PACIFIC NORTHWEST,
AUGUST 14, 9:27 A.M. PDT
Sean McDermott hated being afraid. He hated having to concede he was afraid as much as the sensation of fear itself.
He knew that to others he didn’t look like the kind of man who was afraid of much. He was big—a former heavyweight wrestler in college—with a head shaped like an anvil and a face resembling a bulldog’s. In fact, nothing much did scare him. But flying did, even though he had more hours in the air than some commercial pilots. As human resources director for a multinational steel company with facilities across the globe, he flew several days a week.
And each time petrified him. He knew the fear was irrational. He’d read the literature on the odds of a plane crash, that he’d have to fly for centuries before there might be a catastrophic event. None of that mattered when he was in the air.
Turbulence, of course, was his greatest concern. The slightest bump, shallowest dip, weakest shudder, set his nerves aflame. He couldn’t help it, no matter how hard he tried.
During a flight McDermott was alert to every change in speed and altitude, every call button signal, every movement of the flight attendants. He knew when to expect the sound of the landing gear retracting after takeoff and lowering upon landing, the sound of the wing flaps, the bellow and whine of the engines.
Several of his most frequent flight paths had been committed to memory. Looking out the cabin window, he would identify mountains, rivers, lakes, and monuments marking the points at which the plane should be at cruising altitude, banking toward a final destination, beginning initial descent, or making final approach. Any deviation caused him to perk and wait for some sign of assurance that all was well.
McDermott took pains never to betray his fear. Whenever one of his flights did experience rougher than normal turbulence, his face would remain placid, almost serene, the only evidence of tension being the bulging veins on the backs of his hands as they gripped the armrests.
McDermott was on board a 737, the second leg of the flight from Detroit to Seattle, with a connection in Salt Lake City. He’d flown this particular route eight times in the last six months to attend union negotiations at one of his company’s pickling and slitting facilities outside of Tacoma. By the third trip he’d memorized all of the landmarks along the flight path denoting the various stages of the flight.
He could see the Columbia River to the north. By his estimate they were about seventy-five miles south of Pasco, Washington, and little more than a hundred miles southeast of Hanford, which at one time was home to nine nuclear reactors, and now, after their decommissioning, contained much, if not most, of the high-level radioactive waste in the country.
McDermott calculated that in a minute or so he would be able to see the plumes of steam coming from the cooling towers on the commercial nuclear power plant that remained in operation at the Columbia Generating Station. They would then proceed northwest for another twenty minutes before beginning their initial descent into Sea-Tac.
Except they didn’t. McDermott first sensed a slight drift northward in the direction of the Hanford site, then a faint bank to the east, the starboard wing dipping modestly. He swiveled his head to look about the cabin to see if it had captured anyone else’s attention. Nothing. Some passengers dozing, others scanning devices in airplane mode, others playing sudoku.
McDermott gazed out the window. Despite the northerly drift, he could see the billowing clouds of steam from the Columbia Generating Station’s cooling towers to the west. Likely just a minor course adjustment, probably to accommodate some traffic in the vicinity.
A few seconds later, however, the plane banked to the west, a more pronounced dip of its portside wing, the northerly drift becoming northwesterly. McDermott once again glanced about the cabin. A few more passengers were looking up, curious if not concerned.
The cooling towers grew larger in his window as the plane continued to bank in a northwesterly direction. The flight attendant from the main cabin passed him on her way to first class, where she spoke briefly to another attendant, who then picked up the wall phone opposite the flight deck. After a brief conversation, she turned to the other attendant with an urgent expression and said something to which the attendant replied with a curt nod before returning to the main cabin.
Seconds later, the plane began to descend noticeably, far too soon and steep for initial descent. They were probably a good two hundred miles from Sea-Tac and still around a cruising altitude of thirty-one thousand feet.
The seat belt sign illuminated. A couple of seconds later the voice of the flight attendant came on the speaker. “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned on the seat belt sign. Please return to your seats and make sure your seat backs and tray tables are upright and in their locked position and your seat belts are securely fastened for the remainder of the flight. We’re experiencing a few minor bumps before landing. We’ll be passing through the cabin to collect any remaining service items.”
McDermott, affecting an attitude of nonchalance, began tightening his seat belt just as the plane shuddered violently and pitched in a steep dive to the west. Panic spiked from McDermott’s stomach through his throat, which struggled to suppress a cry of terror. He watched the attendant in first class get knocked off-balance and fall against the seatback of 4A—opening a deep gash on her right temple. Baggage flew from the overhead compartments and oxygen masks dipped to screaming passengers, many of whom were too preoccupied with bracing themselves to even notice.
Amid the shouts, cries, and prayers McDermott, strangely, found himself becoming composed. It was as if the overwhelming sensation of fear had tripped some gauge in some gland that flooded his brain and body with serotonin and endorphins, producing an incongruous sense of calm and ease. He quickly considered and dismissed possible causes for the impending disaster, as if he’d be able to correct the problem upon identifying it.
The roar of the engines grew louder and swiftly changed to a high-pitched whine. McDermott closed his eyes and the screams of the passengers and the whine of the engines receded into white noise. He shook his head once at the irony that all of his worst fears of flying would be confirmed by his own death.
But in the very next second the whine of the engines dropped several octaves, the volume of noise dropped almost to normal, and the plane began to level and stabilize.
McDermott’s eyes snapped open and he looked out the window. The plane appeared to be at between fifteen and twenty thousand feet, far higher than he’d expected; it felt as if they’d been diving for much longer.
He heard whispers, gasps, and sounds of relief from other passengers. The flight attendants, including the one who’d hit her temple, were moving about, checking and comforting the passengers.
McDermott did a quick personal inventory to confirm he hadn’t been hurt and waited for the captain’s voice to come on the speaker with assurances and an explanation of what had gone wrong. But after several minutes of waiting, it became clear that no explanation would be coming.
They don’t know why it happened, he thought.
For Sean McDermott, the lack of an explanation didn’t matter. In fact, for his purposes, there was no possible explanation that would’ve mattered. Because at that moment, Sean McDermott resolved never to fly again.