The Riverside Writers Group (RWG) met for their monthly session yesterday. The guest speaker was unavailable due to family emergency, so the agenda was changed to include an Open Mic for RWG winners of “Golden Nib” awards to read their winning entries, then Open Mic for any.
I read a segment from the latter part of Golden Gate, REV H, near the end of the book. It follows. Heavily edited at the meeting to meet imposed time constraints, it essentially follows the current wording.
AS READ (Chapters and sub-chapters not noted in reading)
Major Ali weeks before, as he dropped off the last load of terrorists at Desert One, overheard a casual comment by one of the Force Ten guards, “the NG will take over security duties in two months, just after Ramadan.” Ali realized that a new, unfamiliar guard force would offer the perfect opportunity for escape. A way has appeared … Praise Allah!
All military, officers and senior enlisted – those who know their asses from a hole in the ground – in every service, around the globe, share a pride in their training, in their exploits, in their units … and what their units do. It takes little imagination or effort, especially within the same service, to get others to talk about what they do … and when and where. Military Intelligence analysts call this stuff the Essential Elements of Friendly Information; it can give an enemy just what he needed to know to act. Ali found out what he needed to know.
Ali forged transfer orders for The Five, with appropriately official-looking signatures from senior officers within the Interior Department, Royal Saudi Air Force, and the Ministry of Defense. The signatures and call back numbers, were all in Riyadh. These would electronically transfer a call to the same phone, controlled by a friend. The orders were stamped TOP SECRET, Limited Distribution (LIMDIS) ... assuring minimal questions at Desert One when presented. His most practical approach was to present them late in the afternoon on Wednesday, just as the Saudi weekend started. This would preclude anyone at Desert One from being able to contact any of the supposed signers of the transfer orders and learn of its utter untruth if they had other phone numbers or called one of the Ministries directly and asked for a signer.
Escape Route
His plan, as it evolved, was to use the false transfer orders for The Five, move them to the helo, and transport them towards the Al Kharj military complex just south of Riyadh. The helo would go beyond visual range, descend below radar coverage, and then turn west to climb over the mountains and put down at the terrorist camp. There the helo would be disassembled, buried, and all evidence destroyed before the group drove off. Ali had memorized the route, the terrain, and the wadis that would hide them as they fled. The distance to their destination, however, presented another problem, fuel for the helo.
Ali needed to maximize the helo’s range capacity. The solution was to add a fuel bladder, something he knew he could sell his Squadron Commander to authorize as part of his cover, a training hop. For the “training hop” he’d strap one of the available custom-made 200-gallon fuel bladders inside the helo, extending the Huey’s max load range to 425 miles, just enough with a pre-departure top off at Desert One. He made a point of stressing his interest in the training manual, and the op with a fuel bladder, all conveniently in NATOPS.
The NATOPS manual for his helo variant included annual exercises requiring use of fuel bladders as part of navigation quals. The RSAF typically never did these types of flights, but they would provide the perfect cover for his plan. Ali envisioned using the extended flight envelope provided by a fuel bladder, coupled with procedures for flight under EMCOM, or no use of radar, radios, altimeter, IFF, anything emitting a signal, as ways to significantly improve the probability of their escape.
Ali was unaware that devices existed that could remotely trigger a helo’s IFF.
Dog Run
The Saudi Air Force had contracted with the US Navy for a remote fuel control system for its helicopters, partly as a security measure. The fix, a better mouse trap able to remotely control fuel pumps on RSAF helos, was built, tested, and proofed at Dog Run’s ground plane. Dog Run was the locals’ term for Dahlgren, VA’s Naval Weapons Center (NWC).
The system worked flawlessly; none of the various signals caused improper functioning. The fix would be implemented first in RSAF Huey helos at Al Kharj. Twelve units were packaged up and shipped off with an NWC rep for delivery to Arabia. Each helo squadron’s maintenance officer got one unit, to install, test, and use during quarterly tests of the fuel pump and fuel filter replacement. A second entire set of twelve control units, with different procedures, controls, and intent, went to the various RSAF Helo Squadron Security officers and after appropriate training were marked SECRET, Security Officer Use Only!
Something not shared
At pre-flight the fuel gauge read 800 hundreds of pounds. Ali thought - All seems OK, plus my fuel bladder is topped off. He had a full bag of gas, for a total flight range of 425 miles, just enough to get to the rendezvous point. He had checked the airframe fuel filter and fuel lines for leaks - there were none. The fuel flow meter had checked out; there was no observable damage. The only new component, not yet reflected in the NATOPS procedures manual, was the new UHF fuel pump control system. Ali did not know of its installation or purpose.
