Close Encounter
Close Encounter
Close Encounter
“Bravo two five, this is Houston Tower. Be advised we are picking up an unidentified aircraft, your height, in your three o’ clock position, range one mile, over?”
Andy and Dominic exchanged glances. One mile was practically a near miss in aviation terms. Dom peered out his window.
“I can’t see anything Andy.”
Andy turned on his microphone while scanning the skies.
“Houston Tower from Bravo two five, we have no visual contact. Can you confirm, over?”
There was a pause before the response came.
“Bravo Two Five, we can confirm the contact. It’s a strange one though. It just appeared from nowhere. We thought it might be a glitch, but it’s been there a minute or two now. You guys can’t see any… -ot a big…-over?”
The speaker crackled loudly as the Texan voice broke up. Andy tapped his headphones and glanced over to Dom who shook his head.
“Houston tower you’re breaking up, say again over? Houston tower…Dom, it’s no good. We’ve lost contact.”
Dom flipped a switch. “We’re not getting the ILS beacon or the outer markers either. What the hell is going on?”
Andy ran through the frequencies but every channel was met by static. He considered all kinds of possibilities but nothing quite made sense. This was too much like the crazy stories some pilots talked about. Andy didn’t believe in such nonsense, Dom however...
“Andy…”
“Don’t say it Dom. There’s a rational, normal explanation. Maybe the radio’s faulty?”
The co-pilot smirked. “Of course, that’s why it’s picking up a lovely selection of static and squawk.”
Andy glanced down at the onboard radar. It was not much use for detecting other aircraft , being mainly used for ‘reading’ the weather dead ahead. There was nothing except some heavy cloud formations a few miles away. He looked around to see Dom staring at him.
“Look Dom, It’s weird for sure, but one thing it’s not, is a bloody UFO!”
Dom turned and stared out his window again. “Now don’t discount things in such a hurry Andy. A lot of …bloody hell!”
Something large flashed past the cockpit window. Andy had a glimpse of a dark, sleek shape.
“What is God’s name was that?”
Dom turned, his face white. “You were right mate. It’s no UFO.”
Andy looked, frightened by the expression on his friend’s face.
“What was it?”
Dom didn’t speak, but pointed. Andy looked and he gaped in awe and wonder. Before the plane, banking in the evening sun, was a long serpentine form. It was easily as long as the 757, with huge wings that glittered in the red-gold light. Its reptilian head was crowned in wicked looking horns, and its scales scintillated in a thousand colours.
“Dom..”
“I know.”
“It’s a…”
“I know. And that’s not all. Look down mate. We appear to have lost the Gulf of Mexico.”
Andy pulled his gaze away from the reptilian form, which was turning lazily in the air. Below them were white-capped mountains on the edge of a huge forest.
Dom’s voice shook slightly. “We ain’t in Texas anymore, Toto!”
From the passenger compartment, they heard a few raised voices, followed by a hesitant knock on the door.
“Captain.” It was Hannah the chief stewardess. “Can I have a word please?”
Dom unlocked the door and Hannah came in. Her expression was tense.
“Guys, the natives are getting restless. Some of them have noticed we don’t seem to be quite where we ought to be, and, well one man says he just saw a…Oh my God”
The dragon had completed its long, slow turn and was now flying a little way in front matching speed with the aircraft. Its tail swayed from side to side gently in the drifting air currents. Hannah gaped in astonishment.
Dom patted the young woman on the arm. “Your guess is as good as ours at this point love.”
Hannah continued to stare. “Is that really a…”
Andy shrugged. “If it looks like a dragon… flies like a dragon…. But look, we can’t have a panic. I’m going to turn on the seatbelt lights. Get everyone settled and we’ll try and drop lower and see if we can figure out where in the hell we are.”
Hannah looked worried. “No radio?”
“Nothing on any channels. Of course, there’s a perfectly rational and normal explanation. Isn’t there Andy?” Dom said, sarcastically.
Andy pressed the seatbelt indicator and said nothing.
Hannah left, closing the door behind her. Andy gave her a few minutes to update the aircrew and then thumbed the intercom.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are experiencing a… minor navigational anomaly. We will shortly be descending to try and get a visual fix. I can assure you there is nothing to worry about and we’ll have you down on the ground soon.”
“Yeah right,” muttered Dom under his breath.
Andy eased the nose of the aircraft down and reduced power. The airliner started to descend slowly. The dragon looked back and swooped downwards; it drew its wings in a little and dove down at a dizzying speed.
