CROWDED SKIES

The Novel

The Screenplay

Synopsis

Over Paris, two American airliners nearly collide. The air traffic controller who is responsible for the incident commits suicide and leaves a mysterious note.
Soon thereafter, two mid-air collisions occur on the same day. Two of the four airliners are from the same Russian airline, based in Chechnya, raising suspicion about a terrorist attack of Chechen rebels using airplanes as guided bombs.
One of the investigators gets killed while driving to his office; the first in a series of eliminations of people who are involved in the investigation.
Another American airliner is targeted; the plane is hit by a missile and crashes. A German weapons-specialist gets involved and travels to Lithuania to find out more.

Anthony Stevens, Chief Security Adviser of Interpol, finds out that the three American airliners that were destroyed carried targeted VIP’s.
The U.S. government accuses Al-Qaeda of executing or supporting the attacks, and strikes suspected Al-Qaeda hideouts all over the world.
The terrorists carry out an assault on Eurocontrol ATC’s headquarters in Brussels and upload a virus called Crowded Skies in the computer network.
Amidst chaos, three American airliners are directed towards Air Force One, en-route from Moscow to London. The pilots’ mission: to collide with the presidential plane and assassinate the President of the United States. Escorting fighter jets prevent the destruction of Air Force One by shooting the airliners out of the sky; upon landing, the presidential plane gets hit by a missile but manages to land safely.

The Americans are divided after a shocking revelation is made: the terrorist attacks were not carried out by Muslim extremists, but by American right-wing militants. Even U.S. military personnel in Europe are involved in the plot.
U.S. authorities unveil a large-scale fraud for funding the terrorist organisation involving large American companies. The money is also used to bribe people around the world to have them collaborate with the organisation.
A last attempt to assassinate the President fails and the Secretary of State, who turns out to be the leader of the American militant group, commits suicide. Anthony Stevens, the man who saved the President, becomes the new director of the FBI.

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CROWDED SKIES

LEVENT BERGKOTTE

Copyright © 2006 Levent Bergkotte. All rights reserved.
No part of this novel may be reproduced without written permission from the author.

He can be contacted through the email-address levent@textwriters.net or any of the following websites:
www.textwriters.net
www.aircraftspotting.net
www.airplanemodelcollection.net
www.bergmanaviationconsulting.com
www.travelerswebsite.net

Dedicated to Judy, my loving partner who put up with many hours of me paying more attention to my laptop than to her.

INTRODUCTION

On September 11, 2001, the world was shocked by the worst terrorist attack ever. Four hijacked American airliners were used as terrorist weapons to attack the United States of America in its very heart. Two airplanes were flown into the Twin Towers in New York, causing them to collapse after a fierce fire. A third plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a fourth airliner crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the flight’s passengers managed to overpower the hijackers to prevent them from hitting yet another target. Almost 3000 people were killed that day.
            This date marked a ‘before’ and an ‘after’ in counter-terrorism efforts. The U.S. retaliated by hunting down members of the Muslim extremist group Al-Qaeda, led by Osama bin Laden, right to their hideouts in the mountains of Afghanistan. The war against terrorism is tough and no one knows how long it will take nor how many people will still suffer before peace finally comes.
            The beginning of the twenty-first century has been marked by terrorism. Cities and countries around the world have been hit by brutal attacks. Bali and Jakarta in Indonesia, Madrid in Spain, London and Istanbul, Egypt, and many other places have mourned their dead.
This novel is a work of fiction. Although a large number of references to events in the past are real, such as the September 11, 2001 attacks and various airliner crashes referred to throughout the story, the occurrences in the story and the names of characters are all fictional.                                                 

Levent Bergkotte
November 1, 2005

“And we must be mindful that as we seek to win the war that we treat Arab-Americans and Muslims with the respect they deserve. (…) We will hold those who are responsible for the terrorist acts accountable and those who harbour them.”
U.S. President George W. Bush, September 13, 2001

“I believe violence will only increase the cycle of violence. But how do we deal with hatred and anger which are often the root causes of such senseless violence? This is a very difficult question, especially when it concerns a nation and we have certain fixed conceptions of how to deal with such attacks.”
The Dalai Lama

