Chapter 36

Dan Richards' turn:

The avalanche continues. Dan 2.0 went to Louisiana for a progress meeting on the project we're doing there in a facility near his home. He came back with Ed Allen and Ed's new wife and addition to the Sisterhood, Dana.

And we're moving from the original apartments, home for the last couple of years, to the new community at the airfield.

Airfield. Conspicuously absent is Wally.

So we're moving from the apartments to the houses -- it's Saturday morning, so we have coffee pots going at both facilities. Well, actually, the one operating here is the big one over in the commons building.

So Stoney and I are nearly finished unloading my truck, and this particular load is going into Stoney and Jo's side of the townhouse unit. I hear an aircraft approaching, a twin with flaps and gear down, and it certainly isn't ours.

Hmm ... nobody but Wally and "us" flies into this place, usually. I raise an eyebrow and look at Stoney. He grins and makes the "zipping my lip" gesture.

It's landing now -- looks like a Cessna twin.

Stoney's still grinning, and not speaking. Hmm. We'll see. And now I see Wally's ATV headed this way, with a passenger. Another oversight – we need to get a couple of those ATVs for running over to the airstrip, I guess.

Oh Lord. It's Wally and Anders, talking and laughing. They roll up, stop, and when they step out, Anders holds up a set of keys and says, "Dan, we heard you folks were moving, so I brought all of you a house-warming present -- I think you'll like it."

"Umm. OK, Anders -- thanks, I guess. How much is this going to cost us?"

"Dan, do you have a dollar bill in your pocket?" Anders smiled.

Wally said, "Dan, I've been talking to Anders a bit, and I took a hard look at the logbooks. Some of the signatures are a little vague, but apart from that, I think you better give the man a dollar, and sign the bill of sale."

"Anders, are you sure? Should I ask where this came from?" My mind's whirling at hyperspeed now. Stuff like this doesn't just happen. Or does it?

Anders said, "Dan, the main thing is that it's legal, it's in astonishingly good shape, and let's just say it's "surplus to needs", or something like that. And really, don't you want to hear some red-heads squeal?"

"And in THAT, sir, you have an argument that I don't want to win. And I fear that very little work here is going to be done until much later this afternoon," I said.

"Relax, Dan," Wally said. "I know that you and Cindy are supposed to be flying to Arizona for that flight school. One-week to a multi rating. Nobody here's multi rated except me, so..."

"Wally, ol' bud," I laughed. "When Cindy gets here, YOU are going to have to take 'er up. You KNOW this."

"I do."

"Right now she's supervising the load-out back at the apartments." I looked at the airplane behind them, sleek, white with red and gold accents, emitting soft popping noises as its engines cooled. "What is that? A 401?"

"402C," Wally said. "Two hundred ten knots cruise, a ton and a quarter load. Uh, Dan ... I know you were looking ... This 'un's a little bit more than you probably had in mind, but a DOLLAR? Come on..."

"Make my old 180 look like a kiddie car..."

"I'm just tryin' to save you from having to give that little redhead my Air Tractor."

"Wally..."

"Call 'er. Call 'em all. Heaven knows, we can put eight of us in the air with this thing."

"You know you aren't getting by with one flight. Everybody's gonna want a chance up front..."

Wally grinned. "'S okay. I like flyin' the thing myself. Call 'em."

Stoney already had his phone out. "No, I'm NOT saying a word. Tell Cindy and Nikki to load everybody up and come over here. We have something interesting."

I laughed at Stoney. "You're killin' 'em." My phone rang. Cindy.

"No, I am NOT adding a thing to what Stoney said. Just come see for yourself."

"Dana and Ed?"

"Them, too."

"Come on," Anders said. "You know you want to sit in it."

Kid. New toy. Me. Ah, yes...

Wasn't brand new, not by any stretch. The instruments were the old round faces, familiar to me from hundreds of hours of seeing some just like them in other planes. I rested my hand on a pair of throttles, though. That's NIIIIICE.

I'm looking around. Six seats. A huge cargo area. I know that this thing is likely made to seat up to eight or ten, so that meant that somebody was hauling stuff. 'A dollar'. 'Surplus to needs' indeed. I probably don't want to know what's been hauled in this thing.

Anders was hovering over my shoulder, grinning.

"I could've given it to Stoney and Jo, but ... the corporation. Better deal, don't you think?"

"I don't want to know all the history on this thing, do I?"

"Dan, Dan, Dan..." he said. "It's perfectly legal. It's clean. Clear paper trail. It just wasn't what some of our clients wanted after they tried it."

"So ... a dollar..."

"I'll have our attorney send your attorney the paper work. You owe me a dollar."

"I may have myself up for a psychiatric evaluation, but, okay. Done."

"Look, Dan," Anders said. "You guys try it out. If you decide it's too much to operate, trade it on what you want. Until then...

