The Road to Wings
Page 20
“Tiny, please tell me exactly what they said.” Casey was getting worried.
“Well, they’ve both been drinking a lot, and the big one said to the other pilot that he couldn’t wait to bust that little dyke on her check ride tomorrow. He mentioned her by name and he was bragging that there was no way she’d pass her ride with him as the check pilot. Then the other one said he couldn’t wait to see her go down in flames after she’d made him look bad. They both laughed like it was real funny and the big one said one other thing too. He said he was finally going to get his revenge on her. I’m scared for her, Casey.”
“Oh my God, Tiny, I have to warn her. Can you do me one more favor? Can you tell me what they look like and what their name tags say, and I need to know what the patch on their right sleeve looks like.”
“Okay, I’ll be right back.” Casey heard Tiny’s voice in the background.
“The big one’s name is Grant, and he’s got bad teeth, greasy hair, and pockmarked skin. The other one’s name is Carter, and he’s skinny with dark hair. The big one, Grant, has a black patch with silver writing on it. The other one has the boxing bunny on his patch. I hope that helps, Casey.”
“You’re a gem, Tiny. I owe you big-time. Thanks.”
Crap. That was the guy she saw with Carter at Bulldog’s party, the one that was sneering at Kathryn. She knew Carter didn’t like Kathryn because she had soloed the T-37 with her instead of him. She’d also heard a rumor that Kathryn’s safety report about Mike’s death was the reason Carter had to go through IP retraining, but she never suspected he would try to ruin her career. That guy, Grant, was an evaluator pilot, the ones who give the IPs their check rides.
Casey reached for the phone to call Kathryn and warn her, but she stopped herself in mid-dial. What if this phone is bugged? No, she couldn’t risk that. She thought of calling Captain Arnau since she knew they were close friends, but she had the same problem with the phone. No, her only course of action was to drive over to Kathryn’s house to warn her in person and just hope that no one from the base saw her. She grabbed her keys and ran to her car. She drove very carefully leaving the base, then she sped up once she got onto Williams Field Road. She’d memorized Kathryn’s home address some time ago and knew right where she was going since she’d driven past her house several times. Okay, so stalking wasn’t always a bad idea.
Kathryn’s street was quiet since it was 2100 hours, and she saw a light on inside the house. Casey checked her mirrors to make sure no one could see her as she walked up to the front door with butterflies in her stomach. She rang the doorbell. She was worried about Kathryn’s reaction when she saw her at her front door.
Kathryn opened the front door, saw Casey, momentarily looked stunned, then grabbed her sleeve and yanked her into the house.
“Casey, what are you doing here? I thought we were very clear on everything.”
“I’m not here to talk about us. I’m here to warn you. Are you supposed to have a check ride tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’m scheduled for my annual instrument check at 0900 hours. How do you know that?”
“Is your check pilot a guy named Grant?” Casey asked.
“No, I’m supposed to have Glenn Samuels as my check pilot. What’s going on, Casey?”
“Kathryn, you’re being set up. Tiny works as a barback at the O Club and she overheard two pilots, Carter and Grant from stan / eval, talking about busting you on your check ride tomorrow. They’re going to make sure you don’t pass. That’s why I had to come over and warn you. I hope you’re not mad at me.”
“Shit, those fucking assholes. Come in and sit down. I need to make a phone call to scheduling.”
Casey watched Kathryn as she called the base. She looked around Kathryn’s home and took it all in. Everything was neat and tidy, as she would have expected, but the furnishings were also tasteful and warm. It was a very nice home that looked comfortable and calm. Casey felt a little awkward being in Kathryn’s home uninvited.
“Sergeant Anderson, this is Captain Hardesty. Can you tell me if there was a change to the schedule for my instrument check ride tomorrow? There was? What time did that happen and who called in this change? Okay, I got it. Do me a favor and put a hold on that aircraft. There’s a possibility that the sortie may not go tomorrow. Thanks, Sergeant. Good night.” Kathryn hung up the phone.
