by C. J. Stott
Immediately, almost all of the passengers swiftly knelt forward and attempted to place their elbows on their knees.
Amelio looked at the few passengers who were still looking around. They reminded him of the few parishioners who never closed their eyes in church during mass, but looked about to see who was praying.
He addressed these people forcefully and directly, “Ladies and Gentlemen, most of you did well, very well. Unfortunately, some of you did not. We are going to practice this until we all get it right.” He paused and looked directly at two or three passengers around him who had not complied with his instructions.
Without warning, “NOW!”
From his vantage point he saw that everyone but one woman bent forward at his command.
Amelio walked to his passenger, “Do you understand me?” The elderly woman half smiled and nodded her head, indicating she did understand. He turned and retraced his steps to the mid-galley area. All the passengers in his zone had their eyes riveted on him.
“One more time, ladies and gentlemen. This is for your own safety and protection. Your life may depend upon you doing as you are told.”
Patti looked at the elderly woman to whom Amelio had referred and now saw she was silently crying. Quickly, she walked to the passenger, “Are you alright? Is there any way I can help you?”
“I am so frightened. I have never flown before. I was on my way to my sister’s funeral in New York. But now, I’m afraid I’m going to die, too.”
Several passengers in adjacent seats overhead her frightened comments and murmured their general agreement with her.
Patti surveyed the situation and quickly added, “Don’t be afraid. We are all trained to help our passengers in times like these. If I didn’t think it was safe, I wouldn’t be flying.”
Patti gave the woman her most reassuring smile, “Besides, the First Officer and I are going to get married later this year and I wouldn’t want anything to spoil our wedding.”
She had absolutely no idea why she said that about Fred. She remembered flying with him somewhere, but barely knew him. Her only general recollection was his quick sense of humor. But, marriage?
Her comments seemed to calm and reassure the frightened elderly passenger. She smiled at Patti and said, “Well, if you and your fella are going to get married, I’m sure this airplane with its little problems won’t stand in your way.” They both smiled as the woman said, “Invite me to your wedding. I’d love to meet him.”
Patti excused herself from the woman. She turned and walked to the front of her zone, when she heard it again, “NOW!”
Much to her satisfaction, every passenger, including the elderly woman, eagerly bent over, touching their elbows to their knees.
Amelio spoke quickly, “Thank you everyone. That was excellent. Simply excellent. You are all good passengers. You may sit up now. We will keep you posted regarding our progress toward Miami. We will let you know when our landing is a few minutes away and then approximately one minute away. At that time, I will make the command for your cooperation.”
Amelio read from the plastic card, “Please resist temptation to look out the windows, or around the cabin. It is absolutely necessary that all of you keep you heads down. We want the passengers sitting in a window seat to close the window shades next to them. This is done to help you not look outside.” Throughout the cabin, over 140 window shades were closed.
“Now, please, make sure your seat belts are fastened tightly. Thank you again. We will keep you posted. Thank you for your cooperation.”
All eleven Flight Attendants, including Patti and Amelio, busied themselves placing all the loose items that were not tied down in the lavatories. They circulated through the cabin, talked to many passengers and assured them there was no cause for alarm. Everything would be okay as soon as they landed in Miami.
Chapter 88
22:30 Eastern Standard Time
Overhead Naples, Florida
Fred thought about what was ahead for them. The next ten or fifteen minutes should be no problem as long as the aircraft held together. There was no way of telling what could go wrong next. Even if the aircraft stayed airborne until they were ready to land, there was a very real potential for disaster. Fred knew it was up to the three of them to minimize the risk and provide the passengers with a safe conclusion to their flight.
They had almost no pitch control. Each and every time the thrust was adjusted, the aircraft adversely reacted. Fred was not sure that Don or he would be able to successfully land without incurring significant damage to the aircraft. Not to mention the potential for the loss of a great many lives. Fred idly considered what the chances were that they might just wrap this airplane into an aluminum ball at or near the end of the runway in Florida.
Don looked at Fred, and then back at Stan. He could not see Carlton who was sitting directly behind him. He had no interest in looking at, or seeing, the hijacker. “I think we have a fair chance to pull this off.”
He looked again at Fred, “How does she feel to you?”
“Sloppy and sluggish, but flyable.”
“Stan, you and Fred are my backups. I want you both to monitor everything. If either of you see anything that looks outside the normal parameters, call it out.”
Fred grinned, “This whole airplane is outside the normal parameters.”
Don laughed and said, “I agree. But we’ve got to do the best we can with what we’ve been given.”
Don ran a mental checklist through his mind. For the first time, fully considered braking and stopping the crippled aircraft. He wondered about the primary hydraulic power source for braking. He was not at all certain the “D” hydraulic system would work when he needed it most. That left the pneumatic emergency brakes.
He looked at the red emergency brake handle in front of him. For the first time, he noticed it was safety-tied with a copper wire and a lead seal. He gingerly touched the handle to test the integrity of the safety wire. It was secure. In fact, it was very secure.
He looked over his shoulder and said to Stan, “Do you have a knife or pliers? I want to break the seal on the emergency brake handle.”
