//------------------------------// // Riders of the Storm: Part 1 // Story: FedEx 715 // by BronyPilot //------------------------------// Chapter 2: Riders of the Storm: Part 1 Another ATC controller tapped Mark’s shoulder. Mark looked over to him just as he handed off another flight to another airspace. Marked mouthed to him ‘What?’ and the other ATC pointed to the LCD television hanging from the wall of the center. It was currently set too the Weather Channel and was reading off the Local on the 8’s or the weather at the time. At first, Mark didn’t immediately figure out why the other controller had him look at it. Then, the broadcast showed a Doppler radar prediction of the next few hours. What Caught Mark’s eye was a bunch of purple and red over the airspace they controlled. Confused, Mark was about to go and call the weather station he had talked with earlier when an announcement came over a small intercom system: “All controllers, we have received a warning from the National Weather Service concerning a severe storm system moving through our area. We have been advised, no, ordered to convey this information to all aircraft in the area and all aircraft that will be coming this way. If needed, divert them away from the storm to avoid any incidents.” Mark recalled his conversation with the FedEx flight and tried to estimate how long it had been since then. He looked at his watch and it looked like it had been about 5 minutes since then. Even though it hadn’t been long, at the speed the 777 was flying it could have gone a long way in 5 minutes. He looked back to his radar and quickly found the plane. He then flicked a small switch that gave a small depiction of weather in the area. A large mass, which he believed to be the storm, appeared on the screen. The few aircraft he had control of seemed to be far enough that diverting them wouldn’t be hard. However, the location of the FedEx flight chilled him to his bones. According to his radar, the cargo flight would hit the storm in the next minute or so and didn’t have much room to divert away from it. //////////////////////////////// “This is a message to all aircraft: A Large storm has formed in our airspace and is looking to be very severe. All aircraft are instructed to request a deviation from their current path and to divert to an alternate airport if required for your current location.” The pilots of the FedEx 777 face-palmed inside their mind once they heard this. They were the ones that told ATC of this storm yet ATC said it was nothing and now here they are warning them about the same thing except it was not just static air. Roberts heard the Captain mutter something regarding the ATC and decided it would be best if he did not ask the Captain to repeat it back to him. “Alright then, John?” “Yeah?” “How far are we from this thing now?” The First Officer did a quick scan of his instruments before giving an answer. “If I’m right, we will enter the storm in a few minutes at our current speed and heading.” “Can we divert around it?” “We would still run into part of it trying.” “Hmmmm…” The captain entered deep thought of how to tackle the situation. He went over several ideas in his head, ruling out most of them. However, one idea seemed to be logical and could possibly work. “Roberts, adjust the navigation display to show us the kind of weather were dealing with on our side of the storm.” The First Officer did as instructed and got the navigation display to a range that they could see the front of the storm. To their surprise, the display only showed green. Some of it real dark green, but otherwise just green. It puzzled them because green meant the storm was not too serious. They both thought: Was ATC talking about the same storm? Is it truly safe to fly through? Roberts quickly made the decision to ask ATC once again about the storm. /////////////////////////////////////// “Topeka Center this is FedEx 715, requesting your assistance again.” “Roger 715, go ahead.” “We have just looked up the reported storm on our nav. display and we are only seeing what looks like some moderate rain but not much else. Is that really what’s there? Or are our instruments failing us?” Mark looked back at his radar. What he saw partially agreed with the pilot’s statement but at the same time disagreed with it. There was a patch of green in front of the plane, but there was a large amount of red and purple right behind it. He thought quickly of how to respond before actually doing so. //////////////////////////// “FedEx 715, our radar shows part of what you claim your radar is showing. There is a front of moderate rain but severe conditions directly behind it.” The First Officer gave an inquiring look to the captain, silently asking what he wanted them to do now. The captain sighed and said in a calm tone, “Just have him divert us to the north.” According to their display, it would be easier diverting around the storm if they turned to the north. Roberts sighed as well before he made the request to the ATC. “Topeka Center, FedEx 715 would like to deviate from flight-plan at this time. Request a detour path around the storm?” “FedEx 715, roger. You are cleared to deviate from your flight-plan. Turn left to a heading of 050 and await further instructions.” “Left 050 and awaiting assignment, FedEx 715.” The plane slowly banked to the left as the Autopilot adjusted the heading according to the pilot’s input on the dial. The pilots began thinking about their fears of what could happen as they saw a much brighter flash in the distance. The clouds, now more visible, looked menacing and evil. “FedEx 715, we can vector you partly around the storm, but you will have to fly through some of it I’m afraid. According to our radar, it shouldn’t be anything too major though.” “Any help is appreciated,” the F/O replied with a half chuckle. “Ok then, turn right to 058 and proceed to the Robinson VOR. From there, fly to the Macom VOR then resume own navigation and fly direct to original flight-plan.” “Turn right 058, fly direct to Robinson VOR then direct to Macom VOR and proceed to original course from there. FedEx 715.” The metal giant slowly banked right as it heeded to the captain’s input once again. The F/O set the Nav. 1 identifier on the radio panel to the corresponding frequency to the Robinson VOR. The pilots began to hear rain drops on the windshield and hull of their aircraft. The captain set the wipers to low power, but knew he would have to turn it onto max not too long afterwards. The crew and airspace controller believed the plane had turned to a heading of 058, but the storm had a trick up its sleeve. Unknown to all, there was a field of unknown origin surrounding the storm. It had interfered with the plane’s navigation instruments so that even if the plane read that it was at 058, it was really headed towards the center of the super-cell storm.