“That piece-of-crap motherfucker. He had scheduling switch check pilots from Samuels to him at 1800 hours, after everyone else had gone home, so I wouldn’t find out. If I could shoot him in the head with my forty-five, I would.”
“What’s going on, Kathryn? Why is this guy trying to bust you on your check ride?”
“It’s a long story, Casey. Bailey Grant has a grudge against me because I made him look bad when we were both T-37 flight commanders. My flight consistently performed better than his. I’m not surprised he’s colluding with Carter to try to take me out. He’s one of those macho men who doesn’t think women should be flying Air Force jets. He’s also a sleazy chauvinist pig who makes comments about women’s bodies and who cheats on his little Christian wife. He’s a dirtbag who’s advanced his career by brownnosing the bosses instead of working hard to be a good pilot. He’s a fucking creep and he picked the wrong dyke to fuck with.”
“What are you going to do?” Casey asked.
“I’m not sure yet, but I’m certainly not going to fly with him tomorrow.”
“Please be careful. I’d hate to see this guy damage your career.”
“I’ll be okay. Thank you for warning me, and please thank Tiny for me too. You should probably get back home. You’re on early week and you should get some rest.”
Kathryn came over to her and gave her a hug. Casey wanted the hug to linger, but she knew she couldn’t. She broke contact and reached for the door.
“I’ll see you around, Kathryn. Good night.”
“’Night, Casey, and thanks again for looking out for me.”
“Any time.”
*****
Casey was in her seat in the Gombey flight room at 0325 hours waiting for the morning briefing. She hadn’t slept much the night before worrying about Kathryn. She was grateful she wasn’t scheduled to fly that day and was looking forward to being the flight room phone person so she could get caught up on studying for her advanced aerodynamics test. She had to wait for the flight room to clear out as everyone went out to fly so she could call her friend in the T-37 squadron.
“Ninety-sixth flight operations, Sergeant Henderson speaking, may I help you, sir?”
“Hi, Nikki, it’s Casey Tompkins, are you free to talk?”
“Stand by, sir, I need to switch to the other phone.” After a short pause, Nikki came back on the line. “Casey, what’s up?”
“I need to know what happened with Captain Hardesty’s instrument check ride this morning. Can you fill me in?”
“Oh, girl, you missed quite a show! How do you know about this, anyway?”
“Tiny overheard something in the O Club bar last night. So what happened?”
“Let me close the door first. Well, Captain Grant from stan / eval showed up at the airplane sign-out desk at 0800 hours looking for Captain Hardesty. He had this big shit-eating grin on his ugly face and he made me call the safety office to check on where Captain Hardesty was. Just then, she strolls up to the desk with the chief of stan / eval, Major Lee. Captain Grant looked surprised at the sight of his boss, then pretends to act all friendly to Captain Hardesty. He said to her, ‘Ready for your instrument check, Kathryn?’ And she stands right up to him and says, ‘No, I won’t be flying with you today, or any day.’ Just as he’s about to say something to her, his boss, Major Lee, pulls him into the squadron commander’s office for a little chat.”
“Wow, then what happened?”
“Then Captain Hardesty starts to fill out the paperwork to sign out her jet for her check ride. I’m confused, so I ask her, ‘Who will you be flying with today, ma’am?’ and she says, �
��Major Lee.’ Just then, I see Captain Grant come storming out of the squadron commander’s office with a big scowl on his face. He stomps out of the building and Major Lee comes back to the desk to get the tail number of their jet, then he and Captain Hardesty go out and fly.”
“That’s unbelievable. Well, I guess she showed him.”
“That’s not the best part, Casey. Guess what?” Nikki asked.
“What, what, tell me!”
“After their flight, Major Lee came back to the desk and wrote on the big ‘Attaboy’ board, you know the one right by the main door with all the promotions and awards on it, and he wrote, ‘Outstanding Instrument Check Ride—Captain Hardesty.’ Girl, it was sweet!”
