Quita's Crash

The ill fated approach

Quita and her friends thought they could sneak over to Earth for vital repairs. They had no idea that we had developed technology and increased our numbers 70 fold. They also didn't realize the extent of their ship's damage. Their plans to land in the Imperial valley were dashed when atmosphere entry forces further damaged their wing. Quita becomes the sole surviver and is permanently stranded on, what is for her, an alien planet full of dangerious aliens.

Before I started writing, I didn't realize how much fun the research would be. One of my favorite tools is Google Earth. It and some software I wrote really helped me visualize her flight trajectory and the timing of various events. I made this Google Earth file to display the various paths and locations of her flight.

The file shows their initial Earth velocity matching path where their main engine fired. They then switched it off and used our atmosphere to slow them down. I modeled this approach after actual shuttle reentry paths. After the first, partial breakup, their trajectory bent down towards Cuyamaca Peak in San Diego County. They blew off the hatch and Quita bailed out just before the second ship breakup. Her parachute trajectory took her over Tom who had just slid down the hill after the crash startled him.

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I'm very visually oriented. I see my stories unfold like a movie. I imagined this dramatic crash scene early in the development of Second Contact.

Here are some rough story board renderings I made highlighting key scenes from the crash sequence. I used Blender, Photoshop, and Google Earth to make these renderings.

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This page last updated 18-Feb-2018