RSL Ch 79

“Shall we open the door? …Captain?”

I gathered my scattered thoughts from yesterday and composed my dazed expression.

“Ah, yes. Sorry. Let’s open it.”

The co-pilot spoke first when I remained silent for a long time after receiving the report that the cabin cleaning was finished.

We had finished our morning flight in Beijing and were in the midst of preparing for takeoff to return on a turnaround. My condition was the worst, but I tried not to show it. So I emptied my head once again. If I don’t concentrate, it could lead to an accident. To prevent my personal misfortune from becoming a disaster, I cut off thoughts about Han Jae-yi.

I held the pre-printed flight plan in my hand. I pressed the small alphabet buttons firmly to input route data into the FMS. Even as I did this, his image floated around like a ghost. It felt like a cold hand was gripping my heart every now and then, but I pretended not to notice and acted nonchalant.

“Ten minutes before scheduled takeoff time.”

The airplane had finished preparation for takeoff and was waiting to request its turn. The co-pilot was waiting for someone with an anxious expression. The passenger boarding completion report should have come in by now, but it was delayed.

The towing car that would push the plane to the taxiway was already waiting below. Just then, the cabin manager entered the cockpit.

“One passenger has asthma and accidentally checked in the bag containing their medication.”

“Ah…”

The co-pilot let out a regretful sigh and continued.

“If we take it out and give it back, it will delay us for over 30 minutes.”

“Oh… What should we do, Captain?”

The cabin manager looked at me with a troubled expression. There was no choice. Even if we had the passenger disembark, we would still have to take out the luggage, so the takeoff delay was already a given. In that case, it seemed better to let the passenger find their medication and board.

“Assign one ground crew member to return the luggage and have them go through immigration again immediately. Co-pilot, let’s reschedule our time for 40 minutes after the original time.”

“Yes.”

After reporting the takeoff delay to the control tower, we entered a waiting period. On the ground, a tractor approached, reopened the luggage compartment, and began searching for the passenger’s luggage. Now a tedious process of waiting would begin.

This time is disadvantageous for me. When my hands and head are idle, Han Jae-yi’s ghost approaches and touches the hippocampus of my memory. The present and the past jumbled together, and the co-pilot next to me suddenly changed into his figure, asking me again.

‘Was that really the best you could do?’

I felt suffocated. I pressed my temples and tilted my head back. As if a self-defense mechanism was working, all sorts of excuses rose like smoke in my head and repeatedly disappeared. The communication content coming through the headphones floated like text, unable to be interpreted. I wasn’t concentrating at all.

“Total of 206 passengers, boarding complete. We’ll close the door now.”

The cabin manager came in earlier than expected. The delayed time was about 27 minutes. But our turn had already passed.

“Co-pilot, let’s request clearance right away.”

I cleared away the afterimages that had spread like fog and returned to reality. We were assigned to the middle of three runways and contacted ground crew to enter taxiing. The heavy towing car pulled our plane backwards to the taxiway.

When the plane started moving on its own, I felt that the plane’s shaking was strange. When I looked at the co-pilot’s face for a moment, he was also frowning. It seemed I wasn’t the only one who felt the wheels weren’t moving smoothly.

“I think there’s something stuck in the wheel?”

I agreed with his words. We certainly didn’t find anything during the exterior check before takeoff preparation. But I was distrusting myself. My current state was not normal.

However, we couldn’t stop in the middle of the taxiway, so I was about to request to return to the gate. I felt that today’s flight was not going well in many ways.

That’s when it happened.

-MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY. Cierra 2441, Bird strike, we got an engine failure on the left.

Someone declared an emergency situation on the communication channel.

-Cierra 2441, Tower Roger. Say intentions.

-We need to return.

Bird strike. It means a plane collision with birds. Birds living around airports interfere with takeoffs and landings, so they need to be chased away periodically, and if necessary, shot. Despite such measures, accidents happen several times a year.

The severity of a bird strike depends on the point of impact, and the pilot of the airplane that just declared an emergency specifically communicated ‘engine failure’. It seemed the bird’s body had been ground into the fan blades. This corresponds to the highest level of emergency situations.

-Cierra 2441, maintain 3000, vector ILS runway 6R final approach course.

The 6R runway that the control tower was trying to guide was where we had been assigned for takeoff. Immediately, we also received a standby signal.

-Coreana 770 heavy, hold your position. Everybody calling, stand by. Do not taxi.

As soon as that order was given, all airplane moving on the taxiway stopped at once. The co-pilot and I also took our hands off the thrust lever and engaged the parking lever. At the same time, the communication channel went quiet. From now on, to avoid interfering with the communication between the control tower and the accident airplane, unnecessary communication should be refrained from. Dozens of pilots on the other side of the channel held their breath. The control tower again declared an emergency.

