Chapter 6

Day Six: Friday

I woke up the next day with my morning wood spooned against the soft curves of one of the most beautiful women I had ever met. I knew that I had to get moving as we had much we needed to accomplish and yet I had to fight the somnolence produced by the siren's call of Irene's beautiful body. With some effort I extricated myself from this most languorous position. I went through my morning ritual in the attached bathroom. As I stared at myself in the mirror the person looking back seemed to be more at peace than I felt. I finished in the bathroom and walked out towards the common area. On my way I glanced at Irene who had just awakened to discover I was no longer snuggled up to her.

I smiled at her but continued into the common area without speaking. I was surprised to see that both Julie and Kari were already up and that coffee was made. Someone had also made a dozen or so very large blueberry muffins that were stacked on a plate in the center of the table. Julie seemed to be in a serious mood as she stated, "I didn't hear much noise from your bedroom last night. I hope you didn't disappoint Irene again."

About that time Irene walked into the room. Not being a morning person she made her way straight to the coffee pot. I couldn't tell if Julie was being playful or if she was as serious as her demeanor suggested. Thinking about it I walked over to Irene and wrapped her in my arms and drew her close. She quivered and sat the coffee cup down on the counter. Kissing her neck, I looked over towards Julie and said, "Some people are civilized and discreet with their lovemaking. People can be passionate and loving without broadcasting their feelings to the neighborhood."

Looking into Irene's eyes and sensing that she had no idea what I was talking about I continued, "Julie was commenting on the lack of vocalization from our bedroom last night. She thought that I might have skimped on you and left you unsatisfied."

Irene smiled up at me and said, "Julie is a nosey so-and-so who just wanted a play-by-play so she can get herself off in the shower. All I am going to tell her about last night is that it was worth waiting for and that sometimes the most intimate moments have such intensity that they just can't be properly vocalized."

I grinned at Julie, who stuck out her tongue in our direction. That started a spirited three way conversation between the girls. I smiled as I knew that any contest between them would only make things better for me. The main subject seemed to be in whether the rotation for tonight would follow the same order or whether they should do rock, paper and scissors every three days. I tried to follow the banter back and forth but soon gave up and shifted my attention toward a still warm muffin that I liberally coated with melted butter. No more cholesterol screenings for me.

Towards the end of the free play I was able to shoehorn in a few words. I asked the women whether they had really ever considered Kari's idea of one large bed. As soon as the words left my mouth the conversation changed direction. Julie and Irene thought Kari had been joking when she suggested the large bed. The girls banter slowed as they realized that with the two queen beds in opposite fairly small bedrooms there was no practical way at the moment for us to sleep together. They discussed the shower at the old barracks and the advisability of seeking better and more permanent quarters. Listening to the discussion I realized that the commodore's quarters on the base were much more lavish than the BOQ. I hadn't thought of living there as the large house was fairly isolated and it wasn't in an area we had visited on any of our inspections. I decided to hold off on mentioning the idea to the girls so we could concentrate on the tasks at hand without the distraction of another move.

Soon the girls laid the bed to rest and also decided to keep the same order. Then they began to tease me about whether I would lock my door for the first night. Kari was pretty upset until she realized Julie was joking. I told her it really didn't matter as that first night had been Irene's anyway and so if they were going in the same order then it was Irene's night tonight and last night was just a make-up night. I should never have said that because from the exchange that followed between Irene and Kari you would have thought they were squabbling over a winning lottery ticket. It passed the time during our long breakfast and ended with smiles all around and me having a passing assurance that I was again sleeping with Kari tonight.

As we finished breakfast we decided to watch the tape on the military shotgun and start the morning at the firing range. The military model, pump action, 12 gauge shotgun seemed quite a weapon for close-in fighting. Yet I feared that close-in fighting was too unpredictable. The recoil dampener on the weapon was supposed to reduce the kick so that it could be fired as fast as the trigger could be pulled by an average soldier. The demonstration on the tape left me feeling the soldier firing the weapon took the next few days off to nurse his bruises. Still, we each would fire at least a few rounds and then hope that we never had to use the things. My favorite weapon was something like a 500 pound bomb that could be dropped from an altitude where you didn't even have to see your enemy.