“Terrorists are mass murderers, not martyrs.”
Sheikh Hamza Yusuf

CROWDED SKIES

Levent Bergkotte

CHAPTER ONE – CLOSE CALL

            “Transworld 5467, descend to flight level 090 and contact Approach on 119.85,” a female voice instructed the crew of the cargo plane.
            “Down to 090 and switching to 119.85, Transworld 5467, bye bye,” Captain Alan Goldblum responded. He was the pilot non-flying, which meant that he took care of the communications while Dave Kensington, his co-pilot,  did the flying. Alan repeated the controller’s instructions to Dave, a standard procedure between pilots before making any changes, the new settings were introduced in the autopilot system and the plane started a shallow descent to its newly assigned altitude.
            “Paris approach, Transworld 5467 with you, through flight level 136 descending to flight level 090.”
            “Transworld 5467, roger, radar contact, QNH is 1023.”
            “QNH 1023, Transworld 5467.” Alan turned the calibration knob on the altimeter to adjust the QNH setting, the barometric pressure of the air.
Setting the barometric pressure is essential for a correct altitude readout on an airplane’s altimeter. Alan and Dave went on with the preparations for the approach. In the horizon they could see the skyline of Paris, which they would overfly on their way to Beauvais airport.

In the meantime American Wings flight 2951 had also been cleared to descend to flight level 090, or 9000 feet. Just before reaching the assigned altitude, Captain Smith contacted Approach to request further descent.
            “Negative Wings 2951,” the controller said, “remain at flight level 090 due to traffic congestion, and stand-by.”
            “Wilco, we’ll stay at 090 awaiting further instructions, Wings 2951.”
            “Hmmm,” Timothy said to his First Officer, Jack, “that’s odd, traffic congestion at this time of the day? Well, maybe it’s because of all the transatlantic flights coming in now… What do you reckon, Jack?”
            “Yeah, I guess so,” replied Jack, “although this isn’t very good for our descent planning, is it? You think we’ll have to hold?”
            “I don’t know, we’ll see. Anyway, fuel-wise it won’t be any problem.”

