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  “Excellent observation, Captain Adams. That’s why they pay you the big bucks.”

  Chapter Two

  The Tri Con headquarters and administrative offices were located across the street from the training complex on the outer periphery of the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The most recent merger had resulted in yet another shakeup in the management ranks. Merging airplanes and routes was relatively easy compared to reconciling the difference in culture of various employee groups. Loyalties had been stretched and broken, and managers and officers had been encouraged to retire in order to make way for a younger, more energetic management team. The airline business was problematic by nature with its thin operating margins, but the new philosophy was that Tri Con would be successful by applying solutions that had worked in other industries. Independent consultants and headhunters had been retained to locate and recruit management personnel from other industries to implement Tri Con’s new business model.

  Allen Smallwood entered the conference room and walked quickly and confidently to stand at the head of the table. He felt no need to apologize for being ten minutes late to the meeting that he had called. He brushed an imaginary speck from the lapel of his Armani suit and let his eyes drift over the people seated at the conference table. Some of them wondered if they had been summoned to hear him speak or just to watch him model his suit. Smallwood had recently been lured away from a sports shoe manufacturer to become Tri Con’s manager of cost control. His headhunter had negotiated a nice salary with incentives based on the overall reduction in Tri Con’s operating cost.

  The committee that he chaired today included the heads of various departments in the company that Allen had identified as potential cost targets. There were eight men and three women on the committee. Allen took a few more moments to open a bottle of water that his secretary had placed on the table for him.

  He took a leisurely sip before beginning. “Ladies and gentlemen, let me begin by reminding you once again that personnel and fuel are by far the largest cost burdens on Tri Con’s balance sheet. We have reduced the overall head count of employees by eight percent so far, and as we implement more elements of our plan, I feel that we can double that number. As we bring more automated check-in kiosks online, we will be able to eliminate ticket agents proportionately.

  “We have reduced our flight attendant staff to the FAA minimum on each flight and cracked down on sick leave abuse, thus allowing us to furlough five hundred flight attendants.

  “Beginning next month, we will be contracting with Aero Mech Inc. to perform our aircraft maintenance for Atlanta line operations, which will enable us to eliminate three hundred mechanics from our payroll. If that goes well, we will implement the process in other stations in our system. I remind you that each employee currently represents a cost of approximately $85,000 per year including salary and benefits, as well as retirement obligations. We will be exploring other options going forward, but for now I see no downside to our method. Are there any comments or issues that we need to address?”

  The Atlanta terminal manager spoke up. “Allen, I do have one concern. I think the kiosks work fine for our experienced passengers to check in without having to speak to an agent at the ticket counter. However, what worries me is, if the airport shuts down for several hours because of weather, all those passengers have to be re-booked, and they can’t do that at the kiosks.”

  Allen said, “Oh, we will always have agents; we just don’t need half as many with the kiosks.”

  The manager said, “Will you agree that the reduced number of agents will be extremely busy?”

  “Of course they will. That’s called productivity.”

  “Then my question is, who is going to deal with the thousands of passengers that need to re-book after a shutdown?”

  “Obviously, that’s an exaggeration. There would never be that many.”

  “Actually, Allen, we board several thousand passengers an hour in Atlanta, and while we’re doing that, more are coming in the door to check in. In addition to that, every time a flight lands, most of those people connect to another flight. If the airport closes for several hours, we could easily have ten to fifteen thousand passengers to re-book. People will be spending the night sleeping on the floor of the terminal.”

  “Well, I know that sometimes our passengers are unavoidably inconvenienced, and I can certainly understand your concern. Perhaps a focus group could offer viable solutions. Thank you for bringing it to our attention.”

  Allen quickly continued on.

  “Now I want to make sure that we address the fuel cost issue today also. It has come to my attention that one of our flights out of San Francisco recently dumped 50,000 pounds of fuel at a cost of $22,000. That is such a total waste of funds.” He turned to the flight operations manager. “How can you justify that, and what are we doing to prevent it from happening?”

  The flight operations manager explained, “Well, the flight lost an engine on takeoff. They had no choice but to return for landing. It was raining, and the long runway was closed for maintenance. The captain elected to dump fuel in order to land safely. That’s pretty routine, Allen.”

  “Well, there has to be a way to eliminate that sort of waste. That’s a tremendous amount of cost.”

  “I’ve asked the ground school to emphasize fuel conservation in all their classes, so it will be a focus in the coming months.”

  Allen turned to the manager of in-flight service.

  “Have we reduced the number of sick days the flight attendants are taking?”

  “We’ve implemented the new policy requiring a doctor’s excuse, and we’re seeing some improvement. However, the numbers are mitigated by the fact that we furloughed according to seniority, and five hundred of the youngest, and, therefore, healthiest flight attendants are no longer with us. The remaining flight attendants are older and have more health issues, requiring sick leave.”

  “Well, it’s not like they actually do manual labor. Surely a minor health issue shouldn’t keep them from serving drinks.”

  “We’ll continue to stress the policy.”