We went to the range and my fears were justified. Although the girls tried their damnedest the shotgun had too much kick for them to use comfortably. The military shotgun was just too much weapon for a small person to handle with any confidence. The good thing was that just about anyone can hit a close-in target the first time just by pointing and shooting the weapon. The bad thing is that close in targets mean that something has gone wrong with your security. We ended up using the range time to help Irene and Kari become well qualified with the M16. We spent most of the morning at the range and it was very productive. I felt that the girls had the skills to take care of themselves if they were ever attacked. I was hopeful that the experience from earlier in the week where Kari's family was attacked and killed would serve as a reminder that the ultimate purpose of the weapons was our survival.

It was still early and I was itching to get in the air and see what the area surrounding the base looked like in the aftermath. From the moans that morning when I had suggested we go to the range first, I knew that everyone else felt the same way. On the way to the flight line in the MCP I reinforced my flight plan and what we hoped to accomplish. I would take off alone and circle the field and land to make sure that the plane worked properly. I would stay over the base as much as possible on that first flight. After that, if all went well, I would take each of them on a quick familiarization flight. These flights would have a wider circle and give each of them a chance to become familiar with the plane. The flights would also serve as a preliminary scouting trip of the local area.

Getting suited for flight in a military aircraft can take a while. The military has a full uniform for pilots to wear but the essential equipment was a torso harness and flight helmet. The seat of the aircraft doesn't have a complete seat belt or shoulder harness because the straps in the aircraft are made to mate into the appropriate buckles and straps on the torso harness. The harness comes in ten or twelve sizes and is adjustable within those size limits. We had to find harnesses that fit each of us and I knew Kari would be the real problem because she was so small. The military supply system only provided in stock items to fit those that were within a certain size range. This is because the cockpits of most military aircraft and the corresponding flight clothing were originally fabricated to fit 21 year old males within a fairly wide range of body sizes. This 'fit' did not anticipate women becoming pilots. The military has used many things to adjust for this but it is impossible to completely redesign an aircraft cockpit once the aircraft is off the drawing boards. The Navy made allowances for women's clothing and used things like pedal blocks and extra large seat cushions to adapt the planes. Kari, I knew, would be off the bottom of the size chart even for women aviators and this would make it hard to find her flight clothing.

I led the girls to the flight equipment room and we began a trial and error fitting from the harnesses available. I was easily fit and we quickly found harnesses for both Julie and Irene that were excellent fits. I didn't think we had a prayer of finding something for Kari and was expecting to have to modify one when she came across one that fit her perfectly. Whoever had worn the harness that Kari found had to be the smallest Naval Aviator I had heard of. I noticed the extended straps on the lap of the harness she had found and asked Kari to show me where she had found it. She pointed to a bin near the corner of the small room. I dug around in the bin where she found the tiny harness looking for something else and smiled when I found it. It was an oversized seat cushion, made to ride atop the regular cushion to give the person a boost to see out over the console. I knew that we would find a set of pedal blocks in maintenance control for this particular pilot that enabled her to reach the pedals of the aircraft.

We then searched the shop for flight helmets. The three sizes of helmets can be made to fit almost any head with various adjustments of the sizing pads. Locating and fitting the helmets took less time than finding the right harnesses, and within a half-hour we were all set to go. We trooped out to the flight line feeling like real aviators even if we didn't especially look that way. Normally we would have worn flight suits but I felt that the comfort of our own clothes would more than make up for the loss of fire protection from the flight suits. The helmets that we found had boom microphones that attached in place of the oxygen mask fittings that most Naval Aviators wore. These boom microphones were normally used for low level flights for training aircraft.

