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You glance up from the sectional chart, and your heart nearly stops. You´re immersed in the damp, gauzy grip of a cumulonimbus cloud. And without so much as an instrument rating!
Rain, in big ugly drops, begins to thud against your windscreen. What was that? Did someone take my picture? No, it´s lightning!
Before you can curse yourself for being so stupid, you notice the heading indicator beginning to spin; the plane is wandering. You´ve dropped the reigns of your mighty steed, and he´s galloping off on his own.
And with him, the airspeed indicator! It´s racing toward the redline. The wind noise rises from a muted rush barely detectable above the engine´s sound to a screaming howl, like that of a wild animal, the beast your´re riding earthward to an early grave.
Sweat gushes into your eyes, nearly blinding you. You feel a heaviness in your seat; your wallet crushes against your hipbone. You feel a surge of nausea and dizziness....
You remember you´ve lost your American Express card. What will you do? What will you do?
Suddenly the whole picture freezes. What´s happened?
Well, in this case, I just hit the escape key and pushed my chair back from my computer. Whew! Another challenging Fright Flight.
But what about you? Have a real life Fright Flight you´d like to share with me and your fellow aviators? Hopefully, we can all learn something from the experiences of our brothers and sisters in flight. Send us your story to SUBMISSIONS. |
