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Weather scientist Steve Miller looked up froineer with a compound fracture of the lower ar around the destruction "We were smashed by a wind blast of two hundred and ten miles an hour on the starboard side only seconds before an even stronger gust struck the port"

"I've never heard of wind driving that hard," muttered Barrett in awe

"Take my

word for it Nothing like this has ever beenin the saical rarity, yet it happened Soot the records to prove it"

"Galloping Gertie is in no condition to e that was barely hanging together "We'll try for San Juan instead I'll ask for eency vehicles to stand ready"

"Don't forget to make a request for extra paraot off with less than cuts and bruises The injuries on Delbert and Morris are serious, but no one is critical"

"I've got to get back to the cockpit and help Boozer If there's anything"

"We'll e," answered Miller "Just keep us in the air and not in the ocean"

"Don't think on't work at it"

Two hours later they sighted the San Juan airport Handling the controls with aspeed to reduce all the stress possible on the weakened aircraft With flaps lowered, he took a long sweeping approach toward the runway There would be one attempt and one attempt only He knew his chances were slim for another approach if he botched this one

"Gear down," he said, as the runway lined up through the windshield

Boozer dropped the landing gear Mercifully, the wheels caines and ambulances lined the strip in expectation of a disaster, the ee over the radio

Staring through binoculars at the plane as it grew from a speck into full view, no one in the control tower could believe what they saw With one engine dead and trailing s, it seemed impossible the Orion could still claw the air They diverted all co patterns until the final curtain on the drama dropped Then they watched and waited in hushed apprehension

The Orion ca a straight flight while Barrett finessed the controls He flared out and touched down as gently as humanly possible all too close to the end of the runway There was just the slightest indication of a bounce when the tires screeched and settled onto the asphalt There was no reversing the two props Boozer pulled the throttles back to the stops and let the reines idle as the plane sped down the runway

Barrett gently tapped the brake pedals, staring at the fence just beyond the runway that loomed ahead If worse came to worst, he could stand on the left brake and cut a sharp turn into the grass But everything worked in his favor and Gertie dragged her feet and slowed down, rolling to a stop with less than two hundred feet of runway left to go