Jason and Mike lived not far from the
airport. Most evenings after they had
arrived home from school, they would go for a walk. Before returning home, they used to stop by
the fence that bordered the airport and watched the planes touch down on the
runway. This pastime was a great thrill
for them. From that vantage point they had
even witnessed the arrival of the supersonic Concorde.
That evening was not unlike any
other. They sat on the grass just
gazing at the oncoming planes and taking note of the way in which they appear
to be getting bigger as they drew nearer.
Finally, they appear so near over their heads that they felt they would
just drop on them. On those occasions
they used to wonder, “What if the pilot makes a mistake!” What was about to happen that evening was not
the pilot’s mistake but they could see that something out of the extraordinary
was about to unfold.
They kept their eyes on the small plane
as it came lower and lower while circling all of the time. Suddenly Jason exclaimed, “Notice something
Mike?”
“No, what?” Mike inquired after looking
a little harder. “I don’t see anything
unusual, ”
“Watch the landing wheels!” Jason said
with some consternation in his voice.
“They are not staying down.” It
was then that Mike realized that the wheels were coming down and then
retracting. “That’s why the pilot has
been circling and circling,” Jason opined.
“May be too,” observed Mike, “that’s
why the plane is spluttering.”
“Highly unlikely,” Jason retorted. “May be it’s running out of fuel. He has been circling for quite for a
while.”
Jason knew more about planes than the
average boy his age because his uncle worked at the airport. Uncle Bob worked with the maintenance
crew. Often he would take Jason along
and he would explain many things about how planes work. Mike knew this and respected Jason for his
knowledge about planes.
“What’s he going to do?” inquired
Mike. “He just can’t circle all day
long. Why is he waving like that? Do you think he is afraid, Jason? Will he crash, Jason?
The questions kept coming fast and
furious. Jason had no answers for Mike
and it seemed as if the pilot had no answer for his dilemma. He just kept circling and circling and coming
lower and
lower.
In fact the plane seemed to be coming closer and closer to where they
were now standing. They had long
scrambled to their feet to get a better view of it.
Suddenly an idea occurred to
Jason. “I know why he is frantically
waving his hand. He is trying to tell us
something. He wants to land on this
pasture. He wants us to get as far away
as we possibly can.”
“But why does he want to land here on
this pasture when the airstrip is just over there?” Mike asked.
“I suppose the grass here would help to
cushion the landing and besides it would be away from all the other planes and
buildings just in case it catches afire.
Then again, may be he doesn’t have enough fuel to make it to the
airstrip.” Jason noted with a certain
smugness that once again his knowledge had impressed his friend. He could see the admiration in his face. However it was time to get out of there.
The boys ran some distance from where
they were and then stopped at a point that they considered to be safe. At this time the pilot had stopped waving and
began to make his descent. He had
obviously decided that he was going to attempt a force landing. There was a fairly strong wind blowing and
Jason wondered how he would handled this problem, especially in addition to all
of the other problems with which he already had to grapple.
The aircraft came in leaning to one
side. Jason was certain the wing was
going to touch. The plane touched the
grass on the back wheels which held firmly and ran for some distance before the
fuselage slid along the grass. It was a
good belly landing. However the
unevenness of the terrain caused the plane to flip to a side before coming to
rest. The left wing was broken off as
well as the propeller.
The boys stood transfixed in their
position for a moment or so, too afraid to even breathe. There was no movement coming from the
cockpit. Suddenly they started to run
toward the damaged plane. They were both
very concerned for the well being of the pilot.
“Is he dead?” Mike asked in almost a
whisper as they slowed while nearing the scene of the crash.
“I do not think so, “Jason
responded. “At least I hope not.”
On arrival at the crash site they
noticed that there was no movement. They
climbed up on the plane to see what they could do to help the pilot. They were not sure that there was anything
they could do but they meant to give it a try anyway. What the boys saw exceeded their greatest expectations. The pilot had a gash over his right eye and
he appeared not to be breathing. This
was Jason’s greatest nightmare for the pilot of the aircraft was none other
than his Uncle Bob. “We’ve got to do
something,” he said in desperation. “We
can’t just stay here and stare at him.
Mike, you find someone with a phone and call an ambulance. Go quickly!
I’ll wait here and see if he comes to.”
Mike was off in a dash. He hurried across the field and headed
straight for the nearest house. He ran
up to the front door and knocked. The
door was answered by a young girl. Mike
quickly related the incident and asked if he could make a call. The girl replied that he could but she could
do a lot more than that. Mike inquired,
“What do you mean?”
The young girl informed Mike that her
name was Ann and her father was a doctor.
At that moment Dr. Harris entered the room and seeing Mike there,
inquired concerning the problem. Having
heard about the crash, he invited both youngsters to journey with him to the
site. Ann climbed into the Jeep’s cabin
while Mike vaulted on to the back. In a
cloud of dust they were off.
Meanwhile Jason was crouched over his
uncle in the small cockpit of the plane willing him to open his eyes. He had become so close to Uncle Bob and
admired him so much that he could not bear the thought of losing him. He was not even aware that he had muttered
the words, “Don’t die Uncle Bob. You can’t
do this to me. What would I do if you
die? Come on Uncle, Please open your
eyes.”
The gash above Bob’s eye was not by any
means a big one. The blood had already
clotted. Jason thought to himself that
he had probably struck his face to the dashboard where all of the instruments
for flying were. Suddenly Jason heard
the roar of a vehicle. Looking in the
distance he could see the Jeep coming with great speed. It was bouncing precariously as it speeded
towards the plane. Before it actually
stopped, Mike jumped from the back and scrambled up the side of the plane. Dr. Harris was behind him showing that he was
very nimble and athletic for his forty years.
Snatching his stethoscope from his satchel he rested it on Bob’s
chest. Whatever the sign, he seemed
pleased because a bright smile lit up his face.
He proceeded to lift Bob from the wreck with the help of the two
boys. Together they place him in the
Jeep and were off to the hospital. Jason
wanted to inquire about Bob’s condition but he felt somewhat abashed.
Dr. Harris turned to his daughter and
remarked, “I expect him to come out of it any time now. He was knocked unconscious when his head
stuck the dash.” Just about that same
time Jason heard his uncle groan. To
this day he will tell you that it was the most beautiful and relieving groan
that he had ever heard.
Uncle Bob sat upright in the reclining
chair in his home. Present were his
wife, Jason, Mike, Dr. Harris and his daughter.
They were all listening to Uncle Bob as he recounted what had actually
transpired.
“I was coming in to land when I
realized that the landing gear was not functioning properly. I began to circle hoping that whatever was
wrong would correct itself. As I circled
the fuel gauge was reading lower and lower.
When the plane began to splutter I realized that I had no fuel left and
I decided to land it in the field. It
was on my approach that I saw you boys in the field and signalled for you to
run as far away as you could. Well the
rest is history.”
“To have landed in that field without
sustaining anymore damage was a tremendous feat,” Dr. Harris remarked. “How did you manage that?”
“Uncle Bob is one of the best pilots
there is,” said Jason beaming with pride and satisfaction. “And when I grow up I want to be able to fly
an aeroplane just like he can.” With
that, Uncle Bob thanked Dr. Harris once again while ruffling the hair of the
two boys.
“You know, you two boys acted very
responsibly today. Were it not for your
wise action, things might not have turned out the way they did. I am very proud of you all. Well tomorrow we will have the wreck remove
from the field.” With that Dr. Harris
and his daughter were off leaving the two boys to chat with Uncle Bob. In their eyes, Uncle Bob was truly a
hero.
Stewart Russell © 2016
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