“Damn, that’s great news. Thanks so much, Nikki, that makes my day.”
“Anytime, Casey. We miss you over here in the Tweet squadron. Talk to you later.”
Casey was thrilled and relieved that Kathryn had turned the tables on that asshole, and got an “Outstanding” out of the whole deal, to boot. I guess he learned his lesson on that one. Hopefully, he won’t try to mess with any other women pilots again.
Casey aced her test the next day, adding to her unbroken record of one hundred percent on all her academic tests. After her death-defying first flight, she’d gone to the learning center and watched films of T-38 patterns and landings over and over while she practiced her chair flying. She would not miss that angle of attack indicator again or get slow in the final turn. She was a little nervous before her next flight with Bulldog, but she felt better prepared this time.
Bulldog was relaxed and unconcerned as he always was during the briefing for her next flight. When she lined up on the runway for her first takeoff, she held the brakes as hard as she could and she ran the engines up to military power. She released the brakes and pushed the throttles up into afterburner. The jet leapt forward and her head snapped back against the headrest. Shit! This thing is fast! She lifted off and got the gear and flaps up immediately before she over-sped them. She was barely keeping up with the jet as she accelerated to three hundred knots. It was better than her first ride, but it was still like holding on to the tail of a racing cheetah. She’d been hyperventilating during the entire takeoff again and had to slow her breathing back to normal. At least she was able to make her radio calls on this ride.
She went through all her maneuvers in the postage stamp–sized practice area, including the stall series. The “jackrabbits” and “elephants” jumping up and down on the wings still felt disconcerting. Bulldog only had a few corrections for her, and he never once raised his voice at her. It was such a relief not to be screamed at all the time. They headed back to Willie to practice in the traffic pattern.
“Do you want me to demo another landing for you, Ace?” Bulldog asked.
“No, I’d like to try one myself this time.”
“All right, Casey, just don’t try and kill me again.” He was only half joking.
The pattern was busy and she adjusted her spacing for the traffic. She sharply rolled into a ninety-degree banked turn, pulled hard on the stick, and was at four Gs. She rolled out parallel to the runway, put the gear down, then the flaps, made her radio call, set the power, and went right to her final turn pitch attitude—forty-five degrees of bank, three-quarters ground and one-quarter sky. She pulled on the stick until she felt the max performance “mice-jumping-on-the-wings” sensation, aimed short of the runway threshold, and verbalized her mantra: “Aim point, air speed, AOA.” Bulldog wasn’t saying anything. As she rolled out on final approach, she brought the nose up slightly, crossed the runway threshold, smoothly pulled the throttles to idle, and flared the jet. The plane impacted the runway firmly but not too hard.
“My jet, Casey. Catch your breath. That landing was much improved. I think you’re starting to get the picture.”
Casey flew three more touch-and-go landings, getting a little better with each one. By the time she did her full stop landing it felt like the lightbulb was starting to come on a little. When they got back to the flight room, Bulldog didn’t have many debrief items for her.
“Well, Champ, I saw a lot of improvement today. You’ve obviously been practicing. Keep chair flying, and next ride we’re going to work on the single engine and no flap patterns and landings. Overall grade, Excellent.”
Casey was surprised he’d given her a grade of Excellent for the ride. She was learning that she could face her fear, keep her wits about her, and keep flying the jet in spite of it. She had the desire to pick up the phone and call Kathryn to tell her about her flight. She had taken it for granted that Kathryn would always be there to talk about flying. Now that she wasn’t, there was a hollowness inside. It was hard to admit it, but she missed Kathryn—a lot.
Casey found herself glancing around the base when she was driving, looking for the blue flight safety pickup truck, and wondering what Kathryn was doing. She probably had another new student pilot, and Casey had a twinge of envy for this unknown student. One or two of the girls from the softball team had asked her out on dates but she couldn’t bring herself to say yes. Even though she knew nothing could ever happen with Kathryn, the thought of going out with another woman made her feel like she was being unfaithful. It was silly and foolish to waste her time hoping Kathryn would change her mind, but Casey couldn’t help the way she felt. More than anything, she wanted Kathryn to be proud of her. Maybe someday she would be.
