Week 7 Story: The Plane Crash

The Plane Crash

After a long and rather arduous week of work, a group of four friends left the office where they work as accountants together. They had been planning a weekend getaway for months and the time had finally come! They all headed back to their own houses where they would gather everything they needed before they headed to Mark's house. In addition to being an accountant, Mark was a private pilot and owned his own four seat aircraft that they were going to fly to their destination. 

One they all gathered at Mark's house they rode together to their local municipal airport. As they pulled in, the sun fell below the horizon. This was no big deal because the weather was incredible. Mark did a thorough preflight inspection before they got ready to depart. The flight was going to be about three hours long, with a majority of the flight being over remote wilderness. As Mark taxied out on to the runway, he advanced the throttle and they began their takeoff roll.

As the plane began to level off at their cruise altitude of 11,500 feet, the group of friends began to engage in a bit of banter. They were having a fantastic time. After all, they had waited for this weekend getaway for a long time. However, this exuberant atmosphere came to an abrupt halt when the only engine of Mark's single engine aircraft quit running. Initially the friends thought that Mark was playing a joke since he had played a prank on them before when he had shut off the engine intentionally. They soon realized that he was not kidding. Mark immediately began running through his checklists trying to get the engine running. Unfortunately, he was unsuccessful. They prepared for an emergency landing in the heavily wooded wilderness below.

They didn't remember the emergency landing after they began striking the tree tops. Mark was the first to wake up from a state of unconsciousness. He notices that two of his friends are still breathing but one, Josh, was not. He had perished in the crash because a branch came through the front windshield and fatally struck his head. As the other two friends slowly began to regain consciousness, they dug a shallow grave to honor their late friend, Josh.

After the somber and short memorial of their friend, the group of three grew very thirsty as the onset of dehydration became more prevalent. They set off with their limited survival gear to find water to solve this problem. After hours of searching, they finally found a freshwater lake! Of course they immediately began to drink it! Although they were freshly hydrated, they were exhausted. Because of this, they set up camp for the night and they would head back to the wreckage in the morning to recover the rest of their items. 

After a night of little sleep, they began their several hour hike back to the wreckage. Once they could see the wreckage in the distance, they were shocked to see what seemed to be about ten or so people near the plane. As they got closer and closer they were absolutely stunned with what they saw. This tribe of unclothed, cave-man like individuals, had dug up their friend Josh and were devouring his flesh. The group of three immediately turn around to run from the flesh-eating tribe. As they do so, they see about five more of the ravenous cannibals that have the guys in sight. The make a ninety degree turn and run what seemed to be a marathon. They were running for their lives, and had no sign that they would be recovered any time soon. To this day they have not been found, but are they still alive?

Accident Aircraft in Situation Similar to the Story (Out of respect for those on board, I selected a photograph of an accident that was non-fatal. Those onboard sustained only minor injuries) - Via Kathryn's Report

Author's Note: This story is very loosely based off of "The Pandavas Look for Water" from Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata. In the original story, the Pandavas were tracking a deer deep into the forest. They became very thirsty, and sent Nakula to look for water. He found a lake and began to drink the water. As he drinks, he hears a voice to tell him to stop. He looks to see who said it and he saw nobody except for a crane. It turned out to be the crane who was speaking. The crane said "you must answer my questions before you drink", but Nakula ignored the crane. Because of this, he died. Since Nakula died, of course he didn't return to the group, so Yudhishthira sent Sahadeva, Arjuna and Bhima to find him. Then Yudhisthira makes his way to the lake to find his brothers dead. 

So as you can see, my story only loosely resembles the original. The addition of the plane crash, as well as everything leading up to it, was new and not based on the original. Similarities include that they were deep in the wilderness and that they became very thirsty. Another similarity is that death was included. However, in my version the only death was the result of the crash instead of disregarding the crane. Other differences include the threat changing from the crane to the flesh eating tribe, changing the Pandavas to a group of accountants that worked together, and the addition of my main passion, aviation!

Bibliography: Laura Gibbs, Tiny Tales from the Mahabharata

The Pandavas Look for Water - #103