“All traffic, remain clear of Beijing airspace.”

Now, airplanes approaching from nearby areas must either hold their position or divert to other airports depending on their fuel situation.

“All runways are closed. Airport is closed.”

And Beijing Airport was closed.

We waited for instructions while standing on the taxiway. A moment later, we saw Cierra Air Flight 2441 descending in the distance, spewing black smoke. The airplane was swaying severely, seeming to have difficulty maintaining level flight. It was fortunate that they could immediately lower their altitude as the accident had occurred shortly after takeoff.

“Cierra 2441, cleared to land 6R. Thank you all.”

The voice of the captain of the accident airplane heard on the communication channel was calm. He seemed to be attempting to land with only one remaining engine. However, due to lowering the altitude too steeply, they couldn’t achieve proper landing speed.

“Ah… it’s too fast.” 

The Co-pilot said in a regretful voice as we watched their landing together. We weren’t the only ones. All fellow pilots, including those in the control tower, were hoping for the landing gear to deploy safely.

Fortunately, they began to level out at the last moment. The speed was still fast, but there seemed to be no other choice. Soon after, they landed. The plane, shaking with a thunderous noise, began to slide along the runway, and the spoilers attached to the wings rose in the opposite direction of travel, reducing speed.

The captain of the accident airplane must be pulling the thrust reverser with all his might. The plane was still sliding endlessly, unable to overcome its momentum. The runway was almost at its end. Black smoke rose more and more. When they finally came to a stop at the edge of the runway, the Co-pilot and I both let out a sigh of relief. From now on, it’s a race against time.

“Cierra 2441, fire services are on the way.”

The emergency exits opened and two evacuation slides immediately unfurled towards the ground. Passengers could be seen sliding down and running away with all their might. Fire trucks and emergency vehicles were rushing towards them.

“Cierra 2441, we are evacuating on the runway. We have the fire out, I repeat, we are evacuating.”

Their urgent reports continued on the communication channel. In an emergency, the pilot must be the last to evacuate. Also, the captain has the duty to visually confirm that no one is left after all passengers have evacuated. Inside that plane enveloped in black smoke, he must be going back and forth through the cabin several times to check if any passengers remain.

The evacuated passengers started running at full speed. They need to get as far away from the plane as possible. Black smoke began to rise fiercely, visible even from where he was. The emergency exits would already be blocked, and now the only way out is to open the cockpit window and descend via wire.

Soon, a large fire broke out on the side of the wing. I despaired. Because I know what that is, fully loaded in the wing.

“They couldn’t have dumped the fuel,” I muttered.

“Ah…” the Co-pilot sighed at my words.

Fire trucks arrived at the end of the runway. However, they were seen hesitating, unable to approach the airplane closely. Their dilemma didn’t last long.

At 10:10 AM, Cierra Air Flight 2441 exploded at the end of the runway, 1 minute and 30 seconds after making an emergency landing at Beijing Airport.

The plane burned for a while, flickering with terrifying flames. Passengers who had collapsed here and there on the runway and taxiway were crying. We watched the scene in dismay, sinking into despair.

No one could continue speaking on the communication channel. We instinctively knew that the captain and Co-pilot hadn’t escaped. The air traffic controller in charge also lost his words. We all commemorated our colleagues’ deaths with a minute of silence.

It was an indefinite wait until the situation was over. I quickly went over a few scenarios in my head.

Our original takeoff time was 9:40 AM. The time when Cierra Air, which had the accident, took off was also just past 9:40 AM. Here, the first fate passed us by. Since accidents always exist in the form of probability, there was no rule that we couldn’t have been the protagonists of that probability. The 30-minute waiting time we had after finding the luggage of the asthma patient and receiving the takeoff order again acted as a stroke of luck for us.

The second was when the Co-pilot and I felt something odd about the wheel movement. Thanks to immediately reducing the speed and stopping the plane on the taxiway, runway 6R assigned to us happened to be empty. The Co-pilot and I received an immediate airplane inspection on the ground while the Cierra accident was being dealt with. However, no foreign objects or wheel abnormalities were reported.

Although I wasn’t a person who believed much in superstitions or supernatural phenomena, it was difficult to maintain detachment in the face of death unfolding before my eyes. If fate was really predetermined, what was the price exchanged with the Cierra Air pilots?

I deeply mourned the two pilots who had gone, carrying the lives of the 206 passengers saved by stopping our plane’s takeoff time, and the lives of the Cierra Air passengers who were able to escape in time because the runway happened to be empty.