The ‘Special’ Plane (Part 2)
The journey continues. Some passengers have buckled up and have high hopes that the captain will make it this time. They are desperate to get to the ‘beautiful’ place the captain sees from the cockpit. Others, not so much, and want to make their way to the cockpit. According to them, the current captain and crew are not fit for the job and they believe they are the only ones who can steer this plane to the right direction. They refuse to follow the captain’s instructions.
One thing to know about this plane is that it’s inner mechanics have undergone massive alterations twice. First in 1969, a year before it’s 10th year anniversary, a new captain took over peacefully after the killing of its second captain by a disgruntled Air Marshal assigned to protect the plane’s captain. The second time was in mid 2000’s, after a catastrophic incident in 1991 that brought the whole plane down, when engineers from all over the world got together to get it off the ground. The second alteration was massive. It went from ‘single’ engine plane to ‘multi’ engine plane with one central engine. The engines are interconnected with the central one providing the overall direction and defence from external threats. In addition, new crew members were added to man the new engines. They are also called captains. Some argue how can one plane have several captains but that is how the plane was reconfigured.
Connection between the engines has been lost several times; some times intentionally cut of by the captains manning them and other times due to technical failures. In fact, one of the engines has been disconnected and the crew claim that they don’t need the other engines. They say they want to operate their engine independently. On the other hand, the manual for the plane after reconfiguration is not complete and there is always issues between the engines. With the manual not complete, it’s very hard for any captain to make any maneuvers in the controls that can get the plane far.
On the other hand, there is constant abuse of the services and facilities in the first class. Crew members are known to favour their own kind and those that bribe them. In all cabins, there are individuals that have been displaced from their seats. Further more, there are cabins within the plane that can’t be accessed by the captains and the crew. Some passengers have taken them over. They want the plane to go to a different direction and even the draft manual scrapped. From time to time, the plane also looses cabin pressure and runs low on fuel. During those times, the plane relies on other planes for mid air refuelling and supply of oxygen to bring cabin pressure to optimum levels.
As the plane ascends and passes through areas with high turbulences, the captain wonders what to do about all this. How can he get his own crew to get the job done and treat passengers equally? How can he get the other attendants to collaborate to have all engines connected and in sync? Should he first get the manual completed? Or try to secure the cabins under siege? Another thought in his mind is if he should get rid of all these other engines and restore the plane to its original single engine style. He knows that is not an easy one.
With all those thoughts, he realizes that the plane will not get far with out sorting those issues. He leans to his first officer, asks him the questions in his mind and says get me new flight plans – plans that have the answers to those questions.
