Ron Schwartz - The Griffins Heart.txt

by The Griffin's Heart(Lit)

  As Logan and Taylor looked at each other incredulously, Rob spoke into the intercom. “Everyone get seatbelted tightly in your seats, and hang on. We need to climb very steeply, and anyone not tied down is likely to get hurt.”

  Rob watched his airspeed carefully as his altitude increased. He could hear the discussion behind him as the rabbi tried to answer the questions the others asked. He actually seemed to be enjoying this.

  “Will it work?” Taylor asked.

  “Can this airplane stop like that?” Logan added.

  The rabbi just smiled. He turned to Rob. “Have you thought this through?” He stopped and closed his eyes, trying to gather his thoughts. “Okay, let’s say you can bring it to a stop and the gear does come all the way down and lock. Do you know what will happen then? Have you thought it through?”

  Rob didn’t answer as he gently pulled the controls back and the nose lifted skyward. Logan and Taylor watched, not knowing what to do.

  “Colonel, once we stop, we will start to fall back...”

  The airplane was pointing at a higher and higher angle and the turbines were whining louder and louder as they struggled to maintain speed at such a steep angle.

  The rabbi continued to speak to Rob’s seemingly deaf ears. “Only this airplane is not made to fly backwards. Without thrust, we’ll go into a flat spin, out of control. Then, in less than a minute, we’ll impact the ground at more than two hundred miles per hour. Only there’s no wreckage. There’s just a big hole in the ground where an airplane ought to be.”

  Rob still did not respond to the rabbi’s arguments, but by now the Concorde was pointing almost straight up and beginning the shake as it struggled to maintain speed.

  “Colonel?” Taylor shouted. “Are you listening to him? Colonel?”

  “I’m listening. I’m not deaf.”

  By now, the airplane was slowing and shaking violently. Grinding and rattling noises seemed to be coming from everywhere.

  “Just watch the landing gear lights! Tell me when the gear is locked.”

  “But it won’t matter!” Taylor shouted back.

  “Just do it!”

  The airplane came to a complete stop, and the jerking threw everyone around. If not for the seatbelts, no one would have been able to stay in their seats. Then the landing gear lights all lit up. The gear was down and locked, but the airplane was falling back to earth. Backwards, just as the rabbi predicted.

  “They’re down and locked, Colonel!” Taylor shouted.

  But the noise was gone and the airplane was no longer shaking. Rob had pulled the throttle back, shutting down the turbines’ thrust. The Concorde began to sway as the rabbi’s next prediction was coming true. They were headed for a flat spin, and as he had said, it would only take a minute before they hit the ground.

  Then, to the rabbi’s surprise, Rob did something he had not considered. He reversed the engine thrust! The swaying stopped as the engines pulled the Concorde downward. The engines were beginning to scream as Rob was demanding something from them that they were not designed to do. He was going to fly the airplane backwards using reverse engine thrust!

  “I’m going to need help to pull it out of a dive! Someone help me!”

  The low hydraulic fluid was affecting the flight controls. He was finding it more difficult to move them. Before long, he would not have control of the airplane. A moment later, two large hands reached over his shoulders and gripped the steering wheel. It was Rock! Rob could hear him groan as he added his strength to Rob’s and slowly, ever so slowly, the nose of the Concorde began to lower.

  The rabbi checked the altimeter. “We’re at twenty thousand feet, Colonel. Forty-five seconds to impact.”

  Sweat poured down Rob’s face and his hands trembled as he pull the controls toward himself with all his strength.

  “Fifteen thousand feet... Thirty seconds to impact!”

  Logan found himself staring at Rob in admiration. The Concorde’s nose was still dropping but airspeed was increasing. He realized that within seconds they would all make history or die trying. Either way, they would be together.

  He should have realized that Rob would try something like this. All through this trip, he had consistently refused any options that allowed only some of them to survive. He refused to escape from Iraq if it meant leaving the Special Forces behind. It had consistently been Rob’s way: all or none.

  “Ten thousand feet... Fifteen seconds to impact.”

  The pull of gravity combined with the thrust of the four big turbines had brought the Concorde’s speed to three hundred miles per hour, way beyond the reverse speed for which these engines were designed. Then, just as the Concorde seemed to be pulling out of the dive, they heard an explosion and felt a violent force seem to collide with the airplane.

