Loosening Up Bk. 04 Ch. 11-15

Dave realized he was watching another of those 'Huh?' moments; only Gail was pondering the question. He looked to Elise only she showed no indication of wanting to be involved in the explanation. She had a slight smirk on her face as she enjoyed watching a naïve person suddenly get smarter.

Dave spoke, "Gail, Alice and I are legally and officially married. I also have Julie, Pam, and Heather that live with us and form our family. It's complex, but it works for us."

Dave turned to Elise, "Does she know her connection to me – to you, me, dad, Aaron, and her parents?"

Elise got that devilish grin again, "No. But I promised Betty that we'd tell her while she visited. It's long overdue."

"Tell me what?" Gail said with a sharp edge to her voice.

Dave had already assessed that Gail was smart and a very aware person about relationships and unusual situations. He led the group to the core living room sofas, "Come and sit everybody. We need some very open conversation for a few minutes."

After they sat, Dave looked at his mother, but all she did was smile and nod for him to continue.

Dave caught Gail's eye. "My mother is being devilish and I'm afraid you are the individual in her sights this time around. Just so you know, what I'm about to share we only learned about a few months ago from her.

"My mother finally revealed, after more than thirty years, that Aaron is not my full brother. She birthed him, but his father was none other than William Watson, your dad."

The intake of breath was loud and sudden. Gail whirled to look at Aaron. "You mean ... but we dated ... we even ... oh, shit."

Dave let a minute go by and no one else spoke. He then said, "There's more. It turns out that Bill and Betty Watson,your parents, had an intimate relationship with Hank and Elise Prentiss, my parents. This relationship went on for at least a decade or two."

Elise said from the sidelines, "Up until Hank died. Thirty-one years. Betty and I are still close."

Gail again gawked at Elise, but didn't protest. She muttered, "My dad died three years before your husband did." She looked at Elise.

Dave again let a moment go by before adding to the material at hand. "Elise, my mother, also let it be known that for twenty or so years she and my father were in a group of swingers. By implication, and perhaps she could confirm this now for you, your parents were also in the group."

Elise smiled and nodded. "We had a lot of fun and had some very good friends and lovers."

Gail's eyes were all but rolling around in her head as she absorbed all these facts about her life that should have been told to her years earlier.

Dave grimaced and said, "And one more thing, Gail; I'm your half brother. My father impregnated your mom, Betty, shortly after Aaron was born. Near as we could tell, my mother was out of commission sexually for a couple of months after Aaron was born. Betty filled the gap for my father, so to speak; or perhaps I should say that he filled her gap." He tried to laugh, but the attempt at humor came out as flat and inappropriate for the occasion, so he stopped.

Gail had sagged in the chair. She looked at Elise. "Is that true?"

"All of it." Elise said firmly.

Gail looked back at me and said, "And you have four wives?"

Dave nodded.

"I'd like to meet Pam and Heather."

Dave got up and went out onto the patio and retrieved Pam. He briefly told her what was happening, and brought her inside.

Pam shook Gail's hand. "Pam Prentiss. Nice to meet you. I hear you and Aaron used to date."

Gail rolled her eyes and added, "In an incestuous kind of way, as it turned out; although I guess we're not really related, but we might have been."

Just then Matthew roared through the core living room coming from the house. "HI DAD!" He raced over and hugged Dave with all his strength; this was a game they played.

"Matthew, this is our friend Gail. Say hello."

"Hi. I'm Matthew. Dave is my dad, but not my father. I love him. He's the best dad in the whole world." He spoke with great enthusiasm. He also took a quick look at the pool. "I've gotta swim, Dad. Bye." He was out the door and diving head first into the pool before one could blink.

Gail ventured, "There's a lot of that father-dad thing going around, I guess."

Dave mumbled in an aside to Aaron that everybody heard, "More than you know."

* * * * *

Grace came screaming out of the core by the media room just at the start of the cocktail hour, "EVERYONE, COME QUICK. THERE'S BEEN SOME KIND OF AIRCRAFT EMERGENCY AND KEN TOOMEY WAS INVOLVED."

Dave had never seen everyone move so fast. There was a stampede from the patio and core living room into the revised media room. Grace had the huge sixty-six inch TV tuned to CNN with the volume up. An announcer was reciting some details from an impromptu script in his hand.

