Crash Landing - Private with Alaska

[veralynn]

A United Airlines Boeing 737 flight from O'Hare takes off without any issues. However towards the end of the flight while they are over Idaho a sudden late spring thunder-snowstorm storm strikes the plane down. With the controls fried and the wings iced up there is little the pilots can do. The plane crashes in a remote section of the Frank Church–River of No Return Wilderness area. There are only two survivors, the co-pilot and a passenger. Now they must figure out how to put their trust in each other's hands and survive long enough to get help. Their best bet is to either stay with the aircraft or make their way to the Salmon river and hope to find whitewater rafters. 

[AlaskaAirGirl]

It was early in the morning as 23-year-old First Officer Avalynn Williams made her way from the pilot lounge in O'Hare towards the gate where her 737 was waiting for her and the other captain. She was a little sad that she was not flying with her father, Captain Aiden Williams again. But it was good that she did get to spend a little time with her dad the night before when he flew into O'Hare from Dallas the day before. Last night they had spent time having dinner with some of the other crew members from her last flight from Tokyo. Aiden was staying in Chicago for one more day as he had a flight back to LA to his crew base. He then would meet up with Avalynn where they would fly home to Seattle for a couple of days. She found a Starbucks that was open and ordered a hot coffee before heading off to the gate. It was rare to see a female pilot walking through the airport as being a pilot was mostly male dominated. But she wanted to show that women could do anything just as well as men. Sometimes when she explained to guys that she was a pilot for United Airlines, the scoffed and laughed saying, "Women don't know how to fly a plane..." Each time, she would just roll her eyes.

Avalynn scanned the gate at some of the passengers that were waiting to board the plane. She walked over to the ticket agent that was working with a passenger. Woman had black hair that was pulled into a tight ponytail. Her blue eyes flicked up to Avalynn as she smiled. "Morning Tina. Looks like a busy flight this morning."

"Tell me about it. I have already had two passengers yelling at me about how they could do my job better than me because I was going to slow in answering their question," Tina sighed as she looked at Avalynn and her coffee. "Man, if I knew you were getting coffee, I would have had you pick up one for me."

"I didn't have time to make one at the hotel this morning. I did have a few sips in the lounge...but it almost tasted burnt down there. I needed a fresh one," Avalynn said as she looked at Tina. "Let Captain Morris know I am onboard when he arrives."

"Will do!" Tina announced as she watched Avalynn walk down the jet bridge to the Boeing 737 Max 10.

[AlaskaAirGirl]

Bump

[veralynn]

Tyler glanced up from his phone as he saw a pilot head down the bridge. Hopefully they would be boarding soon, he had already been on two different flights. The first had just been a short hope to Charlotte before the second flight to O’Hare. It was a lot cheaper than direct flights but it also meant he had been up 2 am, apart from a short nap he had on that second flight.

Not longer after the second pilot appeared the gate agent starting calling for boarding groups. He was lucky enough to get to board at the start as a military member. Tyler lined up to get his ticket scanned and walk down the bridge. There was a chance the gate agent said something to him but at this point he was a bit to tired to bother with small talk.

Tyler checked his ticket as he sat down, just to make sure he was in the right spot. 21F stuck him in the emergency row next to the actual door. Which was fine for him since he would have the chance to stretch his legs out a bit more while he napped. It wasn’t like the emergency exits were ever used, all he had to do was say that yes he could open the door if needed. As he watched the last of the passengers board and head to the back he waited for the standard safety speech from the cabin crew.

[AlaskaAirGirl]

Heading to the cockpit, Avalynn placed her items behind her seat on the right side, which is where the first officer always sat. She was excited as she was doing both takeoff and landing today. That was her favorite part of the flight. Cruise meant that she could just check on the instruments and adjust the autopilot when needed. She usually checked a few emails or read a good book if the captain was fine with it. Normally she just looked out the windows of her "office" to see the beautiful landscapes. After getting herself situated, Captain Morris arrived on board. Morris was a slim older man who had greying black hair. Some women would say he was handsome for being in his 50's. He wore the uniform well and with pride. Just as Avalynn did. She shook his hand.

