A long night

[Captain Geoff]

I managed to get the port prop blades replaced before dark. The emergency supplies - especially the thermal blanket and propane heater would keep me alive until the next day - maybe longer if I conserved fuel. I wasn't too worried - the dprops themselves would rotate - only the blades had shattered. I'd been lucky in that regard.

The winds were howling all around the Blue Baron as the temperature fell. I'd heard predictions that with wind chill it would be -17. The inky darkness and constant buffeting of the aircraft normally would have kept me awake but the I was too exhausted from the struggle to replace the blades.

Dawn broke about 9 am and with it the winds subsided. By 1 PM I had the blades all replaced so I preflighted yet again checking for other damage but there was none.

At 1350 I started the starboard engine. With a groan she started to roll over. The battery discharge was extreme and I didn't think I'd have enough power for a second try, so I just kept her rolling. Black soot coughed out the engine cowling and suddenly she roared to life. What a sweet sound it was. I let it run for five minutes - checking oil pressure & temperature. The port engine started with it's usual puff of black smoke. twin engines. sweet sounds.

The ground was frozen and I was on a little mesa next to the river, about 50 miles out from Valdez. I taxiied around to take off to the west and hit the throttle.

The resounding roar was a welcome sight and the plane took off into the afternoon sky. Although somewhat more cautious I decided to fly low to continue practicing for BOTA. But I could risk another incident so I stayed about 100 feet AGL.

As I snaked around the bends in the river everything was still. rising up to about 2000 feet to clear low mountains I finally reached ATC only to shift to Valdez for clearance.

Peggy came back to me with a worried emotion in her voice. I would find out later that she'd alerted the Air National Guard and stayed in the tower throughout the night.

Once she'd determined I was ok, she went down to the FBO where upon landing she first hugged! me and then proceeded to chew me out for not contacting ATC. Well, I reminded her that the first thing to do in an emergency is to fly the plane. I explained to her that I couldn't raise ATC before the incident and couldn't once I was on the ground.

I think Peggy likes me. She didn't yell at me nearly as much as she does at Luke. She told me to get back to work and that having an incident didn't qualify me "for no special attention" :tsk:

[Captain Geoff]

I was scanning the job postings when I came across an interesting one that had been tacked up under another one. My interest was piqued and I read in fascination :

Mr. James Reading , IV requires an experienced pilot to assist in certain flight activities on the Continent of Africa. Pilot must be versatile and be able to fly a wide variety of aircraft. Flights will be of various lengths - almost all low level missions requiring VFR.

If interested contact Miss Verilee Goodbody at 555-4687.

Now I know why Peggy hid this one. She doesn't want to lose us. Now isn't that a coincidence. The BOTA race is in Africa. I wonder if this guy is one of the financiers and wants a test pilot? I stuffed the notice in my pocket.

I started dreaming of exotic places I'd never been to before. Suddenly I was rudely interrupted as Peggy came dashing up to me.

"Take the 350 parked out at number 6 and yank out a couple of seats. You need seating for three pax and a gurney. There's a medevac at PAVC. Get there safely and transport the victim to PAJN. They'll be waiting for you at Gate #1."

The 350 was almost as old as the Blue Baron and hadn't been run in quite a while. I tried several times to start her, and finally had to get an APU out. She still complained, but finally she started up. She ran real smooth - like a diamond in the rough. It took longer than I thought to get over to the Medevac case, but the woman was still alive. She'd hit a moose with her SUV and the moose had flipped over and landed on her through the windshield. The rescue folks had used the jaws of life to cut her out. But they had to shoot the moose because it was still alive. Thankfully the woman had passed out and was now being given an IV filled with I don't know what.

We loaded her into the plane, along with husband and 5 year old daughter, and an EMT. I made sure everyone was strapped in and we were soon rolling to the active.

[Captain Geoff]

The flight to Juneau was quiet. The hum of the plane had put the little girl to sleep almost instantly after take off. Her father and the EMT talked awhile and every once in a while I heard a moan from the woman.

Upon arrival I was pleased to discover that PAJN was ready for us and cleared us straight in. However, being unfamiliar with the airfield I managed to lose it behind a mountain as as I made my turn to final and over shot the entire airstrip.

I turned around and headed up river, determining that that would be a better approach. I made a sharp turn over water and pointed the B350 in the right direction. Seconds later the beacon light came into view and the landing was made as gently as I could.

There were lots of flashing lights that came into view as I turned off the runway. I was cleared to gate 1 - straight ahead and where all the lights were. In less than a minute I had parked and started shutting down the engines.

An ambulance and a lifestar helo were waiting. I suppose the ambulance was backup, because the medics took the gurney and wheeled it out of sight with members of the helo flight crew in attendance.

The husband came up to the cockpit and thanked me and PGA and departed carrying his still sleeping daughter. The night was late, but the return flight was uneventful and I managed to return at 9PM.

I decided to call Ms. Goodbody in the morning to see what the deal for Africa was. I was really looking forward to some tough training missions. But for now sleep would do nicely.