flight of freedom

         1.


         It was a cool and crisp May morning as Dana got up to get ready for her first day of work with American Pacific Airlines. She was just 24 years old but had already seen a lot of the world by working for Orbit Airlines. At 18, she got her first job as a flight attendant. Her father who was a Pilot for Delta had gotten her the interview as a favor. She had gotten the job on her own and had loved it from the first day. That was six years ago and thousand or maybe hundreds of thousands of miles ago. She had not worked for the last ten months because of her final flight. It was on Orbit flight 45 from LA nonstop to Dallas. On that, last flight the plane had run in to trouble about an hour and forty-five minutes out of LA. The plane was an older model 737-200 series and had logged thousands of hours of flight time. However, today the plane had suddenly decided that it no longer wanted to fly. With a large bump and a very loud bang, the number two engine ripped off the right wing in a shower of sparks and twisted metal. Suddenly there was fuel and oil as well as a few other kinds a fluids streaming out of the wing. The flight crew knew what had happened as all of the gauges for the number two engine went dead at the same time. Now if it were just the loss of the engine then they would be able to make a quick descent and an emergency landing at the closest airport. That was not the case here. Not only had they lost the engine but also there remaining fuel was poring out of the right wing. In addition, to make matters worse the wires that were now exposed still had power. They were throwing off a shower of sparks that look like a forth of July fire works display. Suddenly the passengers started to scream as they saw and felt what was happening to the plane. A few of the female passengers fainted and a few cried but for the most part, they all just screamed. The pilot’s with only about a three to five second delay cut the power to number two. They shut off the fuel and tried to keep the plane from falling out of the sky all at the same time. They where at 25,000 feet at the time that the engine ripped off and in the next three to five minutes the aircraft fell to about 3500 feet above the desert floor. At that point two things happened at the same time. First, they got control of the plane and second the right wing burst in to flames as the spilling fuel finally lit. The explosion rocked the plane and ripped off the wing and a good part of the skin from the right side of the plane. As the wing fell it took with it most of the right stabilizer and the rudder with it. As the rip appeared on the right side of the plane, it caused a sudden loss of cabin pressure. The sudden decompression along with the explosion tossed out the six rows of seats that looked out over the right wing. Twelve people where tossed out along with them. That spelled the end for flight 45. The stress that was put on the rest of the aircraft was too much and the tail ripped off about 15 seconds later. The plane now full of flames and rolling to the right smashed into the desert floor at about 350 knots indicated air speed. The plane gouged out a crater 35 feet deep and about 6000 yards long. There was only one person that survived the crash and she was in the tail when it came off. Dana was in the rear of the plane at the time of the mishap. She had taken this flight at the last Second to help a friend that had family problems that she needed to work out. Dana had told her to take care of things and she would take her flight to Dallas for her. Dana would normally have worked in the first class section but because she was taking some one else place she had to work where her friend would have worked. That saved her life that day. She had just returned to the back to get a young woman a new drink when the bump and bang shook the plane. She was tossed to the left and ended up stumbling in to the rear lavatory. She knew that some thing very wrong had happened. She tried to get to the front part of the passenger cabin but the lead flight attendant told her to get back to the rear and find out if there where any holes in the plane. She hurried back and looked. To her eyes, there was nothing wrong with the plane in the back as far as she could see. She called up to the flight deck on the intercom phone and reported that there where no holes or tears in the rear on the plane. She was told thank you and to sit down and strap in tight. She did what she had to do at once and was sitting there praying that every thing would be ok when the explosion came. As the wing ripped off and hit the tail, she was tossed from side to side forward and backwards all at the same time. She smashed her head on the wall right behind her seat. That impact knocked her unconscious and she was unaware off every thing after that until she woke up in the smashed tail on the desert floor.



2.