“Transworld 5467, turn right heading 030.”
            “Right heading 030, Transworld 5467,” replied Alan. “Why the hell is he sending us in that direction?” he said while turning to Dave. “I hope he knows we want to go to Beauvais!”
            “I suppose it might be due to heavy traffic coming in from the west, don’t you think? This time of day a lot of flights from the U.S. arrive here. Maybe they want to clear the skies a bit.”
            “Yeah I guess so… it does mean that it will take longer to get into that comfortable bed though…”
            “Oh, you old man, is that the only thing you think about?”
            “Just wait and see, son, I’d like to hear you when you’re my age and have logged many thousands of hours sitting in a cockpit seat!”
In the short time that Dave had been working with Transworld, he had become very fond of Alan. His impressive career and great personality caused Dave to have a deep respect for this ‘old’ pilot. He felt he could learn a lot from him.
The flight crew of the Boeing 757 was now joined by John McKenzie, the loadmaster, who was ready in the back. “How long to go, guys?” he asked the pilots. John hadn’t been flying with Alan and Dave during their whole duty; he had joined them in Dubai. John was based in the United Arab Emirates. The crew of Transworld Express aircraft didn’t always include a loadmaster; it depended on the destination and the sort of cargo that was being carried. If the plane carried only boxes for example, no loadmaster was needed. But in this case, John was responsible for the precious load of expensive cars. Sometimes, if the plane was transporting live animals, there would be a fourth crew member as well, a veterinarian working for the airline.
            “Well, if it wasn’t for this bloody French controller, a minute or fifteen, but he felt like sending us in a completely different direction so I don’t know now…” Dave replied to John’s question, annoyed.
            “Well, well, I know that you Brits don’t like the French…,” John said laughing. “Remember that we just carry a bunch of cargo. Probably they are giving priority to those passenger planes out there.” John had been working with Transworld Express for a very long time now and as loadmaster handled a wide variety of items, ranging from Christmas packages for U.S. troops in Iraq to medical equipment for victims of the December 2004 tsunami disaster in South-East Asia, and racing horses for the sultan of Oman. 
As the Transworld Express 757 was heading in a direction that would lead it just east of Charles de Gaulle Airport, the American Wings 767 was routed north of it after which a right turn would get it into the approach path for the runway. Timothy Smith was not very thrilled about the procedure they had to follow.
            “Where the hell is this guy taking us to? There is no holding pattern on this side of the airport, and we’re way too high to start our approach!”
He decided to try to get more information: “Approach, this is Wings 2951 heading 120, could you please brief us on your intentions as we’re not sure which procedure to follow.”
            “Turn right heading 210 and stand by, Wings 2951,” was the only answer coming from the other side of the microphone.
            “Jesus Christ, is this guy playing around with us or what?” Timothy shouted after acknowledging the controller’s instructions.
By this time, the two American planes were flying at the same altitude and exactly towards each other. Dave noticed the American Wings plane approaching on the TCAS screen, the Traffic Collision Avoidance System which tells the pilots where exactly other traffic around them is.
            “Um, Alan… I suppose this controller is leading us to the east of De Gaulle because of heavy traffic on the other side, but what about this plane here?” he said as he pointed out the diamond symbol on the TCAS- instrument’s screen, which showed that the traffic was moving towards their plane at exactly the same altitude. Both planes were travelling with a speed of 250 knots and, being on a head-on course, it wouldn’t take too long for them to meet each other. Alan decided to contact the controller just to make sure that separation would be guaranteed.
            “Paris Approach, Transworld 5467 on heading 030 and flight level 090. Um… we see TCAS traffic heading towards us, it appears to be flying at our altitude and on a collision course. Please advice.”
            The pilots heard a double click, which was an acknowledgement that the message had been received, but the controller didn’t say anything back to them.
            “Paris approach, Transworld 5467, did you copy my last transmission?”
Again, no reply.
“Paris, this is Transworld 5467, do you copy?”
In the meantime the two planes were still flying towards each other. Alan was starting to get concerned now. With a noticeable worried voice, Dave asked his Captain what he thought they should do now.
            “Should we contact another frequency you think?” he asked Alan.
            “That would only give more delay, as another controller covers a different area,” he said calmly. “I am going to contact the pilot of this other plane.”
