Orbital Maneuvers (44 page)

Paul and Alexander stopped talking for a moment to let their inner ear give them guidance as to the orientation of the ship.  Alexander acknowledged that he could feel the CRV listing to the port side, but Paul was not sure if he could feel it.  The sensation he was feeling right now could be as much from the power of suggestion as it could be real.  He couldn’t decide and it really didn’t matter what he felt.  They were in deep trouble, and there was nothing he could do about it. 

“I wonder if there is a cable from the drogue flopping around in the wind?” Alexander asked.

BANG! BANG! The ship resonated with the impact from the cables, shattering tiles every time it struck the CRV.

“Damn it!  I wish it would stop that!” Paul shouted above the racket.  As if to answer Paul’s request, the errant cables twisted in a wind shear the CRV was moving through and wrapped around the remaining cables supporting the CRV, pulling the chute closed like a purse.  The CRV responded to the smaller, less effective chute, by dropping like a wounded goose.

The three conscious men in the CRV yelped in unison as they felt the craft fall from beneath them.  The seat harnesses cut into their shoulders and thighs as they were pulled down along with the ship.  Nicholas strained to focus on the display hoping to see something encouraging, but all that he could make out was the altimeter rapidly counting down.  Nineteen thousand…eighteen thousand…

DROGUE JETTISON IN FIVE SECONDS
…the display flashed.

Nicholas blinked as he read the message again.  It made no sense, they are falling and the drogue is going to be jettisoned! 
Maybe the computer is really damaged
, he thought.  Before he could relay the message to the others, a loud thud emanated from the back of the CRV as the explosive bolts that held the drogue chute in place were blown apart setting it free. 

“The dro…” Nicholas paused as a new message flashed up on the display:

PARAFOIL DEPLOYMENT IN THREE…TWO…ONE

Another thud echoed through the tiny ship as the parafoil was ejected into the storm.  The raging winds grabbed at the parafoil, quickly whisked it away from the CRV and began to pull it open.  The crew felt a tug on the ship as the first stage of the parafoil opened.  Over the next sixty seconds, they felt four more jolts, as the parafoil deployed to its full size.  The storm clawed at the huge parafoil, but it, along with the CRV dangling below, had escaped the storm’s clutches.  The ship had finally slid outside the grasp of the high velocity winds that were circulating in the center of the storm cell.  The collapse and eventual release of the drogue chute gave the CRV the opportunity to slide through the wall of the storm cell into the calmer cloudbank surrounding it. 

“What the—”

Paul was cut off by Nicholas excitedly announcing the deployment of the parafoil.  “The parafoil is out!  We are at about fifteen thousand, six hundred feet and our rate of descent is slowing.  I think we are okay, considering what we just went through.”

“That’s good news,” Paul replied, “just get us down on the ground…please.”

“I will do what I can Paul, but I am afraid that most of it is up to the CRV and the laws of gravity.  In fact, the ship is steering us back to our original heading.  I just hope that we make dry land before we run out of altitude.  I am not sure if this thing will float or sink.”

“There you go again, cheer me up and then shoot me down!  I believe that it will float until proven otherwise.”

“I am with you, Paul,” Alexander added.

“So what happened—” Paul cringed at another loud clap of thunder, “back there?”

“I am not sure,” Nicholas answered.  “I think maybe the drogue was damaged and we started to fall, which triggered the routine to deploy the parafoil.  At least we have cleared the storm, for the moment anyway.”

Paul lay back on his seat and tried to visualize just what they had gone through.  He pictured the CRV floating in a black puffy cloud pierced with strokes of lightening and buffeted by ferocious winds.  With that thought, he suddenly realized that the CRV was no longer being bounced and spun about, and the noise from the storm was getting quieter.  He released the death grip he had on his seat, and after flexing his cramped hand a few times, used it to push his sweat-soaked hair off his forehead.

“Alpha Rescue…Alpha Rescue…this is Bird’s Eye.  The CRV is clear of the cell and is resuming its original heading.  They are at angels…ten thousand…the cloud deck is eight thousand…you should be able to get a visual momentarily.”

