第12节
the flakes turning to translucent sludge as they hit the
canopy. The slipstream blew the sludge into ragged waves that crept
slowly up the windshield. Jodi and Kelso leaned forward and peered
through the gaps, trying to get a clearer view.
'This is hopeless,' shouted Kelso. 'I'm gonna make a downwind
landing!" He selected full flap. 'Pull your straps tight!" Without
power, any turn has to be made nose down to avoid a stall which, at low
altitude, is usually fatal.
Putting the snow behind their tail increased the forward visibility a
little but decreased the speed of the air flowing over the wings,
robbing them of valuable lift and increasing their rate of descent.
The snow-covered hardway came up to meet them at an alarming rate
before Kelso could line up the nose properly.
'Dave! For crissakes--!'
BLUMMFFF! Jodi's skull and spine collided with a sickening jolt as the
three plump tyres flattened onto the axles then bounced the plane back
into the air on the north side of the hardway. Trees loomed up
ahead.
Kelso kicked on some right rudder to bring the nose round. With the
Skyrider now close to stalling speed its response to control movements
was mushy but with the help of a stream of invective from Kelso, it
wallowed back towards the centreline of the makeshift runway.
'Okay! This is it!" Kelso tried to correct the drift to the right but
the controls no longer responded. Jodi braced herself as they dropped
through the last fifteen feet like a stone.
The main wheel on her side of the plane hit the. ground first. The
undercarriage strut had survived the first punishing blow but this
second impact tore it loose. The Skyrider crashed forward onto its
nose-wheel, buckling the supporting strut and driving it upwards
through the fuselage. The right wheel landed on the sloping, overgrown
grass verge, tilting the Skyrider further over to the left. The tip of
the wing on Jodi's side was ripped to pieces as it came into contact
with the ground. She tried to steady herself as the plane slewed
round, jolting and bouncing over the uneven surface of the hardway.
There were sharp cracks and rending noises as other parts of the plane
to the rear of the cockpit broke loose.
The Skyrider spun around once on its belly then slid sideways along the
axis of the undamaged starboard wing into the snow-covered undergrowth
on the northern side of the hardway.
Jodi could now only see where they'd been and not where they were going
but during the ground-loop, she had caught a whip-pan glimpse of
several more clumps of trees. Her internal radar sensed they were now
probably on a collision course. She dropped her chin onto her chest
and hugged her arms. If there was an afterwards, she knew they would
discover there was more than enough room for half a Skyrider to pass
between the trees but by Sod's Law they were bound to hit one. She was
not disappointed.
With the fine tuning only Destiny can provide, the leading edge of the
starboard wing lost its top coat of paint as it scraped past the rim of
the trunk of the last tree of the last clump at a neat tangent, leaving
Kelso's side of the cockpit to take the full impact.
KERR-RUNCH!! Jodi was held in her seat by the safety harness but her
head was thrown back against the bulkhead with a force that not even
her crash helmet could absorb. In the split second before she lost
consciousness, the last thing her mind registered was an overwhelming
sense of relief: she might die, but she would not burn...
The weather was even worse when Steve and Clearwater arrived on the
scene but with their lighter all-up weight, they still had some gas in
the tank. Skimming perilously close to the tops of the trees, Steve
flew up and down the highway, searching for Kelso's Skyrider.
Now flying into the teeth of a full-scale blizzard, Steve had to give
his full attention to keeping the plane on course. He had to rely on
Clearwater but even her sharp eyes missed it on the first two
attempts.
She spotted it as Steve made a third, westward, pass.
'There they are I' 'Good! Keep your eye on it!"