Red Diamond Justice (eBook)

Chapter 2
Today

The gleaming Boeing 777-200 flew through clear blue skies toward its destination of Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Malaysia. Airliner Flight 940 was pure white with red piping and the name Trans-Oceanic Airlines in dark blue on the side of the plane. It was piloted by Captain Haziq bin Mohammed and First Officer Aliakbar Osmon. The passengers included 23 Malaysian college geology students returning from a field trip where they’d studied the Kalgooie Super Pit mine in Western Australia.

The senior flight attendant had already given the announcement to prepare for landing and the crew was busy picking up beverage containers and other trash. The students were still in party mode. After completing their serious studies at the mine, they had transferred by bus to the airport in Perth, Australia then flew to Melbourne for a one-night layover before flying home to Kuala Lumpur. They had been in a festive mood the entire trip home, including an overnight spring break party in Melbourne’s Southbank. They were exhausted when they boarded Flight 940 for Malaysia and most slept for the first half of the trip. However, it wasn’t long until the celebration started again. Two hours later, passenger 21B was so far gone he could barely navigate to the bathroom. Passengers 24C and 24D weren’t far behind. The hidden duty-free booze they’d purchased in Perth along with the onboard drink service had fueled their revelry. The entire group was letting their hair down before their soon-to-be sober return to classes.

A pretty young flight attendant and recent college student herself was engaging in a sort of playful combat to retrieve a glass of Jim Beam from 24D. He resisted mightily but she finally negotiated a pact with him to drain the glass then hand it over. He begrudgingly agreed and the war ended but not before he attempted a final grab of her thigh which she deflected with a friendly swipe at his hand and danced playfully away. Other passengers were fastening seat belts, stowing tray tables and powering down electronics in anticipation of arrival. The cabin crew completed their duties, took a final check of safety belts and took their own seats. The students settled and everything was in order for landing. Then, 24D grabbed an air sickness bag just in case.

In the cockpit, the pilots went through their landing checklist. Air Traffic Control in Singapore had handed the plane off to Approach Control 30 miles from the airport. Aliakbar had been told the ACARS System was experiencing some data issues and they should ask the tower for a weather advisory from the alternate ATIS computers.

“TO Air 940 contact tower 124.65,” radioed Approach Control.

“TO Air 940 124.65. G’ day,” responded the captain. The first officer was reviewing the approach plates for Kuala Lumpur International.

As the jet approached its destination, the pilots received landing instructions from the tower, “Contact ZULU ATIS 128.05.”

“ZULU 128.05,” The first officer tuned the radio to the weather loop which reported winds of 310 degrees at 6 knots.” It appeared that Flight 940 was headed for a normal stabilized approach landing in excellent weather conditions.

The tower advised, “TO Air 940 clear to land runway one four right.”

“TO Air 940 clear to land one four right,” confirmed Haziq.

“The runway is 4,000 meters in length at an altitude of 69 feet above sea level. A nice long runway for sure,” said Aliakbar reading from the approach plates. At 13,000 feet, the plane was then handed off to the Kuala Lumpur International Airport tower.

“TO Air 940 contact tower on 124.65.”

“TO Air 940 124.65.”

The plane descended to 9,000 feet where it suddenly experienced a burst of loud thuds rattling the plane and forcing it to go into a steep dive. The captain radioed a feverish “May Day!” to tower control, as he and Aliakbar worked anxiously to bring the aircraft under control.

Flight attendants were shouting safety instructions to the passengers and showing them how to take crash positions. “Make sure your seat belts are tight across your laps,” shouted the senior flight attendant. “Prepare to crouch for a crash landing!”

The big jet’s port engine coughed and sputtered and then completely failed. The pilots knew they could fly on one engine and madly adjusted the cockpit controls to compensate. They disengaged the auto throttle, reduced thrust and turned off the fuel control switch on the left engine.

