Chapter 1: The Storm

Chapter 1: The Storm

At half past six on a Friday evening in January, Lincoln International Airport was open, but it was having serious problems.

The airport, together with the whole of the Midwestern United States, had been hit by the worst storm in years. It had already lasted for three days. Now troubles, like spots on a sick, weakened body, were beginning to break out everywhere.

A truck carrying 200 dinners was lost in the snow somewhere on an airport service road, and so far the search for it had been unsuccessful.

At least a hundred flights were delayed, some by many hours.

Out on the airfield, runway three zero was out of use. It was blocked by an Aereo-Mexican plane which lay sideways across it. The front wheels were stuck in the deep mud which lay under the snow near the edge of the runway. Aereo-Mexican had tried hard for two hours to move it, but without any success. Now they were asking TWA to help them.

The loss of runway three zero made the work of Air Traffic Control even more difficult than usual. With 20 planes waiting to land, they were delaying take-offs. The airfield seemed to be full of waiting planes. Inside the main passenger terminal, too, there were crowds of impatient people waiting beside their piles of luggage. Even the large notice on the roof of the terminal - LINCOLN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - was hidden by the snow.

Mel Bakersfeld was surprised that the airport was still open. Mel was the Airport General Manager. He was a tall, powerful man. At the moment, he was standing by the Snow Control Desk, high in the control tower. Usually you could see the whole airport from here. Only Air Traffic Control had a better view.

Tonight you could see only a few lights. This was an unusually hard winter. The storm had started five days ago in the Colorado Mountains, and then swept across a large part of the United States. It brought strong winds, freezing cold and heavy snow.

Maintenance men with snowploughs were clearing the snow as it fell, but by now many of them were terribly tired. The storm seemed to be winning.

Danny Farrow was at the Snow Control Desk, talking to the Maintenance Snow Centre by radio phone.

‘We’re losing ground. I need six more snowploughs out there.’

‘Oh sure, sure,’ an angry voice replied. ‘Six more snowploughs! And where do you think they’re going to come from? Any more stupid ideas?’

‘We sent four ploughs out to find that truck,’ Danny said. ‘If they haven’t found it yet, they’ll just have to try harder.’

An explosion of anger came over the radio phone in reply.

Mel knew how easily tempers were lost under these conditions. These men were highly trained, and they were working as hard as they could.

The maintenance man’s voice came on the phone again.

‘We’re worried about that truck too, Danny. The driver could freeze to death. He won’t die of hunger, though, if he has any sense!’

‘This search will block the service roads,’ Danny told Mel. ‘You’ll get plenty of complaints about that.’

‘I know,’ Mel said. Airport managers were used to complaints. The most important thing was to save the life of the driver. For a moment, he wished that he could sit down and help Danny. Mel needed action. The cold weather was making his bad foot - an old war wound from Korea - ache. Then he realized that Danny could work better on his own.

He telephoned Air Traffic Control.

‘Any progress on the Aereo-Mexican plane?’

‘Not yet, Mr Bakersfeld.’

‘Is the runway still blocked?’

‘Yes.’

This airport needs more runways, Mel thought. This proves it. The trouble was, there were plenty of people who disagreed with him, and they were more powerful than he was.

‘And another thing,’ he was told. ‘As runway three zero is blocked, planes are taking off over Meadowood. The complaints have started coming in already.’

‘Oh no!’ Mel said. He was tired of hearing complaints from the people who lived in Meadowood. The airport had been built long before their houses, but they never seemed to stop complaining about the noise. As a result, the runway nearest to Meadowood was used only under special conditions. On the occasions when it had to be used, pilots were told to reduce the noise made by the engines on take-off. It was possible to do this, but most pilots considered it to be foolish and dangerous and hated being told to do it. In any case, it had not stopped the complaints from Meadowood.

‘How many complaints have there been?’ Mel asked.

‘At least 50.’

‘Don’t they know there’s a storm and we have a runway out of use?’

‘We try to tell them, but they don’t want to listen. I hear they’re holding a meeting tonight to decide what to do next.’

More trouble, Mel thought.

He asked: ‘Is my brother on duty tonight?’

‘Yes.’

Mel’s brother, Keith, worked in Air Traffic Control.

‘Is he all right? Does he seem nervous?’

The other man paused before he replied. ‘Yes, he does. More than usual. I wish I could tell him to rest, but we’re short of men already’

‘I know, I know.’ Recently Mel had been very worried about Keith.

He put the phone down, and thought again about a note he had received 15 minutes before. It was from Tanya Livingston. She worked for Trans America as the Passenger Relations Agent, and was a special friend of Mel’s.

The note warned him that the Airlines Snow Committee, led by Captain Vernon Demerest, was going to blame Mel for the many flight delays. They were going to attack him for what they believed was bad management.

Captain Vernon Demerest was one of Trans America’s most experienced pilots. He was married to Mel’s sister, Sarah. The Bakersfelds were a real “aviation family”, but even with this family connection Mel and Vernon were not friendly with one another. Recently they had exchanged angry words at an important meeting, and Mel felt that the critical report was a direct result of this.

He was not really worried, because he knew that he was doing everything he could to run the airport well. It was unpleasant to be criticized, but his conscience was clear.

Tanya ended her note by inviting him to have a cup of coffee with her, when he had time. Mel decided he had time now. He always enjoyed talking to Tanya.