I then gave each of the women a familiarization tour of the aircraft, first showing them what was essential to check before each flight. The first thing checked was the aircraft logbook, but we had already done that so we went straight to the aircraft and walked through each step required before a flight. I then stood on the wing as I strapped each of them into the forward most of the tandem seats in the aircraft and pointed out what they were not to touch. I showed them how to attach the torso harness straps to the seat pan and parachute and how to adjust the straps in the aircraft. I demonstrated on one of the aircraft that had serious mechanical problems and probably never would fly again how to unlock the seat pan and parachute, how to jettison the canopy and which side to go out of the canopy in an emergency. I told them if we needed to bail out I would jettison the canopy and roll the aircraft to dump us out. All they would do is unlock their seat pan and parachute before I rolled the aircraft and then push away from the aircraft with their feet while the aircraft was inverted.

I knew the training session was short but I also knew that the chance of having an in-flight emergency we could bail out of was very slim. The most common in-flight emergencies required a quick landing and most of the rest resulted in a quick crash. A hard fact of life was that there were very few aviators who had successfully bailed out of this particular model aircraft. I kept that information to myself.

By the time we went through all of that we had used up most of the morning and it was near lunch time. Even though I was anxious to get in the air, I suggested we get a bite to eat and begin the flights in the afternoon. The girls were nervous and I wasn't really sure whether Irene or Julie really even wanted to go flying. Kari was excited and seemed as anxious as I to get in the air. I thought I would take Kari first and then ask which of the other two would like to go next. When I said something about Kari being first up after lunch, Irene replied, "I guess that means your taking us up in bedroom order."

Everyone laughed and I said, "It's not really bedroom order, it's just that it seems to me that Kari has been the one most excited about flying, probably because she has had some flight training. I know both of you probably want to go up just as much. If you want you can do rock, paper and scissors to see if it comes out any different." The consensus was that they would let me chose the order they would fly.

We ended up reviewing procedures during lunch. The MCP had capabilities to contract the aircraft and act as a ground control. The unit had been designed to be used as a control center in case of an air search for a downed pilot. We would also each carry a military survival radio as back up communications. These were stowed in a pocket in the torso harness. I discussed the wig-wag aircraft signals just in case those primary and back-up communications failed. Wig-wag signals are communications given by rapidly moving an aircrafts wings up and down to signal instructions to someone on the ground. These are used when there are no other means of communication available. I knew all of this was probably a bit much but it would keep everything on a professional level. Something I hoped would help allay some of the girls' fears.

After lunch we took the security truck and made a drive across the taxi ways on the route the aircraft would be following onto the runway. Then we drove up and down the runway several times looking for debris blown onto the runway that might obstruct take-off. Finally we drove back to the hangar and parked the security truck next to the MCP. Since Kari was to be the first to fly with me she would stay in the MCP with Irene and monitor my first flight on the radio. That way Irene would be able to monitor the radio when Kari flew with me on the second flight.

I donned my torso harness and grabbed my helmet. Julie and I then made our way from the MCP towards the aircraft. As we walked along I noticed that Julie was acting a bit nervous for the first time since I had met her. She helped me prepare the plane, showing she remembered much of what we did this morning and stood back next to the emergency fire extinguisher as we got the aircraft started. I was a bit concerned that the battery in the aircraft might not have enough juice to start the engine wind milling and that we might have to use the auxiliary power cart but the engine caught the first time. Julie pulled the chocks and I taxied down the ramp towards the runway.

Flying is as much an art as a science. You can know every number, have every gage exactly where it is supposed to be and still have problems. In the early days of flying they expressed this art as 'flying by the seat of your pants' but no matter what it is called each pilot has to develop a feel for each aircraft. My many hundreds of flights and over 2,000 hours flying in this model aircraft came flooding back to me as I taxied and it was suddenly as if my last flight was only yesterday. My instincts took over and I nervously checked for traffic as I departed the taxi area even though my mind knew that I was the only aircraft operating. It was a wonderful feeling being in this cockpit again. I was quiet as we had decided not to use the radio unless there was an emergency.

As I glided down the runway everything looked normal. Almost as soon as the wheels cleared the deck I rotated the landing gear. I could feel the ride smooth out as the wheels cycled up into the belly of the plane. I looked outside as the pine forest at the end of the runway passed beneath the aircraft. I sharply banked the aircraft to the left as I passed over the outer marker. As this was to be a short flight I leveled off at 750 feet and banked left again running over the top of the front gate and past the south end of the field. It was eerie as I saw no signs of any other movements on the ground.

