Equestrian Airways Flight 482
Prologue
Equestria and the world at large were forever changed with the invention of the Aeroplane. While Pegasi, Dragons, Griffins and many other species had the natural ability of flight, it had naturally always been restricted to these species that possessed wings. Their flight times, as well as flying speeds were also capped by the natural limitations of their bodies. Long-distance travel for the masses globally had thus been largely relegated to trains, and journeys often took days or weeks.
The invention of the Aeroplane was thus a massive breakthrough; allowing easy, rapid travel for the masses across the globe. The development of the aeroplane was at an almost unfathomable pace, and not long after their introduction commercial aviation had become commonplace. While most Equestrian pilots were naturally Pegasi, there were occasional unicorn and earth pony aviators as well.
It was late into the night at Equestrian Airways’ Beringham Airport maintenance hangar, well past midnight. It was mostly dark, the few lights that were on were sporadically scattered throughout the hangar’s space. Visible in the dim and sporadic lighting were the dark silhouettes of the few jet airliners under Maintenance’s responsibility that night. With almost all of the planes checked out and ready for reentry into service the next day, the office was winding up.
A young, grey Earth Pony colt with a spanner Cutie Mark held up a clipboard, reading down the list when he opened his mouth to give a wide yawn. His shift was almost over, and the EAC 111 Narrow-body airliner that was under his charge was almost checked out. With the major overhauls such as the new engine testing and the faulty spoiler replacement having been completed earlier, Allen Key’s supervisor had already punched out and left him with a few minor tasks to wrap up. The last thing on his checklist was to replace the screws on one of the cockpit’s windows. The window had been changed earlier, but absentmindedly the pony who did forgot to change the screws as well, and had reused the old screws to attach the new pane. While a minor and seemingly unnecessary gripe, it was maintenance policy that new windows had to come with new screws.
One of the few lights in the hangar was illuminating the nose of the 111, and Allen pushed a movable ladder into position to gain access to the window. Unlike many other planes that had their windows fixed from the inside, this aircraft’s windows were fixed from the outside. The colt climbed up the ladder, screwdriver in hand and removed a sample screw from the window. He climbed back down and to the other end of the hangar to where the variously sized screws were kept. Policy dictated that he was supposed to check the maintenance manual for the required screw size, but he was tired, and wasn’t really in the mood to go find the manual and search through the pages for such an innocuous, anal detail.
Looking amongst the screws in their sorted cubbyholes, he found one that seemed the right size. He pulled both screws to his eye level, and closely examined them, trying to match their diameters and lengths as closely as possible. Satisfied with a match, Allen counted out 60 screws, and headed back to the plane to finish up the job. He punched out half and hour later, turning off the last lights for the night.
Little did he know, in the dim light of the hangar his vision had betrayed him. While they might have looked matching, the screws he picked were in fact slightly more than half a millimetre too small…
The next morning at Beringham Airport was a busy one. Many flights were scheduled that morning, mostly short-haul destinations throughout this province of Equestria, England and its surrounding provinces. The airport’s single runway was abuzz with activity, and jets were taking off one after another, making the taxiway seem like a conga line of airliners, all waiting for their turn for takeoff.
Near the terminal, Captain Rainbow Dash and Chief Stewardess Applejack, fully uniformed for duty, arrived in the Shuttle Bus from the Airport hotel. The two mares loved their new jobs in this age of commercial flight. Dash was a born flyer, and while it wasn’t the same as flying with her own wings, she loved being at the controls of anything that flew. There was something different about flying a plane that she loved in a different way to flying with her wings.
For Applejack, she became a chief stewardess after Apple Bloom decided to take over running the farm with Big Macintosh. With the responsibility of the Sweet Apple Acres off her shoulders, the Farm Pony who seemed so devoted to bucking Apples for all her life revealed she had developed a new longing: To see the world. Her adventures with Twilight and the rest of the Mane Six made her curious to see the world outside Ponyville. Being a stewardess, she also could put into use her Apple Family hospitality.
As the Stewardess walked and the Pilot flapped towards the entrance of the terminal, Applejack noticed the crowd beyond the doors. “Whoa, Nelly. Look at that throng of ponies,” AJ chuckled to herself, “guess today’s gonna be a might busier than our inbound from Manehatten.”
Rainbow agreed. This was going to be a busy flight, and according to ticketing office they were expecting about 90% loading factor, or 96 Passengers. That was nearly full for the small plane they were flying today: An EAC 111, a narrow-body regional jet that can seat 106 passengers. It was a big, or should she say “small” contrast to the 400-seat Boeing 747 they flew in from Manehatten 2 days ago.
“Heh, well at least it’s a much smaller plane, and it’ll only be 2 hours to Marelaga.” Rainbow’s expression turned a cheeky grin, “you sayin’ you can’t handle that, cowgirl?”
Applejack’s response was a playful punch and lighthearted warning of poisoning her food, before attention turned to the location of another crewmember who AJ only now noticed was missing: First Officer Fluttershy.
