International Rescue: The Next Phase


Home » The Archives » Chapter 1 » The Call Goes Out
Re: The Call Goes Out [message #294 is a reply to message #293] Mon, 23 July 2012 19:34 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Tikatu is currently offline  Tikatu
Messages: 813
Registered: April 2012
Location: South Carolina
Karma:
Field Commander
Ubiquitous one
Elise had never seen anything like it in all of her years as a pilot. The ominous storm had gained speed, strength and power and loomed directly ahead. Scanning the latest weather report on the instrument panel, Elise drew in a sharp breath.

Jeff heard it, "What's wrong Elise?"

She answered him without turning round, "It seems that storm straight ahead is the front of a severe ice storm, possible heavy snow also. I'm afraid we may be in for a rough ride. Wind speed is outrageous; I've never seen anything this bad."

"Is there any way we can avoid it?" he asked. The pilot in him was already thinking ahead.

"I've thought about it, but this thing is too big and moving too fast, we'd be caught in it no matter what we do. I can try to gain altitude to fly above the brunt of it, but it's not going to be easy. Even with this top-of-the-line baby, it's going to be rough."

This time, she turned briefly to look at him as she spoke. Jeff caught her eyes and the look of doubt and worry in them. He trusted her flying skills, but still felt the need to ask if she needed help up front. She'd told him no thanks, and He had accepted that. It didn't stop him from worrying though, as he looked out at what was now, dark, menacing swirling grey masses of clouds.

Suddenly, the chopper veered to the left and lost altitude, momentarily stunning its occupants. Elise quickly regained control, feeling the blades rotate with more difficulty. What had started as rain now became ice, and the tapping nose it made on the aircraft became louder. The roar of the winds magnified the sound to deafening. Jeff had yelled something to Elise, but she couldn't understand him. Even with the high-tech headsets, their voices were drowned out by the elements outside.

The weather became more severe as Elise tried to gain more altitude. It wasn't long before they were flying into the thick of it. The ice had turned to snow and the raging winds showed no sign of slowing; causing the snow to became one gigantic blizzard.

Jeff Tracy was really starting to worry. He had never seen a storm like this. It seemed to have just reared up out of nowhere and descended on them faster than they had anticipated. He thought back to his conversation with Dianne the other day, when they had 'discussed' what they had planned to do when he got home. That thought made him realize that Dianne, along with his sons, knew nothing of this trip to New Hampshire. He knew they'd be upset at not being advised of his whereabouts, but he hadn't given thought to horrendous weather either. He briefly pondered calling them as International Rescue, but Elise would hear and then he'd have a lot of explaining to do. All he could hope for at this point was that Ms. Collins would get them back to New York safely and then he would call home.

While this was all going through Jeff's mind, Elise had plenty of thoughts of her own keeping her busy. Her military training had kicked in, and she was keeping a level head and professional stance while trying to figure a way out of the storm. But her cool demeanor was fading fast. Warning indicators on the instrumentation panel flashed constantly, and it seemed no matter what she did, it made no difference. The warning lights continued.

She was now almost flying by instruments only as outside was nothing but a sea of white. The wind speed was constant and the ice had stopped, but the snow was blinding.

Elise started to double-check her altitude and directional gauges. Something didn't feel right, so she adjusted her elevation by a few degrees. They were still heading south, she was sure of it, but glancing again at the computerized compass readings showed them heading northwest. What the... ? Elise was finding it hard to believe that such a sophisticated, intricate system would compute such an error.

"Mr. Tracy?"

"What is it Elise?"

"I'm not sure, but I think we may have a computer malfunction in the directional gauges, sir."

"Are you sure?" Jeff frowned. He knew this ship inside out; Brains and he had designed it together and the computers had the most up to date technology available. They weren't meant to malfunction. It just wasn't possible.

"Yes, sir, we're heading south, and the gauges are reading northwest. I haven't changed direction."

Elise still had to shout somewhat through the headset as the noise level from the winds still made normal speech impossible. Jeff looked out of the window, it seemed as if they were hovering and not flying and he knew a blizzard whiteout could cause havoc with a pilot's senses.

"Elise, I'm coming up there to help. I can check the computers while you continue to fly."

Jeff unfastened his seat belt and started forward just as the chopper started to lurch and shudder.

"NO! Mr. Tracy, stay where you are! The winds have picked up again. It's too dangerous for you to move around!"

Elise was practically screaming at him, she was not only worried about his safety, but hers and the chopper's also. Her arms ached from trying to steady the craft and fight the winds, which were becoming increasingly stronger again.

"Have you contacted Air Traffic Control recently?" yelled Jeff as he was making his way forward.

"Yes, but radio signals are not getting through! I've sent over a dozen on all available wave strengths and can't get a fix!" Jeff heard the frustration in her voice and knew without radio contact, their situation could be disastrous.

"I've never seen a storm like this before Mr. Tracy; I'm doing the best... Ohmigod!"

Her sentence was cut short as the chopper was suddenly lifted and thrown completely sideways. A pilot's worse nightmare had just come true for Elise. Jeff knew immediately what had happened ... wind shear. The force of the winds against the air current had shifted and caused a crosswind, which suddenly changed direction, throwing off course whatever was in its path. Wind shear had been known to overturn a commercial passenger airliner in the last century, causing catastrophic results.

I've got to get to the controls! was the last conscious thought Jeff Tracy had as he tried in vain to reach the co-pilot's seat. The chopper fell like a dead bird and slammed into the side of a mountain with a sickening thud. There was no explosion, no fire. The chemical compounds that made up the exterior fuselage and engine components were specifically designed not to explode into flames upon impact. But that didn't prevent the craft from crumpling up. The distorted wreckage lay silent in the snow as the unforgiving storm raged on showing no mercy to its victims.

Post by FrankieCTB2 on 01/07/2004

Jeff heartbeat Dianne plain My IR:TNP OTP!

Report message to a moderator

[Message index]
 
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Read Message
Next Topic: Feedback
Goto Forum:
  

[ Syndicate this forum (XML) ] [ RSS ] [ PDF ]

Current Time: Wed May 15 09:23:34 EDT 2024

Total time taken to generate the page: 0.01534 seconds
.:: Contact :: Home ::.

Powered by: FUDforum 3.1.1.
Copyright ©2001-2021 FUDforum Bulletin Board Software