An essay–okay, really I’m just writing a blog–entitled Been There suggests I might have been there.
At this writing there’s a volcano erupting 30 thousand feet in the air on St. Vincent Island, Windward Caribbean Islands. Been there.
Sometime in the last century we were flying from Puerto Rico in a charter twin Beech. My five crew and I were going sailing for a week in a 40-foot sloop we had chartered.
Don’t remember any smoke rising then. Do remember the beat-up twin-engine, seven passenger Beechcraft airplane that ‘Tiki’ Hernadez was flying.
Not saying we were unsure about the aircraft. But HG, also a private pilot, and I met each other walking around the plane doing a ‘ground check’.
When our plane approached St. Vincent, the airport controller called on the radio. We all heard, “Hey, Tiki, where did you get that beat-up airplane? Nam?”
Tiki returned a week later in his own twin Beech that had been getting annual inspection. Bright, clean, and just inspected. Except the electricity failed on the return flight.
Tiki had just enough battery electrical power to lower the landing gear. Land. Pull off the runway. We all walked to the Puerto Rico airport terminal.
I still remember, coming and going, we flew past the inactive volcano at St. Vincent Island.
La Soufriere Volcano, St. Vincent: Photo by Christopher Charlesworth at Shutterstock
