After the Crash

After the Crash

“Don’t lower the gear yet,” the Captain said.  “We’re too high for this pass.”

Mark took his hand away from the gear lever.  “We don’t have enough fuel to go all the way around again, Captain.”

“We’ll make it a short trip.  I’ll steepen the turns and fly shorter legs.”

“You want flaps?”

“Leading edge first at two-hundred knots.  When we slow down to one-seventy, add twenty degrees standard flap.”

The Captain eased the yoke back to reduce speed and started a tight turn to the left.

The Mark called the Unicom frequency for the small airport they were approaching.  “Regal twelve-eighty-seven heavy, turning crosswind for Pottstown Municipal three-two.  We’re low on fuel, leaking fuel actually, and ask any Pottstown fixed base for assistance.”

It took a few seconds before a teenage voice came back to them.  “Regal heavy... this is Johnson Fuel Service.  The tower isn’t manned at this hour.  What can I do for you?”

“Johnson Service... we hit something, or something hit us, and we’re losing fuel.  Your airport is our only choice to land.  I’d appreciate it if you could call the equipment for us.”

“You mean... fire trucks... and all that stuff?”

“That’s right, Son, we have three-hundred-sixty-nine souls aboard and you have a real small runway.”

“Ah... Okay... I guess.  It’ll take them a bit to get here.  Town is four miles away.”

“We’ll take what we can get.”

As the Captain was completing the turns to the downwind leg, parallel to the runway, Mark selected the first notch of leading edge flaps.

The Captain said, “That must have been just a fuel truck attendant.  I wonder how old he is?”

Mark said, “That was my first job.  Fueling planes at the Table Rock Airport back home.”

As Mark spoke the airliner continued to roll past level where the Captain should have stopped it.  The Captain applied hard left aileron to stop the roll.  “What the Hell!  It won’t stop turning.”

Mark glanced out his window at the right wing, then reached over and retracted the leading edge flaps.  “Asymmetrical flaps.  The starboard slat didn’t deploy.”

The plane’s roll was almost vertical before the Captain could get control again.

“I wonder what else isn’t working,” Mark said.

“We’d better double up on the controls.  We’re going to need it,” the Captain said, pointing at a small gauge.  “Hydraulic pressure is falling.”

“Can we even fly the thing without boost?”

The captain looked at Mark.  “We may just have to find ‘that’ out soon.”

A different voice came over the radio.  “This is Pottstown Fire Department.  What aircraft needs assistance?”

Mark said, “This is Regal twelve-eighty-seven heavy, we’re going to have to land on your three-two.  We’re losing hydraulic pressure.  The craft stability is marginal.”

“Regal, did you say heavy?”

“That’s affirm.”

“Regal, this airport isn’t suitable for heavy aircraft.  Can’t you make it to Astoria or PDX?”

“Pottstown Fire, no, we’re losing fuel, too.  It’s your field or nothing.”

“Okay, Regal.  We’ll get there as fast as we can.”

Mark said, “Should we use standard flaps?”

“Let’s just try ten degrees. If that’s okay, go to twenty.”

Mark set the first notch for the trailing edge flaps.  The aircraft remained steady.

The Captain said, “Hydraulic pressure is getting low.  Better put the gear down now.”

Mark pushed the landing wheels lever to the down position.  “We’re still a little hot.  Hope the gear doors don’t come off.”

“That’s the least of my concerns right now,” the Captain said.

The sound of the gear going down filled the cockpit.  After a couple of seconds the left gear down light lit.  A few more seconds and the right gear light blinked on.  But after ten seconds the nose gear light remained dark.

“Hydraulic pressure nil, Captain,” Mark said.

“Try to start the APU.  Maybe that will give us some hydraulic pressure.”

Mark turned the Auxiliary Power Unit switch to the on position.  In a couple seconds the light for the nose gear blinked on.  But the hydraulic pressure gauge only went up to half way, hesitated, then slowly dropped again.

“Shut it down.  We may need it again later,” the Captain said.

