Sojourners of the Sky (23 page)

After a very long minute, Charles looked around the cockpit. He then silently glared at his altimeter in disbelief, noting that it indicated nine hundred and eighty feet below sea level. Heathrow airport is eighty feet above sea level. Charles knew instantly that John had set their altimeters incorrectly. The airplane had actually been flying one thousand feet below the altitude their altimeters indicated. Earlier, when Charles watched his altimeter descend below fifteen hundred feet, the aircraft was actually at five hundred feet above the ground. A chill went up his spine. He wanted to scream his head off about his copilot’s display of complete incompetence, but told himself to keep his emotions in check. There would be a time for venting, but it was not yet. In a raspy, almost inaudible tone, Charles said, “John, call the ground controller. Tell him we are ready to taxi to our parking area.”

John hadn’t yet realized his error in mis-setting the altimeters. As far as he knew, the captain screwed up. He mistakenly believed that Charles had descended too rapidly and then inadvertently went below authorized landing minimums. He decided he wouldn’t say anything about it, even though Charles’s incompetence nearly killed them all. Because his captain had been so forgiving earlier in the flight, John decided that he’d let the whole thing slide.

Charles taxied the DC6 to the main terminal in silence. There was much each of the five men wanted to say: apologies, excuses, blame, explanations, but none were voiced. They all knew their lives had come within seconds of being snuffed out.

Once they were safely stopped in the parking area, Charles set the parking brake and ordered Lars to shut down the engines.

All five cockpit crew members then sat it utter silence for nearly ten minutes, contemplating what might have been.

Twenty Four

“G
randma, how did you and Mrs. Tacker become friends? I mean, without Mr. Tacker knowing?” queried Lucy.

The two women were sitting alone in the kitchen. It was a quiet afternoon, and while Bill and Jack were hiking on the mountain behind the house, Lucy and her grandmother passed the time discussing whatever subject popped into either of their heads.

“It certainly didn’t happen overnight, I can tell you that,” said Lynn. “It started out with the two of us waving when we were both outside hanging the wash. I knew how the men felt about each other, and so did she, so at first we chose our words carefully. Then, over time, our relationship blossomed.”

“And Mr. Tacker never knew?” asked Lucy.

“Men aren’t always as smart as they want us women to believe,” said Lynn. “Liesel Tacker was in a tough position and she needed someone…”

*

The weeks following John Tacker’s final Pan Am flight were difficult indeed. He knew he would have never made it through all of the interrogations and written statements had it not been for the love of his life. Allowing his mind to contemplate a life with Liesel gave him an escape from the constant questions, the condescension they heaped upon him and, ultimately, the pity. Through it all, however, John remained stalwart, refusing to place blame where he was convinced that it so rightfully belonged. Even though the evidence against him was conclusive, John would not back down. He truly believed that he was being held accountable for someone else’s error. And in some odd way, that conviction gave John a feeling of righteousness. It was as if he was the bigger man for accepting responsibility so that other, lesser humans could continue on as they had previously.

Though one part of John’s life was hell on earth, his connection with Liesel was a welcome reprieve. In all likelihood, the turbulence that he was forced to endure was at least partly responsible for the pace of the young couple’s relationship. It moved fast. Some might even say that it progressed too fast. They’d only been dating for a few weeks when Liesel began to speak openly of marriage. John was in love, but at the same time somewhat perplexed. He couldn’t understand why such an incredibly warm, loving and beautiful woman, who could have easily had any man of her choosing, would give him the time of day, let alone speak decidedly about tying the knot.

The day his letter of termination arrived in the mail, John proposed to Liesel. Her acceptance took some of the sting away, but certainly not all.

The two wasted no time in planning their small wedding. After the ceremony, the honeymooners traveled by car to Niagara Falls, New York to spend a few days on a vacation from the world.

A few weeks after their return, Liesel announced she was pregnant. The truth of the matter was that Liesel suspected she was pregnant even before she and John began dating. They’d been intimate only once, during the three days in London while the flight crew awaited transportation back to New York to discuss the happenings onboard flight forty-two with Pan American management. She had very much wanted him to know the truth, but John became so excited when he heard the news, she simply could not bring herself to say the words. Liesel knew who the father was, and that knowledge made the truth all that much more painful. She loved John and simply could not bear to see him hurt anymore. It became a nagging secret that she forced herself to carry inside for many years.