"Morning, Captain. I am just going over the checks before I go out and greet the passengers as they board," Avalynn announced as she went over some paperwork that dispatch had emailed her. "It looks like we are clear for a good flight. But it seems that there is Some thunderstorms over the cascade mountains that we need to watch out for."

"You remind me every time we fly more of your daddy," Captain Morris said in his southern accent.

"Well, my dad did always say, 'Be aware of the ground and the air.' I always remember him telling me this when I was in flight school," Avalynn announced as she turned her computer to sleep mode and placed it back into her bag.

"Why don't you go greet the passengers and I can finish up here. Once you return, we can go over the pre-flight checks," Morris announced as he sat down in the captain's seat.

"Of course," Avalynn announced as she got up and headed to the cabin. She stood at the door where she greeted the passengers as they came on board. Once the passengers were on board, Avalynn headed back into the cockpit where she and Captain Morris went over the checks as they waited for pushback clearance. Morris then allowed Avalynn to do the PA back to the passengers. "Good morning everyone, Welcome abaord United flight 163 with nonstop service to Seattle. This is First Officer Avalynn Williams speaking and I have some information about our flight. Our flight time will be about 4 hours and 37 minutes. Our estimated arrival time is 7am Seattle time. Your captain, John Morris has been flying for about 30 years. I have been flying for about 2 years now. You have a wonderful group of flight attendants in the back who are willing to take great care of you. A little about this aircraft, we are flying in a Boeing 737 Max 10 and she has been flying for about 2 years now. Please sit back and enjoy the flight after this safety briefing from the flight attendants once we begin taxiing."

After placing the mic down, she quickly asked tower control for pushback clearance. Once they were granted clearance, Avalynn strapped into her seat as she pressed the seatbelt button for the cabin and pushback began.

[veralynn]

Tyler felt the plane pulled back at the attendants started their safety spiel. When they finished and went to their jump-seats, he pulled out his headphones from his bag. Connecting them to his phone he set up a playlist at a low volume, just something to drown out the noise from the other passengers. Shoving his bag back underneath the chair in front of him he settled down to take a nap. The flight was supposed to be a little over 4.5 hours, so by the time they took off and landed it would probably be closer to 5 hours. Plenty of time to get a good nap in.

[AlaskaAirGirl]

During the taxi to the runway, Avalynn looked around at some of the planes that were moving around the taxiway. There was an Alaska Airlines Embraer 175, a WestJet Boeing 737-800, a Cargolux 747-8F, and a few other airlines heading to the runway. It was still somewhat dark as they halted for an American Airlines Boeing 787-8 as it crossed in front of them. This was the quiet part of the flight, but Avalynn loved looking about at all the different planes. It was like Christmas day for her. She was not sure what she was going to see. The most interesting thing she saw was the worlds largest plane, the Antonov 225F. As they got closer to the runway, Avalynn could not wait for them to be able to take off. She was ready to start flying. As soon as it was their turn, Morris turned the 737 Max onto the runway as ATC chimed in.

"United 1509, you are cleared for Takeoff."

Avalynn repeated everything back as she placed her left hand on the throttle after turning on the strobe lights on the wings on. She then pushed the throttle forward as the engines began to roar and soon they were moving forward down the runway. She could really feel the power of the engines increase as they moved faster and faster down the runway. Once to speed, Avalynn lifted the nose up and once they gathered enough lift, the plane soon began to soar up into the air. "Gear up," she announced once they were 300 feet up in the air.

"Gear up," Morris announced as he reached for the lever that activated the gear.

A few moments later, Avalynn engaged the autopilot and took her hands off the yoke. It was now the duty of the plane to fly itself with only Avalynn or Morris to adjust speed, altitude, and heading once instructed. She finally leaned back in her seat as she looked down at the city lights below. It was beautiful to see the lights of the city below. They twinkled like the stars above. Looking forward, Avalynn could see the sunrise as it began.

