The nose landing gear. It won’t go down. No fuel. Already three hundred passengers and baggage. Let's begin the next round. The flaps are closed. The rear gears are removed. The nose gear is still stuck in the middle position. An altitude is four hundred meters. To gain more altitude would cause the fuel to run out too soon. The glide path again. The second engine is stopped. The first still running, and we’ll be landing without reverse. If using it we'll slide off the landing strip. The main rear gears are running out without a problem, but not the nose’s. That’s all we have to work with. The flaps are down. Passengers are ready for a hard landing. The fire crew is 'spreading' the foam pillow for us.
Four meters, three, two... the cross wind... thanks for the beautiful weather. The pulling on the control stick and the left pedal out. The leveling and... we have no engines. The dead silence. The dumb shock and rebound and the second. And a familiar sound. The snap right under us. The central landing gear point finally gets down. And the understanding that the fire foam is a bad idea. Rubber is gliding but we have no reverse. The airfield and the terminal are passing beside with crazy speed. The prayer for the brakes. Don’t let us slide off the end of the runway. The moaning of a huge metal body. Everything that's outside of us still moving but not so fast. The screaming of rubber by weight concrete…
We stop just at the threshold of the strip.
It's a miracle.