         As Dana woke up the last thing she remembers was the explosion and being tossed about in her seat. The smashed tail was all around her and she could smell smoke. She could just make out day light past a smashed piece of skin when the sudden fear of fire urged her to move. She started to get up and was stopped painfully by her lap and shoulder belts. Dana quickly unfastened them and got up only to fall back in to her seat with a cry of pain. Her left knee and part of her left leg was ripped open. It was all she could do to put any weight on it. As she got out and looked at what was left of flight 45 she fell to her knees. She started screaming “no, no it can’t be true no all of them.” She looked around and all she could see around her was smashed plane and people. The first person she came to was a young man that had been tossed out of the plane as the wing came off. He was still in his seat but his head was missing. The seat next to him was empty. She stumbled in the direction that the smoke was coming from and started to come across parts of the plane. She also started to see people or what was left of them. Dana cried out “hello is anyone there.” she heard nothing but the crackle of the flames. She came to the flight deck at least she could still tell what it was. She was starting to look in when suddenly she heard a faint voice. “Help me, some one please help me.” Dana wiped the smoke from her eyes and said “where are you, I can’t see you.” She stumbled forward “hello is any one there,” she said as she started to cough up a lung full of smoke. “In here I’m in here.” Dana moved to the left and looked on what was once the front windshield. “Help I’m smashed up in here, I don’t want to die like this help me please.” Dana was hearing the pilot she thought. “Hold on I will see if I can get to you.” she started up the nose of the plane and got in to see how bad he was pinned. Dana let out a cry as she saw that he was cut in half. His upper body was pinned by what she called the dash. She could see both of his legs off to one side. “You will be ok, some one will be here to help soon,” she said. Dana had know idea if it was true or not but she was not going to tell him that. “We had it. We got the plane back and we could have set it down out here.” Then with his face in pain, he said, “oh shit, that hurts. We had it then the damn wing blew up. We tried we really did but we could not keep it up.” Dana places her hands on his face “its ok you did all you could to keep us up Scott.” she was crying now “you did a fine job. This damn plane just did not want to fly any more.”  Scott smiles up at her and in a pain filled voice said “shucks it was nothing at all. Just doing my job” Dana looks down and whispers “thank you” but Scott was dead. Dana wiped the tears from her eyes and in a small soft voice told Scott “thank you for what you did.” She climbed down off the nose and move away from the mass of junk that had been flight 45. As she walked away, she started to hear the far off sounds of the emergency rescue coming to the crash sight. Dana looked up as they where coming around the far side of the crater. She saw a fire truck just coming to a stop. The passenger door opened and a firefighter jumped out. “Oh my god” he said. To come upon a crash like this astounded him. As he started to walk toward the wreckage, he noticed Dana standing there. “Hey are you ok?” he said in a loud but shaky voice. Dana turned around and looked right in to his dark blue eyes and said “I am now” then with out saying anything else she passed out and woke up in the hospital to doctors working on her left leg and a needle in her arm.


