by David Elder

Created on: March 11, 2009   Last Updated: July 13, 2009

The Emissary

"United 143 you are cleared for landing on runway seven east, acknowledge."

There was no response from the aircraft, which was odd considering the situation. Ed Thompson was the air traffic controller who had been tracking the aircraft since its pilot had requested emergency landing clearance nearly twenty minutes ago.

"United 143 do you copy, over."

Still no response, thought Ed as he swiveled his chair and got the attention of Charlie Hooper, the head of flight operations. Although no emergency landing request could ever be considered routine, unruly passenger reports were becoming all too frequent lately with the increase in security. Passengers had surprisingly little patience when it came to minor inconveniences.

Charlie walked up behind Ed and asked him what the status was for United 143, which had been diverted from its intended destination at Washington Dulles to their location in Chicago's O'Hare Airport.

"I don't really know Charlie. They haven't responded since we cleared the runway. They're on a flight path consistent with landing though. Maybe their radio is on the fritz." Ed spoke once more into the mike, "United 143 come in, over." Ed looked at Charlie and shrugged his shoulders. "What do you want to do Charlie?"

"You've already contacted the FAA, right?" he replied, already knowing the answer.

"As soon as I got the original request." confirmed Ed.

"Tell me again what the pilot said, and try to be exact. We don't have time to review the tapes."

"He told me that they were having trouble with a passenger who refused to stop smoking, and I heard a lot of yelling in the background." replied Ed.

"Alright, there's not much more we can do now, their flight path shows they are committed to a landing shortly, and the emergency vehicles are in place, so all we can do is wait. How long before they touch down?" Charlie's brow was deeply creased from dealing with years of emergencies just like this one and worse, and the creases grew deeper as he scanned the sky.

"They'll be landing in about two minutes. We should be able to see them dropping below the clouds any second now.

Using his high powered binoculars, Charlie looked through the window in the direction in which the 747 should first appear. After about thirty seconds he saw it break through the surface of the clouds on its way toward the runway. Billowing black smoke could be seen trailing from the body of the plane as it descended on its predetermined path.

"GROUND ALL TRAFFIC

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