“Oh, Fluttershy woke up early and went to the airport first,” Rainbow’s response was nonchalant; this wasn’t unusual and she occasionally woke up early. “She said she’ll meet us in the terminal.”
Sure enough, waiting in the terminal for them was the already dressed for duty Yellow Pegasus. She had her wheelie bag to her side, and a clipboard with all the necessary documentation for the day’s flight.
“Morning Rainbow, Applejack,” Fluttershy called as she approached them, although her soft voice really doesn’t qualify as a ‘call.’ They were flying to the Marelaga, in the Province of Spain further south and 2 hours away.
She held out the clipboard and handed it over to her multicolour-maned Captain. “I already filed our Flight Plan, and went over the insurance forms and other documentation. Weather’s an all clear for our route. No storm systems and only light crosswind on the tarmac.”
Applejack had to split from the group as the Shuttle Bus with the rest of her Cabin Crew team arrived; she would have to attend to them. Rainbow meanwhile thanked and appreciated that Fluttershy had done the documentation since she arrived early. It was really nice of her to do so, but then again she was the Element of Kindness for a reason.
Fluttershy began piloting first out of curiosity, trying out one of the many new Pilot Schools that sprung up around Equestria. While she was normally a weak and unconfident flyer with her own wings, it turned out that at the controls of a plane she was much more confident and skilled. She proved very quickly a natural at piloting, and quickly earned her commercial pilot’s license. However, she hasn’t been flying planes as long as Rainbow Dash had, and she was thus still a First Officer, but was hoping to make Captain in a few years. Nothing seemed to make her happier than her confidence flying in the cockpit, and she was always happy about every flight…except this one.
Rainbow had noticed Fluttershy’s demeanour was different this morning. While soft-spoken, she was usually still excited in her own way to fly. Her body language, her tone, her very subtle reluctance to hand over the documentation…this morning, she seemed apprehensive and at unease.
“Fluttershy,” asked the Cyan Pegasus, concerned for her Co-Pilot, “is something wrong? You’re not yourself this morning”
Fluttershy gave a small sigh, pawing at the floor before turning her eyes and head up to face her Captain. “Rainbow, can I be honest?” Rainbow nodded to affirm her. “I have a bad feeling about today’s flight”
To Rainbow, this was very un-Fluttershy. She was usually so enthusiastic about flying a plane. To suddenly hear her apprehensive about a flight was…jarring, to say the least.
“What are you talking about? You love Piloting! You like being at the yoke far more than being at your own wings” Rainbow replied. From her disbelief, Fluttershy might as well have told Rainbow she wasn’t a Pegasus.
Fluttershy backed down a bit, before again voicing her concerns, sounding very serious. “Rainbow, I…I…didn’t just wake up early this morning like I usually do. I woke up in a cold sweat. I can’t explain it, but I felt completely shaken…and…and…terrified. The only thought on my mind when I woke was this morning’s flight.”
Fluttershy had lowered her head, almost on the verge of tears. She really was upset by this, and might have even broken down completely if it wasn’t for the cyan hoof over her neck, and its owner hugging and comforting her.
“Hey, c’mon Fluttershy, don’t sweat it.” Fluttershy looked up to her childhood friend, and her comforting smile. “It was probably just a bad dream, nothing to worry about. We’ll be fine.”
Fluttershy weakly smiled and straightened up. “Ok, I’m all right, Captain.”
Rainbow playfully tapped her on the shoulder. “That’s it. Now c’mon, we’ve got fuel to calculate and a plane to inspect”
“Bearingham Tower, this is Speedpony 482. We are at takeoff position on Runway 1-5, awaiting clearance,” Rainbow Dash voiced over the radio, with an acknowledgement from the tower. Speedpony was their radio callsign, and their 111 had completed its turn at the end of the taxiway. Now, it faced the 2,600 metres of straight asphalt that was the airport’s Runway.
They had agreed to split up ‘Pilot in Command’ into two shifts. Rainbow would perform the takeoff and command for the first hour of the flight. Later, during the second hour Fluttershy would take over controls, as well as landing at Marelaga. While she was perfectly capable of landing the plane, she wasn’t as familiar with Marelaga Airport as Rainbow was. She needed the experience if she wanted to be a Captain.
A few minutes later, the Control Tower gave Rainbow the all clear for takeoff.
“Speedpony 482, you have takeoff clearance 11:43, expires 11:45.”
“Roger that,” was the Prismatic Captain’s reply. Now began the standard takeoff procedure, which was a step-by-step process.
“My wheel” called Rainbow as her left hoof went from the steering tiller to the control column.
“Your wheel,” was her Yellow Co-Pilot’s reply, keeping her hands off her own.
“I have control,” was Rainbow’s next textbook call-out.
“You have control,” was the required reply.
Rainbow’s right hoof now rested on the two power levers that controlled the throttle to the engines. They were situated in the very centre of the cockpit, between and just slightly forward of their seats.
“Ok,” she exhaled, “here we go!” Rainbow then pushed them fully forward to maximum: takeoff thrust.
