NationStates Jolt Archive


Accident in the North Atlantic

New York and Jersey
12-09-2004, 05:11
OOC: This is just a small number of posts done by me to work on my RP since I've been gone for abit.

IC:

The seas of the North Atlantic were not known to be friendly and calm and today was of little exception. A storm was brewing in from the south the remnants of an early September hurricane and it caused the sky to be overcast a full day ahead of what was expected. On routine exercises in the North Atlantic, the HSN Syracuse a Nimitz class Carrier, and her battle group were proceeding toward calmer waters and attempting to get mostly out of the way of what was left of the storm. Out on patrol a pair of F/A-18C Hornets were preforming a southern CAP.

"Yankee Flight, this is Homeplate, turn course to 1-8-4, and return to home plate,repeat turn to course 1-8-4, and return to home plate,copy,over."

"This is Yankee Flight to Homeplate, bringing her to 1-8-4, and returning to homeplate,over." The pilot a young 2nd Lt. by the name of Jonathan Oswald led the two plane formation into a gentle banking to the right as both planes turned to head north. Lowering from a height of 22,000 feet they were about ninety nautical miles out when they first began their desent to two thousand feet. With the seas growing ever rougher the Carrier deck wasnt exactly the most stable even with the ship having sped up to 28 knots.

As the planes got to within 20 nautical miles of the Carrier, a warning light went off in Oswald's cockpit along with the shrill which accompanied it. "Homeplate, this is Yankee Lead, number one engine is reporting a malfunction. I'm getting a warning light...airspeed is dropping,copy?Over."

"Yankee Lead, roger that, we'll have emergency crews on standby, you are given priority to land. Over." On deck the flight crews waited as the emergency landing alarm sounded. The decks netting was immediately brought up to held snatch the aircraft and slow it to a stop once it hit the deck and firefighting crews were on standby. Yankee Two, piloted by 2nd Lt. Harrison moved from left to right a safe distance behind his flight leader and called out over the radio. "Hey John, engine one is completely out."

"Yea I'm having trouble maintaining airspeed. I'm dropping down to 500 feet, we're 15 nautical miles out."

It took but mere moments before the deck crew saw the F/A-18C coming in. The Hornet coming in alittle lower than using and appearing to struggle to keep up in the air. On the deck the landing officer spoke with 2nd Lt Oswald, "Give it more power, your coming in to low.."

"Roger that, increasing thrust in engine two..."

It did little to help and soon the landing officer wondered to himself whether the Hornet would have to go around and try again. Trying his best to align the fighter with the deck of the Carrier, Oswald fought with the Hronet for better control however it was a losing battle and soon the landing officer began to scream over the radio. "Increase power, pull up!"

"Max power! I'm not getting any further lift."

"You may have to ditch Yankee Lead."

The thought of ditching to Oswald was the farthest thing from his mind and he wanted to save the aircraft. Focusing on his controls he didnt pay attention to landing officer on the deck until it was to late. "Abort Yankee Lead! You're too low!" The carriers sway made things even worse as the bottom of the F/A-18C slammed into the edge of the flight deck sparking a fireball and seperating the front of the plane from the aft. The cockpit area sliding along the deck of the carrier for a few feet however it was already engulfed in flames. Her pilot having died in the violent impact of the aircraft.

The carrier burned for the next thirty minutes as the deck crew worked to clear the burning debries and extinguish the jet fuel before any major damage could be done. An investigation of the F/A-18C would be nearly impossible with the wreckage in the state it was in. Half way to the bottom of the Atlantic and in nearly a thousand pieces. No one would ever know that it was just a burned out wire which the flight crew missed on the routine check.
New York and Jersey
12-09-2004, 20:31
bump