Dom whistled in awe. “That thing moves like a fighter jet. Swing wings and all.”
The dragon hurtled downwards and then spread its wings wide. It swooped upwards again and, as it approached their height, it belched forth gouts of orange flame.
“Mother of God!” Andy whispered, “I think its going to attack us. Maybe it sees us as a rival.”
The dragon hung in the air a moment, beating its wings fiercely and staring at the airliner. As the plane passed it by, it let out a roar that could clearly be heard despite the plane’s steel walls.
Screams came from the passenger compartment. The cat was well and truly out of the bag now.
Suddenly the plane shook and tilted to the right.
The plane rocked again and tilted to the left, and then the dragon was passing them, its huge wings beating.
“Crap.” Andy fought the controls back to level flight. “Dom, I’m going to have to put us down before it tears us to bits.
Dom looked thoughtful. “I am not so sure that’s what it wants to do.”
Andy swore. “Sure. It just wants to play.”
“In a way.” Dom paused a moment. “You know I like to watch wildlife channels…”
“Yes…” Andy didn’t like Dom’s tone. “And?”
“Well,” said Dom, “don’t you think that thing is kind of, showing off?”
Andy followed his friend’s gaze. The dragon was executing a dazzling series of whirls. Every now and again it glanced back at the aircraft.
“Okay, I’ll buy it. And this means?”
“It’s not seeing us as a threat. It’s seeing us as a…”
“No!” Andy suddenly grasped what his friend was meaning. “It wants to… “
“Yep.” Dom pointed to where the dragon had turned back towards them with determined expression on its face.
“Oh crap.”
Andy flipped the intercom switch again.
“Ladies and Gents. May I have your attention please, we are about to um… experience some ah…” He looked at Dom who shrugged helplessly, “turbulence…” He finished lamely.
Suddenly the plane shook. Andy looked back along the fuselage as best he could. The dragon had gripped the airliner tightly and was beating its wings steadily. The head of the beast loomed above the cockpit windows. The engines howled in protest as the dragon tried to slow down.
“Andy eased back the throttle.”
Dom looked at him with a slightly manic expression. “What are you doing?”
Andy grimaced. “The way I see it, we had best get this over with, maybe once it’s had its fun it’ll leave us alone.”
“I bloody well hope so. This is not how I imagined it all ending, raped by a 200 foot winged iguana!”
Screams and shouting could be heard from beyond the cockpit door and then he heard Hannah’s calm voice trying to calm everyone. At that moment, the plane started rocking up and down. For some reason that gentle bouncing, and the sheer bizarreness of the situation hit Andy. A chuckle bubbled up from deep inside, which grew into a full-throated explosion of laughter.
Beside him, Dom looked on incredulously, then, he too started to giggle.
The rocking continued another minute or so before, suddenly, the engine pitch changed and the nose dipped.
“Crap!” Andy grabbed the controls frantically. “The damn thing’s let us go.”
He increased power to the engines, and the nose rose gently. The dragon appeared off to the right side of the plane. It kept pace a moment, then, looking almost fondly back at the plane, dove downwards.
Almost at the same time, the plane passed through a thick bank of grey cloud. As they emerged once again into sunlight, the radio sputtered, squealed and then became a rather panicked voice.
“…ave you back on radar. Bravo Two Five do you read me over? Come on back buddy. Tell us you’re okay, over?”
Andy turned on the microphone.
“Houston Tower, is that you? This is Bravo Two Five, over?”
“Phew! You had us all worried back there, this is Houston Tower all right. What the heck happened?”
Andy covered the microphone with his hand and looked at his friend.
“What the hell do I say?”
Dom just shrugged. “I don’t think there’s an incident code for this one, mate.”
Andy released the microphone.
“Err… Houston tower, we had a spot of bother back there with an umm….. atmospheric disturbance.
The radio interrupted him.
“You guys wanna report a UFO? Over.”
Andy smiled a little.
“That’s a negative Houston tower. We can sure as heck identify it. We just don’t know if we believe what we saw… over?”
“Well let’s get you guys down on the ground. Come to heading Two Seven Seven, stay at your current height and speed, over?”
“Roger Houston. Two Seven Seven.”
“Confirmed Bravo Two Five, anything you need once we get down. Over”
Andy thought for a moment before answering.
“That’s an affirmative Houston. We need about…” Andy did a quick estimate of the numbers of passengers, “say about 200 cigarettes, access to showers and the phone number of a good counsellor, over and out.”
