Chapter Eight – Descent to Milan
A view of cloud tops below and the plane cruising above. Late afternoon, the light on the clouds and along the side of the 747 is warm and golden.
Cut to:
The cabin interior. Main view. Passengers are crashed out as people always are at the end of long haul flights. The stewardesses still looking as crisp and fresh as the minute they dressed this morning, go about their jobs.
Pilot (over PA system): "Ladies and gentlemen, this is Captain Suzuki again. We are about to commence our descent to Linate airport and we should be landing on time at 7:35p.m. The temperature in Milan this evening is currently 27 degrees. There has been some rain and a storm is just leaving the area to the west. I'm going to take us in a descent to the north behind the storm front. We may encounter some mild turbulence but this is quite usual at this time of year. We will however have the seat belt warning lights on but please be assured that this is quite normal."
Cut to:
A view from just behind some passengers heads. There is a gentle gong sound – a "bong" and some red lights come on on the panels above their heads. There is a befuddled scrambling for seat belts.
Cut to:
Seiji buckling his seat belt closed.
Cut to:
Shizuku who already has hers locked. She's leaning forward looking down at the clouds. We see the light outside turning a beautiful pink. The cloud tops look like a gigantic pink mousse dessert.
Cut to:
A close up of Shizuku's eyes. They widen in wonder.
Shizuku (quietly to herself): "Oh… so beautiful…"
Cut to:
Seiji, close up. He has his headphones on again and we hear faintly a retro-techno track he's listening to. His head is bobbing and his hand taps on his knee in time with the music.
Cut to:
Exterior view of the plane. Seiji's music is louder, it's a driving techno rhythm, cheerful; something you can't possibly not want to tap along with. The plane is facing left, its nearside lit up pink from the sinking sun. Slowly the port wing lifts up, the starboard wing tilts down and the big jet begins a gentle descending starboard turn. As the turn begins the sunlight catches the first porthole on its side and it sparkles golden like a jewel. Then the turning fuselage catches the sunlight on the second window. Then the third. The glow fades from the first window and the reflection of the setting sun runs down the side of the big jet window by window as it curves around. If jet planes could dance, the 747 would be the biggest ballet dancer ever. The motion is quite beautiful, graceful, the banking turn goes on and on, down, down towards the clouds.
We keep the plane in view getting smaller as the techno music track runs through. Eventually the cloud swallows it and it's lost to view. The music fades.
Cut to:
Shizuku. This shot rattles a little and bumps about. Turbulence. Shizuku holds her seat armrests.
Shizuku: "Oh."
She swallows hard, shakes her head. She reaches over to the seat back in front of Seiji and pulls out a bottle of mineral water, she unscrews the cap and takes a couple of swallows.
Shizuku: "Urh, my ears."
Beyond her we can see grey and purple clouds skimming past the window.
Cut to:
(Music: a different retro-techo track. The synthesizer tune begins quietly during this scene).
Some grasses and shrubs on an overgrown bank. It's a little darker now, dusk is almost upon us. In the centre of the shot is a small growth of wild flowers, their pale blue petals waft in the breeze. Higher up the shot towards the top of the grassy bank a larger shrub moves and a black nose peeps out from behind it from the left. The wet nose sniffs. Attached to the nose a pointed dog-like snout comes into view. The owner of the nose and snout reveals itself from behind the bush. A female fox, a young vixen. Her coat is a lustrous reddish brown, her underside a tawny cream. She is healthy, alert, sniffing, moving slowly. Her big dog ears turn about picking up any noises that might indicate danger or dinner. Suddenly she stops, ears upright, her head turned about. Alerted, she considers some new information.
Our view tilts up and we see the top of the grassy bank come into shot. There is a wire fence along the top of the bank, its diamond mesh making a pattern across the view that is slowly revealed beyond it. A tarmac runway. Two rows of marker lights stretch away into an impossible distance.
(Music: the synthesizer tune now kicks hard in to its main theme, loud).
Suddenly the scene is a blaze of bright white light, every petal, every blade of grass burns a shadow behind it and these shadows all move slowly from left to right like a time lapse shot of the shadows cast by the sun. The vixens eyes stare momentarily into the light, she's pinned in place in surprise. The bright light goes out, darkness returns to the bank. A colossal shadow passes over the bank and the vixen. She bolts out of shot to the right. Beyond the fence we see the runway painted by the moving pool of bright light from the powerful landing headlights of an approaching plane.
Cut to:
Shizuku, her face glued to the window. She's wide-eyed.
Cut to:
Seiji, wearing his headphones. Eyes shut he's bobbing his head and wears a rapturous expression.