I put the aircraft through a hard series of banks and rolls as I used to do on aircraft check rides. Afterwards as I circled the south end of the base and the housing developments in those areas I could see a group of dogs that appeared to be fighting over something in the streets below but they were soon past and I was again banking left. I banked left making the last turn I need and lined up for my approach. I realized that it had been a very different type of flight because I had not communicated with the ground. I touched down exactly at the point on the runway I had decided on and quickly taxied back to the flight line where Kari, Irene and Julie were waiting in front of the MCP. I gave them a thumbs-up as I taxied into position.

Kari was already in her torso harness and with the prop still turning climbed up on the wing and into the front cockpit. She brought her seat cushion and as soon as she was seated, Julie climbed up on the wing. She began assisting Kari almost as if she were a professional plane captain. As soon as Kari was properly strapped in, Julie hopped off the wing and stood clear, I throttled up the engine and we began to taxi. I spoke into the microphone which was set to transmit only to the other occupant of the aircraft. I said, "Ready for your flight?"

Kari replied, "I've been hoping to do this since we first got here."

I said, "Good, it's a beautiful day for flying. I'm going to go about five miles up towards the Alabama line and then we'll circle back to the left. Most of the area north of us is state forests and farmland. I don't expect to see anything but keep your eyes open."

Again as I rolled down the runway it all came back to me in a rush. I was again flying with someone in the front seat. It was almost as if it was another familiarization flight with another student. The difference was that as I lifted off I didn't go into that familiar pattern and wasn't repeating the litany that I would normally give to those students. I kept my comments to the minimum as I wanted Kari to enjoy the solitude of the flight, much as I had earlier. I looked out the cockpit and saw nothing but pine forest below. As we neared the Alabama state line I could see areas of farmland start to appear interspersed with large areas of forest. I banked the plane to the left again and we continued west for a couple of miles, widening the pattern that I had flown earlier. At the county line I turned 90 degrees and headed south. This was an area of small farms and fields which would normally show some activity. I could still see some cows grazing in fallow fields but nothing else was moving.

It was a most unnatural world below us. On the roadways we crossed we saw the same small wrecks with cars off the road. There was a fire still smoldering in an area directly to the west of the base. The fire had been started by a large three car wreck at a place where the road went through a small forested area. I thought we were lucky that this was the only fire of this type we had seen. We circled the area and I thought the now smoldering fire would most likely burn itself out as the forested area was surrounded by roadways and fields damp from seasonal rains. We headed back south with the fire being the most noteworthy event that we spotted. I banked toward the east and passed over the northern edge of Milton without seeing any signs of life other than stray dogs and birds.

When I could see the Point Baker water tower off my starboard wing I began a gently sweeping turn to the north still hoping to see some signs of life from the world below. This area that had been my home for my most of my adult life was now barren and lifeless. As I spotted the empty homes of those I had known, melancholy began to settle over me. Finally I shrugged my shoulders as if to remove an uncomfortable burden and began my preparations for the landing ahead. I pointed out the outer marker of the base to Kari and told her that we were on final approach. She was quiet and I knew that she was thinking as I was that we seemed to be all alone in the world. We touched down without incident and taxied back to the MCP. This time I shut down the engine completely after we landed.

Julie was holding the chocks and Irene was standing next to a fire extinguisher as the propeller wound down. Finally Julie chocked the aircraft and Kati and I both exited the cockpit. Irene and Julie seemed puzzled that I had cut the engine to the aircraft. I entered the MCP and pulled a diet coke from the small refrigerator. I sat down without saying anything, thinking about the enormity of what I had just witnessed. Up until that flight I had harbored some hope that there were others like us, that the collapse was somehow overblown in my imagination and that there was some normalcy in isolated pockets below. Maybe there still would be but the flight had proven that if that was the case those isolated pockets were much more secluded than I had hoped.

