Date: Fri, 4 Jul 2008 17:35:37 -0700 (PDT) From: bill vincent <waycool805@yahoo.com> Subject: The Flight Part 8 "Bong!.... Bong!..... Bong! Bong! Broke the night silence, and was heard echoing all over the Plane's PA system. "Holy shit" Scotty said. "I have to GO! NOW!" The plane took two more dips and dropped several thousand feet this time. Scotty was frantically trying to race up the isle while trying to get his pants over his shoes. The planes lunging made things more difficult, but he finally managed and stumbled up the isle. Bong.....Bong......Bong! Bong! Went the page for Scotty Again. All the cabin lights suddenly came on and flooded the cabin with bright white light! Even the overhead reading lights at everyone's seat were on! I looked over at Kip..! "Attention Please Attention Please! This is the Captain. Sorry to awaken you but ..I need you to wake up ... NOW! We are going to have to make an Emergency Landing!" "The stewards will be coming around to make sure your belts are securely fastened and you are instructed on what to do... Once he stopped talking and just before he clicked off the PA you could hear "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday this is flight...." From someone on the flight deck in the background Bong..... Bong! Bong! Bong! Bong! "All flight Attendants...Secure for Landing W!" "MY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION! This is Senior Steward Scotty! We may be making a water landing.. Please find your Life Jackets under your seats and Place them over your head and make sure you click the latch to secure them by attaching the straps under your legs." "Please take your pillow and place it in you lap and bend your head and lean into the pillow when I say Go..!" "Once we land Please stay calm, Do not get out of your seats till I say Go TO! Please try to Stay Calm!" " Secure Cabin! Attendants!" came from the PA system The whole plane shuttered, and then dipped several times made a wide turn and dropped several more thousand feet. It was still the dead of Night and pitch black outside. All you could see was the pale white caps of the ocean below. Kip and I had stumbled back to our seats and somehow gotten our cloths on and were strapped into our seats...staring at each other petrified! I took Kip's hand...it was shaking so much... and squeezed it.. "It will be ok...at least we're here together!. I said. Two more shutters of the Plane and we started to descend. Not the normal kind of gradual descent, you would get when you were approaching an airport. This one had much more urgency. The turns were more deliberate. He wanted to get this buggy out of the air Now! We were going down as quickly as possible. Bong! Bong! Bong!.....Bong! Bong!... The grinding whirl of the wheel doors being opened could be heard followed by the sound of the wheels being lowered was heard. You could see the flaps of the wing going up and down as if he was trying to make the thing reach further ahead, giving him time to think, so that he could make up his mind what to do.. "GO! Passengers Please place your heads in your pillow....and Brace, Brace!yourselves. We are Landing NOW!." Was heard over the speaker system. The plane was dropping and then made a quick jump up! Engines Races as if they were trying to reach ahead...trying to jump back into the sky. The lumbering plane lunged forward fast....Another shudder of the engines One wing tipped up then down then the other... With that, there was a sharp drop....and the plane's wheels hit something solid.... With a thump....thump.! The plane bounced up and then quickly down....The whine of the Jet Engines at full throttle made us lung forward again. Then flaps up fully and then were placed on in Reverse to Brake. The engines were whining so much the whole plane was shuddering. We were on the GROUND!....! BLUE! Lights.. Blue Runway lights broke the darkness of the night. We were zipping by them at a rapid break neck speed... Too Fast I guess...The Brakes were being applied intermittently then Hard ! ....the plane began zigzagging right and left down the middle of the little runway...the Pilot was loosing control! The brakes were beginning to hold! You could smell burning rubber...! And I could see a glow and smoke raising from under the wheels..! Finally we were losing speed....The engines roared one last time then Died.... We stopped Suddenly..... Lights blinked on and off several times. A dead silent hush filled the cabin... a common sigh of relief was heard. Bong! Bong! "Ladies and Gentleman, This is Sr Steward Scotty, May I be the First to welcome you to the Island New Georgia one of the Solomon Islands "This is the Captain! We have made a safe but difficult landing...We will be for a brief time...to inspect the plane. You will be permitted to disembark. Enjoy your stay it is on the Airline..! " Everyone Cheered... I squeezed Kip's hand and looked into his beautiful brown eyes. He had tears running down his cheeks... He smiled....and I looked down at his groin.. he had a boner...So did I ...! "Must have been the excitement!" I said. Kip just laughed... "Real Adventure Kevin ! Real Adventure! I never had this much adventure before....never!" It took what seemed like more then an hour for the little Island's airport staff to come to where our plane landed, check it out and help us off the plane... Once out, Kip and I looked around. I took a deep breath. The smell of a tropical island was unmistakable, the pungent in the air. That sweet vanilla smell and almost humid smell of dense mango groves filled my nostrils. It brought back memories of other adventures. I snapped back as Kip was excitedly dragging me towards the front of the plane. We both stood in shock. The Plane had stopped at the very end of the tiny runway... the wheels were at the very edge of the runway pavement, the nose of the plane was hanging over the edge of the grass. Another 10 feet and we would have been in the surf. Everyone gathered around the captain and crew, we all thanked and congratulated them! "You'll see how difficult this landing was in morning was all he said." He looked really shaken. The moon was now in back of us brightly reflecting off the softly pounding surf. A thicket of palm trees lined the perimeter of the airport. Only the sounds of birds in the distance could be heard. You could just feel that this was a lovely tropical island. A head count of all of us was quickly made, miraculously of all two hundred and sixty passengers, no one was injured except slight bumps and bruises. There were now more people gathering around the plane. The islanders had come out to see their unexpected visitors. Most of the Islanders from what I could see, were young men and boys, dark tanned natives with bluish black hair. All the men wore open white short sleeve shirts or were shirtless with baggy linen white shorts and sandals. We quickly lost track of Mike and Scotty, the stewards busied themselves helping the ground crew unload luggage and other things from the plane. We were ushered away from the plane and taken by open pickup trucks back to the small terminal. We were told that the Island was part of the six islands of the Solomon Islands four hours air travel away from Fiji. The plane had suffered some mechanical damage and needed to be examined more closely in daylight. Parts may be available to repair it. We would be here at least till tomorrow night. If not, we may be here for a longer time. All expenses for food and lodging would be picked up by the airline. We were their guests. Since our stop had not been planned we were told we would have to share accommodations at the Island's two hotels. There would need to be at least four to six people to a room... A loud groan came up over the crowd of tired scared passages... I thought..."Shit I'm lucky to be alive...I don't care if I have to sleep with a hundred people.. Anything would be better then a crash landing in the water and....who knows what else..?" So that being said.. Kip and I looked at each other and shrugged. We volunteered to invite two very cute, young, tall, black haired Thai boys to sleep in our room. Keys distributed, we headed off to our room. To be continued.... Please keep up the comments.....I really appreciate hearing from you.