Chapter Twenty-eight
October 1992
The next two weeks of pilot training seemed to race by as Casey was getting ready to solo the T-38 jet. She’d kept Kathryn out of her thoughts by keeping busy with studying, simulator rides, chair flying, and occasionally visiting with her friends Trish and Rhonda.
The solo flight in the T-38 was very different from in the Tweet. The IP didn’t hop out of the jet, then let you fly solo. In the T-38, the student pilot just signed out the jet and went flying by herself. The T-38 solo was not limited to flying around the traffic pattern, instead you flew out to the practice area by yourself, then came back to the base for landings. There was no dunk tank to honor your accomplishment and it was not regarded as a very big deal. The student just went out flying solo. For Casey, it was still a very big deal.
Her flights with Bulldog continued to go well. He never raised his voice, but he was demanding. It amazed her how quickly she could learn when she wasn’t being screamed at. She still hyperventilated on every takeoff, but she was starting to feel she could keep up with the jet—sort of. She could actually feel her mind accelerating with the jet. It was a strange but exciting sensation.
There was something else she noticed that made her feel good—the blue Air Force pickup truck from flight safety. On her last two flights, as she was in the run-up area next to the runway waiting to take off, she’d seen the blue pickup parked next to the RSU across from her on the other side of the runway. Maybe it wasn’t flight safety doing an observation of the RSU operations, but maybe it was. It could have been a communications technician working on something, or maybe it was Kathryn watching her. It gave Casey a little thrill to think that maybe Kathryn was watching her from the RSU. The idea that Kathryn might be stalking her made her very happy. Even though she couldn’t see Kathryn or talk to her, she still felt connected to her. During the rare moments when she wasn’t thinking about pilot training, her mind always turned to Kathryn. Despite everything Kathryn had said, she still held on to hope that they could find a way to make things work out. It was frustrating, but it also made her happy to think about a possible future together.
Casey was preparing for her next flight, which she hoped would be her last flight before solo, when Bulldog made his usual loud entrance.
“All right, missy, what are we doing today? Dazzle me.”
Casey tried not to laugh at him, but he loved being the center of attention.
“We’ll go to the practice area, run through stalls, slow flight, acro, then come back to Willie for pattern work.”
Casey looked for the blue pickup truck next to the RSU but didn’t see it today. Oh well, maybe next time. Her heavyweight single engine landing and no flap landings were safe, but not great. After that, she flew out to the practice area and smoothly went through all her planned maneuvers. Bulldog was not saying a word to her today. He was trying to get her used to flying the jet solo with no one’s voice in her ear. The traffic pattern was busy when she got back to Willie, but she handled it well and got in her touch-and-go landings.
“Make this one a full stop, Champ,” Bulldog said.
Casey configured the jet for landing, felt the max performance shudder as she pulled the nose around the final turn, rolled out on final with the jet on her aim point, and she kept the green donut on the AOA throughout the final turn. She smoothly pulled the power to idle, flared, then heard the slight squeak of the tires as she touched down. She pulled the nose up with full back stick, with the main wheels still on the runway, to aero brake and slow the airplane, then lowered the nose to the runway at one hundred and twenty knots. She stepped on the top of the rudder pedals to slow down with the wheel brakes, then took the high speed taxiway near the end of the runway. She was pleased with her landing as she opened the canopy and taxied back to the ramp.
Back in the flight room, Bulldog grabbed her grade book, sat down, and said, “Well, missy, you ready to go up next time by yourself?”
“Yes, sir, I am.”
“I agree, you’re ready. I’m signing you off to fly solo. Tomorrow, I want you to go out there and do exactly what you did today minus the stalls. Come back to the traffic pattern with at least fifteen hundred pounds of gas so you can get in three or four good landings. Excellent ride today.” He handed the grade sheet back to her. “Oh, and, Casey?”