At the very back of the plane, the aircraft’s two turbofan engines spun up from idle. The muffled, yet distinctive whine of a jet engine revving up sounded throughout the cabin, getting higher and higher as the engines built up power. The two powerplants were now developing a combined 25,000lbs of thrust, and all that force now began to push the plane forward as it trundled down the runway.
The aircraft began to shake and rumble as she picked up speed. Rainbow’s hands were still on the power levers, in case the takeoff had to be aborted. Fluttershy was watching the various gauges monitoring the engines and the aircraft. The gauge that had her most attention, however, was their speed. It was picking up fast, and runway was rushing past below while the surrounding sights of the airport and scenery melted into the peripherals of her vision.
The speed was getting close to V1: The maximum speed to safely abort takeoff. Fluttershy gave one last glance at the gauges for anything wrong. None, all was well.
“V1,” Fluttershy called out. The plane continued to accelerate and pick up speed. Now they were approaching takeoff speed: Vr.
As Fluttershy called out “Vr,” Rainbow pulled back on her control column, pitching the nose up and the front wheel was off the tarmac. Soon, the rear wheels were off the ground as well and Rainbow’s plane and her 100 passengers and crew were now airborne and rapidly climbing.
Fluttershy’s eyes darted from the altimeter, to the VSI (Vertical Speed Indicator) to the artificial horizon (Attitude Indicator). All of them indicated they were climbing, to which she called “Positive Readout.” Off the ground and successfully climbing, Rainbow Dash radioed the tower.
“Beringham Tower, Speedpony 482. Successful takeoff, we are now climbing to 3000 ft, bearing 1-5-0”
“Roger that, Speedpony 482,” replied the tower. “Change bearing to 1-8-5. Climb and maintain to 3000”
It was barely 10 minutes into the flight, and the plane was now at around 12,000 feet, continuing to climb. Rainbow Dash was still at the controls, and the cockpit was in a relaxed mood.
In the passenger cabin, Applejack had unbuckled herself from her jumpseat next to the cockpit door and was making her way down the aisle to the galley. It was certainly a full flight with 96 passengers, and apart form the low drone of the engines the usual silence of the cabin during takeoff had given way to the soft chatter amongst some of the passengers, relaxing into the flight. All the passengers today were ponies, and majority of them were English holidaymakers, with the odd Spanish pony heading home from England. Amongst the passengers, she spotted a Unicorn family of 4 whose dad was lecturing the younger colt to stop playing with the window shade, a businesscolt Earth Pony checking through documents in his suitcase, and an elderly mare and her grandcolt who were discussing seeing some relatives.
The galley was already abuzz with activity from her 2 charges. One of her flights attendants, a familiar Caramel-coloured Earth Pony Colt with 3 horseshoes on his flank was already setting the kettles for coffee and tea, while the other, a lilac Unicorn Colt with a cutie mark of a smile named “Happy Go Lucky” was readying a tray of peanut packets to serve.
“Hey, Caramel, Happy; I see you got the snacks and drinks a-ready to serve.”
Applejack was glad they had already taken the initiative; her crew were hard-working flight attendants.
“Hm? Oh yeah, I thought we’d get it out of the way,” was Happy’s reply as he levitated another bundle of packets down from the locker. “Plus, did you SEE the queues back at the terminal? Poor things probably didn’t get the chance to sit down for a snack till now.”
“Probably didn’t get a chance for coffee or tea either,” added Caramel as he readied another kettle. “Oh, you might wanna ask the girls up front if they want anything. We got things here.”
As Applejack walked up front to the cockpit, Happy Go Lucky set his peanut tray down and nervously addressed his colleague.
“Umm, Caramel…”
Caramel had just flicked the switch on the last kettle when he heard him.
“What is it, Happy?”
Pawing at the floor, nervously stroking the back of his mane and barely able to keep eye contact, Happy asked his question.
“Caramel, we’re gonna be in Marelaga for about 8 hours. I was wondering if…you’d like to eat out or see some sights with me. I know a few real good restaurants there, one’s even near the airport if you’d rather have dinner late.”
Caramel blushed his cheeks red, he knew the answer, but wasn’t sure how to respond…or how badly Happy would take it.
“Oh. Umm…wow. Happy, I’m flattered. I really am. Thing is…I already have a Coltfriend.” Caramel remembered the big red stallion waiting for his trip back home to Ponyville next fortnight. Big Macintosh missed him when he was on his shifts.
Happy’s usually cheery, or even sheepish smile was gone. His ears folded back, his mouth was slightly open and from his face Caramel could tell he was devastated. He was trying to hide it, but Happy was a really bad actor.
“Oh…you’re taken. Nevermind then, fo…forget I said anything.”
Happy then felt a hoof under his chin that raised his head back up to eye level with Caramel. Caramel was smiling at him, not the plastic one he normally wore as a flight attendant, but a genuine one; the kind Happy himself normally wore.
“Happy, you’re really cute, warm, and fun to be around. I’m sorry that I’m taken, but if I wasn’t, I’d love to go out with you.” Caramel hugged him, comforting the heartbroken colt.
