.
"I hear that all of us have much to thank you for, Mr. Castle, both for helping me fly the plane and for taking over when I was incapacitated. We were very fortunate to have you on board."
Castle shook his head. "You're welcome Captain, but it was really enlightened self- interest."
The captain's sea-gray eyes meet Castle's. "Hardly that, Mr. Castle. Maybe flying the plane was but taking over once we were down was not. That was leadership."
Castle said, "Well, Captain, that may be, but I'm perfectly happy to hand that role back to you."
The captain stood and grasped Castle's hand. "That's fine, Mr. Castle but I'm going to need a deputy. My first officer is awake, but he's in no condition to handle it. His eyes are still swollen, and the doctors say there's no way to know the extent of the damage to his eyes until they can open." The captain looked at Beth. "Our radios are out. Has anyone checked our ADL?"
Beth's eyes widened in dismay. "Oh, my God. I forgot about it in the confusion. I'll go check it now."
"I don't think that you'll be able to reach it," the captain said. "Take Mr. Castle and show him where it is and how to check it."
Beth led Castle through a hatch in a bulkhead and opened an access panel. She pointed out a box fastened to the bulkhead. "There should be a green light flashing if it's working. If not, push that red button. It's the manual activation switch."
Castle replied. "No green light, I'm pushing the button now." A tense few seconds passed before he called triumphantly, "I've got a green light!"
They reported back to the captain. "It didn't activate as it should have, Captain," Beth said. "Mr. Castle activated it manually."
The captain sighed. "We've done all that we can. Now we wait."
Castle leaned a little closer to the captain. "Do you have any idea what happened here?" he said in a low voice.
The captain shook his head. "I wish I knew, Mr. Castle. I wish I knew."
Unbeknownst to the two men, it was a mistake. A deliberate sabotage, but a mistake nonetheless. It was an electronic bomb. Not an actual explosive, but a circuit designed to partially disable the aircraft while it was still on the ground, just before takeoff. It was intended to knock out the controls and fuel feed to the starboard engine and cause another grounding of Boeing's 787 aircraft. A European consortium had an aircraft in direct competition. The action group didn't want to kill anyone, but other than that had no scruples about playing dirty. The problem was that the timer malfunctioned and the charge went off three hours late. A surge of current burned out the controls as intended, but shorted out another circuit that sent a high voltage arc directly into the co-pilot's face. It also tripped the circuit breakers on the radios and radar transponder. As the people would soon find out, the repercussions of that action would be far broader than they could have imagined.