Jazzy switched on her mic.  “Bird’s Eye…Alpha Rescue One…we copy…we’re looking sharp.”

“I wonder if they are going to make it to the landing zone?” Andrew commented.  He was not sure that the CRV would be anywhere near its projected flight path, having just passed through this monster storm.  “Jazzy, see if Bird’s Eye can give us a heads-up on the CRV’s flight plan from here.  It would be nice to know now if they are going to make it to dry land or not.”

As Jasmine made the radio contact with the AWACS, Andrew finessed the large plane through the turbulent air, bringing it out of a steep banked turn and headed back toward the storm on the return leg of their patrol pattern.  They were many miles from the edge of the super cell, but its effects were still being felt as the C130 bounced and rolled with the heavy winds.  His hands gripped the yoke tighter as he struggled to combat a sudden crosswind that wanted to push the plane off course. 

He could feel the smoothness of the yoke where the plastic coating had been worn down to the metal revealing the age of the sturdy Hercules.  He caught himself wondering just how much longer they would be able to fly; if the dust clouds from the northern hemisphere would eventually find their way this far south.  Thinking of the disaster brought to mind some friends he had made when he was in the United States on a cooperative training mission with the U.S. Air Force.  He wondered if they had survived the impacts and how they were coping with the aftermath. 

He could feel himself being pulled into a whirlpool of despair and quickly pushed these thoughts out of his mind. 
No time for this now
, he reminded himself,
we have people here who need our help
. 

Glancing up from the instruments, he quickly scanned out the windows hoping to see the strobe of the CRV, but only saw blackness punctuated with random strokes of lightening.  He listened to the engines droning on and realized that with all of the plane’s years in service, and with all of the creaks and groans it spoke as it pushed through the turbulent air, he was still glad that he was on it and not on the CRV in this storm.  Jazzy’s voice pulled him back to the task at hand, and he reprimanded himself for drifting off.

“Bird’s Eye indicates that the CRV is still on course, and miraculously, still close enough to the flight plan to put down on the rocket range in Edinburgh!” she said.  “Things could have been a lot worse coming through that storm.  They were very lucky.”

“Well, they’re not on the ground yet, so let’s not jinx them.” Andrew answered, being one prone to superstition.

“Not me!  I’ve got my fingers crossed till they’re on terra firma!  By the way, Willie, what’s your estimated time for landing?”

Willie’s voice echoed over the intercom.  “I knew you were going to ask that.  I am estimating another twenty minutes.  That is, if they stay on the flight plan.”

“Thanks, Willie.  You can go back to sleep now,” Jazzy taunted.

“What do you mean, go back to sleep?  I haven’t woken up yet!” Willie quipped.

“Alright, let’s get our eyeballs outside, and see if we can spot their ship again.” Andrew said.  As they began to scan for the CRV, they heard Bird’s Eye trying to reestablish communications with it.

“CRV…CRV…this is Bird’s Eye, do you copy?” The crews on Alpha Rescue all held their breath waiting for a reply, which did not come.  The AWACS repeated its call several more times, but still no response.  Jazzy shot Andrew a concerned look and was not comforted by the expression on his face. 

“What do you think?  Bad radio, or worse?” she asked, hoping that it was only a communications problem.

“I don’t know.  Passing through the storm could have really messed them up.  If they are maintaining course, all that tells us is that the computer and guidance systems are working.  It doesn’t say much at all about the crew.” Andrew did not want to speculate.  He felt it only wasted time and really didn’t help the situation.  “Let’s find them, that’s our first task.  Then we can figure out why they’re not talking.”

The CRV continued its descent, still bumpy, but smooth as glass compared to what they just went through.  Nicholas watched the altimeter count down and decided that he should probably test the controls to make sure they were working while they had some altitude to play with. 