“Bravo two five, this is Houston Tower. Be advised we are picking up an unidentified aircraft, your height, in your three o’ clock position, range one mile, over?”
Andy and Dominic exchanged glances. One mile was practically a near miss in aviation terms. Dom peered out his window.
“I can’t see anything Andy.”
Andy turned on his microphone while scanning the skies.
“Houston Tower from Bravo two five, we have no visual contact. Can you confirm, over?”
There was a pause before the response came.
“Bravo Two Five, we can confirm the contact. It’s a strange one though. It just appeared from nowhere. We thought it might be a glitch, but it’s been there a minute or two now. You guys can’t see any… -ot a big…-over?”
The speaker crackled loudly as the Texan voice broke up. Andy tapped his headphones and glanced over to Dom who shook his head.
“Houston tower you’re breaking up, say again over? Houston tower…Dom, it’s no good. We’ve lost contact.”
Dom flipped a switch. “We’re not getting the ILS beacon or the outer markers either. What the hell is going on?”
Andy ran through the frequencies but every channel was met by static. He considered all kinds of possibilities but nothing quite made sense. This was too much like the crazy stories some pilots talked about. Andy didn’t believe in such nonsense, Dom however...
“Andy…”
“Don’t say it Dom. There’s a rational, normal explanation. Maybe the radio’s faulty?”
The co-pilot smirked. “Of course, that’s why it’s picking up a lovely selection of static and squawk.”
Andy glanced down at the onboard radar. It was not much use for detecting other aircraft , being mainly used for ‘reading’ the weather dead ahead. There was nothing except some heavy cloud formations a few miles away. He looked around to see Dom staring at him.
“Look Dom, It’s weird for sure, but one thing it’s not, is a bloody UFO!”
Dom turned and stared out his window again. “Now don’t discount things in such a hurry Andy. A lot of …bloody hell!”
Something large flashed past the cockpit window. Andy had a glimpse of a dark, sleek shape.
“What is God’s name was that?”
Dom turned, his face white. “You were right mate. It’s no UFO.”
Andy looked, frightened by the expression on his friend’s face.
“What was it?”
Dom didn’t speak, but pointed. Andy looked and he gaped in awe and wonder. Before the plane, banking in the evening sun, was a long serpentine form. It was easily as long as the 757, with huge wings that glittered in the red-gold light. Its reptilian head was crowned in wicked looking horns, and its scales scintillated in a thousand colours.
“Dom..”
“I know.”
“It’s a…”
“I know. And that’s not all. Look down mate. We appear to have lost the Gulf of Mexico.”
Andy pulled his gaze away from the reptilian form, which was turning lazily in the air. Below them were white-capped mountains on the edge of a huge forest.
Dom’s voice shook slightly. “We ain’t in Texas anymore, Toto!”
From the passenger compartment, they heard a few raised voices, followed by a hesitant knock on the door.
“Captain.” It was Hannah the chief stewardess. “Can I have a word please?”
Dom unlocked the door and Hannah came in. Her expression was tense.
“Guys, the natives are getting restless. Some of them have noticed we don’t seem to be quite where we ought to be, and, well one man says he just saw a…Oh my God”
The dragon had completed its long, slow turn and was now flying a little way in front matching speed with the aircraft. Its tail swayed from side to side gently in the drifting air currents. Hannah gaped in astonishment.
Dom patted the young woman on the arm. “Your guess is as good as ours at this point love.”
Hannah continued to stare. “Is that really a…”
Andy shrugged. “If it looks like a dragon… flies like a dragon…. But look, we can’t have a panic. I’m going to turn on the seatbelt lights. Get everyone settled and we’ll try and drop lower and see if we can figure out where in the hell we are.”
Hannah looked worried. “No radio?”
“Nothing on any channels. Of course, there’s a perfectly rational and normal explanation. Isn’t there Andy?” Dom said, sarcastically.
Andy pressed the seatbelt indicator and said nothing.
Hannah left, closing the door behind her. Andy gave her a few minutes to update the aircrew and then thumbed the intercom.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, we are experiencing a… minor navigational anomaly. We will shortly be descending to try and get a visual fix. I can assure you there is nothing to worry about and we’ll have you down on the ground soon.”
“Yeah right,” muttered Dom under his breath.
Andy eased the nose of the aircraft down and reduced power. The airliner started to descend slowly. The dragon looked back and swooped downwards; it drew its wings in a little and dove down at a dizzying speed.
