The Road to Wings

by Julie Tizard

  “Thanks, Barb.”

  They both grabbed a large slice and sat down to debrief the ride. Somehow the near-death experience in the airplane made them both ravenously hungry.

  “You started out really well on your low-level leg. You found your turn points and you were making good course corrections. Did you see the clouds start to build up south of us?”

  “No, ma’am, I didn’t. I guess I was so focused on being that close to the ground and looking for my turn points that I didn’t notice the weather around us changing. I’m really sorry.”

  Kathryn reached across the table, took Casey’s hand in hers, and looked her straight in the eyes. “Casey, this was not your fault. It was mine. I should have pointed out the weather to you a lot earlier so you could have figured out how to exit the low-level route and divert to a safe airport. You’re the student pilot. You’re not expected to know what to do with thunderstorms like that. I’m the IP and I let you down. I waited too long to let you notice the weather was deteriorating, and I let us get into a very dangerous situation, not you. I’m very sorry, Casey. I endangered your life and I should have known better.”

  Casey couldn’t believe what she was hearing—an instructor pilot apologizing to a student. She was stunned and relieved. “You didn’t endanger my life, ma’am. I knew I was safe with you. It was just really scary.”

  Kathryn squeezed Casey’s hand slightly, then withdrew her own. “Yes, Casey, I was scared too.”

  Casey knew the moment of connection with Kathryn was over and took out her notepad to start writing.

  “I wasn’t trying to harass you by asking you questions when we were in the air fighting those storms. In actual instrument conditions, you have to be able to figure out where you are, where you want to be going, where the terrain is relative to your position, and then come up with a plan. You have to be able to apply the instrument flight rules and airplane operating limits in real time while you’re flying—all at the same time. That’s why we have to know those numbers and procedures down cold. You don’t have time to look stuff up in the book when you need to get on the ground right now. You have to know what to do from memory and make the right decision.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I can certainly see that.” Casey wasn’t writing down notes; she was only able to look into Kathryn’s eyes.

  “You did a good job as copilot on the approach. You kept your wits about you and you did your job calling out the altitudes. That was a no-shit emergency situation. You can never allow yourself to panic or give up. You have to keep fighting and flying to the very end, until you’re safely on the ground.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I also need to tell you I violated some very serious flight rules when I was flying that approach. The last wind reading we got from the tower was sixty degrees off the runway at sixty knots. That’s a direct crosswind of thirty knots, four knots greater than the operating limit of the plane. We were lucky the landing gear didn’t collapse from the side loads. I also descended below the decision height without the runway in sight. I went fifty feet below the decision height altitude to try to see the runway lights. I’m going to have to write myself up in a safety report. I’m telling you this, Casey, because I don’t want you to ever do what I just did. It was wrong and dangerous.”

  “But you got us on the ground, ma’am.”

  “I know, but it was still wrong. Every aviation rule we have is literally written in blood. Every single regulation is because someone died in a plane crash. Don’t ever forget that. Go home, have a few drinks, and just be glad that our number wasn’t up tonight. You’re dismissed, Casey.” Kathryn stood up without looking at Casey, walked out of the flight room, and went directly into the flight commander’s office, closing the door behind her.

  Casey sat by herself for a long moment looking down at her blank notebook page. Her classmate Parker came over and sat in the seat next to her.

  “Casey, I heard your debrief. What the hell happened out there tonight?”

  “I guess I used up the second of my nine lives. I’m just really glad I had Captain Hardesty with me tonight. Her flying was amazing. Thanks for the pizza. See you tomorrow.”

  Casey got into her car, but her mind and body were a complete jumble of emotions. She was elated she wasn’t dead, excited by the flying demonstration she’d seen, humbled by what she didn’t know yet about real flying, and she was warm all over from the electricity of Kathryn’s touch. Sitting in the jet with the rain pounding, their shoulders touching, their breath intermingled, she couldn’t tell if the fear she’d felt was just from the bad weather or from the stirring in her belly being next to Kathryn.