He slowly gripped the control stick and gently pushed it to the left expecting to feel the CRV bank to the left.  To his disappointment, he felt nothing and looked up to the display to see if their heading had changed at all.  The display had changed while he was concentrating on the control stick, and it was now giving him a choice:

CRV CONTROL…AUTOPILOT or MANUAL

Nicholas puzzled over the choice for a second or two and then pressed the display over the manual button.  The display cleared and returned to its previous output of information including altitude, airspeed, and rate of descent.  Nicholas noticed now that at the bottom of the screen there was a flashing enunciator indicating that the CRV was on manual control.  Next to that was a highlighted button that said:
ENGAGE AUTOPILOT

A smile cracked Nicholas’ lips, as he understood what the computer was telling him and whispered thanks in appreciation to the engineers who designed the computer control system for the CRV.  Again, he slowly moved the stick to the left, and this time he felt the ship slowly bank to the left.  He pushed harder and the CRV responded, not quick and snappy like the jets he loved to fly, but slow and plodding as he expected it would.  He banked the ship to the right to resume their course and was surprised as he overshot their heading. 

Nicholas shook his head and hoped that the computers could put the ship on the ground without his help because as slow as it was to respond, he was not sure if he would do a very good job himself.  He reached up and pressed the display over the ENGAGE AUTOPILOT button and the CRV smoothly returned back to its original heading.

Paul interrupted Nicholas’ experiment, “Hey, weren’t we supposed to contact someone when the parafoil opened?” he asked.

“You are right!” Nicholas said, as moved his hand from the control stick and reached for the display.  Touching the soft key for communications, the display silently changed, showing the receive and transmit frequencies like before.  But this time, the frequency listed was zero!  “Ah…we may have a problem here.  The radio seems to be set to a different frequency for transmit-receive.”

“How do you know it is different?” Alexander asked.

“Because it was not zero before,” Nicholas said, as he studied the display.

“Oh, that is a good reason,” Alexander replied. “What was it set to?”

“I am trying to remember.  Before it would not let me change the frequency.  I wonder if it will now…”

Nicholas’ voice faded as he pressed the button to increment the frequency setting for the receive channel.  He pushed it up a few Hertz and waited to see if the computer was going to allow him to change it.  To his surprise, the frequency remained where he had set it and he let out a sigh of relief. 

“Well, it looks like I can change the frequency, now if I can remember what the original frequency was.” Paul raised his head and was going to make a comment, but thought better of it, reasoning that Nicholas did not need any distractions at the moment.  After a few moments, Nicholas pressed the button to increment the receiver frequency and then did the same for the transmitter.  “That is it…I think!”

“Try it,” Paul said.

“I am,” Nicholas replied, then clearing his throat, “Bird’s Eye, Bird’s Eye, this is the CRV, do you copy?” Nicholas repeated his call several more times, but got nothing more than static for a response.

“Maybe the comm system is damaged?” Alexander volunteered.

“Maybe…but I think it more likely that the frequency is wrong.  Let me try this.” Nicholas said, as he stepped the frequency of the transmitter and receiver up just a notch.  “I remember the beginning of the number, but not the decimal part.  Bird’s Eye, Bird’s Eye, this is the CRV, do you copy?”

Static burst from the speaker followed by the familiar voice they heard before from the AWACS.  “CRV, this is Bird’s Eye, welcome back!”

“Alright!” Jazzy yelped as Nicholas’ call came over their radio too.  “They’re still with us—great!”

“We still have to find them, so look sharp,” Andrew reminded her.

“Bird’s Eye…Bird’s Eye, this is Alpha Rescue Two…we have visual contact on the CRV and are in pursuit.”

“Copy that, Alpha Rescue Two.  Alpha Rescue One, Alpha Rescue One…come to heading…zero…eight…five, angels, five thousand to intercept CRV.”

“Bird’s Eye, this is Alpha Rescue One, we copy, zero…eight…five, angels five thousand,” Jazzy responded, as the Hercules pulled a hard left-banking turn to meet up with the CRV.  Andrew put full power to the engines and increased their speed even further by putting the transport into a shallow dive to come down to the new altitude.