Dom whistled in awe. “That thing moves like a fighter jet. Swing wings and all.”
The dragon hurtled downwards and then spread its wings wide. It swooped upwards again and, as it approached their height, it belched forth gouts of orange flame.
“Mother of God!” Andy whispered, “I think its going to attack us. Maybe it sees us as a rival.”
The dragon hung in the air a moment, beating its wings fiercely and staring at the airliner. As the plane passed it by, it let out a roar that could clearly be heard despite the plane’s steel walls.
Screams came from the passenger compartment. The cat was well and truly out of the bag now.
Suddenly the plane shook and tilted to the right.
The plane rocked again and tilted to the left, and then the dragon was passing them, its huge wings beating.
“Crap.” Andy fought the controls back to level flight. “Dom, I’m going to have to put us down before it tears us to bits.
Dom looked thoughtful. “I am not so sure that’s what it wants to do.”
Andy swore. “Sure. It just wants to play.”
“In a way.” Dom paused a moment. “You know I like to watch wildlife channels…”
“Yes…” Andy didn’t like Dom’s tone. “And?”
“Well,” said Dom, “don’t you think that thing is kind of, showing off?”
Andy followed his friend’s gaze. The dragon was executing a dazzling series of whirls. Every now and again it glanced back at the aircraft.
“Okay, I’ll buy it. And this means?”
“It’s not seeing us as a threat. It’s seeing us as a…”
“No!” Andy suddenly grasped what his friend was meaning. “It wants to… “
“Yep.” Dom pointed to where the dragon had turned back towards them with determined expression on its face.
“Oh crap.”
Andy flipped the intercom switch again.
“Ladies and Gents. May I have your attention please, we are about to um… experience some ah…” He looked at Dom who shrugged helplessly, “turbulence…” He finished lamely.
Suddenly the plane shook. Andy looked back along the fuselage as best he could. The dragon had gripped the airliner tightly and was beating its wings steadily. The head of the beast loomed above the cockpit windows. The engines howled in protest as the dragon tried to slow down.
“Andy eased back the throttle.”
Dom looked at him with a slightly manic expression. “What are you doing?”
Andy grimaced. “The way I see it, we had best get this over with, maybe once it’s had its fun it’ll leave us alone.”
“I bloody well hope so. This is not how I imagined it all ending, raped by a 200 foot winged iguana!”
Screams and shouting could be heard from beyond the cockpit door and then he heard Hannah’s calm voice trying to calm everyone. At that moment, the plane started rocking up and down. For some reason that gentle bouncing, and the sheer bizarreness of the situation hit Andy. A chuckle bubbled up from deep inside, which grew into a full-throated explosion of laughter.
Beside him, Dom looked on incredulously, then, he too started to giggle.
The rocking continued another minute or so before, suddenly, the engine pitch changed and the nose dipped.
“Crap!” Andy grabbed the controls frantically. “The damn thing’s let us go.”
He increased power to the engines, and the nose rose gently. The dragon appeared off to the right side of the plane. It kept pace a moment, then, looking almost fondly back at the plane, dove downwards.
Almost at the same time, the plane passed through a thick bank of grey cloud. As they emerged once again into sunlight, the radio sputtered, squealed and then became a rather panicked voice.
“…ave you back on radar. Bravo Two Five do you read me over? Come on back buddy. Tell us you’re okay, over?”
Andy turned on the microphone.
“Houston Tower, is that you? This is Bravo Two Five, over?”
“Phew! You had us all worried back there, this is Houston Tower all right. What the heck happened?”
Andy covered the microphone with his hand and looked at his friend.
“What the hell do I say?”
Dom just shrugged. “I don’t think there’s an incident code for this one, mate.”
Andy released the microphone.
“Err… Houston tower, we had a spot of bother back there with an umm….. atmospheric disturbance.
The radio interrupted him.
“You guys wanna report a UFO? Over.”
Andy smiled a little.
“That’s a negative Houston tower. We can sure as heck identify it. We just don’t know if we believe what we saw… over?”
“Well let’s get you guys down on the ground. Come to heading Two Seven Seven, stay at your current height and speed, over?”
“Roger Houston. Two Seven Seven.”
“Confirmed Bravo Two Five, anything you need once we get down. Over”
Andy thought for a moment before answering.
“That’s an affirmative Houston. We need about…” Andy did a quick estimate of the numbers of passengers, “say about 200 cigarettes, access to showers and the phone number of a good counsellor, over and out.”