Cut to:
The wire security fence and the runway beyond. This shot is drawn in telephoto format so that the distance is greatly foreshortened. The shadow that spooked the fox moves away from us toward the runway. A roar fills our ears as the 747 passes over the airport boundary fence. Moments later four sets of undercarriage wheels come into shot from above, each as big as a truck, descending, then the jet is filling the shot, nose wheels, fuselage, tail. The plane is angled back in a steep descent, nose high, bleeding off speed descending belly first. There are red white and green navigation and warning lights festooned around it like Christmas tree lights. A big red flashing light under it's belly, a white light on top behind the cockpit, another on the top of the tail fin. Red and green lamps on the wingtips. The pool of illumination from its headlamps is now lighting up the runway some distance ahead.
The field of focus of the telephoto view changes so that the diamond wire mesh of the fence becomes blurred while the descending plane stays sharp.
Cut to:
Cabin interior. Close up of Shizuku, nose against the window.
Shizuku: "Almost down."
Cut to:
A shot from a camera fixed to the underside of the 747. About 40 feet in front of us the red flashing warning light rotates spilling blood red illumination onto the scene every few seconds. Above us the big black bulk of the lower fuselage fills the top of the shot. To left and right are the main undercarriage legs and towards the two edges of the shot the underside of the wings and the two inboard engines are visible. At the bottom of the shot the runway surface rolls toward us, a white painted broken line down the middle of our view. The runway surface is bruised by numerous dark skid marks where plane tyres have touched down.
Cut to:
Shizuku's face. Eyes wide.
Cut to:
(Music: techno music builds to a crescendo).
Underbelly of the plane again. We are lower and slower. Suddenly the port undercarriage assembly makes contact with the ground and there is a puff of smoke from the tyres and a sharp squeal of protest from the rubber, a second later the centre and starboard undercarriage hits down with a second puff of smoke. These big jets carry their main undercarriage in pivoting assemblies and so far only the rearmost axles have contacted. But now, as speed falls off and the plane can no longer fly, gravity grips it and holds it down. All four main undercarriage assemblies slam hard down onto the tarmac, all sixteen tyres are down, more squeals as the rubber instantly heats up. Immediately there is a demonic roar as the four engines reverse their thrust, the sound is intolerable. We see the angle of the runway surface to the plane's body changing as the giant sinks down and the nose wheel comes to the ground. The long slats of air dams extend down from the underside of the wings to further brake the plane.
Cut to:
Seiji and Shizuku. The shot rattles and bounces from the motion of the plane. The roar of the reversing jet engines is loud even in the cabin. Both teenagers bodies snap forwards against their seatbelts as the plane slows.
A nearby passenger (off camera, alarmed): "Ah!"
Shizuku puts one hand forward against the seat in front to brace herself. Seiji turns to look at her, she stares back, her face showing a mixture of excitement and fear.
Seiji
(loudly: he has his headphones on): "Woooo-hooooo! Isn't it
great?"
Shizuku: "Oh my god!"
Even though it doesn't seem possible, the roar of engines gets even louder.
Cut to:
Underbelly camera. The runway is passing beneath our point of view slower now. The engines and air brakes have brought the jet under control.
Cut to:
A distant exterior shot of the 747 reaching the end of the runway. It slows to some 20 miles an hour and turns off the runway end. There are white flood lamps mounted at the base of the tail fin. The red Japan Airlines logo on the tail is lit up by an oval of white light.
(Music: techno track ends).
Cut to:
Seiji and Shizuku.
Shizuku:
"Wow, fantastic. That was incredible. You should have told me
flying was like this!"
Seiji (taking off his headphones, filled
with enthusiasm): "And spoil the surprise? I love flying,
its great, no matter how many times I go. As landings go, though,
that was a pretty hard one. I'd give it nine out of ten."
Cut to:
The plane rolling slowly toward an airport building. The sun is setting. The plane taxis slowly into a parking bay and the engines shut down. Ground vehicles scurry around. A truck with a staircase attached to it drives slowly up to the main cabin door, baggage cars approach. All the panoply of a modern airport working efficiently.
Cut to:
The plane's exit door from inside the cabin. A stewardess ushers the passengers off. A queue of people disembarking. Shizuku steps into shot from the left.
Shizuku:
"Thank you. Goodbye."
Stewardess: "Thank you, miss, safe
journey."
Shizuku steps out onto the top of the staircase.
Cut to:
View looking up at Shizuku from part way down the stairs. The glow of the setting sun lights her face. She takes a big breath of Italian air.
Shizuku: "Ahhh. Hello Italy!"
