T 447 thuly. We have you at 110 mi. Your descent is going to be tricky. So I want to walk you through it now while you've got a minute. You copy.
Copy thu. Talk to me. You've got no green hydraulics, which means no flaps, no slats, and manual reversion on your controls, which you already know because you're living it. Here's the hard truth, Carter. No flaps means you're going to come in hot.
Real hot. Your normal approach speed doesn't apply. You're going to be crossing the threshold at best. Guess 180 knots when you'd want to be at 135. Ethan absorbed it.
How long's your runway? 10,000 ft at 180 with no flaps on a cold runway. Ethan ran it fast the way he used to run intercept geometry in his head. That's tight. That's real tight.
I'll be standing on the brakes the whole way and praying they hold. That's about the size of it. What's my other option? Silence on the frequency. Than said, what's my other option?
You don't have one, Carter. This is the only field in range. It's this runway or it's the ocean and nobody survives the ocean up here. Water's 30°. So, it's thuly or it's nothing.
Kalin had gone white again. Ethan, it's fine, he said. One shot. I've had oneot approaches before. You line it up, you fly it clean, you commit, and you do not flinch.
Thu, I copy. It's thule or nothing. So, it's thule. Give me a straight in. No maneuvering.
I don't want to bank this airplane one degree more than I have to because every bank costs me altitude I can't get back and asks the number two engine to do work it doesn't want to do. Straight in it is. We're clearing all traffic and lighting the runway up like Christmas. You're going to see us from 30 mi out. Appreciate it, Thu.
Ethan hesitated. Get the trucks out, the fire trucks, the whole show. I'm going to try to grease this thing on, but no flaps and a hot approach. If I get it wrong, I'm going to get it wrong at 180 knots with 217 people behind me. So, have everything ready rolling, brother.
Every truck we've got, you just fly the airplane. We've got the rest. Ethan clicked off, looked at Kalin. You heard all that. I heard it.
Then here's what I need from you. When we're on final, I'm going to be flying and you're going to be my eyes and my voice. You call my air speed every 5 knots. You call my altitude. You call the runway.
You do not stop talking because I'm going to be looking outside, handflying a dead whale onto a strip of ice, and I need you to be my instruments. Can you do that? I can do that. You sure, Ethan? She looked at him and there was something new in her face now.
Something that had been forged in the last 40 minutes out of pure fire. My captain died in that seat next to me an hour ago. And I kept this airplane in the sky by myself until you got here. Don't ask me if I'm sure. I'm sure.
For the first time since he'd walked into that cockpit, Ethan Carter smiled just a little. Doyle really would be proud of you. Let's make him proud then. Yeah. Ethan turned back to the black windscreen where far far ahead a smudge of light was beginning to burn through the dark.
The runway, the impossible runway, the only patch of pavement in a thousand miles of frozen ocean. Let's bring him home. Delaney moved through the cabin one last time, checking belts, moving people from the exit rows who couldn't operate the doors, doing the grim quiet work that flight attendants train for and pray to never use. She reached row three and knelt. "Ma'am," she said to Margaret, "we're going to be landing soon.
It's going to be a hard landing. I need you to get into the brace position when I call it and I need you to stay in it until the airplane stops completely. Do you understand the brace position? Margaret nodded numb. Then she grabbed Delaney's hand.
That man, is he going to be all right up there? He's flying us in himself. He and the first officer. But is he all right? I mean, Margaret's face crumpled.
He's up there risking his life for all of us, for me. And I she couldn't finish it. Delaney squeezed her hand once. When we're on the ground, ma'am, you tell him yourself. That's what you focus on now.
You brace, you hold on, and you stay alive so you can tell him. She stood. We land in a few minutes. God be with all of us. She moved on and Margaret Voss bowed her head and for the first time in longer than she could remember, she prayed for someone other than herself.
40 mi. Calin said, "You should have the field visual. I've got it. " Ethan's eyes locked onto the burning cross of light in the distance. "I've got the runway. " "Okay. " "Okay, sweetheart. Come on.
Come to me. " He wasn't talking to Calin. He was talking to the airplane the way he used to talk to his Viper. Low and steady coaxing. You've been so good. Just a little more.