"The Atlantic Airlines 737-400 had 158 passengers onboard and a crew of eight and was en route from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia. The reports we are getting from outside Topeka, Kansas is that the plane was at 35,000 feet when a cargo door apparently ripped off of the belly of the plane and hit the rear horizontal stabilizer, seriously damaging the aircraft in several places. Reports are the plane immediately depressurized, the floor of the passenger compartment buckled downwards several feet in multiple locations injuring several passengers. Passengers were sure they were going to die. More importantly, however, the pilots – Ken Toomey of Sarasota, Florida, and second officer Miles Cranston of Binghamton, New York, found the plane had lost all hydraulics in the tail section and thus the ability to control the horizontal attitude of the plane away from the flight setting when the accident occurred. A spokesman reported that altitude changes could only be made by changes in the power setting.

"The pilots declared an emergency as they plummeted towards earth to lose altitude and get down to where the air wasn't as thin so that passengers would be able to breath without using oxygen masks. Using what is called rudder trim, Pilot Kenneth Toomey also changed course for the nearest airport to land.

"During the descent to the Topeka Airport, the two pilots discovered that the left landing gear was also impaired. The left main gear would not deploy. The pilots requested the runway be foamed and then passed overhead for the tower and other observers to view the undercarriage of the plane. One of those observers commented that it looked like someone had tried to open the entire bottom of the plane with a rusty screwdriver.

"Slowly circling the airport, Pilot Toomey opted to make a wheels-up landing on the twelve-thousand foot runway. He touched down and the plane immediately slewed off the runway, nearly overturning as the pilots fought to stabilize the craft. The seriously damaged plane ended up about three hundred feet into a field adjacent to the airport.

"Emergency and rescue vehicles reached the plane, as the crew evacuated all of the passengers. Twenty passengers and three crew members were taken to the local hospital, several with severe injuries. Amazingly, there were no fatalities. I repeat there were no fatalities.

"We repeat this news bulletin. Atlantic Airlines Flight 3320, from Salt Lake City to Philadelphia, had an inflight emergency and has crashed, without fatalities we believe, at the Topeka, Kansas airport. The network is racing reporters to the scene. The plane, enroute from Salt Lake City to ..."

Dave clicked the volume off, but left the frenzied announcer on the screen. He stood in front of the Circle and the few guests that had congregated.

He spoke, "I haven't prayed in a long time, but I would like us to take a minute in silence with our eyes shut and focus on the well-being and health of the passengers, crew, and our friends that were on that plane."

The room instantly went silent, but everybody there felt the power and intensity of those moments. Many joined hands as they stood.

Dave ended the meditation by saying, "Thank you all."

Doug said, "Thank God Ken was at the controls. He knew that plane better than anyone, even the designers."

Dave looked around. Alice and Pam were crying, and Emily and Joan weren't much better. Rachel appeared numb. She was staring glassy-eyed at the television, apparently in some mild state of shock.

Owen came blasting into the room. "I'm leaving right now for Topeka. Who wants to come?"

Dave raised his hand, as did Alice, Doug, Pete, and Pam.

Owen made a snap decision, "Dave, Alice, and Doug. Pete you need to stay and run the show. Pam stay here and don't get stressed out. The worst is over. This is all a PR show from here on for Atlantic Airlines."

The four travelers raced around, grabbed their 'Go Bags' and were down at the hangar as Owen's pilots rolled the jet onto the apron. Everyone hustled aboard. The pilot spoke, "We're going VFR at first, while we file for the rest of the trip. As near as I can tell, Topeka Airport is still open, but they may close it down on a whim. We're assessing alternates as we go. Kansas City isn't that far away."

The plane was airborne seven minutes later. Three hours later they were on the ground walking from the Gulfstream 650LR to the FBO in Topeka. There was a lot of activity around the field, especially given the late hour. Emergency lights had been set up in the field where the plane sat at a crazy angle with one wing buried in the mire.

Alice had been put in charge of getting in touch with Ken. It had taken her two hours in the air, but finally she exchanged text messages with him, telling him they were on their way. Ken had told her he would be Stormont-Vail Hospital in Topeka checking on his passengers. He said he'd keep checking his phone so they could home in on each other.

