#jet planes

10/17-18/2023. Pencil sketch on cream colored cardstock. Colored with Copic markers, Copic Multiliner Brush-M, Zig Clean Color Real Brush, Daler Rowney FW acrylic ink "White" (with dip pen), and Daiso Water Colors (with a paintbrush). Because my scanner makes images too light and drab, I did some adjustments in Krita, to better match my sketch in real life.

“UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT. YOU ARE TRESPASSING. LEAVE OR BE SHOT DOWN.”

“Jay, what's going on?”

“I don’t know,” Jay replied, “Control tower, this is Navy-Golf-two-eight-niner-niner, nine angles to the southside. We weren't aware we were transpassing these are unclaimed airs. Over.” Jay replied to the comms.

“What the fuck are you saying?” Kai hissed, Jay, hushed him as he waited for a response.

“UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT. YOU ARE TRESPASSING. LEAVE OR BE SHOT DOWN.” The same voice replied.

Jay huffed as he pressed his comms again, “Control tower, this is Navy-Golf-two-eight-niner-niner, nine angles to the southside. Where do you want us to depart, over.”

The comms were filled with static as they waited for a response. “UNIDENTIFIED AIRCRAFT HAS CONTINUED TO TRESPASS. YOU WILL BE SHOT DOWN.” And the comms went silent, as a subtle beeping could be heard in the cockpit.

“Jay. . . Why is my dash beeping?” Kai asked fearfully. Jay immediately pushed the throttle forward on the engines.

“That’s the radar, what do you see on the display?” Jay asked as he began to search the sky around him.

“Uh, I see a green dot on the bottom left of the screen,” Kai answered.

“Where exactly?” Jay snapped, speeding up the plane more as the radar beeped faster and faster.

“I don’t know how to read this!”

“Pretend it's a clock! Where would it be on a clock!” Jay yelled.

“Four o’clock!” Kai yelled as the radar was beeping so quickly it became a long tone. Jay immediately rolled left as a projectile zipped past them, barely missing the plane.

“WHAT WAS THAT?!”

“They’re trying to shoot us down!” Jay replied watching the missile change trajectory aiming at them once again.

“Then tell them to stop!” Kai yelled as Jay began to do evasive actions to lose the missile.

“It’s an automated message, they’re not going to stop till we leave or they shoot us down!” Jay said as he began to dive, the missile on their tail.

“Then get us out of here!”

“Trying babe,” Jay said, gritting his teeth as he did a twist and pulled up, causing the missile behind them to hit into the ground causing a few trees to explode. “Kai, I’m trying to get us out of here, so I need you to keep an eye on that radar and tell me if any more missiles are on our tail. Got it?”

“Ok,” Kai replied, at the same time the radar began to beep again.

“Position?” Jay asked. The dive killed his speed and he was going much slower than he needed to be to perform evasion maneuvers.

“Three o’clock, and it's getting close!”

“How close?”

“It’s right there!” Kai yelled and Jay saw the gray missile aiming straight for them.

Jay could only watch as the projectile hurtled towards them, he tried to dodge, to roll out of the way. But he couldn’t move completely out of the way, the missile hit the left-wing of the plane, making the whole craft roll in the air. The whole plane shook, and he and Kai yelled in shock as the wind began to whip through the cabin.

“Damn!” Jay yelled as he went over diagnostics. Part of the plane’s left wing was gone as well as the left engine, and the side window was cracked, meaning the cabin was starting to depressurize. Whatever was shooting at them on ground level was revealed as a smoke trail from the missile led him right to where it was shot from, buried in the trees on the side of the mountainside. Keeping his eyes on it he tried to stabilize the plane, “Kai how are you doing? Is the radar still working?” He yelled over the wind whipping around the cabin but heard no response. Jay felt his blood turn cold, “Kai?! C’mon, are you hurt?” Again silence.

He heard the beeping of the radar behind him, but without anyone calling positions he had no clue from where the next attack was coming from. Looking frantically Jay started to dodge preemptively, but with only the right engine he was drifting and losing control. He was going to lose control if he kept the engine going, but without it, he’d be gliding too slowly to get out of the way. The radar was still beeping, getting faster and faster as the projectile crept closer and closer. Jay was sweating as the radar kept beeping but he couldn’t see it anywhere, just as the radar was giving a long drone instead of beeping Jay loosed the dummies to take the hit, and the aircraft shook as the missiles hit the dummies instead of him.

Immediately Jay turned off his engines to get enough control to try and fly out of sight of the launch site. Another shorter mountainside he could duck behind to break line of sight was to the left, and Jay aimed for it in the relief he got as whoever was trying to shoot him down reloaded. Gliding to keep control he dipped his nose down for more speed, fighting with his plane as it still tried to roll with his shortened left wing. Making the turn was a fight, he swore as he heard the faint sound of the radar as it began to beep again. “Kai! Wake up!” Jay shouted as he turned engines back on again and did a complicated roll to try and get out of the way as the radar sped up again, much faster than last time.

“Kai please!” Jay screamed, and everything went white for a brief second as the craft shook and his ears began to ring. Blinking he realized he went out for a second, coming to his plane rolling towards the earth. He felt as if he moved in slow motion as he tried to grab the control stick. The ground hurtled towards them so much faster than his senses could handle. He couldn’t hear the awful grating noises as the engines fell apart, or the fell the wind still whipping around the cabin, he could only focus on the ringing in his ears, and how fast they were falling from the sky.

Desperately Jay tried to pull the plane into its deadly fall. He had just enough wing left on the plane to pull the nose up from its deathly trajectory. Jay was almost out of options, he thought about ejecting, but Kai was out of action, and he couldn’t activate his own chair. Meaning Jay had to land. Activating his S.O.S. signal, he scanned the surroundings. He was on the far side of the mountain he was aiming for, and he shakily glided next to its peak, Jay couldn’t find any stretches of flat land. Trees, rocks, and uneven land were all he could see. Except in the valley between the mountains, he spotted a river running through it. It was the flattest part of the land for miles around, and Jay couldn't go much farther. Activating the landing gear Jay aimed for the river.