Emergency call for help, looking for the runway of life

At an altitude of 2,700 meters, the pilot was thrown out of the cabin and only relied on a nylon rope to tie his life, but how long could he last?

　　High altitude distress, he was thrown out of the cabin

　　On December 2, the sun was shining and the breeze was blowing, and there was no better weather to fly. At 11 a.m. that morning, Durbin, a 34-year-old Air Force pilot, and his partner, Pierce, 33, stepped into a small twin-engine "U-21" aircraft owned by the United States Air Force, loaded with 600 pounds of arms. Their mission on this trip is to transport these dangerous materials from Morristown, New Jersey to a military base in Maryland. The entire voyage takes about 50 minutes, and this is also the first cooperation between Durbin and Pierce.

　　Durbin started the engine, pulled up the joystick, and the plane roared into the blue sky. But just as Durbin was driving the plane to continue climbing, a red light on the dashboard came on, which was a warning light that something was wrong with the plane. When Durbin saw it, the red light indicated the door. He turned his head to look at the door on the left side of the cabin and saw that the door was closed. Durbin frowned. As an old pilot with 12 years of flying experience, Durbin has become accustomed to the "false reporting of military information" that often occurs in the alarm system of such small aircraft, but Durbin is still a little worried. When the plane began to fly horizontally at 9,000 feet, Durbin handed the joystick to Pierce to control, saying: "I'd better go and see, this is our first collaboration, and I don't want any trouble."

　　Doberman understood that if the door was closed, the handle at the top of the door should be at an oblique angle, and the current angle was obviously wrong, so Doberman walked over and began to check that the latches on both sides of the door were latched. The doors of this small aircraft are latched from the top and sides, and when the doors open down, they become exit stairs. Suddenly, all I heard was a "huff", and the hurricane of up to 220 mph generated by the plane's operation threw the door outward and then down until it was fully opened and pulled by the hinge at the bottom. At the same time, Doberman, who was watching by the door, was thrown into the whirring sky after a somersault.

　　"Oh my God, I flew out?" Dubin panicked and felt his body slide out with the backward airflow caused by the propeller. At this critical juncture, Dubin's left hand was desperately clutching in the air., actually lucky enough to grab a nylon rope connecting the hatch exit and the stairs, the violent cold wind beat Dubin's body and slammed him into the metal stairs, Dubin tightly grabbed the only lifeline, Like a bat stuck upside down on the hatch, at the same time he had to use all his strength to resist the powerful wind.

　　In the pilot's seat, Pierce, who was taking over from Dubin to control the plane, heard a "whirring" sound. He turned his head to look to the left. To his great surprise, a blue sky appeared where it should have been the hatch. What made him even more terrified was that Dubin had disappeared. Pierce had flown planes many times to perform missions in dangerous environments, and he could be regarded as someone who had seen the world, but he had never experienced such a thing, and his heart suddenly sank: "God, Dubin was thrown out., this is 2,700 meters high!"

　　Pierce looked closely at the dashboard, then turned his head to look back, and at the open hatch he saw a foot fluttering up and down, as if in a strange dance, was that Doberman? He hasn't fallen yet? He must have caught something! Pierce was amazed, and almost instinctively pulled down the reduction lever, halving the speed of the plane.

　　At the same time, Doberman, who grabbed the nylon rope on the hatch with both hands, felt that his chaotic thoughts seemed to have detached from his body and were floating somewhere bottomless. Then, he felt the speed of the plane slow down, and he couldn't help but thank Pierce in his heart for taking the right steps at this critical moment. After the speed of the plane slowed down, the momentum of the wind was also greatly reduced. Doberman was able to press his feet against the hatch that fell under the fuselage with all his strength. His upside-down head was still swaying in the wind, but his feet were slowly moving along the fuselage. Looking for attachment points. Finally, his left foot caught a latch in the corner of the hatch. Now, he grabbed the nylon rope with both hands and hooked the hatch with one foot. Finally, he had two temporary attachment points to stabilize his body. However, how long can he hold on in this fast-moving mid-air? Under the impact of this violent and cold airflow, Dubin felt his strength was small, but he knew he had to hold on, hold on...

　　SOS: The Search for Life's Runway

　　At this moment, Pierce, who was flying the plane with all his strength, finally overcame his urge to pull in the Doberman hanging outside the hatch in the past. He understood that it was almost impossible for him to pull up the 6-foot-tall, 200-pound, upside-down Doberman in such a violent wind, and even if Pierce had superhuman strength to pull Doberman up, He also knew that the "U-21" plane had no automatic flight system, and if no one controlled the joystick with their hands, the plane would not be stable for a minute.

　　Pierce realized that the only way to save Durbin was to land the plane as soon as possible. Pierce looked back from the window, and he could see Durbin's face and part of his body hanging upside down in the cold wind. He knew there was not much time left. Pierce quickly contacted the air flight control center on Long Island, New York: "I'm 882, I have an emergency and must land immediately."

　　At this moment, David, the dispatcher who was sitting in front of the radar screen of the New York Air Flight Control Center, heard the call of 882, and he replied: "882, how long until you land?" "I am 882, I must land immediately, the plane's A hatch opened and a person was hanging outside the cabin."

