Duke Elegant
Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 261 Posted: 2003-05-07 21:12
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BOMBER MOON
4AM
The smell of five tons of pine mushrooms was not unpleasant.. sort of musty...... made even more musty by the 100% humidity as the heavy rain beat mercilessly on the fuselage. The rain bounced on the tarmac as the retreating vehicles splashed away through the gate having entrusted their precious cargo to us. We had been hand loading the crates for an hour and a half and now we had to herc strap them down ... a difficult task as we bulked out and there was no room to move. We had a sort of tunnel left to get to the cockpit.
It wasn't the 5AM deadline that made me tense because we were on schedule. ICE!....A chill coursed through my blood ... then gone.
I heard the cargo door thump shut as I climbed wearily into the left seat. The rotating shaft of light atop the tower stabbed through the heavy wet night. Man, just look at the size of those raindrops... It's only four degrees.
ICE! Where will it be tonight, two thousand, four thousand?
"She'll be right mate," thinks I. "We'll punch up through it and cruise along bathed in the light of the bomber moon."
"Yeah! Right," grunts Rob .. had he read my mind? I realized I was mumbling....
Punch up through it indeed . It was going to be a struggle coaxing the maxed out airplane to altitude... outbound on the localizer ... steep mountains on both sides. And blacker than the inside of a dog's guts.And a climb gradient to meet too. If we lost an engine, and that was happening with monotonous regularity lately, we'd have to turn back in a tight valley and "land in this ****" thinks I.
"And all loaded up with *****in' ice too," says Rob. I'd been mumblin' again.
The engines of the C117 shook then rumbled into life after pissing the appropriate amount of fuel and oil onto the tarmac and while Rob jotted down our clearance I taxied the airplane with my nose pressed up against the glass as the wipers slapped uselessly back and forth.The engine run-up and pre take off checks were done slowly and deliberately as if we were buying just a little more time."Delta Oscar Golf lining up for take off," Rob calmly spoke into the mike .. but tense he was.
I used differential brakes and throttles to line up with the few stripes that were visible.... four or five stripes ... and darkness... and rain.
I thought of my ex... the kids .. Why now you fool? .. Think ICE my friend.
The briefing was by the book .... but were we listening... we knew we were shooting from the hip here.
Slowly, full power, right rudder for the yaw and start forward pressure to get the tail up where maybe we can see better. See what?! Darkness and a few stripes. I skillfully used the curvature of the earth to get the beast airborne and ..."positive rate" "Gear up" We know there is a hill off the end of the runway in Terrace .
She growled her way up to two thousand... no ice..three thousand.. none. Rain diminishing but horizontal snow pierced the ice lights.Slush. "Carb heat, Rob," but he was already there. We droned on heavilly.
In a heartbeat there was ice everywhere except the heated windshield. It drooled back from the boots. We punched it off the wings but it was all over the nose, and inboard of the engines..... the prop spinners...under the wings... she sagged. It built up in wierd castles behind the boots, like stall strips.
Sometimes you just gotta wonder....what the fu*k am I doing here? Money> Oh, I almost forgot... I wanted them little Nips to get their mushroom feed at sixty bucks a plate.That's wot!
She just isn't climbing... but I can't raise the nose because I don't want any under the wings....****!
A glow appeared... big, orange and round ...furry at first and then it exploded into clarity... a bomber moon.... peaceful... we scooted along for a while... a few feet above the cottony silver bathed undercast....
AAAAAHHH! Life is good. A warm cockpit and the rumbling orgasmic vibration of cruise power....grins all around.... cold sandwiches and coffee.
More to follow... over!
[ This Message was edited by: Duke Elegant on 2003-05-07 21:18 ]
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Linecrew
Joined: Jan 02, 2003
Posts: 60
From: Canada
Posted: 2003-05-08 08:18
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C-GDOG...to add a visual....
http://www.airliners.net/open.file/244894/L/
[ This Message was edited by: linecrew on 2003-05-23 08:51 ]
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Rudy
Joined: Jan 04, 2003
Posts: 88
From: BC coast
Posted: 2003-05-17 00:36
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Keep this one going folks! Duke has a great history and is a pleasure to hear from. Good stories there, Duke!
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Sawmill Broad
Joined: Apr 08, 2003
Posts: 6 Posted: 2003-05-19 10:12
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Hey Duke, how are you doing? Haven't heard from you in awhile.
The sun must be shining and you're out in it, else you would be writing......
You've got a ton of fans here waiting to hear more tales of daring-do!
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Duke Elegant
Joined: Nov 28, 2002
Posts: 261 Posted: 2003-05-19 11:33
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Thanks Rudy and Sawmill Broad ..encouraqgement is good.
I thought I had bored everybody to tears because my last story didn't involve a crash or scary rides.
Also, maybe there are too many stories involving old airplanes ... the youngun's like shiny, fast stuff.
A fiend of mine just got his captaincy on the Boeing 700 , glass cockpit.
He said he now knows what it feels like to be a dog watching TV.
The next story involves "The Golden Triangle"...search for gold.
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Cat Driver
Joined: Feb 15, 2003
Posts: 1164 Posted: 2003-05-19 12:21
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Hey Duke:
On that low vis takeoff in Terrace did you roll so far that you eventually flew off the curvature of the earth?
How goes the chemo treatments?
Cat Driver:
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