The couple moved from New York to the mountains of Pennsylvania because John wanted his child to grow up in the country.

Though it was a long drive from the hills of Clarks Summit to New York, Liesel continued to fly for Pan Am while her husband’s search for meaningful employment went on. Luckily, many weeks passed before she began to show any sign of a pregnancy. Not surprisingly, however, she failed her preflight weigh-in one afternoon before a scheduled flight to Paris. Sadly, it was not a friendly, “we wish you well,” parting. Liesel’s lengthy journey home was tear-filled for many reasons.

*

“Are you telling me that Mrs. Tacker got fired because she was pregnant?” asked Lucy incredulously.

“Oh, indeed she was,” said Lynn. “Back then, stewardesses had to keep their waistline in check. Not only that, but they had to remain single. She was able to keep her marriage a secret, but not a growing baby.”

“That is totally bogus!” snapped Lucy.

Lynn flashed a smile at her granddaughter. She agreed with the young teen, but it was also a fact of life that she’d accepted many decades earlier. Lynn’s mom had told her that no matter how smart she was, when in public, she should never allow herself to appear smarter than a man. She thought it foolish at the time, and still did, but willingly accepted her mother’s guidance. “Times change, and thank goodness for that,” said Lynn, practically under her breath. “Anyway…”

*

Six months passed and John Tacker, no matter what he tried, could not land a job in aviation. Getting terminated from one of the finest airlines on the globe did not help. He did manage to find some work along the way to help keep their heads above water. John worked as a short order cook, a day laborer and a delivery truck driver, but those jobs didn’t pay well and were far from the ego satisfying work that he so much craved. The other airlines he applied to wouldn’t even bother to call him in for an interview. All he wanted was a chance to explain himself, but it wasn’t to be. John was an unemployed pilot who had been fired for gross incompetence. There was no way those words could ever be wiped away. He reluctantly concluded that, much like a Scarlet Letter, he would be forced to bear the “gross incompetence” label all the way to his grave.

Though a lot of innocent people might well have perished that day in London, John refused to acknowledge the altimeter error, clinging to the belief that he was merely a scapegoat. It was indeed Lars’s job to cross-check the altimeters during the approach, but Pan Am’s procedures were clear: It was the first officer’s job to check and then double-check all metric conversions, and provide the flight engineer with the proper information. Regardless, John simply refused to accept the fact that he’d made a mistake in his calculations. He firmly believed that the company fired him for the sole purpose of protecting one of their captains. But his self-imposed feelings of aloofness did not last forever.

Forgettable weeks came and went, while John ever-so-slowly slipped into depression. His unhappiness would have likely morphed into complete despair had it not been for Liesel. She saved him. The thought of starting a family with the woman he loved is all that kept him from going over the edge.

Living in his old hometown had a bright side. John still had lots of friends who never left Clarks Summit and remembered him for who he was. They didn’t know the John Tacker who’d been fired for gross incompetence. The life-long inhabitants of the quaint Pennsylvania farming community accepted John and his wife with open arms, unaware of his past trials and tribulations.

In spite of the welcoming surroundings, however, John’s bitterness continued to grow over time. Whenever he ran into old friends at the Summit Diner or in Bunnell’s Hardware store, or while casually strolling down State Street, he had to force himself to smile as they regaled him with stories of his old ex-best friend, Bill Pratt. Very few people, if any, seemed aware that he and Bill Pratt hadn’t spoken in years.

Reluctantly, John heard how Bill Pratt served honorably in the Marines and then used the GI bill to pay for flying lessons. He was forced to endure conversations about how Bill Pratt climbed the ladder at Northwest Orient, eventually landing the captain’s seat on the brand new Boeing 727. It killed him knowing that Pratt married the most beautiful and intelligent woman in town and flew left seat on a three engine jet aircraft--one that came with an income he had no hope of ever achieving.

When the review board with Pan Am and the newly formed Federal Aviation Administration were concluded, John tried contacting some of his old crewmates. With the exception of Asa, who sent a Christmas card with a short note every year, none wanted anything to do with him. Pilots, he surmised, could be a cold-hearted lot when they wanted to be. He tried telling himself that it wasn’t their fault; that they’d been coerced into believing that he tried to kill them all. But, nonetheless, it still hurt to have the men he shared a cockpit with turn their backs on him.