　　Surprised by 882's answer, David suggested that the plane land at Somerset Airport in eastern New Jersey. However, this meant that the plane had to turn, but could Doberman be able to withstand it hanging outside the hatch? Pierce remembered another nearby airport in front of the plane, Sabau Airport, and he immediately pleaded with David: "I want to land at Sabau Airport, can you arrange for me to make an emergency landing there." David knew that the so-called Sabau Airport, located in western New Jersey, was nothing more than a concrete runway in a wilderness without even a decent airport control tower.

　　"Beautiful land, can I still stand on it alive again?"

　　On this cold day in December, in some parts of New Jersey, if anyone looked up into the air, they would be stunned to see a man hanging under a high-flying plane. However, for Dubin, he seems to be no longer afraid, and he even feels that it is a kind of luck that he is still alive in such a high sky, but he does not know how long this luck can last.

　　At this moment, the temperature in the air was minus 10 degrees Celsius, but Doberman no longer felt cold in other parts of his body except his hands, and he almost stood stiffly in the cold wind. He knew his only hope was a quick landing, and under his head, the unusually beautiful brown fields in winter, would he be able to stand on them again alive?

　　Doberman felt the plane slowly reorient and begin to lower altitude, and he subconsciously grasped tighter. At this point, he felt as if something in his throat seemed to come up, and with his head and feet upside down, he felt as if something in his body was being forced to spit out of his mouth. God, he thought, could it be that something in my body has ruptured. He swallowed desperately, trying to keep his mind focused on the things he cherished most. At this critical time, he thinks of his family, of his two lovely children - Jimmy, 7, and Chris, 4, and his wife Colleen, who he can't imagine losing. Christmas alone with husband and father.

　　Lucky landing: The wheels of the plane landed first, not his head

　　Back at the flight control center in New York, David had already made an air passage for Pierce's emergency landing through flight dispatch. He radioed Pierce: "882, the airport is 4 miles ahead of your plane, and the wind speed is 150 meters per second. The airport has been notified, I hope you are all well, goodbye."

　　Sagar, the administrator of Sabao Airport, was notified by New York at 11:25. David told him on the phone that a plane was about to make an emergency landing at his airport, and it was said that a person was hanging on the plane. Outside.

　　Due to the poor conditions of Sabao Airport and the lack of necessary communication tools, Nagar cannot guarantee that the 882 landing channel has been completely cleared. Generally speaking, when pilots are ready to land at Sabao Airport, they will notify the airport at regular intervals, but because Sabao Airport is a small airport, small planes take off and land, and the planes take off and land in accordance with the "principle of naked eye observation." Therefore, pilots may sometimes not notify the airport when landing.

　　In the cabin of the "U-21" plane, Pierce was maneuvering the plane to land, and the meter in front of him told him that the plane was descending at 1,000 feet per minute. Every few seconds, Pierce turned his head to see if Durbin was still there, and Pierce had no way of knowing if Durbin was holding firmly or if he was injured. Pierce was annoyed that he couldn't relieve Durbin's pain, and all he could do was try to make the plane land as smoothly as possible so as not to throw Durbin off.

　　After a while, the airport was in front of him, Pierce pointed the plane at the runway, and suddenly, a small plane came from nowhere and was about to land. Pierce calmed down: Let it go first, I don't want to fight it.

　　However, the turbulence from the passing plane nearly killed Doberman. He clung desperately to the door, but the exhaust gas from the plane's engine made him cough again, hold on! Hold on! Suddenly, he saw the runway rushing towards him, and his upside-down head saw Terrible sight: his head is lower than the wheels of the plane, and if the plane lands, it will be his head that will land first!

　　The three wheels of the "U-21" aircraft, one is located in the nose and two are located under the wings, just in front of the hatch where Doberman is hanging. The hatch is still half a foot away from the ground when it is fully lowered, so the hatch will not hit the ground when the plane lands, but because Doberman's head is hanging under the hatch, the plane will hit the ground when it hits the ground. his head. Fortunately, Doberman realized this situation in time, and he used his last strength to try to pull his body up just before the plane hit the ground. However, it was useless. In desperation, he bent his head hard. He felt that his head might have been parallel to the bottom of the hatch stairs, but he was not sure.

　　At this moment, with a roar and a violent vibration, the wheel hit the ground, and Doberman's head was only a few centimeters away from hitting the hard concrete floor, but fortunately, it was these few centimeters that saved him.

　　Then, there was another vibration, and the whistling tires shot the tiny gravel on the runway towards Doberman's head like a bullet. A small stone hit Doberman's eye hard, but Doberman still did not Let go, he still twisted his head up tightly. Finally, the plane slowly stopped, and the exhausted Doberman collapsed on the runway.

　　When the plane landed, Durbin was pale, trembling, and muttering something. Then, he stretched out two fingers and a smile appeared on his face. Durbin was then taken to the hospital. After examination by doctors, it was found that Durbin only had some abrasions on his arms, eyes and head, mostly caused by flying stones splashed when the plane landed. The discomfort in his throat that Durbin felt in the air was determined to be just saliva.

　　In the hospital, Durbin hugged his wife and children who came to hear the news. He knew that he no longer had to worry about Christmas for his loved ones. Durbin, who has endured the life-and-death catastrophe, said: "Every detail of my life fascinates me, and I am so happy that I can still spend quality time with my loved ones."