“C’mon, get your peanut tray. We’ve got 96 passengers to serve”
“Coffee would be good,”
“Oh, um…tea would be lovely. That is…if you don’t mind. And if there’s any more after the passengers.”
With a “sure thang, sugarcubes,” Applejack had left the cockpit and closed the door behind her to leave the two pilots to their flying, as they were about to enter some of the busiest airspace in Equestria.
“Speedpony 482, London Control. Maintain 13,500. Heading 1-9er-3” came the crackle of London Area Control.”
Rainbow read back the Air Traffic’s instructions, “London Control, Speedpony 482. Roger, maintaining 13,500. Heading 1-9-3”
Rainbow Dash loosened her seatbelt and leaned forward to look out of her window. Peering up, she could see another airliner, an MD 80 crossing their path 1000 feet above. About 3000 feet below, was another EAC 111, heading in the opposite direction to them. Not far behind it was a Boeing 757, and further out she could make out a few more aircraft, too far to make out. It was an amazing sight to behold.
They were above London, the busiest airspace in all of Equestria. Every year, over a million aircraft flew in and out of this airspace, carrying 127 million passengers from every corner of Equestria and the world beyond, inbound or outbound from one of London’s 5 airports. Right now they were flying through one of four of Haythrow Airport’s holding stacks. Circling 500 feet above them was a KLM MD-11 inbound from Trotterdam. 500 feet below, a Cathay Marecific 747 inbound from Hock Kong. In this one stack alone were six planes, spaced 1000 feet apart and waiting for their turn to land. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were just simply flying through it, 500 feet of vertical clearance between either of the planes. It made Fluttershy nervous. So many planes, and if anything happened, so many potential collisions…
As Rainbow flew the plane out of the stack, and was leaving London Airspace, she received orders from Air Traffic Control to climb to 18,000 feet before cruising out over the English Channel.
“Roger that,” replied Rainbow Dash, “climbing to 18,000 feet”
Rainbow raised the jet’s nose to get the plane climbing, but not long after breaching 17,000 feet, she began to hear an unusual sound, one of…creaking?
“Fluttershy, you hear that?” Rainbow swivelled her ears, listening for the sound.
Fluttershy could hear it as well. It was the kind of creaking one would hear if they were walking on a wooden floor, only…different. Also, it wasn’t coming from behind them, so that could only mea-…
BOOM! WHOOoooshhh!!!
It was like a hurricane had suddenly erupted in the cockpit. Right in the middle of her thoughts a loud explosion, a rushing wind and a sudden, freezing chill overwhelmed Fluttershy’s senses. Her vision was a blur of flying papers and fog. Her ears were overrun with the sounds of a howling hurricane and warning alarms. Her skin and fur felt as if it was going to both freeze and rip off from the sudden cockpit gale. She was in a panicked state and couldn’t make heads or tails of anything around her. All she could do was scream in fright.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!!! Wassat?! What’s happening?!”
As she came to her senses, panting, Fluttershy began to take in what was happening. The air was difficult to breathe. The sudden, now dissipating fog must have come from the decompression, and the icy, gale-force winds were coming from outside. Her hearing was coming back. The engines were roaring, and the sound of a thousand warning alarms was blaring throughout the cockpit, audible over the rushing wind from outside. As her vision came back, she saw one of the many papers from earlier blow past her…it was one of their flight charts! She now looked at her instruments, and they sent a chill down her spine.
The plane was in a steep dive, with the engines at full power. It was descending rapidly, too rapidly. They were now at 16,000 feet and continuing their dive. Her first instincts were to right the plane, but as Fluttershy tugged on her Control Column, it was stuck and wouldn’t pull back.
“Rainbow!” she shouted over the wind. “The yoke’s stuck, help me pull!”
It was then that she turned to her Captain, and only then did she realise Rainbow Dash wasn’t in her seat. All she could see of her were Rainbow’s cyan hind legs, blood dripping down and pinning the control column forward. The rest of her body, from her torso up, was through where the blown-out window had happened and outside of the plane.
“Oh my goodness…” were the only words the yellow Pegasus, now catatonic with fear could spit out; still tugging at the Control Column.
Most of the passengers thought that a bomb had gone off. A loud explosion, a rushing wind and the plane suddenly falling from the sky all seemed to indicate that. Caramel had been serving juice to a businesspony in row 14 when he was knocked off his hooves.
He stood up, to see a scene of utter chaos. Anything lightweight and loose was flying about the cabin, powered by a rushing wind from the front of the plane. The passengers were screaming and in a panic, and Caramel saw that the flight deck door had been sucked out from its hinges and into the flight deck. From what he could see, it looked like there was trouble.
He galloped to the doorway to find the remains of the door jammed between the floor and the engine power levers. However, his attention was to the Captain, who was unbelievably half sucked out of the cockpit window. Caramel grabbed on to Rainbow’s bloody legs, and was holding on for dear life.