  Chapter Sixteen

  July 1992

  Casey worked on flight planning for her upcoming cross-country trip. This was one of the biggest highlights of T-37 training. Casey and Jeff worked together to plan a five-leg weekend trip. Since everyone else was also planning their trips, a lot of the military bases were full, with no room for more out-of-town jets. They came up with a plan for two legs on Friday to Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, New Mexico, then Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas. Day two would be a low-level mission to Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, then on to Biggs Army Air Field in El Paso, Texas. The last day was one leg home to Willie on Sunday. Lieutenant Carter approved their flight plans and told Casey to ask the head scheduler who she would be flying with. She hoped it would be Captain Hardesty.

  “Captain Arnau, can you tell me who I will be flying with on my cross-country?”

  “I don’t know yet, Casey. I’m still waiting to hear back from my guest help IPs. Let me guess, you want to fly with Captain Hardesty again?”

  “Yes, ma’am, I would.” Is it that obvious?

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  *****

  Kathryn looked forward to flying a cross-country mission after being inundated with safety paperwork for the last several days. She was relived the squadron commander had not given her an official letter of reprimand after her safety report on herself. He’d made her stand at attention in front of his big desk while he slowly read the report. Then he looked her square in the face and said, “Kath, you got lucky this time. Don’t ever do that again or I’ll have to make it official. Do you hear me, Captain?”

  “Loud and clear, sir.”

  “Now get out of my office, and—you didn’t hear this from me—nice flying getting that jet on the ground in that shitty weather.”

  Warlock flight had all their cross-countries covered, so she went over to see Barb to volunteer to fly with Good Grief flight. She tried hard to fly with the different flights and not show favoritism to anyone, but she secretly wanted to fly with Casey. She needed to show her good training in instrument flying, not just a near-death experience.

  “Captain Arnau, my favorite scheduler, I am at your service to fly a cross-country this weekend.”

  “Captain Hardesty, I’m very glad to see you. I need IPs to fly with Montgomery, Keller, and Tompkins—take your pick.”

  “How about Tompkins?”

  “You got it, Kath. I think she has her flight plans already done.”

  Kathryn walked over to Casey and Jeff’s table. “Lieutenant Tompkins, tell me where you’ve planned for us to go this weekend.”

  “Yes, ma’am. Jeff and I have flight plans for Cannon and Dyess on Friday, Randolph and Biggs on Saturday, then return to Willie on Sunday.”

  “Clovis, New Mexico, Abilene, San Antonio, and El Paso, Texas? I don’t think so. I hate fucking Texas. Throw out those flight plans. It was a good practice exercise. I want you to work with Keller and flight plan for March Air Force Base in Riverside, California, then a low-level to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego on day one. We’ll fly to Mather Air Force Base in Sacramento and end up in Las Vegas at Nellis Air Force Base on Saturday, then one leg back to Willie on Sunday. Be sure to stay out of the airspace around LAX on the leg from March to San Diego.” Kathryn had her own personal plans for
her layover in Las Vegas. She was considering the idea of dating again after a very long dry spell, and the possibility of a date percolated in her mind. This could turn out to be a very good cross-country trip.

  “But, ma’am, those bases said they were full and they couldn’t handle any more planes from Willie.”

  “Don’t worry about landing permissions, Casey. I’ll take care of that. You and Keller just put together the flight plans.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll get right on it.”

  “I’ll meet you in base operations Friday at 0900 hours. Don’t bring too much stuff with you. The baggage storage on the Tweet is pretty small.”

  “Yes, ma’am, I’ll be ready. See you Friday.”

  Casey walked over to Keller’s table. “Hey, John, guess what? We’re going to California and Vegas for our cross-country flights! We’re supposed to flight plan together.”

  “How’d you pull that off? I heard those places were full up.”

  “Don’t ask me, dude. Captain Hardesty is taking care of it.”

