Our A-team specialized in the main entrance, the left front passenger door. For that I was thankful. My team would be going in over the wing exit. For that we used a simple static ladder that we would lay against the wing and climb on over the flaps, to approach the exits.
Sam and I helped our other teams configure the ladders. Another internal chuckle rocked me as I looked up at Sam working on the ladder. I was put in mind of the time I drove by his house one weekend to see Sam two floors up painting his house… perched on a high-tech aircraft ladder. I stopped my car and stared until he looked at me, at which point I just grinned and shook my head in disbelief. Sam grinned and shrugged, and continued painting. Big boy rules, right?
Our target aircraft was a Boeing 737 with 150 passengers on board. Based on the cargo, the passengers, and the amount of fuel weight calculations, we gave the ladders a preliminary height adjustment. With hope, they would reach to a decent distance from the door thresholds. If not, the ladder would have to be lowered and adjusted at the aircraft, something none of us wanted to do.
Reports came in that the aircraft was NOT pressurized, meaning we could effect a simple mechanical breach. That was good news. Breaching a pressurized fuselage meant more sophisticated and ‘energetic’ means to gain entry.
It was summer. The aircraft’s Auxiliary Power Unit APU was running to keep the interior cooled and air circulating, as well as lights and other electronics functioning. It actually was in our favor as well, as the whine of the APU would drown out the sound on any incidental noise we created, something we trained like lunatics to prevent.
All white lights on weapons were covered with a red filter, or an Infrared (IR) cap. White light was absolutely forbidden on night operations. An Accidental Discharge (AD) of white light, a ‘White Light AD’ was treated as harshly as the accidental discharge of one’s firearm, an error that meant immediate discharge from the Unit. Thought there was potential to return for a relook after one year, it was not guaranteed.
Our force lined up for movement in the dark, lined up in order of door teams, facing the target aircraft, and down on one knee. All was quiet. Nobody moved. Nobody spoke. Everybody stared forward waiting for a red light signal to move.
And then it came.
A red light rose three times from our front. We all stood together, teams shouldered their ladders, and we crept steady toward the rear the dark target silhouette. All window blinds were closed, and there were two crows in the cockpit with the flight crew. This our long gunners reported to us from their positions on the tarmac, 45 degrees to the left and right front of the bird, peering through Leupold sniper scopes.
“HALT” came a command over our earbuds, and the entire formation froze in unison. The main passenger door had been thrown open, and a crow was yelling something unintelligible, save the profanity. Only a very few minutes went by, when our snipers bade us clear to move forward. The red light set us off forward again.
Our two columns converges as we moved smoothly under the giant tail of the aircraft. Here, the APU’s howl was deafening. As the front teams neared the nose of the aircraft they diverged outward again, to avoid moving directly under the radio altimeters on the belly of the aircraft. All of the metal we carried could cause the altimeter in the cockpit to suddenly jump, potentially compromising our position to a vigilant crow there.
Maintain station in the sweet spot along the sides of the aircraft, all teams halted and took a knee under their assigned door. The sweet spot, is a distance that you did not exceed out to the sides of the aircraft, where someone looking down from one of the passenger windows could potentially spot you. All eyes were to the front, waiting for that puckering command: ’RAISE LADDERS’.
And then it came.
We went to work. Six teams with six sets of ladders went up slowly. Our wing ladder was a piece of cake to employ. Just keep it close to the skin of the aircraft, and the flat angle made it easy to climb, almost without hands, if you were in a spirited mood. Everyone was in just that, after all.
With all ladders up, we knelt waiting for the second most puckering command: ‘CLIMB’.
Oh, and I did hate it for them so, our E team’s ladder slowly came down to the tarmac; it had come out to short. E team worked swiftly and smoothly. Not so much as a pin dropped.
And then it came: ‘CLIMB’
-Geo sends
**To be continued…
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