As Ali and The Five rose in the air and departed towards Riyadh, he glanced back towards the compound, happy his plan to rescue his comrades was succeeding. Slick 57 was gassed up, in the air, and he knew the route to take them to meet others of strong belief. He saw the sun glint off the golden gate at the Tunnel Eight complex - does that gate keep one in, or out?
35 - Tales told many ways
In trail
Force Ten’s Guns 88 helo was in the air, approaching Desert One. Colonel Khalid occupied its co-pilot seat; two RSAF gunners manned the helo’s weapons. Guns 88 also had a fuel bladder, and its pilot had just done two practice flights with it. Major Ali had been Khalid’s neighbor at one time, but was now - a disgrace to our town, our tribe, and our country.
Major Ali, his co-pilot and The Five had lifted off before them and were miles ahead, but this did not matter. Ali had bluffed his way through Security verbally; quoting frequently from the Quran and aggressively threw the forged transfer orders at the head guard.
He loudly named The Five terrorists …“Their sentences have been altered. They will be publicly beheaded in Riyadh at the Grand Mosque. I want them bound with ankle shackles and handcuffs for transport.” He paused … and gave emphasis to his next statement.
“You need not be pleasant with them.”
Ali’s bluff had worked precisely as planned; the prisoners were brought to the helo, pushed and beaten across their backs by the guards, with numerous new bruises.
Upon liftoff, with The Five shackled hand and foot, and after having been very roughly treated by the guards, the co-pilot unbuckled his seat belt and moved aft to face The Five. He shouted for them to be silent, and explained their new situation.
“I have welcome news for you. First, I apologize for your mistreatment as you were brought to the helo. It was necessary to mislead the guards and conceal your escape.”
At the word escape The Five all looked him in the eye, giving him their undivided attention. “Second, Major Ali and I are members of Al Qaeda as are you. We are now flying to rendezvous with others and continue our fight.” He then unlocked their shackles, and other restraints. “Remain seated and keep your seat belts buckled. We will arrive at our destination in less than two hours - and be free!” He offered them water, dates, and kubz to sustain their strength.
Shock treatment
Finding a needle in a big sky
Guns 88 had directional finding gear installed, set to UHF voice communication freqs; the DF system allowed Colonel Khalid to track the terrorists in the fleeing helo ahead, as did the device to remotely trigger its IFF. The men ahead had escaped, and knew the secrets of Ad Dawaidimi … or so it seemed! But they were unaware of the presence of his helo.
Colonel Khalid smiled to no one in particular. We must not let them escape. “They must pay! I will ensure they pay!”
“Their helo”, Slick 57, was miles ahead, four hundred feet below in altitude, and beyond visual range, but Khalid could feel it there. He could track its flight by its altimeter signals and could trigger its IFF transponder at will to ensure they followed the helo they meant to. He checked with the pilot; it was the one he wanted … roughly fifty miles ahead, well within visual UHF radio range.
Khalid mentally plotted the helo’s flight, calculating when he must call them, demanding their surrender and return to custody. They must return, or I have no choice.
Will you walk into my parlor, said the spider
Mary Howitt
The mountains ahead of Slick 57 formed part of a chain running from Jordan in the north to Yemen in the south. Directly ahead the desert sands sloped upwards to the peak of Jebel Baidan, rising to 2845 feet at the point where Major Ali intended to cross the mountain range, only briefly coming into the radar coverage of radars at the RSAF Air Base at Khamais Mushayt. He expected that their very brief encounter with radar coverage would be overlooked as a fluke if detected; then he could fly down through an east-west canyon to the Red Sea coast. Since the radars would not see them in the canyon, their flight would be hidden.
“We will be free! Inshallah” - if God wills it.
Khalid could not see the helo ahead, nor could his pilot, but could trigger its IFF and home in on its response. It told them how far ahead the helo was, its altitude, and its flight path. He told his pilot to adjust their course ever so slightly, to close but stay just out of visual range. They had to remain within radio range, and thus within range of his remote fuel control system. He told the pilot to close to five miles and the same altitude. Closing would take more gas … do we have enough?
Slick 57 approached the mountain ridge leading to the ridgeline and Ali slowly pulled back on his stick, the controls raising the helo’s nose and beginning its ascent. A Huey loses speed as it climbs, the rotor blades lifting more ahead in their forward motion, raising the helo’s front relative to the tail boom and rotor, which together serve to keep the torque of the blades from turning in flight. Slick 57’s climb over the mountain ridge would slow their speed from 125 knots in straight, level flight to just over 60 knots as they crested the ridge. There they would begin a descent to through the canyons to the terrorist camp near the Red Sea. Major Ali had estimated that the thermals from the coast would extend their range by about 20 miles; given the load of his passengers this was sufficient.
The climb was barely noticeable to the passengers of Slick 57, though they soon sensed the temperature drop as the ridgeline approached. Colonel Khalid and his pilot saw an indication of Slick 57’s climb in the IFF readout. He asked the pilot … “How long will it take them to reach the summit?”