         Dana hears screaming and shouting and she can smell smoke and jet fuel all over the place. She is pinned in the flight deck beside Scott. She tries to scream but no sound comes out. Looking around she notices her legs off to the left and they are right next to Scotts. Then the flames start to creep in to the smashed flight deck and she jumps. “Oh my god” she says. Dana realizes that it was a nightmare and settles back in to her bed. She is in the hospital and has a large bandage around her left leg. “Hello hello is some one out there?” At hearing her voice, her nurse enters her room. “Hi how are you feeling today?” Dana looked up at her and said, “Ok I guess. What did you all do to me? I look like a bad copy of the mummy” At this the nurse gives a small laugh and speaks softly “when you came in you were pretty banged up hon. You had a torn ACL in your left knee, from a rather large piece of metal that cut your leg, a small fracture in your right foot, hundreds of cuts and bruises and a fractured skull. All in all I would say that you are looking good for having just survived a plane crash.”  Dana looks over herself and with tears in her eyes asks “did any one else make it out?” “No I’m sorry,” said the nurse. “You were the only one they found alive. The doctors say it was very, very lucky that you made it.” Later that day right after Dana had finished her lunch the doctor came to see her. “Miss Summers I see you are felling better today. I hope that you will forgive me for not coming to see you sooner but until this morning you where not really up to talking.” Dana looks at him and smiled “will I live doc?” she said. “Yes you will be fine in a few months time. The thing I was the most concerned about was the head injury. But I see that it is healing just fine and you should be able to go home tomorrow.” Dana gave the doctor a big friendly smile and said “thank you.” “Your welcome” he said as he left the room. “Oh miss summers, are you up to visitors? They have been here for the past few days and they are really eager to speak with you.” The smile left her face as she said “I guess I am. Go ahead and send them in.” The CEO of Orbit Airlines and a NTSB agent walked in. “Dana how are you. Can I get you anything? Any one you would like us to call?” She thought about it for a minute. “Can you let my dad know I’m ok? He is a pilot with Delta.” the CEO said “we have talked to him already Dana. He will come to see you as soon as he can.”  The NTSB man moved up and asks “Dana do you know what happened to flight 45? We have recovered the two black boxes and they tell us that the number two engine suddenly stopped working. It looks like it just went dead. We have not gotten a grip on it yet.” All the color left her face as she looked at the two men standing by her bed. “The number two engine came off the right wing and the last thing I remember was an explosion, the wing ripped off and part of it hit the tail. I was in my seat and I guess I was knocked out at that point. The next thing I know I am in the smashed up tail sitting on the ground.” A look of astonishment came over there faces. “The engine came off? Oh my god! I, I guess that would explain the readings for the number two engine going dead” said the NTSB man. “We found the tail and it looks like it glided down and landed on a large patch of softer sand as gently as possible, for a part of a plane going 350 knots and falling out of the sky that is.” The CEO looked at Dana and said “then it slid for a few hundred feet on its right side and then it came to a rest. The stabilizer had been torn off of that side.” “We found your seat crunched up on the far left side of the tail. By it landing how it did and, sliding on the right side we believe that is how you came though it alive” said the NTSB man. They started to leave “we’ll leave you alone now Dana. You get some rest, get better and we will see you soon.”  That had been ten months ago. They had taken care of all the hospital bills and all her other bills as well. Dana could just not get back on to an Orbit plane again. She really loved her job but every time she walled down the jet way she got cold chills and had to stop. The CEO of Orbit told her that it was ok. He said “is it all planes or just Orbit planes that you can’t get on?” “I think it is just Orbit planes” Dana said. The CEO looked at her for a few seconds and smiled as he said “you like what you do right? I’ll tell you what; my brother is the CEO of American Pacific. I’ll call him and see if you can go to work for him.” He stepped close to Dana and put his hand on hers “That way if it is just the Orbit planes you can’t get on can keep doing the job you like. It is the least I can do for you.” Dana smiled at him “thank you” she said “but you have done so much for me already. How can you say it is the least you can do?” “Well” he giggles a bit “you could have taken me and the airline to court and gotten a lot more money then what your bills cost. But the main reason is that you have been a great worker and are very well liked and respected here. We are going to miss you but I think you will enjoy working for American Pacific.” “Thank you again” she said. The next day she talked to the CEO of American Pacific Airlines, and was told she was going to start work the following Monday.

3.


         As Dana got out of bed that cool Monday morning she looked over at the mirror that was above her dresser. She sees the small scar over her right eye. That is the only visible reminder (at least when I’m dressed Dana says to herself) that she was hurt by the crash of light 45. The scar was a small line running from the bridge of her nose up and curving over her right eye. As she stretches and lifts her arms above her head other reminders show. Her once smooth tan chest is covered by scars. Twenty to thirty scares in all They crisis cross all over her breast and stomach. Dana quickly looks away as if she was shameful to look. She drops her night gown and heads for the shower. As she lets the water warm up she looks over the rest of her body. What she sees she dose not like. Her lower half is covered with scares as well. The biggest by far is the one running up her left leg. It starts just below her knee and comes to an end at her left hip. It kind of reminds her of a snake the way it raps it’s self around her leg. As Dana steps in to the shower and lets the hot water run off her back she thinks back to how she got all the scars. A shiver runs down her back despite the hot water. “Today is the day” she says to the wall. “No turning back now.” Fifteen minutes later as she stands looking at the uniform for American Pacific Airlines she realizes that she is nervous. The uniform has a red top with a white blouse and blue scarf. The skirt that goes with it is red as well. Dana opens a new pair of pantyhose and putts them on. They are black but she has found that black is the only color that will hide her scares. Dana never was that fond of pantyhose before the crash but now she can not stand to let people see how bad her legs look. Next she puts on a matching black bra. She puts on the blouse and then the skirt. She keeps the jacket off. Dana thinks she will have time to put it on after she gets to the airport. Dana walks into the kitchen to start coffee. As she turns on the morning news she shivers again. “Why am I as nervous as a girl on her first date?” she asks her roommate.  Dana’s roommate looked up at her and said “meow.” for the past six months her roommate had been a long haired black cat name Angel. With all the rehabilitation and doctor appointments she had, Dana had very little time for dating.