Chapter Ten -
And as it turned out I had PLENTY of time to ponder
for the Twin Otter would take over three more hours to get back having diverted to PIZ (Cape Lisburne) to sit on the ground for awhile shut down. Point Hope was socked in pretty tight with fog and Red decided since Lisburne was open and CALM (a real RARITY for Cape Lisburne
) he would go there first and sit on the ground for an hour or so. Get a good (fresh) coffee break
in with the Air Force boys and have a chance to try and bend Bartelli’s ear just a LITTLE bit if possible.
Meanwhile our young hero, unknowing of the delay, literally paced back and forth across the Wien ramp hundreds of times
while awaiting the sound of a pair of PT-6's. As there were only TWO airplanes in that corner of the world at the time wearing a pair of PT-6's the other being a Beech 18 converted to a Westwind.
Deep in thought CloudDancer barely grunted an acknowlegement of a greeting :-? to his friends who worked the ramp there. After the third one came by Cloudy gave him a very SKETCHY version of the story, apologized for being grumpy :x , and was left alone after that.
Pacing. Sitting. Waiting as the sun moved from the west to the northwest starting it’s evening and nighttime journey across the northern horizon. I stared into the large orange orb willing the DHC-6 to appear from it, burned kerosene exhaust fumes turning the fiery orb into a shimmering circular pool.
I thought about a million different things at once.
It was ROD’s fault because we NEVER have any PARTS DAMMIT!! :evil:
It was RED’s fault DAMMIT for NOT warning me there was a FED on Board!! :evil:
(Although Red was POSITIVE that he HAD indeed “warned” me)
It was SADIE’s fault for NOT being able to get her FAT BUTT into the damn PLANE any faster!! :evil:
Hell! It’s BARTELLI’S FAULT. He’s not even SUPPOSED to be concerned with ME!! I’m a Part 135 pilot and HE is a DADGUM Part 121 Air CARRIER inspector. He shouldn’t even have any SAY or INTEREST here...RIGHT??!! :evil:
(Boy...talk about your RIGHTeous indigNAtion anyway....)
Okay. I’m SURE I can’t go to JAIL...so THAT’s good. License suspension..how long...I wonder WHAT it takes to legally (or otherwise) change your name...but would the airline FIRE me if they ever found out......I COULD spend my life HERE....I mean I DO like it and all....I don’t HAVE to go fly for and airline....and on..and on.
For three hours every though of my past present and future raced around my brain like a carousel gone berserk.
But most important....THERE it IS! Turning final. I will face my accuser in just a few minutes.
As I watch the old man turn and kneel on the floor of the Otter in the doorway I am trying to decide how to play it. Bartelli’s right hand grasps the rear door, still latched closed, for support as he slides his right leg out and down “fishing” for the aluminum stairs with his right foot. In moments he turns and sees me standing a dozen feet off the left wing as I try to stay out of the way of the rest of the passengers and the wooden wagon being wheeled under the wing toward the aft baggage compartment.
*******************
Red Hotchkins. What a PIECE of WORK that guy is.
After Wien was raped, plundered and pillaged at the hands of an earlier day version of “Lorenzo” and destroyed the pilots went mostly to Alaska Airlines or Southwest and Red wound up at Southwest from where he recently retired.
His ties to Alaska and Kotzebue in particular are even stronger than mine have been as he managed to marry one of the VERY best looking Eskimo girls
in N.W. Alaska. Their offspring, now college graduates have all earned flight ratings of some sort although they have WISELY decided NOT to make a profession of it.
As for Red, he can still be found on rare occasions in a 737; now riding in back to and from his new HELICOPTER job back in Alaska. Sometimes the ride in back is made far more tolerable by the fact the his life-long Eskimo love
is the one pouring the
from the serving cart.
All my professional life it seems, the former Twin Otter turned Boeing turned FLING-WING
Captain has been unobtrusively standing somewhere nearby. At many turning points I sought him out. He was seldom, if ever in error on issues of flight and our industry. I truly have ALWAYS valued his counsel.....even when I didn’t follow it.
And I know to this day....on the very rare occasions that our paths still cross; now that I can no longer bump into him so often in the terminals our airlines commonly served;
I know that Red takes some small matter of pride and satisfaction knowing that, since he had a role in my initial hiring in what became my current job, (Airbus Captain for a “legacy” airline) at least in some small measure....his flying “lessons” live on to benefit passengers still.
For GODSAKES Red....be CAREFUL out there in that airborne collection of noisy parts you fly around in these days.
And THANK YOU....for a LIFETIME of good advice and friendship.
CloudDancer