Applejack had been preparing sandwiches to serve in the galley with Happy when she and he fell to the ground from the explosion. Sandwiches, boxes, peanut packets, trays, juices, empty cups and utensils rained down on them from the various lockers above. A heavy box of cutlery had crashed onto Happy’s head, knocking him out. However Applejack, dazed but still conscious, was quickly back on her feet and shook the debris off.
As she made her way to the front of the plane, she saw the cockpit door jamming the engine power levers and blocking the way. With quick thinking, she stamped on the middle of it and broke it into several pieces that she tossed aside. Now inside the cockpit, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
“What in thunderations…” she muttered to herself in disbelief.
The Captain, Rainbow Dash was being sucked out of the window and slowly slipping out. Holding on to her legs, preventing her from slipping out completely was Caramel. In the right seat, a teary-eyed Fluttershy, barely able to contain her panic was desperately pulling on the Controls. She was yelling “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday!” as loud as she could into her headset. The various lights and gauges all over the flight deck were lit up like a Christmas tree. Snapped from the daze, Applejack knew she had to help
Needing to anchor herself, she folded down a jumpseat behind Rainbow’s chair and threaded her hind legs through the seat belts. With her fore legs, she helped Caramel by holding onto Rainbow’s legs. With their combined strength, the two flight attendants tried to pull Rainbow Dash back in. Their tugging was enough to free the jammed Control Column, and Fluttershy suddenly found she could pull her own back.
Now with both Throttle and Flight Control, Fluttershy’s first instincts were to throttle down and level the plane. However, she remembered what Rainbow had said earlier. With so many planes in the airspace, they could have a mid-air collision. Furthermore, the thin air at this altitude made it difficult for even Pegasi to breathe, let alone Earth Ponies and Unicorns. She decided to dive down at maximum speed, to get below the air traffic.
The controller at London Area Control had heard the Mayday call. The beige unicorn colt with a lemon yellow mane and a cutie mark of a radio tower immediately focused his attention to the distressed plane.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Speedpony 482. We have an explosive decompression, descending rapidly! Repeat, descending rapidly!” came the desperate plea over the radio.
The plane was descending rapidly, at least 60 feet per second. He immediately called the plane to clarify what was the emergency.
“Speedpony 482, Roger. What is the full nature of your emergency?”
The flight seemed to ignore his question; she was just issuing the same Mayday cry as before.
“Mayday! Mayday! Mayday! Speedpony 482. We have an explosive decompression, descending rapidly! Repeat, descending rapidly!”
The controller asked again.
“Speedpony 482, Mayday received. Do you have control of the aircraft?”
Still, just the same Mayday cries as before. He tried again, desperate to make contact with the plane.
“Speedpony 482, this is London Control. Do you read me?”
With no response from the plane, the controller worked instead to clear planes away from the descending jet’s path, before trying again to make contact.
“Air Caneighda 882, London Control. Change heading to 0-3-0 and maintain altitude. Be advised we have an EAC-111 in uncontrolled descent bearing 0-4-7, 32 miles from your postion”
“Air Prance 1978, London Control. Climb to 19,000 feet and maintain heading. Be advised we have an EAC-111 in uncontrolled descent bearing 0-0-8, 47 miles from your position.”
Unfortunately for the Air Traffic Controller, Fluttershy couldn’t hear him over the rushing wind as the plane continued its full-throttle descent. The airspeed warning was screaming in protest, but Fluttershy had to quickly get the plane below air traffic, where she could level the plane without fear of a collision and breathe normally. She was keeping an eye on her altimeter, and watched their altitude rapidly click through 14,000 feet, then 13,000 feet, then 12,000 feet...the plane was descending so fast that her Vertical Speed Indicator had been stuck at maximum. When she had finally got below 10,000 feet only did Fluttershy pull back on the throttles and begin to level the plane. She had descended from 17,000 to 9,000 feet in little over 2 minutes.
With the plane now at level flight and travelling at a much slower speed, for the first time Fluttershy heard the Air Traffic Controller.
“…-ony 482, London Control. Mayday received, what is the full nature of your emergency?”
It was a big relief to the very anxious copilot’s ears. Finally some help.
“Oh, thank Celestia! L-London Control, Speedpony 482. We have an explosive decompression. One of the windows has blown out of the cockpit, and the Captain with it. She’s…half out of the plane, and probably injured. The flight attendants are holding on to her, but we request an emergency landing!”
From the sound of her voice, he could tell the First Officer was under a lot of stress; he had to find her a runway immediately.
“Roger Speedpony 482, emergency landing request confirmed. Do you have full control of the aircraft?”
Fluttershy gingerly tested her aircraft’s controls. Her rudder, ailerons and elevators seemed to be responsive. She already knew she had control of her engines.
“A-affirmative. I…I have full control of the aircraft”
Fluttershy had to land the plane, and without Rainbow’s assistance. She had no flight charts or airport approach plates to help her; those all blew out during the decompression. She had to land at an airport she knew, and there was one in the London area that she had flown many times before. Nervously, Fluttershy made her request to the already busy controller.
“London Control, I am familiar with Gaitwick. If you don’t mind, prefer to land at Gaitwick.”
