The Three (17 page)

As I said at the press conference, it’s rare for us to reveal our findings so soon. But this was a special case–people needed to know the incidents weren’t down to terrorism or some goddamned supernatural event, and the families of the survivors needed closure. You wouldn’t believe the number of calls the Washington office fielded from whackos convinced we were in cahoots with sinister
Men in Black
government agencies. Course, added into the mix was the fact that after Black Thursday the aviation industry was suffering financially, needed to get back on track. You heard that a few of the more unscrupulous airlines are cashing in on the fact that all three survivors were seated towards the rear of the aircraft? Charging a premium for the seats at the back; considering relocating First and Business Class to the rear to recoup lost profits.

It was obvious to us early on that terrorism wasn’t a factor. We knew from the bodies and wreckage recovered that none of the aircraft in any of the four instances had broken up significantly mid-air, which would have been the case had an explosive device been triggered. Sure, we had to consider a possible hijacking scenario at first, but no organisation came forward at any time to take responsibility.

As you know, there’s still a massive operation underway to locate the CVR and black box from the site of the Go!Go! Air incident, but we’re confident we know the sequence of events that led to the disaster. First of all, from the aircraft’s flight path and the weather data, we know they found themselves flying into a severe thunderstorm. The last contact from the aircraft, an automated telemetry message to the Go!Go! Air technical centre,
indicated that the aircraft had undergone multiple electrical failures, most notably of the static port heating system. This would have resulted in ice crystals forming in the static ports, which in turn would have resulted in inaccurate airspeed readings. Thinking that their airspeed was too low, the pilots would have progressively increased the speed of the aircraft to avoid a stall. We believe they continued doing so until they exceeded the aircraft’s capabilities and literally flew the wings off the thing. We’re almost certain Jessica Craddock’s burn injuries were caused by a fuel fire after the event, or from a malfunctioning flare.

Now, the Dalu Air flight was a different story. The series of factors that added up to
that
crash pointed to an accident waiting to happen. For a start, the design of the Antonov AN-124 dates back to the seventies, light years away from the ‘fly by wire’ technology used by Airbus. The aircraft was also operated by a small Nigerian outfit that mostly flew freight and which, it must be said, didn’t have the best safety record. Won’t go into too many technicalities again, but Cape Town International airport’s ILS wasn’t working that day–apparently it can be hokey. Also, the Antonov wasn’t fitted with modern navigation equipment such as LNS [Lateral Navigation System] and wasn’t adequately equipped to deal with the alternative approach system. The pilots misjudged the approach, came in approximately one hundred feet too low, the right wing clipped a power line and the Antonov immediately crashed into a densely populated township situated adjacent to the airfield. Gotta say, we were all impressed with how the Dalu Air investigation was handled by the CAA and the Cape Town Disaster Management Team. Those guys and gals know their stuff. You wouldn’t think it for a third world country, but they really got their ducks in a row asap. The head investigator–Nomafu Nkatha (don’t think I pronounced that correctly, Elspeth!)–gathered eye-witness accounts immediately after the event, and several people had caught the moments before impact on their cellphone cameras.

The investigators have still got a job on their hands identifying the bodies of those killed at the site. Looks like a lot of them were
refugees or asylum seekers and it’s going to be a near-impossible task tracking down family members for DNA matches. The CVR was recovered eventually. Guys had been collecting the parts, selling them off to tourists–can you
believe
that shit? But like I say, top marks to the team out there.

Next one I’ll deal with was the Maiden Air crash–the one I was IIC on, before I was asked to oversee the whole operation. The evidence suggests that the aircraft suffered an almost total power loss on both engines due to ingestion–probably as a result of multiple bird strike. This occurred roughly two minutes after take-off, which is the most vulnerable phase of the climb. The pilots were unable to return to the airport and the aircraft crashed into the Everglades approximately three to four minutes later. We found the black box on this one, but the data was compromised. The N1 Turbines on both engines showed damage consistent with bird strike although there was, curiously, no trace of snarge. In line with my recommendations, the board ruled that engine failure due to multiple bird strike was the most probable cause of the crash.

Then we had the one that I’d say was the most controversial. I’m talking about the Sun Air incident. The rumours that were going around about the cause of that crash were hard to contain–most notably the fallacy that Captain Seto was suicidal and brought the plane down deliberately. On top of this, the Japanese minister of transport’s wife said publicly that she believed aliens were involved. There was real pressure on us to sort that out asap. We had the CVR, which indicated a loss of hydraulics, and we know from the black box that the aircraft was effectively brought down by shoddy workmanship. The failure to follow basic repair procedures to the tail section resulted in rivets giving way. The structural integrity of the fuselage was compromised, resulting in explosive decompression some fourteen minutes into the flight. The rudder was damaged and the hydraulics were lost, and when this happens, it’s just about impossible to steer the aircraft. Pilots fought with that baby as hard as they could. Gotta admire them for that. We ran comparative test in simulators and no one has been able to keep it in the air as long as they did.

Course, we had to field a ton of questions at the press conference, lots of the reporters wanted to know where the bright lights a couple of the passengers said they’d seen came from. Could have been any number of things. More than likely lightning. That’s why we made the transcript of the CVR recording public asap, to stop those rumours in their tracks.

Capt–Captain

FO–First Officer

ATC–Air Traffic Control

Transcript commences at 21h44 (fourteen minutes after take-off from Narita airport).

FO:
Passing flight level three three zero, captain, that’s a thousand foot to go. Looks like it should be nice and smooth at three four zero, not much CAT forecast.

CAPT:
Good.

