‘It’s what I feared all along but I wasn’t sure how it’d turn out, um, I think the redistribution of water has caused the earth to tilt. If the ice at the North Pole’s been broken up by the earthquakes there’ll be less weight there. I’m not a geologist so I can’t explain it, but it’s probably what’s affecting the climate, turned it upside down so to speak.’
‘Shit! What does that mean?’
‘It means we are going to see massive climate changes. A little like global warming, but much faster. Who knows what that outcome will be.’
‘That’s all we need.’
They found two tents standing strongly side-by-side and after securing them further, settled Veronica and Bill into one and were making themselves comfortable in the other when Graham finally spoke. ‘Nick I’m sorry mate, but I have something to tell you.’
Chapter Forty-one
The Aftermath
Japan was one of the few countries that refused to ban international flights and Japan Airlines Flight 712 was two hours out of Tokyo airport en route to Los Angeles when Captain James Connors received the message that was to change the lives of the two hundred and seventy-five American passengers returning home, and sixty Asian tourists aboard the Boeing 797.
The Captain had completed his switchover to automatic pilot and was just about to leave the flight deck when a clearly audible crackle came over his earpiece. ‘Flight 712, This is Tokyo Control. Do you read? Over.’
‘Hello Tokyo Control. This is Flight 712. I read. Over.’
‘Flight 712 the predicted earthquakes in the Arctic region, Hawaii and the Pacific region have started. The tsunami warnings have gone out. There may be some disruption to ATC at your destination. Many airports have already been closed down. Do you understand? Over.’
James turned his wrist to check his watch. 4.15pm. ‘Yes, Tokyo Control. I read you. Are you telling me that Los Angeles is in some danger? Over.’
‘We don’t know Captain. All flights out of there have been grounded. There’s some serious communication problems. The air waves are jammed. Maintain your present altitude and heading. Los Angeles ATC will advise more on your approach. Good Luck. Out.’
‘Good luck?’ Connors repeated. ‘Seems to me that we’re unlucky to be in the air while this’s going down.’ He looked across to his young co-pilot, Pete Simmons. ‘Did you copy that Pete?’
‘Yeah. What d’you make of it?’
‘Problems at Los Angeles airport? You don’t suppose there’s been an earthquake there too?’
‘Nah! Probably just bad weather.’
‘Yeah. Well, we’ll know more when we get within range of LA ATC.’
Captain Connors was fifty-five years old and had been flying since he was fourteen. This was to be his last year in the air, as he faced retirement on September 30, a day he was not particularly looking forward to, although his wife Jean was ecstatic. She had put up with the lonely life of an airline pilot’s wife without complaint. Now they would have time together to do all the things he had promised when they married thirty years ago. He was very healthy, although a little overweight. The last weigh-in at his regular check-up put him at 222 pounds, far too heavy for his 5′10″ frame. Years of sitting in an aircraft seat had given him flabby muscles. He vowed to change all that once he retired. Even so, he still managed to turn the odd flight attendant’s eye. He had plenty of offers, but other women did not interest him. Jean was everything any man could ever want. Perhaps retirement wouldn’t be so bad after all.
Pete Simmons on the other hand was twenty-six years old. Single, handsome in a rugged way and an all American boy. The female flight attendants loved his cavalier attitude and he certainly possessed a great deal of charm. Pete came from a wealthy family in Boston. His parents had groomed him for an academic career, but Pete had other ideas and chose flying because it offered excitement and a different way of life.
The direct six hour flight across the Pacific from Tokyo to Los Angeles had been routine. The passengers were a mix of business men returning home to their wives, people cutting short their holidays to go home, and some Japanese people who had heard the predictions but refused to cancel their long awaited holidays to America.
Senior flight attendant Simon Barker had just brought them the final coffee before approaching Los Angeles. They were approximately an hour out and flying at 30,000ft when the Captain began calling Los Angeles ATC. ‘Los Angeles Control. This is Flight 712. Come In. Over.’
He flicked the receive button and waited. No reply. ‘Los Angeles Control. This is Flight 712. Do you read me? Over.’ He repeated. Still no response. Puzzled, he checked the INS that kept track of their position when flying over water. Everything appeared normal. After confirming their position he unsuccessfully called ATC again. James flashed Pete a worried look. ‘I don’t understand. We’re well within range, they should have us on their radar now.’
Despite repeated attempts Captain Connors failed to raise ATC. He was beginning to think his radio was malfunctioning and quickly changed frequency to try to raise another aircraft in the area. They should have descended to 11,000 feet at this point and Connors was becoming very nervous. The dead silence from the radio scared him more than he could imagine. An aircraft depended on that radio, it was its lifeblood until it landed safely on the ground. Any other instrument can fail, but please God – not the radio!
He muttered to himself. He knew it would be suicide to reduce altitude without guidance from ATC, particularly in the busy air-pace surrounding Los Angeles, but he was fast approaching the city. At this rate they would have to circle back out to sea to come down. He checked the fuel gauges to ensure they had sufficient fuel.
‘We should be getting the ATS report any minute.’ Pete announced. They strained at the cockpit window trying to get a visual. There was very little cloud cover, which for Los Angeles was unusual. ‘I don’t understand, there’s no transmission. You’re sure on our position James?’
‘Positive. I’ve even checked the VOR.’ James had very little time to decide on a course of action. They approached what should have been Los Angeles Airport, but all they could see was complete darkness. Although it was 11pm Los Angeles should have been ablaze with light.
‘Must be a power outage. The whole city’s out. We’re going to divert.’ He checked the fuel gauges again. ‘We’ll head for Vegas Pete. I just hope we can raise ATC there. It’s only 30 minutes run.’
Pete flicked switches, ‘Yeah but without ATC it’ll be very dangerous. If we can’t contact them no-one else can, there’ll be planes flying blind everywhere.’
‘We should be okay, thank God we’ve got the new system that lets us take instant automatic evasive action to avoid a mid-air crash.’
‘Yeah, but we’ve only used it in the simulator room.’
‘It’s all we have, no other choice. Turn on the stewards alert screen.’ Connors said. The alerts screen was an innovation installed to alert the pilots of any terrorist threat on board the plane. Each steward could activate their alert that would give the pilots their position in the plane and the number of terrorists by pressing their name badge the required number of times. Connors pressed the head stewards call button.
Seconds later Simon entered the cockpit. ‘We can’t get ATC Simon, we’re going to divert to Las Vegas. I need the stewards to take a seat where they can monitor the sky for approaching aircraft and alert us of their position. We’re going to have to use our own air traffic control system, it won’t give us a safe flight path, but it’ll stop us crashing into another plane until we get into Las Vegas space. I want to see what’s around us ASAP.’