“I don’t think the beast has gone down to Florida yet.” Said Graham, as he turned to his co-pilot, Dwight.
They were walking out of their barracks at the Andrews Air Force base in Washington, D.C., and had a long day ahead of them. They had to wake up at 5:30 in the morning to go on a mission. They were hurricane hunters, and had no fear of flying into hurricanes to collect data and inform the base of the precautions to send out to areas at risk of damage from the hurricane. Graham had flown in to many storms over his career as a veteran pilot, but was nervous. His lieutenant warned him and Dwight to fly with caution; the hurricane they were about to track was no joke.
Hurricane Ralph was a massive rotating cloud of doom. Meteorologists compared hurricane Sandy to Ralph, and found that Sandy was only a little raincloud compared to Ralph. Ralph had already taken the Caribbean, and was not slowing down yet. In the Bahamas, tides rose and flooded shores. The pink and yellow homes turned to brown, wet, lumps of rubble. The death toll spiked just minutes after the first wave hit Inaguas, the southernmost island. Floridians panicked and meteorologists predicted. As most of the state evacuated, Ralph headed away from the eastern front and offshore of North Carolina. It had a minor impact, only causing minor pier damage. Then, Ralph made a beeline for Florida, and was about to hit hard.
“Come on, hurry up,” Graham said to Dwight as they walked through the array of buildings and into a remote terminal of the base. The quicker they flew into the storm, the quicker they could save lives. Earlier that morning, the inspection team took a look at their plane to make sure it was ready to fly. Their C-130 was one of the toughest planes both of them have ever flown. Equipped with external sensors connected to computer systems, the crew of the plane can analyze weather results and send them back to headquarters. All the gizmos and gadgets also equipped make it a flying weather station.
Dwight and Graham climbed up into the cockpit. Knobs were turned, switches were flipped. Helmets were turned on, and a broadcast was made into their speaker. It was the head commander in the control tower.
“We just got word from headquarters. This storm is no joke, so prepare for immediate departure! You guys are #1 for takeoff.”
“Hurry!” Yelled Dwight.
The plane roared on. It turned onto the lane headed for the runway. The engines roared to life as the plane accelerated and took off. The storm was only down the coast by a bit. Soon, the sky got darker, and darker, and darker. Rain started to pelt the wings, and Dwight was worried of the wings freezing. The wind was shaking the clouds fiercely, and it was not slowing down. Graham pulled the joystick back, and the plane started a steep incline. For a moment, the plane rocked, and there was nothing to see but grey clouds. Suddenly, they broke through the clouds, and there was nothing but grey below them.
“Oh my god,” gasped Graham. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
Data was quickly collected, and was sent to headquarters. The evacuation of Florida started. Cars were packed, and calls to insurance were made. Now was the hardest part: the descent.
Graham twitched as he flipped the switches. He knew that this descent would be one of the most challenging descents of his whole career. Soon, it was the moment. The nose of the plane broke the clouds. This was it.
Dwight was thinking that this would be his last flight. The grey emptiness seemed to drown out the thoughts that were just happening about returning to the base and being congratulated for saving everyone. But, the thoughts now were about crashing, destruction, floods, and lonely children. He thought that if the data did not go through or they crash-landed on an evacuation route, he would be known as the pilot who doomed Florida. Luckily, Graham cheered him up. Or at least tried.
“No worries, kid,” Graham stammered, wearing a nervous grin. “It’s just a cloud.”
They were only off the coast of Virginia. There were only 45 minutes to the base. Graham was confident that they would make it back, hopefully in one piece. Then, they plowed through the clouds and were flying under the clouds, being pelted by rain. Dwight was anxious in both ways. He was excited to get back, but nervous he wouldn’t.
“See,”Graham exclaimed. “That wasn’t so ba-”
He spoke too early. A bolt of lightning struck an engine. It was already flaming. The alarm system spoke before both of them could mutter “uh-oh.” The plane shut off for a millisecond. Some controls were disabled, and buttons were beeping, flashing, or being pressed. Dwight suddenly remembered all his training and his experience, and started speaking into the headset.
“Come in, Andrews base control tower. I repeat, come in, Andrews base control tower. This is FN-2187 launching the protocol for an emergency landing. We are approximately 15 miles west of the base, and are expecting a short time to arrival. We have one engine in flames, so prepare the hydro team. Over.”
Graham was impressed.
This was it. Graham and Dwight were coming in hot. The fire was increasing area, and was wearing away part of the wing. The wheel hatches were turned off from the lightning, so a smooth landing was improbable. Sweat pouring down their faces, both pilots knew that they could soon be taking their final breaths.
The rudder was pulled down all the way. The landing strip was getting closer. 3 kilometers. 2 kilometers. At one kilometer, there were planes putting out the fire. Wing flaps deployed. All of a sudden, SCHREEAEEEAACCCCHHHH!!!!! Thirteen seconds later, Graham opened his eyes. He smiled. Dwight smiled. They hugged each other, and exited the plane.
There was quickly a crowd running towards them. Dwight smiled and knew that he saved the millions of people living near the shores. He felt like Luke Skywalker after destroying the Death Star. He knew he didn’t save a galaxy, but at least he saved Florida.