After breakfast, Franklin and Sylvia headed straight to the airport. The air was fresh after the rain, and the ground was still damp.
The MI6 car sped down the road, driven personally by Vaughn.
Upon safely delivering them to the airport, Vaughn reluctantly looked at Franklin and Sylvia. “Master Franklin, Miss Andrews… we just met and now you’re leaving again.”
“Stop whining!” Jax punched Vaughn in the chest. “Hurry up, give me the suitcase. It’s not like we’ll never see each other again. What, you want to take over my job?”
“Forget it, I still have to go back and work on the robot competition with the guys.” Vaughn snorted and bid farewell to Franklin and Sylvia before leaving.
Jax was one of the top fighters in MI6, but when it came to computers or other technical aspects, he wasn’t as proficient.
So after Jasper’s car accident, Jax was temporarily assigned to Franklin.
“Let’s go inside,” Franklin said calmly. They had things to handle back in Aettosa. He had been away for a while and wondered how Jasper was doing.
This thought crossed his mind, and his brows furrowed slightly.
Once they boarded the plane, Franklin and Sylvia sat together. The sweet voice of the flight attendant announced safety instructions.
“What’s wrong?” Sylvia noticed his change in mood and couldn’t help but ask.
“I suddenly thought of Jasper. I wonder how his recovery is going,” Franklin’s deep voice was tinged with a slight rasp. Although Jax was good, he had spent more time with Jasper and had better rapport.
“We’ll go straight to the hospital after we land,” Sylvia said, holding his large hand. “With modern medicine, he should be recovering well. He must be in much better shape than right after the surgery. So don’t worry too much.”
The plane flew steadily through the sky. Sylvia leaned drowsily on Franklin’s broad shoulder. Suddenly, the plane jolted.
She opened her eyes slowly and met Franklin’s dark gaze. “What’s wrong? Did we hit turbulence?”
“Probably,” Franklin reassured her, patting her head. “This happens often.”
Some passengers had already started murmuring, expressing their fright.
Sylvia glanced out the window at the clear sky. There shouldn’t be any weather-related issues.
As she thought this, the plane suddenly began a rapid descent from 9, 297 meters to 3, 733 meters. The scenery outside indicated a steep drop.
In the cockpit, chaos ensued. The captain’s forehead was covered in sweat. “Quick, signal code 7700! We need an emergency landing!”
“Malfunction! The landing gear is stuck and won’t deploy!”
The co-pilot followed the captain’s instructions and contacted air traffic control.
The chief flight attendant sensed something was wrong and began calming the passengers.
If the landing gear couldn’t be deployed, the plane wouldn’t be able to land safely, risking a catastrophic crash.
The flight operations director instructed the captain to perform maneuvers to try and dislodge the landing gear, but despite these efforts, it remained stuck.
The captain grew increasingly anxious and agitated.
If something went wrong, all the passengers and crew would…
He couldn’t bear to think about it.
At that moment, the chief flight attendant hurried to the cockpit door. She didn’t dare enter but spoke softly from outside. “Captain… Mr. Maskelyne… Captain Franklin is on this flight. Should we ask him to help?”
“Mr. Maskelyne?” The captain’s mind went blank upon hearing Franklin’s name. “What about Sylvia?”
“Mrs. Maskelyne is also on board,” the chief flight attendant’s voice trembled. If anything happened to this couple on their flight…
Her face turned as white as a sheet. “Captain, this is an emergency. Our CEO has a good relationship with Mr. Maskelyne. I’m sure he won’t blame you.”
The captain gritted his teeth. “Alright, go ask him.”
The chief flight attendant pursed her lips and quickly walked to Franklin’s seat. “Captain Franklin, our plane has a malfunction; the landing gear won’t deploy. Can you come take a look? Our captain would like to discuss a solution with you.”
Franklin had suspected a malfunction when he felt the plane’s rapid descent.
