Murphy added, "They also found a change of clothes in the back seat and his wallet under the front seat. It's looking like Johnny was going to walk back to his car, so he must have been acting on his own and didn't have a getaway driver. So who was the person in between the doors by the ATM?" Murphy commented.
Jack replied as he changed lanes, "I don't know but we better put out an APB on this guy at least. When we get back to the office, we'll use this current picture and his driver's licence picture as well. List him as wanted for questioning in an armed robbery."
Murphy nodded. "Let's put someone on the kid's room, and see if he shows up."
"That makes sense," Jack agreed, "I would think he'll show up there before he shows up here but we'll have an unmarked car patrol this street more often as well, just in case."
"Maybe we'll get lucky and catch this ghost," noted Murphy as he rubbed the back of his neck.
"You mean before it gets any spookier," Jack said.
Murphy looked over at Jack and asked, "Got the jitters, you need another cup of coffee?"
Jack smiled back. "That reminds me, can we stop for donuts first."
Murphy shook his head, looked over at Jack again, and said nothing.
********
QB195 opened its evening news report with a press conference held earlier in the day with the Police Chief.
"Unfortunately I am not able to provide much of an update on the attempted robbery at the Commerce Credit Union located at the corner of 14th and Main Street. We are however, seeking any information from the public who may have been in the vicinity of the credit union at the time," Chief Rogers offered.
“Do you have any suspects?” asked one of the reporters on the scene.
Chief Rogers responded, “We do have one individual who is considered a person of interest at this time.”
Another reporter asked, "What can you tell us about the person you are looking for?"
"As this is an ongoing investigation we are unable to release those details at this time. I am afraid that is all the time I have right now, we will provide additional updates, as information becomes known. Thank you for your time." He turned away quickly and left the podium.
Chapter 17
It should be just another routine flight, Captain Wade Johnson thought to himself. One I've completed too many times to count anymore. He settled into his seat, buckled up his seatbelt and smiled over at his co-pilot, Judy Chambers. Judy was a pretty, thirty year old with a slim healthy figure. The most striking feature was her long coppery hair that she usually wore in a tightly twisted braid at the nape of her neck.
"Good morning Judy how are the pre-flight checks going?"
"Excellent Captain Johnson, we have just topped up to one hundred twenty-five thousand litres of fuel and we will be ready for departure in about eight minutes," she said as she checked off the paperwork. They had already flown many flights together, each very familiar with the other’s capabilities.
In the airline field, there were a growing number of women whose goal was to achieve the rank of Captain and Judy was no exception. Captain Johnson knew it wouldn't be long before she would earn her own Captain's wings and take command of a commercial flight and crew of her own. He knew how competent and levelheaded an individual she was and that someday she would make an exceptional Captain.
Wade enjoyed flying with Judy, she had a quick wit, and sense of humour and her attention to detail gave Wade the confidence to allow her to take on additional duties. Knowing this experience would help her move through the ranks much quicker he had encouraged her over the last year to try tasks that were more complex.
With the pre-flight routine checks completed, the plane took off on schedule and slowly climbed to their cruising altitude. Wade and Judy went through their post-flight checks, and as they levelled off the plane, now on autopilot for its three and a half hour flight, the Captain addressed the passengers. "On behalf of the crew, myself, and the airline, welcome aboard flight 486. My name is Captain Wade Johnson, and along with my co-pilot and soon to be Captain, Judy Chambers, we will be your pilots for this flight. We have reached our cruising altitude of thirty-seven thousand feet with a speed of eight hundred twenty kilometres per hour, which is around five hundred nine miles per hour. This scheduled flight is for three and a half hours and we are expecting a quiet, smooth flight. Air Traffic Control has indicated that the weather reports say clear skies all the way through, so relax, and enjoy the flight. Seatbelt signs are being turned off, so please feel free to move about the cabin."
"It looks like a pretty routine trip," he commented to Judy, "I guess it won't be much longer for you as well. Looking forward to being Captain Chambers?"
"I can't wait Wade. Thanks for the acknowledgement." Once the plane was airborne, a less formal atmosphere permeated the cabin, something they both enjoyed.
She continued, "I finally completed the required hours and passed my medical, so there's just one last certification I need from the FAA. I should be good to go within the next month and then I should qualify for my own plane."
She added, "I sure have learned a lot from you Wade; you've taught me some valuable lessons on how not only to be a professional pilot but a good crewman. I'd like to think we've built a great friendship as well."
"Thanks Judy, Right now I'm really enjoying having you as part of the crew but I'll be happier when I know you have your own crew. This airline had better appreciate you. You've worked hard to get to this point. As for our friendship, I wouldn't worry about that. I suspect we'll be friends for quite a while," he replied with a smile.