Stan lifted himself out of his seat and instantly regretted the strobe-like headache he had triggered. He tried to blink away the headache, with no luck. He found his small Leatherman pocketknife, pulled it out and opened the tool to expose the small pliers and wire cutter, “Here you go, Don.” He handed the opened knife to the captain with the blade pointed toward himself. Don took the knife and sliced through the thin copper wire with one motion.
“Don, I’d be careful with that handle. I don’t know how much play there is in the rigging. Once you open the emergency brake valve, you can’t shut it off. It’s either on or off.” He thought and then added, “And there’s no metering of the brake pressure. No Anti Skid either.”
Somewhere in Don’s airline training he had heard those warnings, but had paid little attention to them. They had always seemed out of context and without application. Now, he wished he had paid more attention to the inner workings of the emergency brake system. Almost as a last ditch effort, he asked Stan, “Walk me through this. Start with normal brake application, where I’ll have Anti Skid protection. Is that right?”
“Just like any other landing.”
Fred laughed and said, “Yeah. Right.”
“Go ahead. What if I don’t have normal braking?”
“I’m not sure, but I suspect you would want to get off the brakes and then open the pneumatic brake control.” Stan was silent for several seconds as he considered what he thought would happen. “Here’s where I’m not sure. Do you get back on the brakes, or does opening the handle fully apply brakes? I remember in some aircraft if you use the air charge and step on the brakes at the same time, you lock up all the wheels. The combination of pneumatic pressure and normal brake pressure overwhelms the system and the brakes lock up.”
Fred said, “Seems to me you would only use the air brakes if the
normal hydraulic brakes failed. That would make sense if they designed the airplane that way. Use the normal brakes ‘til there is no more pressure and then use the air brakes.”
Stan said, “But, that’s not the question. The question is when do you open the pneumatic valve? Or, do you stand on the brakes first and then use the…”
“This is not the time to have this conversation. I’m going to use the normal braking. If, or when, they fail, I’ll open the air brake handle. If that doesn’t work, if the airplane doesn’t slow, then I’ll romp on the brake pedals. If that locks up all the wheels, so be it.”
“That’s one way to get ‘er stopped. Just lock ‘em up.” Both Don and Stan chuckled at Fred’s nervous comment.
Chapter 89
22:46 Eastern Standard Time
41 Miles West of Miami International Airport
“Miami Approach, this is 100.”
“100. We have you on radar as a primary skin paint return and we think we may have a visual on you. For verification, if able, flash your landing lights three times.”
Fred reached for the landing light switches at the lower edge of the upper overhead panel. He quickly snapped all four landing light switches down and then back up. He repeated the cycle three times. “Miami, there you go. Do you see us?”
“Roger 100. We saw your lights. We believe we have you in visual contact. Say your position and Ident.”
“We are sort of tracking inbound on the localizer. We were cleared to land by the last controller.” He paused, “ Be advised, we are Bingo fuel.” A universal phrase that meant they only had minimum emergency fuel remaining.
“Roger your fuel situation. You are cleared to land. The equipment is standing by.”
Don continued to concentrate on keeping the 747 on airspeed, on altitude and on heading. He looked over at his co-pilot. “Fred, tell the folks where we are, where we are going. Tell them about the hijacker and tell them everything is going to be okay.”
“100. We have your Ident and have glasses on you.”
Don said to Fred, “Roger.”
Fred picked up his microphone and said, “Roger. 100.”
Putting down his microphone and picking up the cabin PA, Fred cleared his throat, “Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your pilot. We have some good news and some bad news.
“First the good news, the hijacker has been handcuffed and is sleeping comfortably on the cockpit floor. A second bit of good news is that we have been cleared to land at Miami International Airport.”
He paused, as though to collect his thoughts, “Now for the bad news. We have suffered partial shutdowns of several of the flight control systems. Some of these systems are not used all the time and will have no impact on the rest of our flight tonight.
“However, others are important. Some of these systems are used during landing and stopping. Unfortunately, we won’t know exactly what we have until we try to use them.”
He paused - this time to calm himself. “We suspect the flaps may take longer than normal, so we’ll extend them earlier than normal.” He licked his lips, smiled and said, “When we extend the flaps, there may be some unwanted changes in the aircraft attitude like you may have felt earlier.
“When we extend the flaps, we’ll do it a little bit at a time and then re-trim the aircraft. You’ll probably feel those changes too.
“When the flaps are down, we’ll extend the landing gear. When the gear is down, we will be committed to land.” He held his breath and then said, “We do not think we will be able to raise the landing gear once it is down and locked.”
Fred released the press to talk switch on the PA handset and asked, “What else do you want me to tell them? Do you want me to mention the potential problem with the brakes?”
Don said, “No. That’s enough for now. Just tell them that it is important that nobody move from their seats. We have the aircraft trimmed and I don’t want any unanticipated center-of-gravity related pitch changes. As you said, we want to keep this from being an “E” ticket ride at Disney World.”