Liesel helped her husband keep tabs on his former coworkers. Even after being forced out of Pan Am because of her pregnancy, she kept in touch with a great many of her old friends. Things she thought her husband would like to hear, she mentioned in conversation. But if Liesel heard something that she knew would anger John, the information was quickly forgotten.

Through his wife, John learned that the Icelandic police had contacted Charles by telephone and questioned him for nearly an hour. Months later, John learned that no charges had been filed against any of the passengers or crew members on board Pan Am flight forty-two regarding Albert Viscelli’s untimely death. The Icelandic authorities concluded that Sonny must have somehow slipped when the propeller ran away, causing his neck to become lodged in such a way that he choked to death.

As the trials and tribulations played out over time, Liesel gave birth to a wonderfully healthy baby boy. Having a son allowed John’s mind to focus on other matters. Eventually, the happenings at Pan Am and the people he worked with while there became little more than a passing interest.

Over the years, John would also learn the fate of the rest of his crew through snippets of information gathered from here and there.

Within a year of upgrading to captain, Ed Vito, weary from all the hours away from home, retired early from Pan Am. With the help of his well-connected family, he opened his own pizza parlor in downtown Manhattan. Eventually, Ed presided over a chain of pizza restaurants located throughout the five boroughs that make up New York City. He remained single for the remainder of his days.

At sixty-seven years of age, G.R. felt it was time to settle down. He married an Icelandic woman twenty-six years his junior and was blessed with a daughter nine months later. Though G.R. would not live to see it, his progeny would one day become a pilot for a major U.S. airline.

With no mandatory retirement age for flight engineers, G.R. stayed with Pan Am until his seventieth birthday. The last airplane he served on, and the one that he ended up loving the most, was the Boeing 707.

After retiring, G.R. and his new family returned to his hometown of Fort Worth, Texas. That the top-rated engineer had grown up in the Lone Star state, was a fact he’d managed to keep secret throughout his tenure at Pan Am. For many years, G.R. had to force himself to subdue his accent, wrongly believing that folks from the east coast, and especially New York, would never respect a flight engineer with a deep Texas drawl.

Shortly after settling in at his new ranch, G.R. bought himself a quarter horse and named him Runway. He then spent his remaining years riding the trails with a smile on his face and a black cowboy hat atop his head. When he died, they buried him with his boots on, just like a cowboy should.

The body of Lars Larsen was pulled from the East River in January 1959. He’d been shot twice in the back of the head. The case remains unsolved.

Asa Day rose through the ranks at Pan Am, eventually earning the rank of captain on the B747. Following the demise of Pan Am, Asa was one of the lucky few who managed to hire on with Delta Airlines as part of their asset purchase of the once great airline. After failing to merge the two companies, the flying Clipper fleet disappeared and was relegated to history. The company that helped to write the book on air travel ended up a sad chapter in its own tome.

With a son in the house, John was forced to think more about his future and not so much about his past. Whenever he looked into his son’s eyes, he could practically feel himself being pushed toward action. It was as if the infant was telling him to move on. It changed him, but not enough.

The phone call from the government came out of nowhere. The FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] needed qualified pilots to act as aviation inspectors. His job would be to make sure pilots were flying by the book. John was stunned by the offer. It was a godsend. He couldn’t accept the position fast enough. That he’d been fired for failing to adhere to company procedures was never mentioned and was certainly not something John would be inclined to bring up.

After John’s separation from Pan Am, Charles kept loose tabs on his former copilot’s whereabouts. He long regretted what happened and wanted to do what he could from behind the scenes to help the young man get back on his feet. The fact that Charles Pratt was the person who was instrumental in helping John rebuild his life didn’t stem from any sense of honor or an admission of guilt on his part, though it did make Charles feel good on the inside. His real motivation was to secretly provide for Liesel and her son. A phone call and glowing recommendation from a highly respected Pan American captain was all it took.

The FAA, while not exactly the job of his dreams, would allow John back into the skies. And more importantly, he would be able to shed the label of gross incompetence once and for all.