dj_ivocha on 4/2/2017 at 01:11
So exactly 1 year, 11 months and 3 days (
http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=145116) later, I'm again trying to remember about something that the mists of time have scoured from my old and decrepit brain. And I still haven't remembered or found that game...
There is a Bulgarian magazine about civil and military aviation, called "Krile" (Wings). In each issue there's also a short story or a part of a longer one, which continues over the course of several issues. When I was little, probably no older than 6-9 or so, my father had several issues of it in a cupboard and I liked reading the short stories, since those were the only thing I understood and found interesting. There was one that was longer - it was in 2-3 of my father's issues... with the final chapter being in one that was missing! :mad:
I barely remember anything about it now, but there was a missile test of some kind and a passenger airplane (might have been a 747) experiences some problems and has to change its flight course and flies right through the flight path of the missile. One of the passengers looks out the window and sees the silvery missile flying directly towards him. It tears through the window and tears the guy's head off, then exits further back. The resulting decompression and damage cause several passengers including their seats to get thrown off the plane and everyone to pass out due to the low pressure. I think the pilots also passed out and the plane's autopilot lowered it to an altitude with breathable air, but due to the prolonged time without oxygen some or all of the passengers can't wake up or have brain damage (or the pilots do and can't fly the plane - I'm really fuzzy on the details here). The last issue ended with the plane being stabilized but unable to land and the military guys wringing their hands and basically with a big cliffhanger. I was most impressed by the details about the collision and the aftermath of it, so that's probably why I only remember that part.
Even though I could never finish it, I still probably read it like 10 times - that's how starved I was for reading material!
A couple of years ago I remembered about it and tried to find out what it was called, so maybe I could finally read all of it, but our magazines have long been thrown away and I couldn't find anything on the internet, so I figured maybe someone here has read and remembers it.
It was no later than 1991-92 or so and the issues in question were probably from the 80s, so the story is probably from around that time too. Apparently there were a lot of sci-fi stories by Bulgarian authors in that magazine, but not all the time and I think the story I'm looking for is not by a Bulgarian author. Or at least I hope it's not, otherwise there's probably no chance that anyone here has ever read it.
demagogue on 4/2/2017 at 02:34
The search term "missle hits plane novel" turns up this.
(
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/866160.Mayday)
Sounds a LOT like your description. I think because you read it in installments you were thinking short story and didn't think to search novels.
dj_ivocha on 4/2/2017 at 15:33
It really is Mayday, dema, that was fast! :eek: Thanks!
It was also in Starker's link, but I'd missed it before and again yesterday when he posted it, because it's not listed as a multi-parter and also most of the articles in the magazine had such names, that they could be mistaken for short stories, so I was specifically looking only at those with "Part x of x" in the name.
I already got the book for my Kindle and will be reading it shortly. Surprisingly it has quite decent reviews - I was expecting it to be some hackneyed crap, only made decent when viewed through the rosy glasses of childhood memories, but it seems I might even read some more from the author after it.
Now, what about my game, dema? Chop-chop, do your magic! :D
