throttles back smoothly as we transition from a descent to level flight just above the runway. As the airspeed bleeds off, I raise the nose higher trying to keep the aircraft aloft for as long as possible yet allowing it to descend slowly to the runway.
A very small bump is felt throughout the 130 as the wheels come into contact with the paved surface and begin rolling along. The aircraft settles as if sitting down in its favorite chair after a long day, both relieved and sorry to be out of its natural environment. Lowering the nose wheel to the runway, I bring the props into reverse thrust, causing the forward momentum to drop off rapidly, the g-force causing our bodies to thrust forward against our straps. Applying slight pressure on the brakes forces us to press even harder against the belts holding us in our seats. Settling down to taxi speed, I bring the props back into their normal rotation angle and we pull off of the runway, taxiing into what looks like main terminal area.
Going through the normal shutdown procedure, the props slowly wind down to a stop and we open up the back. Alpha and Bravo teams emerge first establishing a quick perimeter around us. The heat and humidity that is so prevalent in the south during the summer months sweeps into the aircraft, making it feel like you need gills to survive and breathe. Once again, only that lonely silence accompanies our arrival. The dream-like ambience prevails. The total lack of movement and sounds that should be customary just does not seem right. So out of place.
The afternoon sun bathes us, the humidity in the air adds to the brightness of the day, blinding in its intensity. Sweat immediately forms on my brow and runs down my spine, dark spots appear under my arms on my ‘needing to be changed soon’ flight suit. I breathe a heavy sigh in the still, humid air thinking about the enormity of what we are about to undertake. The numerous buildings that need to be searched. The very real possibility of not being able to find what we are looking for. And, not knowing exactly what that may look like. I have in my mind that it would be a report of some kind stored in a large file. The risks of entering so many buildings that could be housing a large number of night runners. This is a very real possibility as I assume there were many of the infected that were quarantined for study as the search for a cure became a priority, especially considering the magnitude and speed at which this all came down.
“Let’s get the team leaders together,” I tell Lynn as she steps out onto the ramp next to me. “We’ll have to make this quick as our time is short.”
Once again her command voice can be heard echoing across the area, the stillness of our surroundings magnifies the loudness. It bounces off the buildings a short distance away; reverberating across the parking lot close by and down the adjacent streets.
“Team leaders on me,” she calls out.
They gather around, each one affected by the heat and moisture, rings of sweat showing on their fatigues; Lynn, Drescoll, and Horace and others, to a lesser extent, are accustomed to the heat of the desert but not the humidity. Kuwait can be humid with the shores of the gulf nearby, but not like this. I sit down on the hot surface of the ramp, feeling the heat sear immediately through my thin flight suit, wanting to stand up right away in order to not catch on fire. The feeling dissipates after a few short moments. The others follow suit and sit in a gaggle around me.
“Well, we have a huge task ahead of us given the large amount of structures. I’m thinking the report or information we’re looking for should be in the director’s office but I have no clue where that is. My guess is we start in the main building close to the entrance. I’m sure the reception desk, or whatever they have in lieu of that, will have some sort of directory. That should be the first place we look,” I say opening the briefing.
“And by us, do you mean you plan on going?” Lynn asks sitting to my right.
“I was planning on it,” I say answering.
“I think you should stay here,” she adds with a sideways look.
“And why is that?” I ask.
“Because you’re the only one who can fly this beast,” she answers nodding toward the 130 behind us. “Something happens to you and we’re stuck.”
I must admit I have thought about this a little as we were passing over the CDC campus. I mean, I feel that Robert could get it started and airborne. He is able to configure the nav system to a degree as I spent some time with him on that while we were droning through the endless skies. It is the critical getting down part — meaning landing - that we still have to work on. A smooth take off and flawless flight are meaningless if you rip the wings and gear off on landing. Really turns a good flight into a bad one in a hurry. Impacting the ground and exploding tends to really ruin a good day.
“Okay, point taken. I’ll stay here,” I say after a moment’s pause and feeling reluctant to stay.
“Lynn, take Black, Green, and Blue Teams with you. My suggestion is to assign one team per building to quicken the search but you make that call on arriving. You may want to take the entire group in and do it one at a time. You have until 21:00 to be back. And I mean back here by then regardless of what you find or where you are,” I continue.
“Hooah, sir,” she says, her old ways returning.
“There are a few cars in the parking lot so we’ll have to use those for transportation. Anyone know how to hotwire?” I inquire.
“I think there’s a guy on my team who was in maintenance,” Horace says answering. “I’ll see.”
“Okay, if not we’ll have to figure something out. I don’t want to spend a lot of time here so are there any questions?” I ask. No one speaks up.
“I’m going to take Robert up to practice takeoffs and landings so you’ll hear us overhead. I’ll keep the secondary radio on our freq so let me know if you run into anything. I can also provide overhead directions if you get lost and guide you in. So, seeing there aren’t any questions, let’s get a move on,” I continue and finish the briefing.
The team leaders head to gather their teams and equipment for the trip out. Horace finds out that her maintenance guy should be able to start the vehicles in the event we can’t find keys readily available. They head toward the parking lot as I gather Robert and Bri and head into the aircraft; sealing it shut and settling into our ‘far too familiar’ seats.
We start the engines as the away teams head to the parking to see to their transportation. I give Robert some additional guidance and instruction and let him taxi out to the runway. If you have ever given your child driving lessons, you will know exactly how I am feeling right now; only imagine that in an aircraft. I was an instructor pilot for many years and I feel myself slipping into that mode. Any worry disappears as I concentrate and think about instructing. The aircraft veers on the taxi way as he gets accustomed to taxiing with the wheel, eventually straightening out and keeping the nose wheel on the center line. He has a few hours under his belt so he is used to it, just not in something this large. The sweat marks growing under his arms show his nervousness.
We check for traffic as I conduct a successful radio check with Lynn on the secondary radio. Pulling out onto the runway, he aligns the aircraft and pushes up the throttles with my hands on top of his guiding. The nose swings slightly from side to side as the aircraft accelerates down the runway, smoothing out as he transitions to the rudder pedals for direction. The take-off is a success but he immediately becomes overwhelmed with having to get the gear and flaps up in quick succession in addition to leveling off quickly at pattern altitude. But we manage, turning to a crosswind and then downwind pattern, the landing checks done quickly. His first landing is more of an arrival but that is to be expected.
“This isn’t anything like flying a 152,” he says after trying to plant the 130, and mostly succeeding, onto the runway for the first time. “I feel lost.”
“You’ll get it. It’s the ‘any landing you can walk away from is a good one’ concept,” I say.
We try two more touch-and-go’s with him catching slowly up to the aircraft with each one; improving with each attempt.
“Let’s do a fly by and see how the teams are progressing,” I say and have him maneuver out of the landing pattern and down the route the team is to take.
We see them travelling along a tree-lined, two-lane road as we pass over; three pickups heading toward the CDC. Seeing they are proceeding and apparently not lost, we head back to the airfield, spending a large part of the afternoon practicing his landings until he becomes quite proficient and capable of getting it down safely on his own.
