The Long Night

Originally Aired: November 18, 1956 Suspense #674, "The Long Night," finds air traffic controller Ken on the night watch at Rockford Tower when a desperate call comes in from a novice pilot in a Beechcraft Bonanza. The pilot, a businessman flying from Indianapolis to Minneapolis, is hopelessly lost somewhere over the Midwest after his automatic direction finder malfunctioned. He's been circling for over an hour and has less than 45 minutes of fuel remaining. The situation grows more dire when Ken learns the pilot has no instrument training and is trapped on top of a solid cloud layer at 5,000 feet, while below him lies a thick overcast with visibility of just one mile in smoke and haze. Ken clears all other traffic from the frequency and begins the race against time to locate the lost aircraft, guide it to Rockford Field, and somehow talk an inexperienced pilot down through dense clouds using instruments he doesn't know how to read. With the clock ticking and fuel running out, Ken must remain calm and resourceful as he attempts to save a stranger's life during one very long night.