Flight to Redemption

EXCERPT

A thunderous blast assaulted the cockpit door a second before the pressure in my ears went haywire. The Boeing 767 rolled rapidly to the right, causing the autopilot to disengage. I grabbed the yoke and leveled the wings as an invisible force sucked the air out of the cockpit and my lungs. Every second at thirty-one thousand feet brought us closer to death in the sub-zero temperatures and low-oxygen levels. The cockpit filled with a bone-chilling mist as I turned to my copilot and gasped, “Oxygen masks on.” I pulled on my mask and keyed the cockpit intercom. “Rapid depressurization, initiating emergency descent.” I spoke the list of memorized commands for a dive to a safe altitude. Lance pulled on his mask. “I’m on it, Sam.” He selected the appropriate switches to the ON position and keyed the radio while entering the emergency code in the transponder. “Miami Center, Luxury 434 is declaring an emergency. We lost pressurization, and we’re initiating an emergency descent to ten thousand feet.” “Luxury 434, understand leaving flight level three-one-zero for emergency descent. Turn right thirty degrees and call level at ten thousand.” I shivered and rubbed my arms as the frigid high-altitude air enveloped me like an Arctic blizzard. Throttling back our wounded airliner, I extended the landing gear and speed brakes for drag and began a diving right turn to exit the jet route. The flight attendant intercom chimed. When I answered the interphone, I heard noise and screaming in the background. “Captain, a bomb exploded, and a man was blown out through the hole!” a flight attendant shouted into the intercom phone. I scanned the instrument panel as my heart skipped a beat. “Where and how much damage?” “Under the last window seat, left side, four-foot hole.” “We’re diving to a safe altitude. Everyone buckled in?” “Yes. Oxygen masks deployed. They’re putting them on now.” “Okay, sit tight.” I turned to my copilot. “Small explosion in the aft cabin.” Lance read the emergency checklists aloud to ensure nothing was overlooked as we plummeted to ten thousand feet above the Atlantic Ocean. I scanned the gauges when we reached our target altitude. “We’re level at ten. Remove your mask and take control. Then I’ll remove mine and check with the cabin.” I called the flight attendants at every seat station for status reports. “The hole isn’t getting bigger, and there’s no fire, but we’re all freezing,” a flight attendant reported. “I’ll take us down to a warmer altitude. Any serious injuries?” “No, that row only had one passenger, and he went out with the seat. Several passengers near the bomb were cut up pretty bad. We’ll tend the wounds and hand out blankets now.” “Good, I’ll talk to the passengers.” I flipped the switch for the public-address system. “This is your captain speaking. Now that we’ve reached a safe altitude, everyone may remove their oxygen masks. Everything’s under control. We’ll be landing soon.” I turned to my copilot. “I have the airplane. Grab our jackets.” I took a deep breath and resumed flying. The air traffic controller’s voice filled our headsets, “Luxury 434, this is Miami Center. State number of souls on-board, fuel remaining, aircraft status, and intentions. Radar shows you ninety miles northeast of Palm Beach International Airport, level at ten thousand feet.” I pushed the transmit button. “Miami Center, a bomb blew a four-foot hole in Luxury 434’s aft left fuselage. We lost one passenger, possibly a terrorist. Could be more bombs on board. I don’t want to put people on the ground at risk. We’ll fly over water near the coastline and land south on the Space Shuttle runway. Notify law enforcement and emergency services. ETA fifteen minutes. One-hundred-and-eighty souls on board and forty-five minutes of fuel remaining. Request lower altitude to warm up the cabin.” I released the transmit button with numbness gnawing at my fingers. Survival mode kicked in. I spent the next several seconds putting on my uniform jacket. The controller spoke in a dismissive, matter-of-fact tone, “Negative, Luxury 434, turn left heading one-eight-zero. Descend to six thousand feet. Plan to land at Palm Beach International Airport. Kennedy Space Center is not available to civilian aircraft.” “Miami Center, that area is too populated. Kennedy is the only safe option. No launches are posted for today. Deal with it!” I tried to keep my voice steady during my shivering. The interior heat was set at maximum to recover from the nasty jolt of subzero air that had invaded the cabin at thirty-one thousand feet. “Luxury 434, authorities may not have time to secure the area before you land.”