  “Sweet. I don’t even know where to start with these flight plans. Do you know how to do this?”

  “Yeah, I do. We’ll do it together. It’s not that tricky.”

  *****

  “Captain Hardesty, did I hear you mention you were going to Nellis this weekend?” Captain Arnau asked.

  “Why, yes, Barb, you did. Do you have a problem with that?”

  “Certainly not. I was just wondering if you were planning on seeing her, that’s all,” Barb whispered.

  After checking no students or IPs were listening to them, she said, “I don’t know yet. Maybe. It depends on if she wants to see me.”

  “Oh, I’m sure she’s going to want to see you again, Kath. Look, I’m really glad you’re considering seeing someone again. Lord knows it’s been a long time, but you know what I think of her. Just be careful, that’s all I’m saying.”

  “Thanks, I will.”

  Kathryn walked back over to her office, and she felt a little stir in her belly at the thought of actually having a date this weekend. It had been such a long time since she’d been involved with anyone. Marie’s death had hung over her like a heavy blanket for the past five years. Only recently had she started to see glimpses of light at the end of the dark tunnel of grief.

  She realized the exact moment her heart started to thaw—watching Casey play softball. She smiled at the recollection of seeing Casey’s toned legs as she ran around the bases. That’s when the scales fell from her eyes.

  Then there was that dream. The dream she’d had twice now. She walked into her office, closed the door, and sat in her chair. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift back to it.

  Kathryn felt warmth on her left shoulder. She was flying a Tweet at night in bad weather. She was getting bounced around pretty good and was having a hard time controlling the plane. She felt tense and looked over to see who was sitting next to her. It was Casey. The lights of the instrument panel cast a red glow on her face, making her look sensual and warm. She wasn’t wearing a helmet or mask. She looked back at Kathryn and smiled. Her smile was so beautiful, like she had every confidence in Kathryn. She reached over and put her strong hand on Kathryn’s hand. There was no fear between them, of the bad weather, or of each other. They were in sync, as one.

  Then she woke up. Yesterday, when she woke from the dream, she was warm all over and felt aroused for the first time in a very long time.

  It was ridiculous to even think about Casey. Anything between them was out of the question. Casey was her student, and she was junior in rank. There had been one or two relationships between IPs and student pilots, usually male IPs and their female students, and it always ended in disaster with severe, career-ending punishment. No, there would never be anything between her and Casey, but the dreams had opened her eyes to the possibility of trying again with another woman. She would call her old flame in Vegas and see what might happen. The idea gave her a welcome tingle.

  *****

  Casey did most of the flight planning and let Keller mark the aeronautical charts. She was as prepared as she could be when she got to base operations early, and she was beyond excited for the upcoming trip. Captain Hardesty strolled in precisely at 0900 like she owned the place.

  “All right, Casey, brief me on what we’re doing today.”

  Casey explained the routing, the en route weather, the emergency airfields, and the arrival into March. Captain Hardesty showed Casey some whiz wheel shortcuts to calculate ground speed and fuel burn.

  “Casey, Southern California is some of the busiest airspace in the entire country, and you will be flying under the hood doing different types of instrument approaches. I’ll work the radios and you just fly good instruments. We will fly like a crew.”

  “Got it, ma’am.”

  They went out to the jet and Captain Hardesty showed her the secret storage cubby holes in the Tweet. They took off, and as soon as they passed four hundred feet, Captain Hardesty took the stick and told Casey to put on the instrument hood. She used a folded chart stuffed under the top visor of her helmet to block her field of vision so she could only see the instruments. The departure went well, and Casey leveled off at twenty-five thousand feet. She was concentrating hard on holding her altitude but missed a few radio calls. This was a lot harder in the real airplane than it was in the simulator.

  Captain Hardesty showed her how to do a ground speed check and triangulate her position. Casey was flying fairly well on instruments until they got into the airspace for Los Angeles Center. The radio calls were so fast it was like drinking from a fire hose, and Casey could barely understand what the air traffic controllers were saying, much less when they were talking to her. She had never heard such fast and furious radio chatter and was getting completely overwhelmed.