[veralynn]

(So I'm having Tyler sleep during the flight, not sure what to do otherwise. I'll have him wake up for the heavy turbulence/crash, just let me know when you want to skip ahead a few hours.)

[AlaskaAirGirl]

Over the next few hours, Avalynn had caught up on some emails, read some of her book that she was reading, and even got a in a 45-minute nap with permission from Captain Morris that he had control of the plane. It was common for pilots to fall asleep, but one had to remain awake to make sure they kept on track and the plane had no problems. By the time they were over Idaho, ATC had warned them that thunderstorms were in the area and that they needed to keep an eye on the radar. Avalynn looked down at the radar for a moment when suddenly something on the fuel gauge.

"Captain...we have a problem...the fuel gauge is reading as low...I thought he fuelers filled the tanks all the way," Avalynn announced as she looked at the gauge on the dash in front of her.

"What? How could that be? Unless there is something wrong with the gauge or wiring or even a leak in the tank. Darn it..." Morris activated the link between them and ATC. "Tower Control, this is United 1509 mayday, mayday, mayday, fuel" His voice remained calm as he spoke.

Taking a deep breath, Avalynn let Captain Morris take care of ATC as she looked for the emergency procedures manual where she calmly helped Morris as much as she could. She looked around hoping to find somewhere to land the plane, but there was nothing but forest below them. She hoped that they had enough fuel to make it to Boise International so that they could divert and get the plane safely on the ground. She could hear ATC talking to Morris and did as much as she could. She noticed that the left engine was beginning to power down. "Captain, we have lost engine 2. I can try to turn it on again."

She reached for the engine startup and flipped the switch. But nothing happened. She activated the seatbelts on light in the cabin to let the passengers know that they needed to stay in their seats as she was not sure what was going to happen.

Stay calm, Avalynn. This is what you have been training for. You can handle this situation. You are doing good, Avalynn thought as she looked out the window at the trees coming closer to them. Then the sound of engine 1 shutting down made her heart sink. Again, she tried to get engine one back up and going. But to no avail, she knew that they were going to crash. As they got closer to the trees, the only thing going through her mind was, "204, 204, 204... That was the number of souls on board. She kept repeating this to herself as she braced herself.

"This is your captain speaking...brace for impact." Morris announced to everyone in the cabin.

[veralynn]

Tyler was jerked away when the second engine cut out and the plane dropped a few hundred feet before settling into a decline. So that wasn’t good, but maybe the engines just stalled or something and they would be back on shortly. Planes had to be designed to stay aloft at least somewhat or so he thought. Obviously they would crash at some point but hopefully they could like land on a highway to a river. They did on the news and he knew there was the one famous pilot that did it.

There was internal panic but actually panicking would do nothing, plus he had been taught to panic afterwards. So he sat there staring straight ahead, waiting for the next thing to happen. “It’s okay, the pilots know what they are doing.” He spoke gently to the woman next to him who was working herself up into a perfect tizzy.

[AlaskaAirGirl]

Avalynn closed her eyes as she took a deep breath. Opening them, she knew that there was a chance that she was not going to make it. "ATC, we are not going to make it to any sort of runway. There is not enough fuel. We are going to be landing in the forest and some of us may not make it during the crash. Please send this message to my father, Captain Aiden Williams. I love, Dad. Take care of mom." Her voice remained calm as she braced herself for the impact that would happen as they hit the ground. Suddenly, with a jolt the plane hit the ground before she knew it. There was an explosion as the engines were ripped off as they hit the trees. Both wings were also torn from the trees as they slid across the ground. Avalynn had her eyes closed as trees and debris hit the front windshield. She could hear panic in the cabin as passengers screamed. Finally, the plane came to a stop as she opened her eyes a few moments later. A slight sting in her left arm hit her as it ran up her left arm. It was possibly fractured from the impact of the plant hitting the ground. Avalynn looked over at her captain and noticed that he was okay.

