The cabin seemed to stop breathing.
Denise looked at his leather jacket.
Then his eyes.
"Come with me."
Wade stood.
Two hundred and eleven people watched the man they had feared walk toward the cockpit.
Captain Callaway
The cockpit door opened.
Miles Duncan looked up.
He was terrified.
Wade saw the unconscious captain.
The flashing warnings.
The descending altitude.
He stepped inside.
"My name is Wade Callaway."
Miles stared.
"I have twelve years of military flight experience."
Wade sat in the left seat.
"I've done this before."
Miles's hands were shaking.
"Can you fly this?"
Wade looked at him.
"Yes."
"Then please..."
Miles's voice broke.
"Please help me."
Wade placed his hands on the controls.
The airplane immediately felt familiar.
Not the same aircraft.
Not the same systems.
But the language was the same.
The pressure through the controls.
The yaw.
The vibration.
The subtle movements.
Captain Callaway was still there.
He had never really left.
"Tell me everything."
Miles gave him the information.
Number two engine was failing.
Captain Whitfield was unconscious.
Wade ordered the engine shut down.
"Do it now."
Miles followed the checklist.
The engine was isolated.
No fire.
Wade breathed out.
"Good."
He glanced at the captain.
"Get me a doctor."
Denise brought Dr. Amir Malik into the cockpit.
The doctor examined Whitfield.
"Cardiac event."
"Can he make Fairbanks?"
"How long?"
"Forty minutes."
"Then keep him alive for forty minutes."
Wade looked at Miles.
"Where's our best runway?"
"Fairbanks."
"Then we're going to Fairbanks."
Miles hesitated.
"We're a hundred and ten miles out."
"How's the fuel?"
"Good."
"Then we go."
Wade picked up the radio.
"Anchorage Center, this is Flight 1487 declaring Mayday."
The controller answered.
Wade gave him the situation.
The controller asked who was flying.
Wade answered calmly.
"Passenger in 5A. Former Air Force pilot. Your first officer is assisting me."
There was a pause.
Then the controller said:
"Mr. Callaway, let's get these people home."
Wade looked forward.
"That's the plan."
The Second Engine
For a few minutes, everything seemed manageable.
Then the aircraft lurched.
Another warning appeared.
Miles stared at the panel.
"No."
Wade's voice remained calm.
"Talk to me."
"Number one."
"What?"
"Oil pressure."
Miles swallowed.
"It's dropping."
The cockpit became silent.
They had lost one engine.
Now the second was failing.
Wade immediately recognized the pattern.
"That's not coincidence."
He looked at Miles.
"What changed before the first engine failed?"
Miles thought.
"The fuel."
"What about it?"
"Captain Whitfield was balancing the tanks."
"Crossfeed?"
"Yes."
"Did he close it?"
Miles's face changed.
"No."
Wade understood.
"Contaminated fuel."
He ordered the crossfeed closed.
They isolated the bad tank.
For several seconds, the cockpit waited.
The oil pressure on number one dropped.
Then stopped.
Then began climbing.
Miles exhaled.
"It's coming back."
Wade didn't celebrate.
"That engine may quit at any time."
He looked toward the doctor.
"How's the captain?"