Drowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421

The other passengers feel safe and relieved that they will be rescued soon, and they think about what they will do when they make it out. However, Will is skeptical. Kit is still on the phone, and Will asks what the rescue team is saying on the other end. Kit tells him that they plan to lift the plane with slings and use a crane to bring it up. Will snatches the phone and tells the rescuers that if they do that, the passengers will die. Andy and Ira object; the former demands that Will “[l]et the experts do their job” (114).

Will talks to Fitz and says that the water is still rising and that air is escaping through weak spots; moving the plane could rupture a weak spot or flood the air pocket. A woman’s voice on the other end of the line agrees with Will, and he realizes that it’s Chris. Will is relieved, and Chris gets back to working on her plan to save them.

Will hands the phone back to Kit. Fitz asks her if she trusts Will’s judgment, and Kit says she does. They realize that the two parents are “fighting to save their child” from inside and outside the plane (117).