  “Sage 21, Los Angeles Center, turn right heading two-seven-zero, descend and maintain five thousand, contact SoCal approach on two-three-five point two.”

  “Um, Sage 21, say again?”

  Captain Hardesty jumped on the radio with the reply to LA Center. “Casey, you just fly the plane and I’ll handle the radios.”

  Casey was a little less overwhelmed but still had to concentrate as hard as she could to keep up with the jet. They didn’t give her the arrival she had planned on, but instead a completely different routing. Casey was mentally behind the jet and she had no idea where she was or where she was going.

  “Descend to four thousand feet, Casey, power idle, slow down, get the landing gear down. You’re on a dogleg to the runway final and five miles from the final approach fix. Trim, trim, trim, Casey.”

  All she could do was try to hold her heading and keep the wings level. Fly the jet, just fly the jet.

  “If I don’t take off the hood at decision height you must go around and fly the missed approach procedure. Think of what that is as we descend.”

  Crap. What’s the decision height altitude? How do I fly the missed approach? Her brain went blank. Oh yeah, do a go-around, then fly runway heading to three thousand feet, turn right to heading zero-three-zero. Her mind was swimming as she was descending toward the ground.

  “Approaching decision height. Decision height. Can you see the runway, Casey?”

  “No, ma’am, I can’t.”

  “Then go around. You are only two hundred feet above the ground. Execute the missed approach now!”

  Casey’s brain finally engaged and she was able to fly the missed approach.

  “My airplane, Casey.” Captain Hardesty took the stick. “Relax, take a breath, take the hood off, and look around.”

  She removed the chart from her helmet visor and looked out at thick, brown smog. She saw the giant runway at March through the haze over her shoulder. They were turning to a downwind leg. Now she understood where she was, and her situation orientation came back.

  “Feeling less overwhelmed, Casey?”

  “Yes, a little bit, ma’am.”

  “You are doing okay. T
his is hard. Just try to fly good instruments, keep trimming the jet, and try to visualize where you are in relation to the runway. I’m going to have you put the hood on again and we’ll try the ILS approach to a touch-and-go landing.”

  The next approach went better. Casey felt like she was able to keep up with the jet mentally a little better. At the decision height, Captain Hardesty pulled the hood from Casey’s helmet, and she saw the big runway right in front of her. She flared high and dropped in the landing from thirty feet for a rather firm touchdown. She lowered the nose, added full power, and lifted off for another approach.

  “Sage 21, request closed pattern.”

  “Sage 21, closed approved. Use caution for a B-52 on a three-mile final. How will this approach terminate?”

  Captain Hardesty jumped on the radio. “Tower, this will be a full stop.

  “My airplane, Casey.”

  “Roger, your jet, ma’am.”

  Captain Hardesty yanked the airplane hard into a tight, climbing turn. They were abeam the touchdown zone as she ripped the throttles to idle, threw the landing gear handle down, and put the plane into a steep, descending final turn.

  “March Tower, Sage 21, gear down, full stop.”

  “Sage 21, cleared to land.”

  This was the tightest overhead pattern Casey had ever seen. They were screaming toward the ground as Casey looked out and saw a giant green and black B-52 bomber headed right for them on final approach. Oh my God, that thing is huge. It’s going to overrun us. How is she going to pull this one out of her ass?

  Captain Hardesty rolled the jet out on a very short final approach, perfectly on glide path, and on speed. She greased on the landing, then got on the brakes hard, slowing the jet to taxi speed in a few seconds, and made the first runway turn-off. She stopped the plane when they were clear of the runway, and they both looked back over their shoulders just as the massive bomber touched down right next to them. Casey saw black smoke come out of the eight engines as the behemoth accelerated, then gracefully lifted off for another practice approach.