Flight crew contacts each other if no air traffic control is available for whatever reason, or to act as a link between ATC and another aircraft if ATC is having difficulties to get in touch with that plane’s crew.
But now Alan knew that time was running out and he had to do something. Just when he was about to talk over the radio, he heard another American voice.
            “Transworld 5467, this is American Wings 2951. We are currently on heading 210 and we see you on our TCAS. We are on a collision course with you; the controller is not responding.”
            “Copy Wings 2951, thank you for contacting us. We are at exactly the same altitude and time is running out. We’re both about to receive a TCAS traffic warning and at our present speed there is no margin. I therefore suggest for us to take evasive action. Do you copy?”
            “Copy that Transworld,” replied Timothy, “I agree. I see no presence of any other traffic in your immediate surroundings, I think a climb is the best option.”
            “Roger, we are now going to climb 1000 feet and overfly you, Wings 2951”, said Alan as he now clearly saw the Boeing 767 approaching them from the horizon. The planes still seemed to be far apart from each other, but at the speed they were flying it wouldn’t take very long for them to get dangerously close. Alan thought that the best option was for them to take action, as the American Wings flight was carrying passengers and this way they wouldn’t run any risk of injuries by the sudden change of attitude. Just as the 757 pitched its nose up and started to climb to safety, the TCAS system’s alarm started to sound. A metallic male voice cried, “Traffic! Traffic!”
The two planes passed each other with just 400 feet of separation. After talking to the Transworld crew, Captain Smith had swiftly ordered the cabin crew to take their seats and strap themselves in tightly, as he knew they would soon fly into the wake turbulence of the 757.
Timothy Smith had disconnected the autopilot, as he knew the system would have difficulties in coping with the wake turbulence, and made sure to have a firm grip on the plane’s controls. As the plane hit the turbulence, it made a sudden drop of 100 feet. In the passenger cabin, some people hadn’t fastened their seat belts and one of them, a man sitting in business class, was thrown upwards out of his seat and smashed his head against the overhead bin. His wife, seated next to him, quickly took off her t-shirt and placed it against the wound on her husband’s head, which was bleeding badly. The drop was followed by severe turbulence, during which a lot of people were very frightened and screamed. All was over in about 20 seconds. The purser immediately called to the flight deck to ask whether they could assist people, and ran with a first aid kit to the wounded man in the back of business class. The man had fainted.
“Is this your husband?” the purser asked with an irritated tone in her voice. When the woman said he was, she then asked, “Why didn’t he have his seatbelt on? This wouldn’t have happened otherwise.”
“I’m so sorry,” the woman replied, “I told him to keep his seatbelt fastened but he wouldn’t listen. He thought everything was taking too long.”
The pilots in the meantime had contacted a controller on another frequency of Paris Charles de Gaulle airport, reporting the near-miss and also the impossibility of getting in touch with the controller handling their flight. The controller handed over the case to the supervisor, who quickly took the decision to take the Approach controller off duty and would handle traffic himself until the replacement arrived. He contacted the American Wings flight and vectored them back to De Gaulle, giving them priority for landing.
Upon parking at the gate, the plane was met by an ambulance for the wounded passenger and a flight safety officer of the French civil aviation authorities who wanted to talk with the pilots about what happened up there.
The Boeing 757 of Transworld Express had also landed, at Beauvais airport, northwest of De Gaulle. While filing the paperwork in the dispatch office, the flight safety officer who was interviewing Timothy Smith and his First Officer contacted Alan to ask whether they could meet later on in the crew hotel. An official investigation had now been started to determine what caused this incident. As both planes involved were American, the United States FAA (Federal Aviation Authorities) would take part in it, collaborating with the EASA, the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Little did the passengers know the evening before that the flight they were about to board would not be like any other. The waiting lounge in Washington Dulles International Airport’s terminal was packed with people. Children were running around, their parents yelling after them to keep quiet; businessmen trying to do some work on their laptops while waiting started to get annoyed by all the noise. Some more passengers were just arriving at the gate, their hands filled with carry-on bags and airport duty-free shopping.

“Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we are now ready to board American Wings flight 2951 to Paris. In order to make the embarkation process as smooth as possible we would like to ask passengers travelling with small children to board first, followed by coach class passengers seated from rows thirty onwards. In a short while we will call the next group for boarding. Business class passengers may board the airplane whenever they wish.
Please switch off your cellular phones now and refrain from smoking. Thank you very much for your collaboration and we wish you a pleasant flight.”
Outside, on the floodlight-lit tarmac of the airport, the last preparations were being made for the Boeing 767’s transatlantic crossing. The fuel truck was just driving away from the plane, while the last bags were being loaded into the aft cargo hold. As almost every time on this daily flight, the plane was almost full; 254 of the 269 seats in business and economy class were occupied.
While the last passengers were now boarding the plane, the two pilots in the flight deck asked clearance for the upcoming flight.
            “Dulles Clearance, American Wings 2951, request clearance to Paris please.”
            “Wings 2951, cleared to Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport as filed. Fly Baltimore One November departure, climb initially to 6000 feet, squawk 0265.”
“Cleared to Paris according to flight plan, Baltimore One November departure, initially 6000 feet, squawk 0265, Wings 2951.”
After the Captain read back the instructions, the controller acknowledged they were understood correctly and passed the crew on to ground control. The First Officer entered the necessary information in the plane’s flight management computer. Baltimore One November was a so-called standard instrument departure, their assigned routing after take-off, designed to have planes navigate following fixed flight paths.
The Captain entered the squawk code, a four-digit number in the airplane’s transponder which identifies the plane on air traffic control’s radar screens.
All passengers were now seated, but several cabin crew members were desperately looking for open spaces in the overhead luggage bins to stow away carry-on items. People tended to shove their bags into the racks without ever taking into account whether the bin could still actually be closed. The cabin crew now walked up and down through the 767’s two aisles handing out amenity kits and earphones for the overnight flight.
American Wings was a young airline which was started as a response to the bankruptcy of another large American carrier, and could already pride itself for receiving several awards for best American airline, best in-flight service and most innovative business plan.
A boy sitting next to his mother in one of the window seats on the left- hand side of the plane shouted out excited, “Look Mommy, there is a police car driving towards us!” Everyone in that section of the economy class cabin heard the boy and some started whispering to each other, wondering what that might be about. A Washington P.D. police car approached the plane, followed by a black Cadillac. The vehicles stopped near the stairs leading up to a door in the passenger bridge, which is used by the flight crew to perform their pre-flight walk-around checks and by ground crew to access the plane. The Cadillac’s doors swept open and a man dressed in a dark suit jumped out; despite the darkness, he was wearing sunglasses. He then opened the rear right-hand door and a roughly handsome looking man in his thirties, tall and broad-shouldered, with short black hair and wearing a silver-grey suit stepped out of the car, carrying a metal briefcase. This man was Anthony Stevens, Interpol’s Chief Security Adviser, who was travelling to Europe to have meetings with various European police delegations regarding the current terrorist threat situation.
Ever since the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., authorities in all Western countries, but especially the United States, had stepped up and improved security measures to prevent such a devastating terrorist attack ever happening again. But there still were many problems and difficulties to overcome and as the U.S. didn’t feel that the European Union was doing enough to meet security requirements, there would be frequent meetings for setting up new guidelines and policies on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean.
Anthony was now travelling to Interpol Headquarters in Lyon, France, after which he would continue to the smaller but just as important Europol HQ in The Hague, in The Netherlands. He swiftly boarded the plane and went on to sit in the business class section in the front of the plane, after which the door was closed, the passenger bridge moved away and the pushback truck driven into position. The departure was exactly on time; while the Boeing 767 was being pushed back the pilots started one of the two engines, followed by the second one, and requested taxi clearance to the runway. The cabin crew in the meantime was preparing the cabin for take-off, checking that all passengers were wearing their seatbelts while the flight safety video was played on the personal LCD-screens.
While taxiing, the Captain welcomed the passengers on board with a speech over the P/A system. “Ladies and gentlemen, my name is Timothy Smith and I’m your Captain on this flight. Also on behalf of my entire crew on this Boeing 767 I would like to welcome you on board. We will be taking off shortly now and head in a north-eastern direction towards New York and Newfoundland before crossing the North Atlantic Ocean. By that time you will have enjoyed dinner and will surely be watching one of the channels on your personal screen. The flight time to Paris will be around seven hours and I expect a smooth ride throughout. Thank you for choosing American Wings for your transatlantic trip, and I hope you will enjoy your flight with us.”