The controller quickly and directly responded, Fluttershy straining to hear her headset over the wind.
“Negative, Speedpony. Haythrow is closest. Can you make it to Haythrow?”
What was that? Haythrow? She must’ve misheard. Surely they wouldn’t ask her to make an emergency landing at THE busiest airport in the airspace
“London Control, repeat that? Emergency landing at what airport?” she desperately asked, using one hoof to press the headset to her ear and block out the rushing wind.
“Make emergency landing at London Haythrow, bearing 0-5-2, 35 miles from your position. Can you make it?”
Fluttershy had never landed at Haythrow before. She had no approach plates, flight charts or Rainbow Dash to help her. She would rather land at an airport familiar to her in such an emergency. What if she got the approach wrong? What if she misjudged the descent angle? However it didn’t matter, there were almost 100 lives depending on her. She took a deep breath and shook whatever doubt she had.
“Affirmative,” she said with confidence, “can make it to Haythrow Airport.”
“Roger that,” replied the controller. “Maintain 9000 and change heading to 0-5-2. Haythrow Approach frequency 1-2-0-point-4”
With a sincere thank you, Fluttershy banked the aircraft to the right to make a wide arc that would put them on the right heading for the runway.
Most airports had rush hours: periods where air traffic was at its highest. For Haythrow, it was easier to say when WASN’T the rush hour. The airport was constantly busy except for late into the night and very early in the morning. Often their measly two runways would be so jam-packed they’d have a plane landing every 45 seconds on one runway, and taking off every 45 seconds on the other. The ability of Haythrow to handle over 1,300 aircraft movements daily with only two runways was true wonder of the aviation world. Their runways were operating at 97% capacity, and landing slots were scarce. There was always a constant flow of planes taking off, and another of planes descending from the 4 holding stacks for landing, one at a time.
But suddenly these smooth flows of aircraft were being ground to a halt. Haythrow Ground Control had issued an airport-wide suspension of all takeoffs. Planes now either stood waiting in their gates or waiting on the taxiways. Throughout the airport departure screens turned red with delays. At Haythrow Approach Control, inbound flights were being diverted to Marechester, Beringham, Gaitwick and Stampsted. Aircraft in the 4 holding stacks were now hurriedly being rushed down both runways, clearing the skies around the airport. They had a Mayday on their hooves, and every resource had to be at the plane’s disposal for a safe landing.
At Haythrow Approach Control, the holding stacks had been cleared and the skies around the airport were free for Equestrian Airways 482. Now they had to make contact with the aircraft to guide it safely down.
“Speed pony 482, this is Haythrow Approach. We have been advised you request immediate landing, is that confirmed?”
In the windswept cockpit of the plane, first officer Fluttershy responded, breathing a sigh of relief that they were one step closer to landing.
“Affirmative, Haythrow Approach. We have full control of the aircraft, but we request immediate landing.”
Having full control of the aircraft was a small relief to the controller. The aircraft’s course was taking it clear of the flight paths of inbound aircraft. If she could land at a specific runway, it meant he could radio the Stack Controllers that they could stop diversions and resume landings at the airport. He knew what a big headache all that traffic would be for the other airports.
“Roger, confirmed. Can you land at Runway 0-9 Right?”
Fluttershy knew she had control of the plane, and had a rough idea of the airport’s layout, but she didn’t have any charts of the airport to help her.
“Affirmative, but be advised I have no flight charts whatsoever, lost them all during the blowout. You’ll have to talk me down.”
“No problem, Speedpony,” the flight controller responded. “We have been advised you have casualties. Do you confirm?”
Fluttershy, who had been focused the entire time on flying the plane now turned to her left. Applejack and Caramel were still clinging on to Rainbow’s legs, but since the aircraft had slowed down and levelled off, her body was no longer pinned to the plane’s roof. It was now splayed against the left windows, and it was a horrible thing to see. She seemed lifeless, a rag doll in a torn-up pilot’s uniform blown against the wind. Her body turned and shifted as the wind buffeted it, and the cuts and bruises she had endured were smearing her blood on the windows.
“Affirmative. It’s the captain. He was sucked out of the window, we’re still holding on to him, but…” a horrid thought began to dawn on Fluttershy. “…I think she’s dead.”
At that moment the wind had shifted Rainbow’s head towards her view. Fluttershy could see one of her eyes half open, and it seemed completely devoid of life; the eyes of a corpse.
“Yes, I think she is dead.”
It took a few moments for those words to register to everyone in the cockpit. There was a good 10 seconds where everyone was silent, all staring at each other in horror, only to be broken by the Controller over the radio.
“Roger, Emergency crews will be on standby. Maintain altitude and proceed to Runway 0-9 Right”
Hooves were now scrambling to the airport’s Emergency Vehicles. Fire Engines and Ambulances rushed from their stations to Runway 09 Right, their sirens sounding across the airport’s apron.
Applejack and Caramel were still staring at Fluttershy. Not a word was spoken, but silently a thought passed between all of them: whether to let go of Rainbow Dash's body.