Owen had arranged a limousine that turned out to be a black Hummer under the circumstances. The driver knew the way for the short drive to the hospital. He waited for the group, making sure everybody had his cell number.

It took fifteen minutes in the mayhem of the lobby, but finally a nurse appeared, grabbed hold of the four of them and led them to quieter surroundings. Ken appeared a second later.

"Thanks, Birgit," Ken said to the nurse with a grin. She batted her eyes as him and left.

The group hugged, leaving Alice especially in Ken's arms for a long time. Ken finally broke down and cried. He shook his head, "Damn, that was close. I kept thinking I didn't want to be a statistic. I didn't want it to end this way. I didn't want to take a hundred-and-sixty others with me when I went." A group hug helped restore some sanity and tranquility.

"God. Thank you all for coming. I feel like my REAL family just got here."

"How're the others?"

"They had to sedate Miles. He was great until we stopped and then he dissolved. I damn near did, too. Three of the flight attendants are banged up, one pretty bad. Four of the passengers are critical, they tell me. They're still in the OR being pieced back together. Most of the others they brought here are badly banged up from when the floor collapsed with the seats intact. We were lucky – damn lucky.

"The hospital was a little overwhelmed at first. They declared a major emergency. I think every available doctor within fifty miles came in along with carloads of nurses. Every patient is getting excellent care. That's what I wanted to be sure of."

"Where are the uninjured passengers?"

Ken shook his head. "The last I knew they were gathering them at the airport and trying to arrange for flights either back to Salt Lake or on to Philadelphia. After that ordeal, some may prefer to walk. There was talk about overnighting them in Kansas City at the Ritz or Intercontinental."

Doug asked, "How the hell did you fly the thing. I've flown one of those, and they ain't easy if anything's broke on 'em."

Ken laughed, "We had rudder trim. I could get a little trim response off the right elevator. I think the left elevator was nearly destroyed. I got a brief look at it as we evacuated the plane. The plane was on it's belly but from what I heard the door flapped around for a few seconds before breaking off – I mean this at 480 knots mind you, and then it took the hinges and part of one spar with it as it departed for the western part of Kansas. I think the reason the floor buckled is that that spar provided part of the support. The inside of the plane is a friggin' mess. The plane is totaled."

Alice asked, "Did the passengers stay calm?"

"I think a lot of 'em found religion, if you know what I mean. We had to fight the plane all the way to the ground. When that gear wouldn't deploy, I really thought that Fate was out to get us. I took on the challenge, and that's why the belly landing. If it weren't for sliding off the runway and hitting the ditch, we would have made a pretty passable arrival." He grinned.

Owen asked, "Have the brass for Atlantic shown up yet to tell you to keep your mouth shut?"

"I called in and talked to the President of the airline. He told me to come here, and not to grandstand with the press. I wouldn't do that anyway. He really does care about the passengers and crew. He was very concerned and kept thanking me for being such a great pilot. I guess all those hours of experience count for something."

Dave looked at Ken. He was immaculate and unflustered by the accident that had destroyed a hundred million dollar aircraft. He was talking a little on the rapid side, showing he was still hyped on adrenalin.

"How'd you know how to use the trim?" Doug asked.

Ken responded, "I flew every kind of emergency I could think of in the company's simulators in Raleigh when I first went to work for AA. One of the sims I flew was frozen elevator with no hydraulics. I just had to remember what I'd done. It gradually came back to me."

Doug shook his head. "The perfect meeting of crisis, skill, and preparedness. I'll fly anywhere with you."

The 'suits' arrived an hour later from Raleigh. They insisted that Ken do a brief press conference in the hospital cafeteria. A podium was set up and filled with microphones and recorders in seconds.

The four from the Circle filed in the back of the room to watch. Ken came out and got yelled at with a thousand questions. About a hundred camera clicked rapidly as the shutters opened and closed on the SLRs. The red lights on a dozen other TV cameras went on. Ken looked across the sea of reporters, some no doubt hastily assembled from Kansas City, an hour away to the east.

