Originally posted by fishbuck
From "Volar, mi Bonita, volar" or Baja Moon
By Fishbuck
A full moon is a beautiful thing at night.
Even more beautiful in Baja...
at 7500 feet... alone... in a plane.
Ya, it was beautiful alright. Just like all the fullmoons in a plane... full of dope!
How many times had I wondered how this hell had happened to me. For sure on every full moon.
And again force myself not to ask that question who's answer grow more complex each day... or night... with a full moon.
No, better to think of the good times... with... her.
Yes, those were some very good times... the best. The very best.
The old Piper was droning along nicely when I was jerked out of my "Baja State" by the slightest little engine noise. Well not a noise really more
like a "silence".
I could swear I heard the engine miss just once. One time. Only once.
I think my ears grew about ten inches long in a second.
They strained to detect the slightest noise... or miss.
The old Piper was a veteren of many trips up and back down the pennisula. Steady as a rock all those times.
One time I woke up at the resort from fishing and drinking to fly home. Plane all loaded. With "cargo".
Dead battery. poop!
My only option was to call a taxi and make sure he had jumper cables.
I had to pull a piece of the cowl off and you should have seen taximan's face when I told him to hook up the cables.
When that big motor fired he was so surprised. I was afraid he would walk into the prop but he didn't.
I had him hold the brakes on while I screwed the panel back on with the engine running. His first flying lesson. Now he works for me. One of my best
pilots. Juan. A good man Juan.
There it is. Again! One engine missfire. One fraction of a second with no drone of a perfectly tuned engine.
I'm sure I heard it! That brief empty spot in time. That silence. When it seems as the earth stops spinning oh so briefly. One heartbeat.
... to be continued ... |