  Molly Jackson had served as a flight attendant for fifteen years before accepting her position as manager of in-flight service. She thought, Where did they find this imbecile?

  Allen concluded, “I think that wraps it up for today. I encourage each of you to continue to bring forth whatever cost-cutting measures that you can identify so that we can analyze them and improve the bottom line. I think that the airline industry is long overdue to join the real world of modern business, and I want Tri Con to lead the way. Thank you all for your diligence and cooperation.”

  After everyone had left, Allen turned to his secretary and asked, “What do you think? Do you sense any resentment or reluctance?”

  “No, sir, I think they appreciate your leadership.”

  “When you get last week’s numbers for the average fuel burn on our flights, please bring them to me.”

  “Right away, Mr. Smallwood.”

  Allen leaned back in his chair and smiled. He had already identified ninety million dollars in cost savings and began calculating his incentive bonus in his head once again.

  Charlie and Colt insisted that Phil let them buy lunch, and they enjoyed an hour of entertaining each other with funny stories and exaggerations bordering on prevarication. They also enticed Phil into telling them what emergencies would be thrown at them in the simulator the next day. Of course, they had both already interrogated several captains who had taken simulator checks recently, but you could never have too much information.

  They reconvened after lunch, and Phil had them solve aircraft performance problems concerning runway length required and maximum altitude for given weights. They used the afternoon break to wake up and then began the final session.

  “Gentlemen,” Phil began, “we are fortunate not to have many emergencies, except in the simulator, of course. However, you must always be prepared to deal with any si
tuation. We’re going to review the general procedures for emergencies. I want to preface our discussion by quoting what our operations manual says about captain’s authority.

  The captain is authorized to take any action necessary to maintain safety of flight. When immediate action is required, in an emergency situation, he may deviate from prescribed procedures, weather minimums, and federal aviation regulations in the interest of safety. Such action is authorized without air traffic control clearance.

  “That’s pretty straightforward, guys. The captain has complete authority to do what is necessary. All six of you have made some good points during our discussion today, and a lot of them are not covered by the book. Sometimes you don’t have time to read the book, and sometimes a situation is not covered by the book. You have to use your experience, judgment, and instincts.”

  Colt said, “You know what they say about flying. It’s hours and hours of boredom interrupted by moments of sheer terror.”

  “I’m sure that’s true, and boredom is good. We obviously don’t have time to talk about all the possible emergencies, so we’re going to concentrate on evacuations, which is how a lot of emergencies conclude. I want to talk about some generalities, and then we’ll go down to the mockup and look at the doors and evacuation slides and so forth.

  “As you know, we carry three hundred passengers on a full flight, and when the airplane was certified, the manufacturer had to demonstrate that all three hundred people could be evacuated in ninety seconds using only half the doors. We have eight doors, so they only used four. Once the doors are armed at the departure gate, the evacuation slides deploy automatically when the door is opened. They are all dual lane slides, which means two people can slide down side by side. Please don’t let anyone jump out the door onto the slide. When that happens, it becomes a trampoline and they will be launched into the troposphere. The flight attendants are trained to have the people sit and slide.

  “By the way, the company has reduced our flight attendant staffing to the FAA minimum. You now have only eight, and not the eleven you are accustomed to. You can do the math: one per door.”

  One of the first officers said, “So if one of the girls is injured, it’s the same as an unusable exit?”

  “That’s a possibility unless a passenger opens it,” said Phil.

  Colt said, “Is this covered in the fine print on the ticket?”

  Phil continued. “Let’s talk about crew duties. All of our international flights have at least three pilots: a captain and two first officers. One of the first officers is designated as the relief pilot.

  “The relief pilot will normally proceed to the forward right door, then exit and assist from outside. Be alert for anyone who might trampoline into the air and come down on top of you.

  “The first officer will normally proceed to the forward left door, exit there, and assist from outside. In both cases you should assemble the people a safe distance from the airplane. We don’t want to have someone mowed down by a fire truck.

  “The captain will normally proceed to the forward doors and assist from inside. When everyone is off, he will make his way to the rear of the airplane if possible, make sure everyone has evacuated, exit the rear, and assume command outside.”

  Colt said, “Wait a minute, I want to be one of the guys that leaves first, screaming, ‘Follow me!’”

  “Ah, command is lonely, Colt,” Phil said. “Of course, the slides also serve us in a ditching situation, and when we get downstairs I’ll go over how to detach them and use them as rafts. First we’re going to play, ‘Bet your job’ by taking the written exam.”

  The next forty-five minutes were spent whining about the trick questions and making excuses for the few that they answered incorrectly. The low score in the class was ninety-three.

  They rode the elevator down and went to the lower corner of the building. The aircraft mockup was designed as a replica of a section of the passenger compartment, complete with real seats and emergency equipment. Phil demonstrated how to arm and disarm the door and then opened it to reveal a fully deployed escape slide angled into the basement below. He explained how the slide was automatically inflated with nitrogen when the door was armed and opened.