They both sat back continually monitoring their instrument panels. Even though the plane was on autopilot and the computer was doing the actual flying, they needed to stay vigilant. Unfortunately, there have been on the rare occasion a malfunction in the system that has left an unsuspecting crew less time to adjust.
They had been on route for about two hours when a loud bang was heard somewhere on the plane and a shudder was felt through the structure. The plane automatically dropped out of autopilot and the instrument panel lit up like a fireworks display.
“We have a problem with engine two, Captain,” Judy stated as she checked the instrument gauges.
The Captain grabbed the side-stick controller and took over the control of the plane manually. He turned on the seat belt sign for the passengers.
He commented to Judy, "I can feel the vibration from the drag; it's much rougher than normal."
"Crap. Captain we just lost power to number two engine. She's stopped working," Judy reported.
Captain Johnson said, "Shut down engine two and the fuel supply to it."
Judy responded, "Engine two is shut off and so is the fuel supply Captain."
"To compensate I'll control the 'yaw' by applying more rudders to the left side engine and adjust the aileron input to the damaged right side," he paused, "There we go, that feels better, the plane has slowed down, and the altitude is starting to drop as well. I'm going to increase the thrust on engine one to further compensate."
Even in a situation like this, Wade continued to teach Judy valuable techniques.
As the plane levelled off continuing on its course, he observed, "Thank goodness these birds can fly on just one engine and we only lost a couple hundred feet of altitude."
He went on to request, "Judy, engine two is on your side, do a visual check and tell me if you can see any external signs of damage or smoke?"
"Will do Captain!" After Judy unbuckled the seatbelt, she looked out the narrow window at the engine and said formally, "Captain, I can see that the turbine blades have stopped in engine two and there is smoke pouring out of the top and bottom of that engine. There is also a large gaping hole, which has sheared diagonally across the wing and then through the engine at a real weird angle. The hole in the wing is quite sizable and the engine appears to be severely damaged."
The Captain asked her, "Are you sure that the hole was caused from the top dow
nward and not the other way? Does the engine appear to be securely mounted on the wing?"
She responded, "I'm not really sure but from here the engine seems to be securely attached."
She sat back down and buckled her seatbelt.
"Sounds good to me, hate to possibly have my last flight with you end nose down. Wade, you mentioned the hole through the engine and wing, were you thinking it could have possibly come from the ground, like a missile?"
He nodded. "It seems more likely that something from the ground struck us than something from above hitting us. It's possible to be hit by a piece of a meteorite or even lightning but we didn't see anything to support either of those possibilities and the skies are totally clear ahead of us."
She asked, "Is there any way to tell?"
Wade pointed out, "Well, you know when an object pierces metal it leaves jagged edges, so if it struck from above the wing downward the jagged edges would be inside the hole, whereas if the jagged edges are protruding out of the top of the hole then the object came from below."
"Yeah that makes sense. Do you want me to look out the window again to check which way the edges are pointing?" Judy responded.
"That's okay. I don't want you to leave your seat. We'll check when we get on the ground. I am more concerned about all of our safety, my curiosity can wait." Wade laughed.
"Judy, call control and report our situation. Advise that we have a situation and we must initiate an emergency landing. We will need to put down at the nearest airport with allowable runway clearance. Let them know we only have one working engine. I will address the crew and passengers of our situation while you're doing that."
Captain Johnson picked up the intercom mike and addressed the cabin, "This is Captain Johnson. Some of you may have noticed that we have had a failure in one of our engines. We don't know the cause yet but I want to assure you that each of these engines, on their own, have been engineered to completely carry the weight of this plane and passengers and we will be able to continue flying safely until we can land at an appropriate airport.
"Although we are only using one engine, it should not be any more rough or bumpy than usual but we have switched on the seatbelt sign. As a precautionary measure, we will now ask the flight crew to instruct you on the proper landing procedures in a situation like this. We are currently awaiting landing instructions and I will keep you updated on the location, which should be close by.
"Sorry folks, but I'm afraid this may delay your flight plans by a few hours." Some of the passengers nervously laughed.
"The crew would like to thank you for your cooperation and patience and we will make every effort to keep you informed on the situation. Flight crew please prepare the cabin for landing." He turned off the mike and turned back to Judy.
"Has Control provided a location for us to set this bird down on yet?"
She answered back, "Control is aware of the situation and preparations are being made. We should have emergency landing instructions shortly."
Captain Johnson said, "With a shearing hole in the wing let's hope it doesn't cause any other structural problems. We will continue to follow our current flight plan until we receive landing instructions. Hopefully we get those instructions soon as we need to reduce the stress on engine one and maintain the integrity of the damaged wing over engine two."
"Yes Captain. Sure would hate to have anything happen to engine one, the additional delay might keep us up here all day," Judy commented dryly.