Fluttershy contemplated the thought. She could see her crewmembers were struggling to hold on to Rainbow Dash. If she was already dead, what was the point of holding on to her? But could she simply let go of the body of her oldest, and dearest friend like that? After a few tense, she made up her mind
“No, don’t let go,” Fluttershy ordered them. “Can you hold on?”
While Appplejack nodded, Caramel could barely respond. His arms were sore, burning with pain from holding on to the Captain the longest. It wasn’t just a case of compassion, and that Rainbow Dash deserved a proper funeral, but Rainbow’s body could also be easily sucked into the engine, damaging it and causing all of them to die.
Meanwhile, in the back of the cabin Happy was regaining consciousness. As he rose from the pile of Galley debris, it slowly dawned on him what had happened. His head was still sore from the blow, but he saw the commotion in the cockpit and made his way to the front while trying to calm some of the passengers. The dumbfounding scene that Applejack saw earlier greeted him.
“What in Equestria…”
Hearing another voice, Caramel turned to his co-worker. His arms were becoming numb, and he really couldn’t hold on much longer.
“Happy! Grab the Captain’s legs, I can’t hold on!”
Happy got in position behind Caramel, grabbing on to the legs so Caramel could let go. Caramel’s arms were sore and aching, and Happy couldn’t have picked a better time to come. He sat down on the other jumpseat to massage his arms.
Fluttershy had flown the plane in a large, sweeping arc to line up with the runway. During the arc, Haythrow Approach guided her down from 9000 to 3000 feet. Ending their arc, they were now 15 miles from the airport, and for the first time she could visually sight the airport, another small sigh of relief for the Yellow Pegasus.
“Haythrow Approach, I see the airport, and the Runway.”
The controller breathed a sigh of relief. His job was now done as Approach Controller, and it was Tower Control’s turn to guide her to touchdown.
“Roger, Speedpony. Handing you over to Haythrow Tower for final descent. Frequency 1-1-8-point-7-0”
She tuned to the new frequency, and thanked the Approach Controller. It was the home straight, but Fluttershy prayed to Celestia that nothing went wrong at this stage. She now had to ready the plane for landing.
“Caramel,” she turned to her flight attendant, still massaging his arms. “Prepare the passengers for landing.” Caramel nodded and left the cockpit.
Normally Fluttershy and Rainbow would go through the various checklists for landing, but the circumstances meant she had to do it on her own. Not just that, she didn’t even have the checklists. The timid pegasus, upon whom the lives of almost 100 ponies were depending on, would have to do them from memory. Fluttershy went through a mental checklist in her mind of what they had to do, staring with the flaps.
“Ok…here we go…Flaps, down,” and her hoof pushed the flap lever to full.
A low rumbling came from the wings, audible in the cockpit. The trailing edge of the wing began to extend and deflect downwards. The wings’ leading edges extended forward as well, driven by the same command. The trailing edge flaps and the leading edge slats were extended.
Fluttershy’s hoof now pulled back on the throttles, slowing the plane down further. The extra lift the flaps and slats provided meant the plane could fly slower, making landing easier.
“Spoilers…armed,” and Fluttershy pulled another lever, controlling the spoilers that would slow them down upon landing.
“Gear…down” and below her a deeper rumble sounded of the landing gear being lowered. Her eyes turned from the airspeed and altitude indicators to 3 red lights in the centre of her console, indicators of whether the wheels were locked into position. They simultaneously turned green to show they were one step closer to landing.
“Haythrow Tower, Speedpony 428. Flaps deployed and Gear down, starting final approach.”
“Roger Speedpony, we have visual on you from the tower. Do you require instrument landing?”
Fluttershy considered it. An instrument landing would mean she would have virtual “path” marked by radio beacons to guide her down for landing. All she would have to do is keep her plane within a “beam” displayed on her console, and she would be able to land the plane. It meant a pilot could land the plane even in a dense fog, unable to see the runway. However, it meant having to program the settings for the airport’s Instrument Landing System. Usually one pilot would fly the plane while the other programmed the ILS, but considering she was alone, it was something she couldn’t add to her already stressed workload.
“Negative,” she replied, her concentration now sharp and focused for the task at hand, “I’ll do a visual landing.”
Fluttershy lowered the nose and continued to descend towards the runway. As she did so, she lowed the aircraft’s speed further. She was looking for a series of lights near the runway called the Precision Approach Path Indicator, which would help align her angle of descent. They were four lights, designed to look white if seen from above a certain angle, and red if seen below. Fluttershy would have to align her plane’s descent so that equal numbers of the lights would be red and white.
She caught sight of the lights, and with their guidance aligned herself for the proper approach. The runway was getting closer and her altitude continued to drop; she only hoped they landed without any more problems.
To no one in particular, she called out her altitude.
“400…380…360…340…320…”
The runway was getting closer and closer. Down on the ground, Fire Engines and Ambulances stood on standby all along the Runway’s Taxiway. If the landing fouled for any reason, there was no telling where the plane would stop…if at all.