About the same time, in the Middle East, a Boeing 757 of freight carrier Transworld Express was preparing for take-off from Dubai’s airport. This American carrier had a distribution hub at this international gateway in the United Arab Emirates, one of the airline’s most important flights being the twice-daily service to Paris. This flight’s cargo was luxurious and included a number of BMW’s, a Land Rover and a Ferrari. These brand-new cars were being delivered to their new owners, who had previously entered the famous sweepstakes lottery at Dubai Airport where passengers can buy an expensive but limited edition lottery ticket to try their luck at winning a car, a holiday or even a house. Just one of many extravagances this modern desert town has to offer.

The passengers on American Wings flight 2951 had just been served breakfast as the sun was rising over Western Europe; the cabin woke up after the overnight transatlantic flight. The Boeing 767 initiated its descent to Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport. The plane was almost full, with just a few seats left both in business class and economy, and the cabin crew was working hard to get all the trays collected in time again so that everything would be ready for landing. Captain Smith made an announcement.
            “Ladies and gentleman, this is your Captain speaking. I hope you all had a good night’s rest and a nice breakfast to start this new day. And a beautiful day it is indeed as you can see; those of you seated on the left will be able to see a stunning sunrise. Well, as you noticed we have started our descent to Paris, where I expect to be arriving in about 25 minutes. The weather there is clear, still a bit cool of course as it’s early in the morning but the weather forecast predicts a comfortable temperature of 70 degrees Fahrenheit today, which is about 21 degrees Celsius. Thank you very much for flying American Wings, I wish you a pleasant stay in Paris or a safe onward journey to your final destination, and we hope to see you on one of our flights again.”
            A few moments after the Captain’s speech, the purser came on. “Ladies and gentlemen, as Captain Smith just told you we have started our descent to Paris airport. Please return to your seats now, fasten your seatbelts and put your table and chair in the upright position. We expect to land in about 20 minutes from now. After landing, please remain seated until we reach our final parking position and the engines are shut down. We kindly ask passengers with flight connections to contact the staff at the transit desks in the terminal.”

About 50 miles southeast of the American Wings flight, the Boeing 757 freighter of Transworld Express was heading north towards its destination Beauvais, a small airport just northwest of Paris. Beauvais had become popular over the last years as an alternate airport for Paris, attracting many flights of low-cost carriers because of its low handling fees. Although farther away from the city than Charles de Gaulle or Orly, the infrastructure and public transport services were good enough to guarantee a high demand from both airlines and passengers, and the airport was expanding quickly.
For Transworld Express, Beauvais was one of the major hubs in their network. The two pilots were preparing the approach and landing, while the loadmaster did his final checks in the cargo hold to ensure that all freight was secured and locked.
            “Well Alan,” the First Officer said to the Captain, “just a bit more to go and we can enjoy three days in Paris.” The crew had been on a busy schedule over the past few days, starting in Hong Kong and stopping at various points along the route to deliver cargo and pick up new loads. The airline they worked for operated worldwide.
“Yep, looking forward to it. But at this moment what I’m longing for most is a comfortable bed in a comfortable hotel. I’m exhausted!”
            “Yeah, I agree, it’s been quite a trip. But hey, this is what we went though flight school for, right?” Dave Kensington, the 28-year old British First Officer, had been with Transworld Express for only one year. Before that he flew smaller planes with an air taxi company based in Birmingham, England, where he started after completing his airline pilot training. His present job meant a big career step forward for him and he enjoyed every moment of it. Compared to many of his fellow students, he was lucky enough to get a job flying a big airliner quite quickly, while most of the young pilots he knew were struggling along working as flight instructors or for small air taxi and cargo companies in order to log more flight hours. Yet Dave had been able to get into the big world without any hours on jet aircraft. Needless to say, he considered himself very lucky. The low salary he earned as a fresh pilot and the quite demanding schedules didn’t bother him at all. He loved flying, and working for this cargo airline he got the opportunity to see the whole world while doing his job. Dave was based in Dublin, one of the European airports with a large number of Transworld Express flights.
“Besides,” he continued, “you won’t have much time to relax anyway, will you? Isn’t your lady coming over?”
            “Why did I ever tell you that, Dave?” Alan said laughing. Alan Goldblum, the 56-year old Captain of the flight, had done it all. He joined the United Stated Air Force and flew various types of fighter jets, including F-4 Phantoms in the final years of the Vietnam War. Flying was in his blood: his father was a pilot for Pan American Airways, and his grandfather flew crop-dusters in the American Midwest. After leaving the Air Force he flew fire fighting planes in Colorado, joined a small passenger airline based in California and finally became a First Officer and eventually Captain with Transworld Express. Although he still loved flying, he was looking forward to his up-coming retirement. Together with his wife, he was planning to buy a nice villa in Florida located in one of those fancy air-parks, where one part of the garage was for the car, and the other for parking the plane. That was his ideal of a retired pilot’s life: to enjoy a quality lifestyle in a sunny area and be able to do what you were born for as a hobby instead of as a stressful job.
That the job could indeed be very stressful at times was something both pilots would be reminded of soon. With the Transworld Express 757 and American Wings 767 flying on a direct collision course, once the crews realised something was wrong, everything happened extremely quick.

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