Chapter 36: The Runway Stays Blocked

Chapter 36: The Runway Stays Blocked

Through the radio in his fast-moving car, Mel could hear emergency vehicles being called out onto the airfield. They had to be there to deal with the possibility of fire, and to take the people who had been hurt off the plane.

He received some information about Patroni. He hoped to be able to move the Aereo-Mexican plane in 20 minutes.

Tanya and Tomlinson were with Mel in the car. The reporter had helped Mel earlier, by telling him what Elliott Freemantle was doing, and now Mel wanted to help him to get a good story.

‘Let me check something,’ Tomlinson said. ‘There’s only one runway long enough for this plane to land safely on. Is that right?’

‘Yes,’ Mel said. ‘There should be two.’ He had been trying for years to persuade the Airport Committee that another runway of that length was needed. They would not take any notice of him - for political reasons, as he well knew.

‘May I put all this in my story?’ the reporter asked.

Mel paused for a moment. ‘Why not?’ he said.

‘You’ve been speaking well tonight, if I may say so, ‘Tomlinson went on. ‘Just like you used to a few years ago.’

Just like I used to, Mel thought. Not like I do now. People know that I’ve changed, that I’ve lost something.

‘You’re talking about how you need more runways,’ Tanya said, ‘but I keep thinking about the people on that plane. I can’t help wondering how they feel, and if they’re frightened.’

‘They’re frightened,’ Mel said. ‘If they understand what’s happening, they must be frightened.’ He remembered his own crash, long ago. As he thought of it, the pain in his foot returned.

It was then that the first radio message from Vernon Demerest came through.

‘There’s another message, Mr Bakersfeld, for you alone. It’s rather personal. Do you want to hear it?’

‘Does it concern the present situation?’

‘Yes.’

‘Then read it.’

They listened in silence. Vernon must have enjoyed sending that, Mel thought. He knew that people all over the airport would be able to hear it. In any case, the message was unnecessary. Mel had already decided what he had to do.

He spoke to Danny Farrow. ‘Send the snowploughs and heavy vehicles to the stuck plane. If Patroni can’t drive the plane out very soon, we’ll push it out. I’ll give the order myself.’

‘All right,’ Danny said, his voice tired. ‘Mel, I suppose you know what those vehicles will do to a plane?’

‘They’ll move it,’ Mel replied sharply, ‘and that’s the most important thing.’

‘Move it!’ Tomlinson exclaimed. ‘They’ll break it into little pieces! You’ll break up a six million dollar plane!’

‘I know, but we may have to do it to save lives. I hope not.’

Tanya reached for Mel’s hand. ‘You’re doing the right thing,’ she said. ‘Remember that.’

Mel got out of his car near the stuck plane, and spoke to a very cold and tired Joe Patroni. He told him what he planned to do.

‘Push an undamaged plane with snowploughs!’ Patroni exploded. ‘You’re mad!’

‘We may have to do it, Joe.’

‘Listen, I’ll drive it out in 15 minutes! Just give me a little more time.’

‘I will,’ Mel said, ‘but when Ground Control gives you the order to stop, you must stop.’

The three of them sat in the car, waiting. Tomlinson was thinking about his story. ‘Has what is happening made you change your ideas about flight insurance?’ he asked Mel.

‘Couldn’t you ask that question some other time?’ Tanya said angrily, but Mel said: ‘I’ll answer it now. I may have to change my mind, but I don’t know yet. I’m still thinking about it.’

The minutes passed slowly. Now there was time for Tomlinson to ask all the questions about aviation that he had wanted to ask earlier. It helped to pass the time for Mel.

Suddenly Tanya cried: ‘Look! He’s starting the engines!’ The three of them fixed their eyes on the plane. It was not moving yet. There were six minutes left.

The noise of the engines grew. ‘He’s using all the engines now,’

Tanya said, ‘but it isn’t moving. Oh, I can’t bear it!’

No, Patroni could not move it. Mel was ready to give the order to bring in the snowploughs. They would have to push the plane off the runway.