“240…220…200…180…”
The plane’s engines were audible from the ground. The emergency crews were like athletes awaiting the starting gun.
“140…120…100…”
The runway grew larger and larger, as if it was coming up to meet her. Now less than 100 feet above the ground, she raised her nose slightly to the horizon, “flaring” it so her back wheels would be the first to touch the tarmac.
80…
60…
40…
20…
Touchdown.
With a brief squeal, the back wheels made contact with the runway in a puff of smoke, followed by the nose wheels. The whole plane shook from the contact, and trundled down the runway, gradually coming to a complete stop further down with the aid of its brakes and spoilers. As it did, the sight of waiting jets and terminals greeted the passengers from their windows. It dawned on them that they had landed, and uproar of applause and cheers from 96 passengers and one flight attendant filled the cabin.
Fluttershy had made a perfect landing.
Immediately, emergency vehicles encircled the vehicle. As the emergency slides deployed medical crews checked people for signs of injuries. Near the plane’s nose, a hydraulic platform rose up for a firepony to bring the Captain to the ground. Rainbow Dash’s severely injured body was brought to a stretcher, and she was rushed to the hospital for Immediate Medical Attention. As she was wheeled away, one of the Paramedics thought she saw Rainbow Dash briefly open her eyes, like a brief return to consciousness.
Fluttershy powered down the aircraft, shutting it down as part of emergency landing procedure. Despite landing the plane safely, she was in convulsions, shaking from the adrenalin and realisation of what had just happened.
A couple of months later, in a grand ballroom of Canterlot Castle, the Equestrian Pilot’s Association held a gala dinner and ceremony. Pilots from across Equestria were in attendance, as well as many of the passengers from Equestrian Airways Flight 482 and Princesses Celestia and Luna themselves. The general atmosphere of chatter from the many tables died down as a Cyan, Rainbow-maned Pegasus that was still wearing bandages stood on stage and behind the podium.
“Fillies and Gentlecolts,” began Rainbow Dash. She had a speech with her, prepared of course by Twilight Sparkle, and was about to read it to the crowd. She had at first made it way, WAY too wordy. Rainbow didn’t even know every 5th word in the speech. Fortunately, she helped the Egghead trim it down to something readable.
“As you all know, we are here because of the incident of EA Flight 482, where a colossal maintenance screw-up caused the failure of a window and a Rapid Decompression. I was sucked out of the window, and was severely injured with broken wings, a broken foreleg, a dislocated hindleg and many open cuts and bruises, as you can pretty much see for yourself.” She drew attention to the bandages still on her face and head, as well as her foreleg still in a sling.
“However,” she began again. “While I would have most likely been sucked out of the cockpit completely, and being completely unconscious would have been killed, I’m still alive now thanks to our amazing Cabin Crew. They held on to me, using all their strength to keep me from flying out, and saved my life. I would now like to present the EPA ‘Distinguished Award of Emergency Air Service’ to Flight Attendants Applejack, Caramel and Happy Go Lucky.”
Applause of stomping hooves filled the Ballroom as the 3 ponies walked on stage to be presented with their medals. None was stomping louder than Big Macintosh, whose sister and as of last month, his fiancé were on stage, being awarded. The 3 stood proudly with their medals to face the crowd, the silver shining in the ballroom’s lights.
Rainbow began again, and the audience was once again silent.
“However, they weren’t the only ones who saved my life. I think the biggest thanks have to be said to the pilot that saved all our lives. Without her superb piloting, under stressful conditions above anything ever imagined, all 101 of our lives were saved. She even managed a perfect landing, and is still too shy and modest to admit it. This was some of the best piloting, and flying Equestria has ever seen. I’d like to present the EPA’s “Highest Distinction Piloting Award” to my First Officer, Fluttershy.
The meek and still-timid Pegasus walked up to the stage, ducking her head low and blushing with nervousness. With a few nudges from Applejack, she made to be in front of Rainbow Dash, who draped the gold medal over her neck. She was elated, but too intimidated by the applause to show it.
Before she could walk offstage, Rainbow Dash called her back. Apparently she wasn’t done with her.
“Also, in light of her distinguished flying under exceptional circumstances, Equestrian Airways has seen it fit to promote Fluttershy to the rank of Captain.”
If it was possible, the stomping of hooves grew even louder. Fluttershy was, however, completely dumbstuck. Had she just been promoted to the rank of Captain?
In her mouth, Rainbow had a neatly folded and packed Captain’s uniform and a Hat. Pinned to the hat as well was her new tag, which read ‘Captain Fluttershy.’ She received them, placed them on the ground and gave Rainbow Dash a big hug. Her shy self was gone and she was completely elated. Putting on the hat and pinning the badge to her gala dress, she stood to face the crowd with a grin that would have put even Pinkie Pie to shame. This time, she was enjoying the applause and the attention.
“Let’s hear it for Fluttershy!” Rainbow egged the crowd.
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can really fly!”
“Fluttershy, Fluttershy, Fluttershy can really fly!”
Fin