He put away his phone and looked at Sylvia beside him. “I’ll be right back.”
Sylvia nodded. “Okay.”
The passengers’ previously calm expressions began to crumble.
“What’s going on?”
“What happened? Are we going to die?”
“I don’t know! This secrecy is killing me. Can you handle it?”
“Turn back! I demand we turn back!”
“Mama, I’m scared.”
Franklin heard the passengers’ fearful and panicked voices as he walked into the cockpit, where red warning lights flashed.
He immediately grasped the severity of the situation as they communicated with air traffic control.
The captain was frantically coordinating with air traffic control. “We need an emergency landing at Larro! Yes, or closer to East City. Can we land at East City?”
“I’ll report this to my superiors and arrange everything. Please hold on,” replied air traffic control personnel promptly.
Seeing Franklin enter, the captain didn’t bother wiping his sweat and immediately gave up his seat. “Mr. Maskelyne… no, Captain Franklin! Please help us quickly! What should we do in such an emergency?”
His voice was almost tearful; this was the biggest challenge of his career.
He had encountered turbulence, bad weather, lightning before… but never a direct malfunction like this. If they failed, it would be a disaster.
Just then, air traffic control’s voice came through. “NorthWind Airlines A58827T, respond if you hear me.”
Franklin’s calm voice resonated with an undeniable authority. “Hello, this is Franklin. I am taking over as captain of A58827T.”
Air traffic control personnel were momentarily stunned. “Franklin?”
Her mind went blank briefly but quickly recovered. “Hello, upper management has approved an emergency landing at East City. The runway has been cleared for your emergency landing. We’ve dispatched 59 fire trucks, 20 ambulances, 4 lighting trucks, and 25 engineering vehicles to the scene.”
She paused before adding, “We hope you can land safely.”
The control center was so quiet that a pin drop could be heard.
Several leaders were wide-eyed in shock. “Did I hear that right? Franklin is on board?”
The air traffic controller nodded. “Yes, he’s taken over flying the plane.”
Even though Franklin was piloting the plane, they were still deeply worried.
Anything could happen in-flight.
Especially with such a critical malfunction.
Meanwhile, Franklin had already begun flying towards East City.
In about ten minutes, the plane circled over East City. His stern voice echoed through the broadcast system with unwavering strength. “This is passenger Franklin speaking as temporary pilot. We have an emergency situation with malfunctioning landing gear. I will attempt an aerial maneuver to release it. Please remain calm; your cooperation is crucial.”
After speaking, he executed a series of sharp ascents, side slips, and steep turns.
Passengers couldn’t help but exclaim in surprise as he maneuvered the plane.
“Oh my God! This is intense!”
“It’s like he’s making the plane do a ballet spin…”
“Mom, I’ll never argue with you again; I want to go home!”
“Heaven help us; please let us land safely.”
Various voices filled the cabin as Sylvia sat quietly in her seat, recalling when she had just divorced Franklin and his plane faced an emergency.
He handled it beautifully back then.
She wasn’t nervous or scared now; she believed he could do it.
As long as he was there, she would never be afraid.
The captain had over ten years of experience and grabbed an axe tied around his waist with nylon rope to try dislodging the jammed landing gear but despite his efforts, it wouldn’t budge.
Franklin signaled him to stop wasting effort. “I can try a test landing.”
A test landing involved attempting a normal landing to use runway impact forces to dislodge the front landing gear before taking off again.
But despite two attempts circling and landing impacts by Franklin, the front landing gear remained stuck.
Finally, Franklin made a decision. “Please have the chief flight attendant organize passengers towards mid and rear sections for emergency landing preparation.”
His rich voice over the broadcast seemed to silently empower everyone.
Without hesitation, the chief flight attendant repeatedly demonstrated protective positions while other crew members worked together to calm everyone down.
Passengers moved as instructed towards mid-rear sections leaving weight off aircraft nose area.
Some cried loudly while others silently wept facing potential death fearfully.