Last night my trip didn't quite go as I hoped, but I got the job done. I was supposed to meet them there at 8:30. If they did that, I could be off the ground maybe 8:45, be down to Atlanta by 11:15. Get gas, off the ground by 11:45 and home by maybe 2 am. I got there at 8:15, topped off the main tanks to waive the ramp/landing fee, and then they didn't show up until almost 9 pm. Then they dallied around, even knowing I had an early morning scheduled, they chatted and wandered around the FBO and took their time loading up, and it was 9:15 before we left, making it almost midnight before we got to Atlanta. We get there, and their rental car was nowhere to be found. I spent a good 45 minutes waiting with them to make sure they got an Uber ride to where they were going, filled up with the self serve pump, and, long story short, it was about 3 am when I landed back in Kokomo. I got home around 3:30, fell asleep probably around 3:45-4 am.
I had set my phone alarm for 7 am. I didn't set my real alarm because I was trying to be super quiet and not wake up Steve. Except apparently I'd turned the volume down on my cellphone. I thought the alarm would go off as normal anyway, but instead it went off at a super low volume--that I never heard. Here is where my internal alarm clock AGAIN wins the day. I was out, and hard, because, you know, 3 hours sleep. And yet I could feel myself being pulled out of sleep. Suddenly I realized I was worried about something, my eyes flew open, I looked at my wrist, and saw 7:09 a.m. I normally wake up slightly before the time I need to, but this time I was so tired it took a good 10 minutes for my brain to convince the rest of me to wake up. But that internal clock saved my bacon today, because even awake I couldn't hear my alarm going off until I bent down over it. That is so handy. I had a guy going with me in the T-6 down to Metro, and without waking up I'd have probably slept until 9-10 am, and no text or call would have gotten through with my phone down like that.
I had to evaluate myself after a shower to make sure I was safe to fly. I started off feeling pretty groggy, but after the morning shower and a bottle of water, I could feel the fog lifting, and while I was tired, I was focused and ready to hit the day. So I got to Kokomo, pulled out the 340, hooked up and pulled out the T-6, preflighted, pulled the prop through, pushed back in the 340, closed up the hangar, got my rider buckled in, got buckled in, fired up, and on our way. All that took a good 30 minutes, and it was already hot. I was sweating before I even got in the plane, for sure.
When we got to Metro, I got a nice escort to my parking space, shut down, and chatted with friends for awhile. Jim Z, Jordan B, JP, then went over and found Steve, Nathan, AE, etc. We were supposed to do our first formation flight around 10:45 am, so at 10:15 we went in and did a briefing, me, Nathan and Tom M. We did it in an air conditioned room and boy was that sweet. ;)
When the time came, I took Walt's T-6, Nathan took Checkertail, and Tom took the Woods T-6. When I went to pull out of my parking space, the plane kept swinging left even though I was trying to go right. Finally I got it to go right, and I just thought "oh well, the tailwheel was out, it was just being contrary." Taxiing out I felt all right, so I didn't think any more of it. I was #2, behind Tom. Tom pulled in to do his runup at the runup area, and I aimed for him, got close to him and the grass, then went to swing right in order to line up for my run up. Only the plane wouldn't turn. And then it started turning left. Off the ramp and into the grass and at a taxiway light. I kept trying to turn, no good, and keeping an eye on the taxi light I finally killed the engine. Got on the radio and said I'd had a brake failure. Nathan and Tom took off, did the formation flyover, and the Metro guys got on the radio and hauled a tug down there to help get me back to the ramp. First thing I did was hop down and make sure I hadn't hit anything. I hadn't, so that gave me a humongous sigh of relief. Second thing I did was thank the heavens that we hadn't just lined up straight and taken off and then I find that bad brake when I tried to turn off the runway or on landing or on a ramp full of planes I might have had trouble missing. If it had to fail, doing it where it did was again a better option than it could've been. The ramp guys towed me and the plane back to the ramp, with me standing on the wing and waving. I know people were wondering what happened.
So, I didn't get to do any formation flying today, but maybe that was for the best too. I would have been okay for that first sortie, I know myself very well by now, but then I would have been done anyway. Shortly after I got back from the aborted attempt, I ate a hot dog and some chips, the first food that I'd had since the night before, because I have been zero hungry in this heat, and it made me queasy. I was drinking water the whole time, but sweating like a sprinkler was loose under my skin. I sat for awhile, went walking around looking for Steve and Nathan, stood in the shade for awhile, feeling yucky, and then as I was walking back, the world started getting a little too bright and white. I was just way overheated. So I went inside the office and sat in a chair in the air conditioning for about 10-15 minutes, before going back out and sitting in front of a fan with Steve and Nathan and AE. At that point we were talking about the fly-over of the start of the Veteran's Parade I was supposed to do at 1:55 pm in Kokomo for the Haynes Apperson festival. It was going to be a two-ship, until Walt's airplane failed. So now it was just going to be me. I was still evaluating myself, and I had cooled my temp down and had some food and water and was better, but I could tell that I was at the end, that I probably had one more flight and landing left in me. So I told them I'd take it to Kokomo, do the flyover, then land in Kokomo and go home early. We were supposed to do another flyover that evening, elsewhere, but it wasn't going to happen with me.
And that's what I did. I fired up, took off, did a farewell banana pass at Metro, got to Kokomo, found my target, flew over it, gave them hopefully a nice showing, and then coming into Kokomo made my landing. Sure enough, after that I was spent. But I needed gas. And tomorrow morning I wouldn't want to get it. So I called the gas truck, waited, topped off (I put the fuel in that one myself), tugged it away, and was barely picking my feet up any more. Heat index was about 110F, I was sunburnt, and wet with sweat, and just DONE. I drank more water, stopped at DQ and got a medium sized blizzard (and they only had small spoons so you couldn't reach the bottom half of the cup which I think was the universe telling me I didn't need a medium ;)), and two large unsweet teas, drank one right away and the other I drank at home over a period of time. I walked in the door, changed clothes from the inside out, collapsed on the couch and slept for I don't know how long.
When I woke up, I had a headache. Great, thought I. I drank more water, I had a salty snack, and my headache was getting worse. I took Aleve and Tylenol and oxygen, and it was still there. And then it occurred to me. I'd been drinking all this water...but I hadn't had a bit of caffeine today other than the minimal amount in the tea. So I popped a Coke, and within an hour was feeling better again. Whew.
Kaylee made it home from Girls' State today. She LOVED it. She says she was a little unsure that she'd like it, but by the end of the 2nd day, she totally loved it. She said it was a really good experience, she learned a lot, the people were fantastic. She met female state police, pilots, all sorts of powerful career women, and really enjoyed the time. She ran for and was elected for two positions. She didn't go for a major role, but House Representative was one, and she won that. She would like to go back as a junior counselor next year, and is looking into how to go about doing that. She said that most of the kids there were also super high achievers and amazing, and she said "I was really the most average person I met while I was there!" Some kids had their own non-profits, some had big roles in a business, and they're all under 19. She was impressed. She wanted to stay even longer. Tonight she's at a fireworks party with some friends, though, so she's glad to be doing that too. :)
Steve has headed to bed and here go I as well. We have another full day tomorrow, with another extra hot day. I have had to wash a load of laundry every day because of this heat and humidity. It needs to die. Here's hoping for a solid night's sleep and some shade and good flying tomorrow. And safety, always. If brakes are going to fail, may they be found while still moving very slowly on the ground!
This picture was taken right after I landed. I'm already a hot sweaty mess! Ha.
No comments:
Post a Comment