  “We lost our right outboard engine,” the rabbi said. “Shut it down. You’ll have to make good on two engines.”

  “Altitude?”

  “Two thousand feet and dropping.”

  Rob and Rock continued to pull the flight controls as the nose of Concorde dropped lower and lower.

  “One thousand feet... Eight hundred feet... Six hundred feet...”

  Logan looked first at Taylor, then at the rabbi, as if saying good-bye.

  “Five hundred feet... Four hundred feet...” The rabbi looked twice at the altimeter and shouted with excitement. “Four hundred feet... Four hundred fifty feet...”

  “We’re rising!” Logan shouted.

  “Six hundred feet...”

  Over the radio came the air traffic controller’s voice. “Concorde flight, we have lost you on radar. Do you copy me?”

  Logan keyed the microphone. “Send out the band, North Island! We’re coming in!” He turned off the radio and watched in amazement as the Concorde continued to climb.

  “I think the controls are frozen.” Rob let go of the controls. “There’s no response anymore. Can anyone see the airfield behind us?”

  Taylor pressed his face against the side window. “The airfield is slightly to the left... Uh, that’s your right.”

  Rob reduced the thrust in the right inboard engine slightly. “We’re going to have to throttle the engines to control the airplane. Tell me when we’re lined up with the runway.”

  “You look good there.”

  Rob adjusted the engines’ thrusts to steady the airplane. “What’s the distance to the airfield?”

  “About two and a half miles.”

  “Colonel, we’re at three thousand feet,” noted the rabbi, “so you need to throttle down the engines slightly to begin our descent.”

  Rob knew that if he reduced thrust by too much, the nose would drop, and the airplane would tumble to the ground. “I understand.” He adjusted the throttles. “Taylor, give me constant updates on range. Somebody give me altitude.”

  He eased the engine throttle down slightly, and the airplane began to drop. He knew he would have to drop a lot of altitude quickly if he were to land at a safe angle. He reduced the engine thrust a bit more, and the nose began to settle. He glanced over at the rabbi, who shook his head.

  “Was it worth the gamble?”

  “I don’t gamble.” Rob turned back to the controls. “I only go with sure things.”

  The airplane continued to drop sharply as the rabbi announced, “You’re at two thousand feet.”

  Taylor took his cue and reported also. “One and one half miles.”

  Rob tried to adjust the throttles. They were dropping too fast.

  “One thousand feet.”

  “One mile.”

  Rob knew he needed to increase speed, but without hydraulics, it would be difficult to control the airplane. With the right outboard engine gone, the right inboard engine had to do twice as much. He pushed the right engine throttle to full capacity and tried to match it with the two left engines. The airplane swerved back and forth as he adjusted the throttles.

  “You hear that?” the rabbi shouted. “That metallic noise is the tu
rbines tearing themselves apart. They won’t last much longer!”

  Another explosion shook the airplane, and Rob struggled to adjust the throttles to compensate.

  “Here!” the rabbi shouted, looking at the oil pressure gauge. “It’s the left inboard engine! It’s gone! We need to shut it down!”

  Rob powered the engine down and tried to adjust the airplane back to the runway’s direction.

  “We’re coming in too fast,” the rabbi said quietly, watching Rob.

  “I know. Everybody hang on. This is going to hurt.”

  “Any time now.” Taylor turned around in his seat to grip the hand rests.

  The Concorde slammed into the runway and started to bounce out of control.

  “The brakes!” the rabbi shouted over the noise. “They should be electrical. You can control the airplane with them. Focus on the end of the runway and keep us in the center.”

  Rob pressed the brakes down with both feet and cut the engine thrust. The airplane weaved from side to side as he struggled to maintain control. They were slowing down, and in the distance, he could hear siren sounds. He knew they were ambulances and fire trucks.

  The airplane continued to slow, and more and more of the runway was spent. Finally, he cut the two remaining engines, and they rolled silently to a stop. No one spoke a word. They all sat in silence. Could it really be over? Were there no more hurdles to jump?

