Then he released the control he was about to adjust.
The warning disappeared.
Laura exhaled.
“That’s it.”
Andrew stared at her.
“How did you know?”
“Because the system is reacting to the correction.”
She pointed toward the display.
“Every time you correct the aircraft manually, the system compensates in the opposite direction.”
Andrew’s face tightened.
“So we’re fighting an automatic input.”
“Exactly.”
The first officer looked at the display.
“Can we shut it down?”
“Maybe.”
Laura studied the panel.
“But we need to isolate the system without triggering another failure.”
Andrew looked at her.
“How long?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give me your best estimate.”
Laura looked through the cockpit window.
The Atlantic stretched endlessly beneath them.
Hundreds of passengers were sitting behind that door.
Families.
Children.
People who had no idea how close they had come to disaster.
She remembered the frightened faces she had seen in the cabin.
Then she looked at Andrew.
“Long enough to get everyone home.”
Andrew nodded.
“Then let’s do it.”
For the next several minutes, Laura worked alongside the crew.
She wasn’t officially part of the flight crew anymore.
She wasn’t wearing a uniform.
She wasn’t even supposed to be in that cockpit.
But the moment the aircraft began responding to her instructions, the old instincts returned.