“About two minutes more or less, then they’ll fly level for about 10 to 15 seconds, begin their descent … and that’s when we’ll lose them!” Khalid pondered this briefly … and calculated that he had but two short minutes to get them to turn back, turn themselves in, and face cruel imprisonment. He wondered, what would Major Ali’s decision be? Would he even bother to tell The Five of the demand? No; he would go on and turn irrevocably to terrorism.
An ultimatum
Khalid keyed his headset’s mike …”Major Ali, this is Colonel Khalid of His Majesty’s Security Forces. I am in an helo behind you; I order you to return to Desert One. We will escort you there.”
Ali heard the radio message and frowned. They have spotted us, but can they catch us? A smile crept across his face - They can’t catch us. We must go on. They are too far back to stop us. We can escape … and fight on. He glanced at the beauty below.
Ali cursed over the radio … “Colonel, we will not return; we will escape to fight the unworthy and corrupt Saud royal family. We will push the infidels from this land and impose Sharia law. Warn the infidels that the day of their judgement is at hand.”
A day of judgement was indeed at hand!
Ali muttered a prayer, then sighed. He thought it just a mind game, trying to get us to return to certain death. He guided the Huey around the crest; their flight was now level. He felt the helo lift slightly, buoyed by thermals rising from the distant Red Sea coast ahead.
Khalid thought, and understood the significance of Slick 57’s flight path; the moment of judgment was at hand. I must act … now.
He opened his briefcase and removed the remote control system, plugging in its power cord and input to the helo’s UHF radio. After a second the diagnostics routine was complete and the Ready light on the display turned from Red to Green. He raised the protective cover of the Arming switch, pressed the switch to Fire, and prayed. Allah u Akbar - God is Great!
He thought briefly of Ali. I took you at face value, Ali, but you were a sham, a body double of the devil … we were never meant to be friends.
Five seconds later the fuel system’s pressure in Ali’s helo dropped to four psi, insufficient to supply the twin turbines. The fuel flow gauge turned red; Ali knew things were going south in a big way. What was wrong?
He had flameout, no power, and now no lift. His dash gauges were solid, bright Red, not just flashing. Slick 57 was in trouble. Ali stuttered “Oh Shit!!!”
Buying the farm
Ali had to deal with his first real in flight emergency. His instincts, long engrained in him, took charge. He switched the IFF transponder to broadcast 777, the universal code for an In Flight Emergency. But … he recalled, no one would see it, he was in a radar blind zone, and indeed, he … DID NOT WANT the RSAF to come.
Next he scrambled to configure his helo to auto rotate and perform an un-powered emergency landing. This emergency flight procedure requires utmost speed to initiate. The engines must be shut down, the collective immediately lowered, right rudder applied – strongly, to balance out any airframe torque. He could do this - he uncoupled the rotor blades from the turbine drive train. He would use the helo’s descent to rotate the rotors, slowing the descent and avoiding a crash.
NATOPS guidance for auto rotation required a minimum altitude of 100 feet above ground level and minimum weight. He had neither; Slick 57 was just too heavy, too low. He could not recover. The helo was going down; they’d all die. Ali screamed a prayer. He prayed that judgement meant forgiveness and salvation. He told all to brace for impact.
Ali could not control the descent - the terrain, thermals, and their speed didn’t allow time to stop forward motion and auto rotate. Even the thermals were a mixed blessing; they gave him lift, but affected the helo’s response in ways he had not trained for.
The tail rotor hit first, splintering in a thousand pieces that became mini missiles, peppering the passenger compartment and cockpit and impacting the main rotor blades.
“Be merciful God … forgive my sins, let me be with you … in peace.”
The fuselage pitched violently forward and down from the impact. The Laws of Physics structured all aspects of the impact. Forces greater than forty Gs acted on The Five, the co-pilot, and Major Ali, proving that all bodies remain in motion unless acted on by external forces.
Ali gasped as his eyes closed this last time … he sensed himself in a new place. It was Very, Very Hot!
Critiques
1. RWG member - noted that use of copyright symbol is not necessary and appears amateurish.
2. Another RWG member – A couple of suggestions
1) The structure of suspense is very good and you want to keep the audience focused on the action, so watch for any language that seems too direct from the training manuals.
2) Remember, your potential audience can only handle a limited number of acronyms *IFF etc) and remember what they are. You can substitute “transponder” for IFF specifics to help focus their attention.
3) The geographic descriptions are good and succinct. Keep them!
Second RWG member added - change the final statement “It was Very Very Hot!” to a question, to build suspense. (As Ali expected something very different.)
He also said the characterization of the two Saudis was good, and the story had a good rhyme. He said he noted interest in the expressions of other listeners.
No comments:
Post a Comment