Wade chuckled, "Always enjoyed your humour Judy, even at a time like this."
Just then, Marcie the lead flight attendant knocked and Judy unlocked the door to let her into the cockpit.
"Captain, all passengers are seated in the upright position and the cabin is secured for emergency landing. Are there any further instructions?" Marcie asked.
Captain Johnson replied, "We are just waiting for final instructions for landing. Get yourself strapped in with the remaining crewmembers and I will update everyone once we have clearance from the ground. How are the passengers faring?"
Marcie responded, "Nervous but overall the mood is calm. There's just one older lady who has never flown before who is visibly distressed but her son is looking after her."
"Hopefully there won't be any more changes to our current flying status other than a few hours delay for everyone. Thank you Marcie, go ahead and take your seat and hopefully this misadventure will be over soon." The Captain gave her an encouraging smile.
"Yes Captain." She smiled back as she left the cockpit.
Judy was now able to provide an update to Wade, "Landing instructions are being received now. There are three locations available, the closest is twelve minutes away, the second one is twenty-seven minutes, and the third is forty-five minutes away. The one located twelve minutes away, used to be a commercial airport that converted to a private airport a few years back. Lucky for us they kept one of the runways capable of handling a plane this size. There is an air traffic controller currently in the tower and they will clear the runway and flight path for us."
"Judy, what is our waypoint to the nearest southeast location and how far from the current flight path is it?" the Captain asked.
Judy responded, "GPS has us just over one hundred ten miles to the southeast runway."
Captain Johnson stated, "I don't want to take any more of a risk than I have to, half an hour to forty-five minutes is too long. Let's prepare for the twelve minute landing at the private airport and get this plane on the ground."
He spoke into the headset, "Control, this is Captain Johnson of Flight 486 requesting landing instructions for emergency landing at the first available location."
"Flight 486, you are cleared for emergency landing on southeast heading. Your destination will be TPA Trails End Private Recreational Airstrip. You should be able to see the landing strip in about ten minutes. Start your descent to 5,000 ft, continue at your current speed, all air traffic on your landing path have been diverted. You have a clear path to us, no air traffic. Transferring Control to TPA Tower, over."
"Acknowledging TPA tower, we are beginning our descent to 5,000 ft and maintaining our current speed, Flight 486 over."
Wade looked over to Judy and cautioned her with a smile, his hand up, palm toward her, "Don't you dare make a joke about the name of the airfield," he laughed as he said this, knowing she would not be able to resist herself.
Judy giggled and said mischievously, "Who me?"
Wade shook his head as he picked up the intercom mike and again addressed the passengers in the cabin.
"This is Captain Johnson. We have now received landing instructions for a private airfield approximately ten minutes flying time from here where they can accommodate us. Please prepare for landing and we'll see you on the ground. We are now beginning our descent."
He glanced over at Judy. "Well, this will all be over in a few minutes."
He continued, "I don't want to lower the landing gear until the last possible minute before touching down. Let's not take any chances that it causes additional undue stress on the damaged wing."
They quickly ran through the pre-landing checklist and everything seemed to be operational with the exception of the one damaged engine. He gently guided the airplane on its southeast heading and slowly continued his descent. The airplane was performing as designed but he would still be relieved when they safely touched down.
"This is TPA Tower to Flight 486, do you copy?"
"Yes TPA this is Captain Johnson of Flight 486, we copy."
"Flight 486, radar indicates that you have started your descent and you are on a direct flight path to our runway. Any update on your status, TPA over."
"TPA, there has been no change in our status. We have a hole in the wing that has caused collateral damage to engine number two and we've shut it down. The passengers are faring okay, but we'll all be glad when we land, 486 over."
"Flight 486, how many passengers, and crew do you have on board, TPA over?"
> "TPA, we have high density of one hundred seventy eight, including flight crew, 486 over."
"Well Flight 486, we're not a big city but preparations are underway for you and ground crews are getting ready for you here at the airport. Biggest excitement we've had around here in some time, TPA over."
"Understood TPA, I hope you've got the coffee pot on because you're about to get some unexpected visitors, 486 over."
The voice on the other end of the radio laughed. "The coffee is always hot and black. I just turned on the runway landing lights; let me know when you have a visual, TPA over."
"Will do TPA, Flight 486 over."
Well Judy, any plans when we hit the ground?" Wade joked.
"Funny, ha, ha, I plan to catch the next flight out; last night was just a stop over. I'm supposed to be going to my fiancé's place for dinner with his parents. I have a feeling I might be a little late. What about you Wade?"
"I just want to find a nice warm bed and a good book. It's been a long week."
A short time went by until the tower came back on the radio.
The New World Covenant Page 12