55 pages • 1 hour read
T. J. NewmanDrowning: The Rescue of Flight 1421
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2023A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 14-23Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 14 Summary
The other passengers feel safe and relieved that they will be rescued soon, and they think about what they will do when they make it out. However, Will is skeptical. Kit is still on the phone, and Will asks what the rescue team is saying on the other end. Kit tells him that they plan to lift the plane with slings and use a crane to bring it up. Will snatches the phone and tells the rescuers that if they do that, the passengers will die. Andy and Ira object; the former demands that Will “[l]et the experts do their job” (114).
Will talks to Fitz and says that the water is still rising and that air is escaping through weak spots; moving the plane could rupture a weak spot or flood the air pocket. A woman’s voice on the other end of the line agrees with Will, and he realizes that it’s Chris. Will is relieved, and Chris gets back to working on her plan to save them.
Will hands the phone back to Kit. Fitz asks her if she trusts Will’s judgment, and Kit says she does. They realize that the two parents are “fighting to save their child” from inside and outside the plane (117). Fitz admits that the situation on the surface is bleak and that the 12 people on board are only alive because they stayed inside the plane.
Chapter 15 Summary
Fitz and the Coast Guard divers are planning a mission “so challenging it border[s] on impossible” as they try to figure out how to move the plane given its structural damage (119). They agree to attach lift slings from beneath the plane; they will need to drill into the rock below to do so. Fitz thinks of Chris, who is working on her plan to use the Falcon, but he hopes the lift plan works. When asked if the passengers are aware that they are positioned on the edge of a cliff, Fitz simply says that they “don’t need to know all the ways they could die” (121).
Chapter 16 Summary
On the plane, Ruth writes a note that she hopes will be found in case she does not survive. Fitz and Milton, on board the US Coast Guard vessel Angelica, sail past the crash site. It is decided that a diver named Runt will operate the drill. Fitz thinks about how young Runt is at only 21 and how risky the operation is to everyone involved. Larson lets Chris know that they are ready to go ahead with the lift plan. Chris knows that it will not work, so she does not want to watch.
All the passengers are writing notes now and storing them in Shannon’s water bottle. Will thinks about Chris as he writes his note. He overhears Shannon talking to Maia about her late sister, telling her how she died and the things they used to do together. He feels grateful to Maia for listening. The passengers hear noises from outside as Tanner and the other divers reach the plane.
Chapter 17 Summary
Tanner is overwhelmed by the sight of the plane, and the gravity of the mission dawns on him. Runt starts to drill the access trench into the seafloor but realizes that the foundation is weaker than they thought. The passengers, including Will, watch from inside while Kit stays on the phone with Fitz. Will notices that the plane feels unstable, so Kit hands him the phone so that he can ask about the plane’s position. Fitz can see via his monitor that the plane is rocking back and forth and immediately demands that the divers stop drilling.
Chapter 18 Summary
The passengers pound on the windows, trying to get the divers’ attention and tell them to stop, but they can’t hear, and Runt continues drilling. Tanner notices them just as the seafloor starts to crumble and the plane tips further forward.
Runt stops drilling, but the seafloor breaks beneath him. He tries to swim up but is attached to a weight that falls with the shelf, dragging him along with it. The hose to which his drill is attached hits him and knocks out the regulator supplying his oxygen. The other divers race to help him, but Runt blacks out and sinks, disappearing into the sea below.
Chapter 19 Summary
Kit reports to Fitz that their situation is even worse now; they have lost at least half of their air, and the water has risen. The passengers can see the divers outside get their tools and head for the surface. Jasmine, a bartender, makes drinks for the adults from the plane’s liquor stash, a slight relief from their dire situation.
Chris gets a phone call from Fitz reporting that the mission failed and they lost a diver. Fitz says that he “understand[s] what’s driving [her]” (147), as he lost his son just over a year ago. He shares her motivation, wanting to spare another parent this pain. Chris explains Annie’s death as well. The two connect over their shared pain, and Chris says that she will not stop working until Shannon is home safe. She also says that her plan is ready.
Chapter 20 Summary
Kit shares Chris’s plan with the passengers. Andy and Ira are skeptical, but Will defends her vehemently. Andy asks why Will left her “if she’s that great” (152), and he reflects on the resentment that built up between them after Annie’s death. After a final bitter argument, he moved out. He regrets not apologizing and connecting over their shared grief rather than pushing her away. He imagines Chris on the surface working on her plan, and he has full confidence that she will succeed.