  “I want to talk about ditching, but first I should tell you that there has never been a mid-ocean ditching by an air carrier passenger jet. Airplanes have gone into the water, but it has always been on takeoff or landing and very near land. The manufacturer recommends landing with the landing gear up and full flaps. They say that the airplane will stay afloat for an extended period of time if the integrity of the fuselage is maintained. The wing tanks should provide buoyancy, and the doors should remain above the water level. If however, the fuselage is damaged and water starts entering, then all bets are off.

  “The crew duties are similar for ditching and evacuation. The one exception is that the relief pilot goes to the overwing area and launches a raft instead of assisting at the front door. The passengers actually exit onto the wing and the slide raft deploys outboard of the wing engine. The first officer goes to the forward left door and launches a raft. He also takes the emergency radio beacon with him. The captain’s duties are the same; he proceeds to the rear of the airplane, making sure everyone is off, and then boards a raft, taking the emergency medical kit with him.”

  Charlie said, “Do the flight attendants at the rear doors know to wait for the captain before leaving in the raft?”

  “No one has ever asked that question, but it’s a very good point. I’ll have to ask the flight attendant instructors and let you know.”

  “I’m telling you,” Colt said, “The copilots are getting the best of this deal.”

  Everyone laughed.

  “If you’ll look at the top of the slide there is a cover that’s marked ‘Open here for ditching.’ Inside, there is a lanyard that detaches the raft from the airplane when it’s pulled.”

  “Can we put a note inside reminding them not to leave the captain?”

  One of the first officers said, “Don’t worry, Colt, I’ll come back and get you.”

  “Yeah, right. I don’t trust anybody who is junior to me on the seniority list with an opportunity to move up a number.”

  Phil said, “Once you release the raft from the door, it will still be tethered to the aircraft with a line. After everyone has boarded, you can release the snap hook and move away. There is also a hook knife located next to the attach point, that you can use to cut the line if necessary. The raft capacity is fifty people. There are inflated boarding stations on either side in the event people need to board from the water. Remember that survival time in cold water can be very limited.”

  One of the first officers asked, “Are we supposed to do all this in the dark?”

  “Hopefully the emergency lights above each door will illuminate the evacuation area. Each raft also has battery-operated lights that automatically come on when the slide deploys. The battery packs should last at least thirty minutes.”

  “With my luck the lights will attract sharks,” said the first officer.

  Colt said, “If you have a lawyer in your raft, the sharks will leave you alone out of professional courtesy.”

  “By the way,” Phil said, “The captain is authorized to perform marriages and funerals at sea. The marriages are temporary, but the funerals are permanent.”

  “Phil, you’re as sick as these people I have to travel with,” Charlie said.

  “Hey Phil,” Colt asked, “Do you know how many pilots it takes to replace a light bulb?”

  “No, how many?”

  “Just one, he holds the bulb up and the world revolves around him.”

  “Let me finish up here so I can get rid of you idiots.” Everyone laughed.

  “Once you are safely away from the airplane, you will find a survival pack in each raft. The pack will contain the following items:

  - A repair kit to fix holes in the raft

  - A hand pump to keep the raft inflated

/>   - A paddle

  - A small bucket to catch rainwater and to bail water from the raft

  - A flare pistol

  - A signal mirror

  - A flashlight

  - A whistle

  - A compass

  - Dye marker to make the water around you visible to rescue personnel

  - A desalination kit to make seawater drinkable

  - A fishing kit

  - A first aid kit

  - Seasick pills

  - A limited supply of energy bars

  - A survival book

  Colt asked, “Where’s the Jiffy Johnny?”

  “You’re going to have to get creative there. However, there is a canopy to keep the sun and rain off of you.”

  “I’ll designate one of the boarding stations as the loo. The ladies can’t complain about the lid being up or down.”

  “Sounds like a plan. Gentlemen, that’s all I have. I know you’ll all do well in the simulator tomorrow. You have my number if I can be of help. Fly safe.”

  Everyone shook Phil’s hand and thanked him. Recurrent ground school was over for another year.

  Chapter Three

  The Cavu Lounge was located between two major hotels near the airport. It had served as the local gathering place for airline employees for more than thirty years. The lounge derived its name from the aviation weather acronym CAVU, which indicated ceiling and visibility unlimited. It was ironic that many patrons left the Cavu with somewhat limited visibility after a few hours of drinking beer and shooting pool.

  Raymond Slackman had arrived at the bar around four thirty after his day shift at the airport. He had not bothered to change clothes after work, and his shirt with the Tri Con maintenance logo smelled of jet fuel mixed with beer. He had already lost forty dollars playing pool and spent another twenty on beer. He stood on his tiptoes and leaned across the table to make a shot on the eight ball. He knew his opponents left these types of shots for him because he was too short to reach them. He blew the shot when the cue ball fell into the pocket and the eight hit the rail. His opponent looked down at him and laughed as he picked up the money on the table. Ray twisted the hair of his full beard in his fingers and thought, Go ahead and laugh, big guy. I’ll find a way to get even. I always do. He glanced at the clock and noticed that it was now after seven.