At 3,500 feet, the plane finally leveled off and the tower cleared the plane for an immediate landing. Emergency services were already being positioned on the ground. Fire trucks, crash tenders and ambulances with red and blue lights and sirens blaring scrambled to positions along the side of the runway. The other runways had been immediately closed to all aircraft and one four right was exclusively cleared for Trans-Oceanic Flight 940. Kuala Lumpur International was in lockdown in anticipation of an impending disaster.

“We have the airport in sight,” reported the captain to the tower. He was keenly aware his plane first had to clear the airport’s boundary fence and the ILS beacon then finally the runway threshold for them to have any chance at a safe landing.

The passengers were hunched in a brace position, their knees together and feet flat on the floor. Several people were crying, parents were trying to calm their children and many were praying. Passenger 24D slurred, “I hope to hell this isn’t my final, final approach.”

TOA 940 was in serious trouble. Captain Haziq radioed the tower, “We are approaching runway one four right with one engine.”

“Altitude and speed are at your discretion,” advised the tower.

Three seconds later, the starboard engine exploded as metal and debris started flying from the housing. The big Boeing shuddered and the two pilots glanced at each other, horrified as the pressure on both engines dropped to zero. In a split second, the captain yelled definitively to Aliakbar, “All right we’ll have to glide in.” The plane had been at 2,500 feet when the second engine had failed. They had approached the airport from the west and turned right to its base leg.

They’d practiced a no engine glide approach to landing in simulators but this was not a simulation, it was a stark reality. The captain remembered his very first flying lesson and kept his aiming point beyond the runway numbers so they wouldn’t end up being short.

“Tower, this is TO Air 940 we are turning right on final with no engines. Left and right engines are both gone. We are gliding to a landing on one four right and quickly slowing.”

“TO Air 940 are you on fire?”

“Negative.”

“Godspeed!” radioed the tower.

With both engines out of service there was no thrust to operate the aircraft’s hydraulics.

The pilot struggled to hold the yoke steady, as the plane buffeted on its approach to the ground. They didn’t need to control the throttles since the engines were both useless. Trouble lights blinked, fire warnings sounded and the cabin altitude horn blared in the cockpit. There was no possibility of a go-around so this one shot at landing was their only chance. The nose lifted as the plane fell through the air and Haziq struggled to maintain control. At 600 feet, the commander retracted the flaps from 30 to 25 degrees to increase the airplane’s gliding distance.

“Gear down,” commanded the captain waiting until the last possible second to lower the landing gear knowing it would result in additional drag further slowing the jet. Normally, the engine-driven hydraulics would be used to lower the gear but with both engines out they had been forced to use redundant electric hydraulic pumps directly powered by batteries.

The plane was well below its normal landing speed and the captain knew it would take a miracle for them to reach the runway before hitting the ground. The automatic voice assistance had also failed, so Aliakbar shouted out the descending altitude levels, “Three hundred feet, two hundred, one hundred.”

The airplane crossed over the airport boundary fence missing it by a matter of inches. “Come on baby, just a few more feet to clear the threshold,” begged the captain.

The tires hit the asphalt just 20 yards beyond the start of the runway and with both engines gone there were no reverse thrusters to help slow the plane. The captain extended his flight control spoilers at the maximum angle to act as speed brakes. Haziq applied his foot brakes gingerly trying to minimize skidding that could blow the tires.

“We got a break with this runway being so long,” said the first officer.

“I just hope it’s long enough,” yelled the captain as the plane sped down the airstrip.

The doomed jet finally rolled to a silent stop just inches from the end of the 13,000-foot runway.

“Evacuate all exits,” the pilot quickly ordered over the PA.

“We did it!” shouted the first officer patting the captain on the back.

“Son of a bitch, we did!” the captain grinned as beads of sweat dripped from his forehead. The two pilots quickly jumped up to assist with the evacuation.

Fire trucks raced to the plane and began spraying foam on the smoldering engines, or what was left of them. Emergency inflatable slides had deployed on both sides of the plane. Crew members assisted shoeless passengers, imploring them to hold their feet up high as they slid down the chutes. There had been no time...