Chapter 21 Summary
Chris and Fitz finally meet in person on the deck of the USS Powell. The Powell carries the Falcon; Chris and her team observe it, particularly the transfer skirt through which the passengers will climb out of the plane and into the rescue module. They explain the plan for attaching the Falcon to the airframe, getting the passengers out, and cutting the Falcon free from the plane.
Chapter 22 Summary
Will tells the passengers that they need to take the plane apart; Chris’s plan requires access to the plane’s outer skin, and they need to remove the plastic panels on the interior. The passengers remove the panels, revealing a network of wires and insulation that block the area where the Falcon needs to dock. They cannot tell if the wires are live or what they control, so moving or cutting them is risky. The power will need to be turned off first. Kit finds the emergency shutoff, which can only be reset from the now locked cockpit. She flips the switch, and the plane goes completely dark.
Chapter 23 Summary
Sayid and Noah, Chris’s colleagues, are making modifications to the Falcon. Chris says that they need to stabilize the plane before they can dock the rescue module. They decide to wrap a sling around the tail end of the plane and attach a weighted cable to pull it down. Fitz arrives to report that they are not going through with Chris’s plan, as the Navy has come up with another one. Additionally, they have lost contact with the plane.
Chapters 14-23 Analysis
Scenes inside and outside the airplane unfold in parallel as the rescue attempts begin. The frequent point-of-view shifts from Will and the passengers to Chris, Fitz, and the rescuers show all sides of the rescue operation. The entire novel only takes place over the span of a few hours, and using this technique, Newman is able to stretch out the action and draw as much tension out of it as possible. This strategy leans into the struggles on both sides of the operation and the competing efforts within both groups. This section begins on a note of relief as the passengers establish communication with the rescue team, but this is a false sense of security before the situation becomes drastically worse. By the end of the section, the plane is in a more precarious position: The passengers lose their power, communication with the surface, and half their air supply, and a young diver is dead. These losses acutely illustrate the stakes and escalate the tension.
As Kit and Fitz come to realize, at the center of this operation are “parents fighting to save their child” (117). Newman further develops the theme of Everyday People in the Role of Heroes by showing Will and Chris using their expertise to keep the passengers safe, even when it goes against professional protocol. Ironically, the other experts, though well meaning, inadvertently put the passengers in greater danger by refusing to heed a civilian’s advice, even though Fitz admits that the passengers’ survival is a direct result of Will’s insistence that they remain inside the plane. Even in the face of their first failure, the Navy and Coast Guard refuse to concede to Chris’s plan to use the Falcon, which does not bode well for their chances of rescue. This exacerbates the tension and atmosphere of dread.
Will and Chris are briefly “reunited” in this section, joined by their mutual efforts and shared purpose of saving their daughter, and this starts them on the path toward healing their fractured relationship. Upon realizing that Chris is part of the rescue effort, he remembers his respect and admiration for her and reflects on their past together as “[a] team. Partners” (127). Newman hints at this past in their brief interaction over the phone, during which they speak almost in sync and complete each other’s sentences. Will’s confidence in her rescue plan also reflects this admiration. When Andy questions him about his marriage, Will recalls the bitterness and resentment that led him to move out and regrets his actions. This moment shows the beginning of a shift in his character and hints at his deeper desire to repair his marriage and, by extension, heal from his grief over losing Annie.
Further building on the theme of Healing From Trauma and Grief, Fitz and Chris also connect over the shared pain of losing a child. By sharing Fitz’s backstory regarding his son’s sudden death, Newman humanizes the stoic commander. It becomes clear that despite their differing approaches to the rescue operation, Fitz and Chris have a shared purpose: sparing other families from experiencing the same pain. The Complexities of Familial Relationships intersect here again—characters connect and empathize with each other and the plight of the passengers when thinking about family and loss. This empathy drives the rescue mission and ultimately leads to Chris’s success in later chapters.
The theme of Human Resilience and Survival Against the Odds is challenged as the rescue situation takes a turn for the worse and it becomes apparent that more lives are at stake than the passengers’ alone. Runt’s death during the rescue attempt highlights the inherent danger of this mission for those on the surface. Through Mikey Tanner’s point of view, Newman reflects on the risks the divers are taking, saying that diving “pushe[s] the boundaries of what the human body c[an] do” and that the plane’s depth pushes the boundaries of what even experienced divers can survive (129). Still, even after a failed attempt, both the rescuers and the passengers refuse to give up and immediately work to formulate a new plan.
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