Ken remained mute, but held one hand up to silence the crowd. Gradually, the room became as quiet as a church as he continued to hold his hand in the air. "Good," he said. "Now, that you all have some manners and can be civil, I will speak. I will talk. You will not yell out. You will not ask questions unless I point to you because you have been polite and raised your hand. I am sure many of you have similar questions. I will not be able to answer some questions that I have no knowledge of. I will tell you that. I will start with a brief statement about me and then what happened as I experienced it. I want to emphasize the most important aspect of this crash is the damage behind me in this hospital where twenty-three of the passengers and crew are being treated. Some are seriously injured, and one of the doctors here will brief you separately on their prognosis when I am through. I am not a doctor, and will NOT comment on their injuries or prognosis. If you're ready to begin on that basis, please nod."

About fifty members of the press corps all bobbed their heads up and down. Ken then said, "My name is Kenneth Toomey. I am thirty-eight years old, and an ex-USAF pilot where I flew a number of aircraft, the most recent the controversial F-35 fighter-bomber. I became an instructor on that plane. I left the service three years ago and worked in the general aviation side of the business until about eight months ago when I joined Atlantic Airlines. At that time I had about 24,000 hours of flying time. In pilot parlance, that's a lot. I now have around 25,000, the last 1,000 in 737 aircraft of the type involved in this accident. I have also flown the 737 simulator for many hundreds of additional hours."

Ken then talked for ten minutes about the accident, telling what happened from the pilot's point of view. He commented on how he was able to steer the plane and get it down from altitude still under control.

Ken finally said, "I will take a few questions. Please raise your hands and I will call on you."

Half the hands in the room shot up. Ken pointed at one reporter. "Is there someone to blame for what happened?"

Ken shrugged. "That will be up to the National Transportation Safety Board to determine. I can think of dozens and on the other hand no one specifically. I can assure you that when the first officer and I did the preflight of the aircraft, that the door was secure and in the locked position. Captain Cranston and I verified that visually and on our instruments once we'd returned to the cockpit; there are indicators that light up if any of doors are not properly latched shut and sealed. If something was wrong with the cargo bay door as we departed Salt Lake City it also would have shown up as we climbed out because it wouldn't hold pressure."

Ken pointed at another reporter who asked, "Did you have any indication as to what was happening in the passenger compartment right after the door separation?"

Ken nodded, "At first, no. We heard the loud and rapid banging I described earlier that I am guessing was the door flapping against the skin of the aircraft after it had become unlatched, then the tearing sound. That was at 480 knots. I should add that we have no way to control the latch from inside the plane. I could tell we were losing a major part of the plane so we immediately throttled back and reduced speed. We felt and heard the impact of the door and spar tearing away and hitting the left horizontal stabilizer. From the feel of the aircraft, I then knew that we'd lost all the hydraulics back in the tail section. A couple of minutes later, the intercom rang and the head Flight Attendant Patricia Turner called me from the rear galley and told me what had happened in the cabin. It was not good – in fact it was damn grim. They were trying to tend to those passengers and crew injured when the floor buckled. Everyone had oxygen masks on. I'm sure you'll see pictures of it tomorrow. Based on what she described to me, I seriously worried about the structural integrity of the plane and whether it would hold together long enough to safely get it on the ground. I did not communicate my concern to the others since it would serve no end. Topeka was the nearest airport that could handle a plane of our size, so we changed course in that direction. So, only after that call did I realize how bad things were in the back of the plane. The most important job we had in the cockpit was to get the plane safely on the ground, and we did that. We also radioed ahead and asked for medical personnel to meet the plane for a mass casualty event."

Throughout the interview, cameras continued to click away. The video cameras were locked on Ken. Another reporter was chosen by Ken. She asked, "How does it feel to be a hero?"

Ken laughed, "I'm NOT a hero. I was doing my job, or trying to. By some standards, I failed to make Philadelphia – our destination, so I should be graded harshly on that shortfall. My number one job is safety and the welfare of the passengers on our airline. I practiced in the company's flight simulator for hundreds of hours, and happened to fly a scenario pretty close to what happened today. Further, when I contacted our corporate headquarters and briefly talked to our president Gerald Benson, the only question he asked me was how were the passengers and crew. In that regard, I'll turn the microphone over to Dr. Richard White, the chief trauma surgeon here at the hospital. I will make further statements, perhaps tomorrow after I've talked with the NTSB, FAA, and probably a few others also concerned about this accident."