Mark toggled the switch back to off.

The Captain said, “What will the stall speed be with ten degrees of flaps?”

“The book says one-fifty.  Want to try twenty degrees?”

“After we get on final.  But, get on the yoke and help me with the turn to base.”

Mark gripped the controls and they both started the left turn for the base leg.  It was very heavy and a lot more difficult to turn the wheel than normal.

Without hydraulic boost they overshot the turn to final and had to wrestle the airliner back on course.

Once lined up with the runway, the Captain said, “Switch on the APU and try to get another ten degrees.”

Mark turned on the APU and set the flap selector to twenty degrees.

The sound from the flap actuators whines down to zero after only six more degrees.

The Captain said, “Turn it off again.  What do you think the stall speed be with sixteen degrees of flaps?”

Mark toggled the switch off, “I’d guess one-forty.  But, without pressure, do you think it will hold?”

“Hope so.”

“What about brakes?  No hydraulics means no brakes,” Mark said.

“Reversers will have to do it.”

“If there’s enough hydraulics to move the diverters.”

“They’re electric.”

“Thank God for that.”

The Captain said, “Warn the cabin.”

Mark switched on the cabin comm and said, “Cabin crew secure yourselves.  Prepare for a hard landing in twenty seconds.”

The Captain said, “Thrust levers to idle.”

Mark retarded the three engine controls to the idle detent.

The Captain said, “I’m aiming to put it on the numbers at a hair over one-forty.  If it doesn’t stall at one-forty, we hold it off until it does.”

“It’s a very short runway, Captain.”

“Start the flare,” the Captain ordered.

Mark helped pull the yoke back.

“Easy,” the Captain said.

“One-forty-five,” Mark called out the airspeed.

“Let it bleed off,” The Captain said.

“Over the threshold,” Mark said, “one-forty.”

“Hold it off,” the Captain said.

“One-thirty-five,” Mark said.

“Ease it forward and turn on the APU,” the Captain said.

Mark reduced his back pressure as the sounds of the wheels touching down came from behind them.  He switched on the APU.

“Nose down, full reverse, brakes,” the Captain said.

Mark shoved the thrust levers all the way down to the reverse position.  The engines spooled up and exhaust billowed forward of the plane.

The Captain applied pressure to the top of the rudder peddles...  “Nothing, I’m getting nothing on the brakes.”

The plane drifted to the right.

“Stay on the centerline, Captain,” Mark said.

The Captain mashed the left rudder peddle and the plane’s huge rudder used the last gasp of hydraulic pressure from the APU to veer them back to the middle of the runway.

The Captain said, “This won’t work much longer when we slow down.”

The airspeed still indicated sixty knots.

Mark said, “Want to try to steer with differential reverse?”

“Try anything, but we’re running out of runway.”

The numbers one-four, the marker of the end of the runway in the opposite direction slipped past them.

“Brace,” said the Captain.

Just as they went past the one-four threshold, the plane's landing gear plowed into the soft overrun sand and ground quickly to a stop.

“Thrust levers to shutdown, masters off, start shutdown checklist,” the Captain said.

Mark glanced out the window and saw the egress slide deploy.  “At least the cabin crew is okay.”

They flashed through the shutdown checklist as quickly as they could safetying the plane.

Pounding came from the cockpit door.  “You alright in there?” the first class steward shouted.

“Just tiding up,” the Captain said.

It took a minute before they were done.  Then they unlocked the cockpit door and stepped out into a simulated cabin.

The facility director was there.  “Damn, after a dozen simulations, yours is the first to survive.”

Mark said, “What’d we do different?”

The Director said, “I think you noticed the fouled slat a little quicker than the rest.  The others Dutch-rolled inverted before they responded.”

The Captain said, “And the landing?”

“That was a neat trick with the APU.  Gave you enough juice to make the runway... with the gear down.”

“Too bad flight 101 didn’t try it,” the Captain said.  “Jerry was a sharp pilot.  We all miss him.”