THE AMAZING CRASH
by: Michael Pasque aka Writer1
Don Grantham was running to the airplane about to takeoff from LAX. He was the pilot of the Boeing 747 and was in a hurry. Don looked at his watch while running. 3 minutes, he thought. This is going to be close. It took about 4 minutes to get from Gate D to Gate B if you ran. While he was looking at his watch he bumped into someone accidentaly who was running the other way. She had blond hair and blue eyes. He had knocked her to the ground and all of the papers she was holding fell to the ground. He helped her pick up her stuff and said sorry then ran off. He was running as fast as he could.
He finally made it to the gate and was only 2 minutes late! He got into the cabin and found the engines were already started. He asked the young co-pilot," Is everything set?"
The co-pilot answered," Yes sir. By the way my name is Jake Brigance."
" Ok good Jake. Tower this is Flight #5026 requesting takeoff clearence..over."
" Roger Flight 5026, please taxi to runway 13R and set Transponder Code to 0224..over"
" Roger Tower Flight 5026 is taxing..over"
After about 15 minutes of waiting in line for takeoff Don said," Tower this is Flight #5026, on runway 13R, Transpoder Code set to 0224..over"
" Roger Flight 5026, you are cleared for takeoff, 5-10 mph winds coming in from the East, partly cloudy and good weather. Hey Don, is that you? I hear it is your 36th birthday. Good luck..Tower out."
" Roger, thanks up there..Flight 5026 out and up."
Don pushed the throttles to the maxium hold and released the wheel brake. They were off. Don then said," Gear up."
Ok whew, I made it, he thought.
When they were at their cruising altitude in the Boeing 747 they relaxed. Then, a red warning light flashed and beeped loudly into their headsets. BEEP, BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. Don turned off the alarm and looked at the red warning light. It said lighted with a red background from the light," Pressure Systems Faliure."
" Did you check that before we took off Jake?"asked Don calmly.
"Uh, yeah I did," Jake muttered.
"Are you sure Jake?"
"Uh, maybe not, I was really busy without you."
"Oh Great."
"ATC this is Flight #5026, we have an emergency..over."
"This is ATC, Flight 5026, what is the emergency..over?"
"Uh, ATC we have a Pressure Systems Failure..over."
"Roger, how bad is it Flight 5026..over?"
"Uh, ATC, right now we have a Full Sytems Failure for the Pressurizing Systems..over."
"Ro..r....p.s..e..r....n....."Crackle, crackle, crackle.
"Shit! We lost the radio because of you!" Don yelled at Jake.
Then the plane started rolling to the right.
"What the hell?" Yelled Don.
"What's happening Don?" Jake asked.
"I don't fucking know so shut up and help me control this bird!" Don yelled.
"Jake, look out your window and tell me what you see." Don asked Jake.
"Hey, part of the wing is...is....blow...blownn..offff!" Jake stuttered unbelievingly.
"Let me see." Don commanded.
Don saw that part of the wing had blown off and it looked very somkey back there. The passengers must be having heart attacks, Don thought. He had to try to land this bird and quickly.
"Ok, let's stay calm and try to land her. Ok Jake?"
Jake looked very pale and in shock. He is only a kid. He must be so scared, Don thought.
"Uh, Jake, are you with me buddy?"
"Jake..JAKE?!?!"
"Oh shit, I have one co-pilot in shock, wing almost blown off, loosing pressure. What else could go wrong?"
Just as Don said that, the plane started pitching up and down rolling around like a dog. He started getting sick.
"What the hell?"
Don looked out his window and saw that wing was TOTALLY MISSING!!!
"Oh shit we're going down!"
Then Don announced over the intercom throughout the airplane,"Ladies and Gentlemen, this is your captain Don Grantham. We have an emergency and want you to brace your selfs and tighten your seatbelts for the impact. We will probably survive this. Thank you."
Don then safely buckled himself in his seat and knew he would be the first to die. He was in the front of the airplane and as it smashed into the ground he would die, instantly he hoped. Then he just daydreamed about his wife, Jessica, and his kids 1 son, Michael, and 2 daughters, Shaleen and Sara. Oh how much he wanted to be with them now.
Suddenly, he came back to life and looked at the altimeter. It read 10,000 feet and falling rapidly. Then the next thing he knew he felt a sharp jolt and the plane stopped instantly. He felt pain everywhere. He knew he was dying. He hoped everyone else was fine although he could hear the screams of pain from the passengers. He looked over at Jake and saw that he was still in shock and had cuts everywhere. He had a HUGE gash on his head. Oh that must have hurt.
Don then looked out the window. He looked at the ground through empty windows. No glass in them. All the glass probably went into Don and Jake's body.
I wish I could live, he thought. He started to cry. He saw the ground. It almost enveloped the whole cabin he was in. There was a deep blackness and he welcomed it as it enveloped him in nothingness. That was that last thing he saw.Blackness.
* * *
14 years later
Don was now 50 years old. It was his birthday . He worked in the control tower.
He had survived the terrible crash. He had an amputated leg because of the crash. He still had nightmares about it. He would soon retire and live happily without flying again. He wanted to fly but he knew he couldn't. Everyone had amazingly survived that crash but Jake. He had died of shock before the crash luckily. So Don knew he didn't feel any of that terrible pain he felt.
As he walked into the control tower he found no one in there. What the heck? He thought. Then all of a sudden everyone yelled," Happy 50th birthday Don!"
Then from behind him all of the survivors of the crash came holding a HUGE cake with fifty candles! They said,"Hey Don, make a wish and blow out this fire hazard here!" Don wished that he would live happy for the rest of his life and blew out the candles. Then the passengers of his flight all sang happy birthday to Don and after that they thanked him for safely flying them and not killing them all. He then got the day off and went home.
For the rest of his life he lived happy and peaceful but couldn't ever stop dreaming about Flight 5026. That was the most scariest day of his life.
by: .. Writer1 .. Michael Pasque
This story is fiction and never happened.
It is © 1997 Michael Pasque
E-mail: pasque@libby.org