Splashdown pt2

The beef meal with the cherry pie dessert
That's all I could think about
The crew was busy with their after takeoff things
Checklists and climb out

Out my side window
The lights of Chicago disappeared
Replaced by the inky black dark of Lake Michigan
Dotted by the occasional lights from a fishing boat

I was trying to decide when it would be safe for me to get up
Not just in the physical sense
But in that I didn't want anyone to notice me do it

I'd seen the flight meals loaded in the boxes back at the gate
I'd eyeballed them all
But I'd forgotten to set aside my meal
The only meal with the cherry pie dessert
The rest had cake
And the chocolate cake from Chicago O'Hare sucked
Don't ask me why
Chicago is famous for a a lot of stuff
But I guess chocolate cake isn't one of them

Every few days we rotated through O'Hare on our cargo route
Every few days I put up with awful chocolate cake
But gods be praised
Today it seems they ran short of that vile sheet cake
Today there was one cherry pie

The time seemed about right
We'd stopped the steep climb right after takeoff
And were into the more gradual constant climb to altitude

I made my move

Stealthily I watched the crew with one eye
Half wishing there was a cockpit door
But being an all cargo plane it had been removed
The crew had their eyes on their work
So I kept my eyes on mine

I disappeared from their view in the shelter of the galley
Where I dug out my meal with the pie
I made my way back to my seat
Hiding the meal in a cabinet next to my seat
I was just turning to sit down
When I was knocked to the deck by a sudden yaw of the plane

I could hear the captain swear as I picked myself up carefully
But no more unusual movements occurred
So I staggered up to the front to see what was up

"Something's happened to #1 engine"

I looked at the gauges on the center panel
Sure enough it was all out of whack
Some of the #1 engine gauges were flagged
One was pegged at maximum
One bounced wildly from stop to stop

The copilot turned his head to me

"Go look out the windows and see if you can see something"

His hand reached up and flicked on the wing lights as he said it

I turned and left the cockpit
Switching the upper cabin lights off as I passed the panel
So it would be easier for me to see out into the darkness
I crouched down next to the side windows
Looking out across the illuminated left wing
I could see where the #1 engine should be

But it wasn't there

The pylon was there
But that was it
It was as if a maintenance crew had removed the engine
And then sent us on our way
It was like it had never been there

In my mind
A short animation played over and over
A leftover from some training I'd done at Boeing years ago
Where they'd shown a stop motion sequence
That demonstrated what happens when an engine comes off a 747 in flight

It doesn't simply fall down to the ground
The breakaways are designed to allow the engine to go forward if it wants to
As it would under thrust when it is suddenly free of the weight of the plane holding it back
It kind of rotates forward, up, and over the top of the wing
Only then to tumble it's way down to it's watery splashdown

At least in theory

I walked my way back to the cockpit
Where the captain was talking on the radio
Trying to arrange an emergency landing for us in Detroit

I told them what I'd seen

The flight engineer didn't believe me
As if I'd tell a joke at a time like this
But he came back a believer after looking himself

I got on the phone to maintenance control
And had to push past the same level of incredulity

"No, when I say we've lost #1 engine
I mean it's gone, it's not there, as in not to be seen!"

Somehow the captain convinced Air Traffic Control to let us land in Detroit
Which was closer to our maintenance base

I had nothing to do for a little while

I sat down in my seat and got out my beef dinner with the cherry pie
It was still warm

That cherry pie was the best I'd ever had