Chapters 47 & 46 Summary

The book begins with the the main character, Tender Branson, voicing his life story into the flight recorder of Flight 2039. Tender tells his readers that if they are listening to his speech, they know that he is alone on Flight 2039, because he deplaned all the passengers in the New Hebrides Islands. He wants everyone to know that he is not a murderer. The pilot has parachuted off of the plane and now Tender is the only person left on a plane that's on autopilot until the fuel runs out. Before the pilot parachuted out of the plane, he gave Tender a very detailed account of what will happen as each engine fails. While Tender is thankful, he wonders how someone can be so helpful after they have had a gun held to their head and are told to jump out of a plane...