Free Fall

Four

Queens, New York

Sirens wailed and emergency lights flashed as two ambulances sped by Kate’s cab on the Grand Central Parkway near the airport.

“We need Terminal C, arrivals pickup area.”

She directed the driver while keeping her phone to her ear. After four attempts, she’d finally reached Dwayne, somebody with EastCloud’s public affairs. He’d put her on hold.

She’d already left messages with the National Transportation Safety Board, the Federal Aviation Administration, LaGuardia Airport, the Port Authority and several other agencies. No responses. Her taxi was on the ramp to the airport when the line clicked and Dwayne returned.

“Sorry, who’ve I got here?”

“Kate Page with Newslead. What happened to Flight Forty-nine Ninety? Why did it declare an emergency?”

“We’re still assessing matters. We’ll put out a statement soon.”

“Are there fatalities? How many injur-?”

“I have to go.”

“Can you estimate the number of injuries?”

“We’ll put out a statement. I really have to go.”

The call ended as Kate’s cab slowed on the edge of havoc.

Red, white, orange and blue lights blinked from the police, fire and paramedic vehicles that were jammed outside the Terminal C arrivals area, backing up traffic. Kate paid her driver, who hastily scrawled a receipt.

Her phone was chiming with news alerts. She saw two news vans parked to the side. Up ahead, TV crews with shoulder-held cameras were shooting footage of people on stretchers being loaded into ambulances. Kate arrived to see one woman, her back raised on a gurney, her head bandaged and tears in her eyes. Microphones hovered near her and reporters hurled questions at her as paramedics placed her in an ambulance.

“Can you describe the flight?”

“It was horrible!” the woman said. “Just horrible!”

A cop inserted himself between the paramedics and cameras.

“Back off guys, back off!”

Kate’s phone continued chiming with alerts. Bloomberg and Reuters had issued bulletins on Flight 4990. Finally, she saw one from Newslead. Someone on the desk must have woken up, Kate thought. It sure as hell couldn’t have been Sloane.

Things were buzzing online, too.

Pictures were popping up everywhere. Twitter had images of the aftermath in the cabin. Luggage, clothes, books, laptops, food containers and other items were strewn about the interior. In one clear photo she was certain she’d seen streaks of blood.

Kate scanned the crowd for a Newslead photographer. Not finding one, she went inside to the busy baggage-claim area where more news cameras had encircled passengers who were recounting their ordeal for reporters. She joined one group and extended her recorder.

“Could you please take us through it again?” someone asked.

“It was right after they’d served us drinks,” a man with bloodied scrapes on his cheeks began. “Then bam, the plane tilts like we’re going to roll upside down. Like this.” He extended his arms, one hand pointed to the floor, the other to the ceiling as the woman beside him nodded.

“Everybody and everything not belted or bolted down flew,” the woman said, her eyes still wide with shock.

“People were hurled like rag dolls. The service trolley smashed around. We were hanging on with all we had,” the man said. “Then the plane rolled the opposite way, tossing people and things around like we were in a clothes drier. People were screaming and praying.”

“The luggage bins opened,” the woman said. “Suitcases and bags crashed on everyone. Then the jet just dropped and we were plunging, diving down. My stomach was in my mouth.”

“What went through your mind at this point?” a reporter asked.

“That we weren’t going to survive. That we were so helpless. That this was the end,” she said.

“How long did it last?” another reporter asked.

“I don’t know.” The man shook his head. “Five, maybe eight minutes.”

Kate glanced around and was relieved to see Stan Strobic, a Newslead photographer, had joined the group.

“When it was over,” the woman said, “and they got things under control, it got quiet, except for the moans and sobs. People were trying to comfort those who were hurt. I think one lady was a nurse. But the pilot never came on and said what happened. Nobody has told us anything.”

As the interview wound down, the couple-Connie and Carmine Delvecchio-spelled their names for the reporters. They ran a family towing business on Staten Island. Kate passed them her card.

Then she saw a woman across the baggage-claim area. She was near the baggage carousels, sitting alone on a bench, her back to the wall, her head raised with her eyes closed in anguish.

Kate nodded to Strobic to hang back as she approached her alone.

“Excuse me.”

The woman looked to be in her mid-thirties. She had a pretty, fresh-scrubbed face and was gripping her phone in her lap with both hands.

“Yes?”

“I’m Kate Page. I’m a reporter with Newslead. Were you on EastCloud Forty-nine Ninety?”

The woman nodded.

“Can I get your name?”

“Diane Wilson.”

“Would you talk to me for a story about what happened on the flight?”

The woman was trembling as she adjusted her hold on her phone. She swallowed hard.

“It was the worst thing you could imagine,” she said.

Kate sat next to her. “Tell me about it.”

“I was certain we were going to crash and I was going to die.”

Kate took notes. “And at that moment, what went through your mind?”

“All I could think about was my family, that I’d never see them again, so I said goodbye.”

Kate took a quick look around. “Your family was on the plane with you?”

“No. I was alone. I used my phone to make my last message to my children and my husband.”

Diane lifted the phone slightly and lovingly from her lap.

“You texted them?”

“I made a video.”

“Did you send it to them?”

“No.”

“Has anyone seen it?”

“No.”

“Would you let me see it?”

Diane considered Kate’s request.

“I’m not sure. It’s private and my family’s coming to get me.”

“I know, but it might help me to really understand what you and the other passengers went through. It would help readers appreciate your ordeal.”

Diane lowered her head to her phone, caught her bottom lip between her teeth and her face crumpled. She fought tears as she stared at her phone for a moment, then her fingers began working.

“You can look at it but I can’t give it to you.”

The screen came to life with Diane’s face, a mask of fear. Through her tears she struggled to smile as her voice quivered in the cabin.

“It doesn’t look good. The plane’s in trouble and I don’t think we’re going to make it. No matter what happens, you know that Mommy absolutely loves you. Brandon, honey, take care of Melissa. Melissa, you help your brother take care of Daddy. Del, sweetheart, you’re the love of my life. Be good to each other and remember how much I love you.”

Kate caught her breath.

For a second the footage exploded in chaos as the jet tilted at a ninety-degree angle, the image froze before the screen went black.