It took Avalynn a few moment to process what happened before she started taking her harness off. "Morris...are you okay? she asked as she got up. She could see that was taking his harness off, but was unable to move.

"I think my left leg might be broken. That impact was harder than I thought it was even though we coasted for quite a ways. Check the passengers. Don't worry about me. I'll be fine," Morris announced as he sat in his seat.

Avalynn nodded as she pulled herself out of her seat after unlocking the cockpit door. It was jammed a little, so she had to use her weight to slam against it to open the door. Once the door was open, Avalynn checked on the passengers as she looked around. She could hear crying as people panicked. "Everyone, please remain calm. Help should be here as soon as possible. ATC knows of the situation. Please, help others as you help yourselves. Flight attendants, please do a count so we know how many survivors there are," Avalynn instructed as she helped a woman in the front isle seat.

[veralynn]

Tyler tried to stay as calm as he could as he watched the trees getting closer, panicking would do absolutely nothing. As the plane finally hit the trees he watched, almost in wonder, as the wing outside his window was torn apart. It was terrifying but he couldn't look away. Then all of a sudden the plane came to a halt and only the sounds of his fellow passengers could be heard. The cabin was filled faintly with either dust or smoke, he wasn't sure as he could see parts of the walls missing. The aisle way also seemed to be at a slight incline, it seemed the plane had been bent in half a bit.

A few second later he felt an aching pain in his right shoulder and his arm was hanging oddly. It seemed like he had managed to dislocate it in the crash. How exactly he could not tell. The same went for the cut on his head as well. Someone would have to help him put it back into place, he knew the basics of how it worked; it was just almost impossible for him to do it himself.

Hearing the cabin door being shoved open he remembered where he was sitting. Undoing his seatbelt with his good arm he managed to pull the lever to open the emergency door. Though looking at it pop out and hit the ground he realized he had no clue how that was actually helpful in this case.

[AlaskaAirGirl]

Avalynn used all her strength she could as she finally kicked open the cockpit door as her father had taught her when she first started flying for united. Aim with your full force below the handle of the door. There is a bolt holding the door that you are aiming for. Use all your might to get that door open... Avalynn remembered her father telling her as she kicked the door open. The door slammed open on Avalynn's second attempt. Walking out of the cockpit, she could see the chaos that was ensuing. Then her training kicked in. "Everyone, please remain calm. Flight attendants, activate the emergency slides. Help those you can," Avalynn announced as she helped to open the main doors even though there was a burning pain in her arm as she pushed the silver lever to open the doors and activate one of the slides.

Once the door was open and one of the slides was activated, Avalynn headed back to the cockpit where she saw Morris pulling his harness off. "Morris, let me help."

"Don't worry about me, Avalynn. Go help the passengers. Get me off, last. The passengers safety come first. Go!" Morris announced as he pushed Avalynn's hands away.

"Are you sure?" Avalynn asked.

"Go! Get everyone else off and then come back and help me." Morris answered as he shook his head. Avalynn nodded as she returned to the cabin to help as many passengers as she could. "Everyone, please remain calm. Help those who need help as you can!" Avalynn repeated as she kneeled next to a woman who was needing help getting her seatbelt off. She then remembered her first aid kit in her suitcase. "Laura, help this woman. I have an extra first aid kit in the cockpit!" Her father always drilled in her head to carry one with her.

"Keep a first aid kit on you at all times. You never know when you are going to need it... Avalynn turned and ran back to the cockpit where she dug into her suitcase for her first aid kit. The stinging in her arm getting worse as she moved it. But she ignored it as she continued to dig until she found it. Running back to the cabin, Avalynn found a woman who had a wound on her head that was bleeding.

"Jenna, I need your help if you are not busy!" Avalynn yelled as she unzipped the kit and found some gauze to begin wrapping the wound.