Fred pressed the microphone. In the cabin, a loud click was heard before Fred’s voice continued, “Well, that’s about it from the cockpit. Remember, it is critically important that nobody move from their seats. When we want you to get up, we’ll turn off the Fasten Seat Belt sign. Patti or Amelio probably will have a few words for you. Take it away, Patti and Amelio.”
Chapter 90
22:55 Eastern Standard Time
11 Miles West of Miami International Airport
On the ground, the controllers and others in the tower speculated on the extent of damage to the aircraft. Many flights make a routine request to have the emergency equipment stand by. However, this one was urgent. This time, the request for the equipment could easily be a genuine necessity for survival.
The Miami tower supervisor called. A woman’s voice said, “100, if you have a minute, can you tell us what the nature of your problems are? Specifically, what can the crash crews and first responders expect?”
“Tell ‘em, Fred.”
“For openers, we have very limited pitch control. So we don’t think we are going to have much flare capability on landing. Second, our normal brake system is suspect. So, we may not have normal braking. Almost certain we won’t have any Anti Skid protection. We still have the emergency backup brakes available to us. We won’t know how reliable that system will be until we try to use it.
“Seems like less than half our aileron power is available, so roll control could be a problem, especially when we get down and dirty. Strangely enough, we still have both our rudder power packages and yaw dampers.”
Stan coughed the words, “Landing gear?”
Fred nodded, “We don’t know about the landing gear. But, we assume it won’t be a problem.”
A different tower operator, a male with a very strong southern accent said, “Sounds like y’all have had a fun-filled afternoon and evening.” The voice paused, then said, “Y’all be careful now.”
“Oh, and one other thing. The hijacker is subdued and handcuffed to the airframe. We have put our best and sternest flight attendant in charge of prisoners.” As an afterthought Fred said, “I supposed if there were to be an incident on landing, you’d need to tell the first responders about this idiot’s location.”
In a light and almost whimsical voice, as though nothing had happened and this was just another normal approach, Fred said, “We’ll see you on the ground in about ten minutes.”
Stan questioned, “Don, is it time to alert the cabin?”
“Good idea. Stan. Fred, tell ‘em when it’s about ten minutes ‘til touchdown.”
Fred nodded and rang the emergency chimes, “Yes? Patti here.”
“Patti, about ten minutes to run. How’re things going back there?”
“Pretty well. Many of the passengers are anxious and some are very scared. Overall, everyone seems to be managing alright.” She hesitated and then said, “No panic.” She paused, “Yet.”
“Ok. Here’s the deal. I’ll make the five and one minute warnings over the PA to the entire cabin. Got that?”
“Got it. Thanks, Fred.” She sounded wistful, “Good luck guys.”
Gingerly and slowly, Don reduced the inboard throttles on engines two and three, the inboard engines about 15% of their forward travel and said, “Let’s see how we do with a little power reduction.”
The 747 indicated 240 knots, level at 4,000 feet, heading 80°, sloppily wallowing inbound on the localizer. She reacted in a predictable fashion, the airspeed decreased and the nose dropped. Both pilots pulled back, added a small amount of power and she settled at 210 knots, re-leveled at 4,000 feet.
“So far, so good.” Don said, “I want to extend the trailing edge flaps 1°. Stan, lockout the leading edge flaps until I tell you to reset the breaker.”
Stan placed the Leading Edge Master Switch to ARM and pulled a circuit breaker that deactivated the pneumatic flap motor control valves. When he raised h
is head to look at the circuit breaker panel, a punishing strobe-like headache returned.
Fred lifted the black guarded Alternate Trailing Edge Flap Master Switch and placed the switch to ARM. He reached up and toggled the Trailing Edge Flap Switches to DOWN and watched the flap indicator on the forward panel. At the first sign of motion, he released the toggle switches.
“Well, what’d you think, Don? How’s the trim?”
“Surprisingly, it’s pretty good. No big changes. I’m going to sneak off a little more power.”
Don reduced the power slightly and waited. The nose dropped, but not as steeply as before. The indicated airspeed backed off to 200 knots. With moderate backpressure, Don was able to hold his altitude.
“Give me 3° or 4° Trailing Edge Flap.”
Fred reached to the overhead and held the left and right switches to EXTEND. Abruptly and aggressively, the nose of the aircraft started to pitch up.
Don said loudly, “Hold it. HOLD IT!”
Fred released the switches, while Don abruptly pulled off the power. Nicely, the 747’s nose dropped to the horizon and stayed there.
Fred laughed, “I believe you’ve got it, Watson.”
“Give me 5°.”
Through this demanding action of balance and counterbalance, Don was able to slow the aircraft to 180 knots and descend to 2,500 feet above the ground.
“Stan, can you give me all the Leading Edge flaps at once?”
“Sure. No problem.”
“What if I want them back up? Back up in a hurry?”
“No problem. Just tell me what you want.”
“Okay then, here we go.” Don placed the flap handle to 25 degrees, which would be the final trailing edge flap setting for the approach and landing, “Ok Stan.” He paused, “Do it. Now.”
Stan moved several switches and saw all 8 amber UNLOCK lights illuminate in unison. Quickly, the amber lights went out and 7 green LOCKED lights started to flicker on. All illuminated except one.