  Rob sat for a moment and listened to the quiet around him. Then he keyed the intercom microphone. “This completes the final leg of Flight 1430, ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of the flight crew, I hope you’ve enjoyed your trip. We apologize for any inconvenience you may have experienced. We sincerely hope you’ll remember us on your next vacation and choose to fly with us again.”

  He could hear the cheers from the people around him, but somehow it all seemed so distant. Logan and Rock patted him on the back and went into the back of the airplane to join the others. They had done it! They had survived!

  Trucks were pulling up to the Concorde on every side, and soon stairways were pushed up to the doors to unload the passengers and soldiers. The rabbi, still seated next to Rob, stood and smiled, then left without a word.

  “Colonel,” Logan said as he was about to leave the flight compartment. “I want you to know that even if we hadn’t survived, the ride you gave us was worth the money paid.”

  Rob smiled and nodded, too choked up to reply.

  He was unaware of the passing time as he sat alone in the cockpit. Until Marie’s gentle touch enveloped him.

  “I thought you’d be the first one off,” she breathed into his ear before kissing it. “Nancy took the children off so I could get you. Let’s go.”

  Rob could hardly accept the fact that it was over. He went to the door and looked out. Below, the passengers and soldiers were gathered around waiting for him as he and Marie stepped out onto the stairway platform. He looked over this airplane that had worked so hard for them. It had out-performed even the designer’s expectations.

  His eyes fastened on the gun pods charred black from firing their rounds. He smiled as he realized that he was probably the first pilot in history to become an ace by shooting down the enemy from the cockpit of a commercial transport. Bulletholes were scattered across the wing and tail sections. He caressed the airplane’s surface. “Thanks, Concorde. Thanks for bringing us home.”

  He looked down at the servicemen waiting for him at the bottom of the stairs. He fought back tears as he thought of all the missing faces. It didn’t seem fair that Wright wasn’t there with them. He thought about how he and Lucky had chosen to give their lives and die alone so that others could live. He remembered the bravery of the Marines who had died along the way and how many of them he never got to know. His eyes caught Rock’s. He was standing below looking sad and distant, probably having all the same thoughts.

  Marie saw the pain in his eyes. “What’s wrong?”

  Rob swallowed hard. “It’s hard to be happy about your freedom when you realize that the price paid was the blood of your dearest friends.”

  She hugged him tightly and kissed him as they stood at the top of the stairs that led to the waiting crowd below. She looked into his teary eyes. “Do you remember when you told me that we must always hope for the best? You said it was like the morning sun: no matter how bad the night had been, the morning sun always brings the promise of a better day. Well, honey, I’ll be the first to admit it’s been hard to have hope when so many things seemed to be set against us.” Marie wiped tears from her own eyes and placed her hand on his chest. “But you’ve had hope, Rob. Right here in your heart. You’ve had enough hope for us all.”

  “I just... I just can’t believe we made it. I can’t believe it’s over. I never thought I had all that in me.”

  “It’s amazing what we can do when we have to, isn’t it? One thing’s for sure: I feel a lot safer now when you’re around! Come on, now. Let’s go get our children.”

  They strolled down the stairs to be surrounded by the roaring crowd. Their adventure was complete. They finally made it to safety.

  “You’re a hero, Colonel!” Rock smiled.

  “We’re all heroes, Rock. We did it together.”

  Rob now understood what so many go through life never seeing: sometimes adversity is our friend. An average man, placed in the most difficult of circumstances, can sometimes reach deep down into his innermost being and find the strength to meet the challenges he faces.

  “I want to go home, Daddy,” Rebekah said as he lifted her in his arms. She buried her tired face into his neck, and he cuddled her.

  “I’m hungry,” David added.

  “I want to go to McDonald’s,” Michael piped in.

  Rob tousled their hair playfully. “How ‘bout some Yoo-peen food?”

  Together, he and his family joined the others in their celebration of freedom. He looked one last time at the airplane he had come to admire, and he pulled Marie under his arm. Then he looked out in the distance, far beyond the airfield and the prairie that rushed to meet it. He’d seen his true potential for the first time in his life. And now, rising high above the distant mountains, the snow white clouds above them, he saw his strength and the promise of a better tomorrow.

  The morning sun.