Wally stuck his head in the open door, shoving cold drinks at us.

I popped the top.

"Look, buddy," Wally said, "I absolutely MUST be in a position to see Cindy's face ... My little redheaded nightmare..."

That caused me to laugh. "You got it easy. We have a meeting on Monday with Auburn. They have plans for her and Nikki at the university."

Anders shook his head. "Gainfully employed."

"Anders, we don't need her to work, but would you want THAT mind sitting idle? Or Nikki? Geez..."

"You're lucky I haven't offered 'er a job as an ag pilot," Wally laughed. "I'm tempted to do it. You folks keep messing with my head..."

"So how'd YOU end up with Anders?"

Anders grinned. "I walked in, asked him if he had a couple of days for an air adventure. I have his name and number now. You never know," Anders spoke.

"He told me not to tell anybody," Wally said. "Not often I get in on somebody's six-figure surprise."

"Come on," Anders said. "Let's be standing there when they get here."

We climbed out of the plane and were standing by the wing when two SUVs came around the hangar and literally screeched to a halt.

Yes, squealing was involved. Redheads, one with and one without a baby. A brunette. An auburn-headed mommy. A blonde with a baby carrier.

"Whose is THIS?" Cindy squeaked.

"3Sigma's," Anders said.

"You flew this here?" Nikki queried of Anders.

"Heavens, no. Wally did. I ride in them. I've even jumped out of them. But I never fly them."

"Wallllyyyyy," Cindy begged, "take us for a ride..."

Wally looked at me. "Told ya."

"Well what did you EXPECT?" Cindy said. "I got right seat!"

"Everybody gets a turn," Wally said. "But this thing burns a lot of gas, so let's not get crazy."

So that's the first flight. Wally in the left seat, Cindy in the right. Me and Stoney and Nikki and Johanna in the passenger seats.

Wally eyed the baby. "I won't get too high. This isn't pressurized and little Stoney's ears may hurt. If he cries, we abort the flight."

"Didn't think about that," Jo said.

Cindy paid close attention as Wally talked his way through the start-up with Cindy reading off the checklist. "Checklist plane, Cindy," he said. "When you step up to this size, the seat of your pants and a memory aren't going to cut it."

"Hai, sensei," Cindy said.

"Sure, little girl ... The manual's two hundred and fifty pages and before I sign you off on this thing, you're going to rattle off facts off the top of your head, sketch out systems..."

"Uh, Wally, we're two weeks from Doctor Cindy, you know..."

Wally laughed as we idled the engines. "I know it's Cindy, but she's gonna have to do for airplanes what she does for engineering. She's gonna be carrying HER little butt in this thing..." He continued the lesson. "You're MUCH bigger. Heavier. Inertia, girl. You got it. Lots more of it."

I saw her head bob, nodding. "Yessir."

"Who's steering?" Stoney asked.

"I am," Wally answered.

We taxied down the length of the runway. At the end, Cindy read off the checklist as Wally checked TWO engines. I know her mind's going at lightspeed in all this.

He kept talking. "Pay close attention to your engines. If something's not right, don't fly."

"Yessir."

"Seriously. You don't want engine failure on takeoff."

"Yessir."

"Okay, Cindy," he said. "You can't punch a brake and pivot on one wheel with this thing. You're liable to tear a gear off. Roll, steer, use an engine to help, a bit of brake ... This thing is used as a little airliner. It's time for you to be a redheaded airline pilot."

Her seat was pulled way up. I know those little feet are riding the pedals with Wally.

We lined up with the center of the runway.

"Center," he said. "You USE the whole thing. Now, when we push the throttles, pay attention to your engines. Feel that they're both pulling. And then watch your airspeed. This thing will fly at seventy-one knots, but you want to get past this white line. That's the minimum speed where you have enough rudder to handle a failed engine. If you're not there when an engine fails, you're gonna be a statistic."

I saw Stoney mouth "serious..." I nodded.

"Other than that, punkinhead," he said, using a nickname that makes her smile, "just have fun flying. Follow me through this one." He pushed the throttles forward. "Turbocharged. If you want some expensive equipment to last a long time, don't jerk it around."

Six hundred-plus horsepower pushed us back into our seats. Fifteen hundred feet down the runway, our wheels came off the ground.

"Hundred and nine knots," Wally said. "Use your trim. Give us four thousand feet." He held his hands up. "She's got it."

"Wowwww!" through the intercom. I could HEAR the grin.

"Take 'er around town once."

We made a loop of the area. Cindy pushed her seat back, relinquishing it to Nikki for a bit. Wally showed us two hundred knots of cruise speed, then it was MY turn.

"Don't be mean to me like you did Cindy," I laughed.

"You know what I'm talking about, Dan," he said. "Second engine just gets you to the scene of the crash if the first one fails. Seriously. Complex aircraft. Not Boeing 777 complex, but ... have you ever played with one of these?"