FO:
Do you have—

[A loud bang. Depressurisation alarm sounds.]

CAPT:
Mask! Put on your mask!

FO:
Mask on!

CAPT:
We’re losing the cabin, can you control it?

FO:
The cabin is at 14,000 already!

CAPT:
Go to manual and close the outflow valve. Looks like we’ve got a decompression.

FO:
Ah, Captain, we need to get down!

CAPT:
Try again.

FO:
The valve is fully closed, it’s no use–I can’t control it!

CAPT:
Have you closed the outflow valve?

FO:
Affirmative!

CAPT:
Okay, understood. Tell ATC we are starting an emergency descent.

FO:
Mayday, mayday, mayday–SAJ678 commencing emergency descent. We’ve had an explosive decompression.

ATC:
Copy that. Mayday SAJ678, you can descend, there is no other traffic to affect you. Standing by.

CAPT:
I have control. What is our grid mora?

FO:
Level 140.

CAPT:
Disconnecting the auto-throttle, dial in flight level 140.

FO:
Flight level 140 set.

[
Captain is on the intercom
]

CAPT:
Ladies and gentlemen, this is your captain speaking. We are starting an emergency descent. Please put on your oxygen masks and follow the cabin crew’s instructions.

CAPT:
Commencing emergency descent. Closing thrust levers, deploying speed brake. Read the emergency descent checklist.

FO:
Thrust lever closed, speed brake down, heading selected,
lower level selected, start switches to continuous, seat belt signs on, pax oxygen switch on, squawking 7700, ATC notified.

CAPT:
Can’t control the heading–she’s yawing to the right. I can’t get the wings level!

FO:
[
expletive
] Rudder or aileron?

CAPT:
I’ve got full left aileron, but she’s not responding!

FO:
Master caution hydraulics. I am cancelling the light. We’ve lost all hydraulics, we’ve got system A, and system B low pressure lights on! I’ll get the QRH and read the hydraulic checklist.

CAPT:
Get me some hydraulics back!

FO:
[expletive]

CAPT:
I’m going to take some more thrust on three and four engines.

FO:
It looks like the standby system is gone too. The hydraulic quantities are all empty!

CAPT:
Keep trying.

FO:
We’ve got 2000 feet to level off.

FO:
1000 feet to level off!

[
Sound of altitude warning horn.
]

CAPT:
I’m stowing the speed brake and taking some more thrust on numbers one and two.

FO:
The nose is dropping–pull up!

CAPT:
She’s not responding! More thrust to slow the descent.

CAPT:
Okay. She’s levelling off–still can’t control the heading. Keeps going to the right.

FO:
Try and take more thrust on three and four.

CAPT:
Okay. More thrust on three and four…

CAPT:
It’s still not helping–she’s still rolling to the right!

ATC:
Mayday SAJ678, what is your heading?

FO:
Mayday SAJ678 we’ve lost all hydraulics, we will come back to you.

CAPT:
We’ve got no rudder!

FO:
We are going to have to go to manual reversion!

CAPT:
[
expletive
] Feels like we’re in manual reversion already! I am struggling to control. Let’s see if we can get some of the speed off–300 knots.

FO:
The nose is dropping again!

CAPT:
Is there an airfield close to us?

FO:
The—

CAPT:
Give me more thrust on three and four!

[
Sound of GPWS, whoop whoop, pull up, whoop whoop, pull up, too low terrain, too low terrain, whoop whoop, pull up, whoop whoop, pull up, too low terrain
.]

CAPT:
Full thrust all four… pull up! Pull up!

FO:
[
expletive
]

CAPT:
Pull up! Pull up!

[
Recording ends.
]

END TIMES PREACHER STARTS HUNT FOR ‘FOURTH HORSEMAN’

At a recent press conference in Houston, Dr Theodore Lund, one of the driving forces behind the Evangelical End Times Movement, told a gathering of the world’s press that: ‘The fourth horseman is out there and it’s only a matter of time until he is found.’ Dr Lund is referring to the theory, first aired by a backwater Texan preacher, that The Three miracle children who survived Black Thursday’s devastating events are possessed by the Riders of the Apocalypse, sent by God to usher in the End Times. The theory is based on the last words of Pamela May Donald, the only American citizen on board the plane that crashed into the notorious Aokigahara ‘suicide forest’ in Japan. Dr Lund and his followers are adamant that there is no other explanation for The Three’s so-called miraculous survival, and believe that various global events, such as unprecedented floods in Europe, a drought in Somalia and the escalating situation in North Korea, are all signs of the impending end of the world.

And now Dr Lund has made the extraordinary statement that there is another child–a fourth horseman–who survived the doomed Dalu Air flight that crashed in Cape Town, South Africa. Citing the recently published Dalu Air passenger list, Dr Lund said that there was only one child on the flight who was close to the same age as the three children who survived the other disasters virtually unscathed–a seven-year-old Nigerian boy named Kenneth Oduah: ‘We strongly believe Kenneth will prove to be one of God’s harbingers.’

Dr Lund is undeterred by the South African Civil Aviation Authority’s definitive statement that there were ‘categorically no survivors of Dalu Air Flight 467.’

‘We’ll find him,’ he said. ‘It was chaos down there after the crash. Africa is a messy place. The child could easily have got lost or wandered off. And when we do find him, it will be all the proof those who have not yet entered Jesus’ fold will need.’

When questioned what he meant by this, Dr Lund replied: ‘You don’t want to be left behind when the Antichrist comes, you’re going to experience suffering worse than you can ever imagine. As it says in Thessalonians, “The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,” and Jesus could call us to him any day now.’