Chapter 4
Mia got ready and prepared to go to work. Arriving at the control tower, Sophia saw Mia didn’t look right but didn’t dare ask what happened last night. She just reminded Mia there would be many flights today, so it might be busy.
Mia changed into her work uniform and officially started her shift. The weather conditions were very good today, and all the flights were taking off and landing smoothly. Unexpectedly, near noon, Mia noticed something was off with Southern Airlines Flight 8744 that was landing.
Following her instinct, she grabbed binoculars and walked to the window. Their work area was on the 19th floor of the tower. Mia could vaguely see that the right rear tire of Southern 8744 looked strange.
Mia quickly returned to her workstation and picked up the headset. “Southern 8744, Deer City Tower. Your right rear tire appears to have a suspected blowout. Please verify immediately.”
The captain of Southern 8744 immediately replied, “We have a blown tire on the right side, Southern 8744.”
“Roger that. Maintain heading 026, altitude 1500. Please state your intentions.” The situation was urgent. While maintaining contact with Southern 8744, Mia immediately notified ground control and ground crew. “Runway 18R temporarily closed for use. Southern 8744 has a blown tire. Ground crew please prepare emergency vehicles.”
While the tower was in a frenzy, another plane requested landing clearance. Mia checked the schedule and saw it was Sanders Aviation Flight 9523, piloted by Zoe Parker.
If she remembered correctly, this was Zoe’s first flight after returning to the country. And Sanders Aviation was the Sanders family’s airline company. It seemed Zoe immediately became captain after returning, thanks to Jake Sanders’ help.
Sure enough, Zoe’s voice soon came through the headphones. “Deer City Approach, Sanders 9523, altitude 3800, request clearance to land on Runway 18R.”
Without hesitation, Mia denied Zoe’s request. “Sanders 9523, Runway 18R is currently closed. Deer City Tower.”
Mia said this and continued focusing her attention on the aircraft with the blown tire, Southern 8744.
“Southern 8744, what’s your current situation?” Mia was a bit worried when Southern 8744 didn’t respond. She checked the schedule and saw that today’s captain on Southern 8744 was a newly promoted captain.
“Southern 8744, Deer City Tower, please respond if you copy.” Mia didn’t receive a reply from Southern 8744, but heard Zoe’s impatient urging instead.
“Deer City Approach, Sanders 9523, then request clearance to land on Runway 16L.” It wasn’t that Mia was deliberately making things difficult for Zoe. Runway 16L happened to be closed for maintenance as well.
Mia could only answer truthfully, “Runway 16L is not available either, Sanders 9523.” But Zoe was clearly dissatisfied with this answer. This was her first flight back, and landing was already not going smoothly. Her patience was exhausted.
“Deer City Tower, please advise. Give me a runway to land on, Sanders 9523.” Zoe’s tone sounded very unpleasant. At this moment, Southern 8744 finally responded to Mia. The captain of Southern 8744 said they had finished dumping fuel and were ready to descend, then land.
Mia let out a long breath of relief. She reported Southern 8744’s status to ground control in real time and began arranging a runway for Sanders 9523.
“Sanders 9523, please report current altitude. Deer City Tower.” This time it was Zoe who didn’t respond to Mia.
After much back and forth and waiting, Zoe’s Sanders 9523 finally landed safely on the runway at Deer City International Airport. Mia thought the morning’s work was over, but unexpectedly heard Zoe angrily say,
“Which air traffic controller is on duty at Deer City Tower today? I want to file a complaint.” Mia was stunned for a moment, then unhesitatingly stated her own name.
She heard Zoe snort coldly through the headphones. “Huh, Mia Collins, it’s really you. No wonder.”
Mia naturally couldn’t stand this sarcasm. “If you have any objections to the tower’s instructions, you can file a complaint against me.”