The old man didn’t seem concerned. He set the flaps. His speed control, precise. Wiley was flying a perfect glide slope. Jake relaxed a little.
The edge of the mountain came at them fast. The closer they got, the easier it was to read the slope on the landing site.
Slightly uphill. He knew it would be no challenge for Wiley. Kaplan might be a different story.
As the glider flew past the edge of the cliff, Jake tensed his body. Wiley eased back on the joystick and pushed out the air brakes. The glider decelerated rapidly and touched down without a sound on the clay surface. It was over. They made a safe landing. Jake exhaled. He hadn’t realized it until that moment he was holding his breath.
On Wiley’s command, they climbed out of the glider and pulled it as far from the main landing area as possible. A quick glance around. No one in the small village had been alerted to their presence.
Jake looked back toward the edge of the cliff. He could make out Kaplan’s glider — it was coming right at them.
Too fast and too low.
CHAPTER 28
Kaplan studied the landscape through his night vision heads-up display. Baraka was right, the entire village of Hajjah was built on a hill — more like a mountain than a hill. The mountainsides were terraced leading up to the top where the town of Hajjah was situated. Most of the terraces appeared to be thirty to forty feet in height. The streets were switchbacks winding from the top of the mountain to the valley below. Both sides of the streets were lined with small-whitewashed houses.
The cliff at the approach end of the landing site had the steepest drop, approximately 500 feet. The field was located immediately past the edge of the cliff. A death wish landing site. If he ran out of altitude before the field, he’d smack into the side of the mountain like a bug colliding with a windshield.
Through his night vision goggles he watched the other glider land. He saw Jake and Wiley move their glider out of the way giving him more room to land. Good. He wanted as large a landing area as possible.
He’d never landed a glider at night. For the record, he’d never flown a glider at night. The NVG display made it easier, though. But even with the NVG display, the landing site didn’t look the same. Depth perception was different at night and he was having some difficulty making the adjustment. Unfortunately he didn’t have the luxury of time. He had to do this right the first time.
He was too low and his airspeed too fast, a combination that allowed him to fix both — once. There was no such thing as a missed approach in a glider, no going around for a second attempt. He had one chance and that was it. He eased back on the joystick and his airspeed slowed, the proper glide path regained.
He sensed something was wrong. What had he forgotten? He glanced down and noticed his speed across the ground was too fast. Then he realized his mistake. He hadn’t deployed the flaps. Short final approach was no time to forget procedures that important. It hadn’t occurred to him before, even with his flat angle of descent.
Kaplan deployed full flaps. The affect was a quick increase in lift, which ballooned him well above his desired glide path. The end of the landing site was approaching fast. He was running out of options.
The glider slowed to the proper airspeed but he was still too high. He had to react or the glider would touch down at the end of the landing site, overrun, and crash.
Slip.
That’s what he’d do. He’d slip the glider down. An uncoordinated maneuver that resulted in an excessive rate of descent but might allow him to lose the extra altitude he’d gained with the flaps.
“Let it work. Let it work.”
It worked. He lost enough altitude, which allowed him to reestablish the proper glide angle. He did a final check on short final. Speed, check. Altitude, check. Flaps, set.
Then it happened. An unexpected gust of wind blew up the side of the mountain — ridge lift. He was a hundred feet from the landing site and the updraft had taken him well above any semblance of making a safe landing.
Kaplan panicked.
He could think of only one thing, drag. He needed extra drag and a lot of it.
Kaplan jammed the air brakes full forward. The spoilers on the top of the wings popped up. It was like the glider hit a wall in mid-air. The nose pitched down and the glider dove for the ground.
Too much. Too much.
Fifty feet to go. He was descending too fast.
He glanced at his airspeed. Too slow. If the glider stalled he would crash into the side of the mountain.
Kaplan retracted the air brakes and felt the glider surge forward. Airspeed increasing. No altitude left, he was at the edge of the landing site. The edge of the cliff. He was going to hit hard.
Kaplan pulled back on the joystick. Further, further. The nose of the glider pitched up as it slammed into the clay surface. The impact caused him to bite his lip. Warm blood trickled down his chin. He felt something give in the back of the aircraft. The tail groaned then kicked up.
The nose of the glider plowed deeper into the landing site. The right wing caught the ground and the aircraft pulled to the right. Loose clay sprayed across the canopy as the glider slid sideways.
Kaplan looked out of the cockpit and saw Jake and Wiley running away from their glider. He was sliding right at them. Not good.
As the glider skidded, the left wing dug into the clay. The friction slowed his forward momentum but he was still on a collision course for the other glider. He braced for impact.
A second later the left wing of Kaplan’s glider skidded underneath the other glider lifting the tail five feet in the air.
The glider stopped, damage done.
Not only had Kaplan wrecked his glider, he might have damaged Wiley’s other glider as well. He had single-handedly ruined the mission and possibly alerted the entire village to their presence.
CHAPTER 29
Jake and Wiley ran toward the sailplane, helped Kaplan get out of the cockpit, and sought cover behind an old shed adjacent to the landing site.
“Do you think you could’ve made a little more noise, Gregg?” Jake studied the surrounding buildings for signs of movement. “You got blood on your shirt.”
Kaplan ran his hand across his mouth. “I bit my lip.”
“Mr. Kaplan, what happened?” Wiley asked.
“A gust from the mountain.” Kaplan said. “I ballooned at the last minute. I didn’t know what else to do but jam on the air brakes.”
“Gregg, I’ve seen dozens of aircraft accidents.” Jake said. “But that’s the first one I ever witnessed.”
“Maybe we should trade places, see how well you do.”
“Quiet. Both of you.” Wiley demanded. “Mr. Kaplan, you made enough noise to wake the dead. I’m afraid someone might have heard and will come investigate. Don’t worry about the aircraft. I’ll take a look at them when it’s safe to move around. For now, keep alert for anyone approaching.”
“Yes, sir.” Kaplan said. “Sorry about the glider.”
Wiley motioned for them to stay put then he moved away in a crouching trot.
“I thought you said you knew how to fly.” Jake turned to Kaplan. “If you can manage to be quiet, maybe we can look around and make sure the coast is clear.”
“Wiley said stay here.” Kaplan said.
“Stay here then.” Jake whispered. “I’m looking around.”
Jake spent the next ten minutes slipping from building to building, shack to shack, looking for any signs of movement. Just as he was convinced they were in the clear, he saw the figure of a woman in a burqa walking down the hill directly toward Kaplan.
He backtracked in an attempt to approach the woman from behind as she drew closer to Kaplan. The closer she moved toward Kaplan, the closer Jake moved toward her, quarter angling her from behind. He needed to make sure she didn’t cry out for help. They had been lucky so far. No one else showed interest in Kaplan’s mishap with the glider.