“If you have time to spare, go by air.”
Said often by we licensed, single-engine, non-instrument rated private pilots. Storms, fog, darkness, repair frequently made us wait our one-engine, four person plane on the ground.
Six decades later, I remembered that old saying because we had waited nine hours to board, for the second time, an airline flight from DFW to Indianapolis.
The first morning boarding lasted 30 minutes. Then the pilot announced the crew needed to fix the broken cable in the boarding door, and sent us back to the terminal to wait.
Then we were moved, in our wheelchairs furnished to octogenarians, to another gate. American Airlines advanced our departure time, often. An hour later to board another promised twin-engine plane. Then another hour –or more, I lost count–because of stormy weather.
Another hour later, attendants moved us to another gate where we were pushed first in line, near the clerk who announced:
“Our flight will board as soon as the pilots and crew come from their homes.”
I met a good-natured man who lived near Indianapolis. I told him Indianapolis was a three-hour drive from our northern Indiana home. He offered to sleep us at his home. One, nice Hoosier.
I told him that if I were still licensed to fly a single-engine private airplane, I would charter a Cessna 182 and fly us there—although the flight would take twice as long, and we would probably have to land and refuel.
He laughed. A ten hour wait makes you a little silly.
At last, the pilots arrived. As the Captain checked in with the clerk near where we sat, I saw the name of our smiling Captain pinned on his coat pocket.
“Captain Brian,” I announced, “if you need more help in the cockpit, I am a licensed single-engine pilot. I will be standing by.”
He grinned and replied. “If we get down to only one engine, I will send for you.”
Two and a half-hour later, we landed in Indianapolis. “Squeak. Squeak.” Smoothest two-engine landing I ever remember. Brian didn’t need me.
Photo credit: Inapuric