Kari was the first to speak when she softly said, "There was nothing down there. We saw a fire and nobody was fighting it. We saw a lot more cars that had wrecked but no bodies. We saw dogs and birds and a lot of emptiness. It was almost spooky."

Irene asked, "Where did you go? We lost sight of you to the north and then didn't see you again until you started landing from the south."

Julie added, "I think we need to have some communications. I was beginning to get worried about you. I know you were only gone for an hour but it seemed like hours to us. If you crashed we would have no idea where. I began to wonder what would happen to us if something happened to you."

Irene nodded in support of Julie. I took the area map that was under Plexiglas on the desktop and began marking off our flight in red grease pencil. I took a black grease pencil and marked my earlier flight. I explained the pattern and both Kari and I talked about what we had seen at each point in the flight. I used a green grease pencil to mark where I planned to fly the next flight and put 'X' marks at four points on the loops. Next to the first 'X' mark, at the point that I turned right to head, east I put 'Point 1". I repeated that with points 2, 3 and 4 as I changed direction on each leg. I explained that this would keep radio communications short and yet give them an idea where we would be. I explained how long each leg of the flight should be and that they would know by timing the flight after each transmission approximately where we were. Everyone seemed to understand what I had done and agreed that this would help those waiting feel that they were not as isolated during the flight. I also told them that if we saw something on a particular leg of the flight and decided to investigate we would let them know by saying "Investigating item of interest between points 1 and 2' as an example.

Irene was my observer on the third flight. We would take off again to the north and almost immediately turn west where we would fly deep into neighboring Escambia County, Florida. Our flight would end up flying across the less populated northern part of the county. We would then turn east until we were exactly south of the base and then turn north to fly straight in for a landing.

The flight began uneventfully and almost immediately the normally quiet Irene started a running commentary. She pointed out each road we passed over and any animals that she saw. We saw nothing out of the ordinary. There did seem to be several packs of dogs running loose in what had been residential neighborhoods similar to the group I saw on my first solo flight. We saw no fires and were disappointed that we saw no people or evidence of recent habitation. She really enjoyed the flight and as we were approaching the runway from the south asked me if I thought it would be possible for her to learn to fly. I responded that it would require a lot of study but that it was certainly possible. Irene even enjoyed reporting the legs on the radio. I could actually feel the excitement in her voice as she called out 'Approaching Point 1' and I know she had to restrain herself from saying anything further. We laughed and joked during the flight and when we saw the second pack of dogs where a large male dog seemed to be actively rutting with a smaller female she remarked, "Damn that big brute has a harem larger than yours."

I couldn't help but smile when the smaller female turned and nipped the larger dog. I then said, "Yeah, and I see at least one of the females treats him the same way you guys treat me. Did you see her let him know who was in charge?"

Irene snickered and said, "Aw, well he obviously wasn't doing something right. I think you have it pretty damn good. You get some every night and we poor girls only get serviced every three days, provided you don't lock us out."

I couldn't argue with her and didn't try. I just said, "I agree that I'm a damn lucky guy."

The rest of the flight was uneventful and we landed with no problems. This time I taxied over and parked next to the fuel truck. We shut the aircraft down and used a pair of nearby chocks to secure the plane's wheels. Then we used a grounding wire from the fuel truck to ground the plane to one of the static discharge grounding points built into the flight line. Finally we refueled the aircraft, rather I refueled it as Irene observed and learned what to do. After the fueling we walked over to the MCP rather than restart the plane just to taxi it over there. We briefed Kari and Julie on what we had found and set up the final flight of the day on the Plexiglas. This time I planned to go to the east into the state forest and farmlands. As this would be the least populous area we would search I was really not expecting to see any signs of life.

Julie and I took off in late afternoon and again to the north. As we reached cruising altitude we turned east for the first time and headed out over forested land at the southern tip of the Blackwater River State Forest. This area consisted of small farms interspersed with pine forests. Cutting the huge first growth pine trees had been the underpinnings of the area's economy for almost three hundred years between 1600 and 1900. The trees we saw below us were second or third generation Longleaf Pines. Blackwater River State Forest, along with neighboring Conecuh National Forest and nearby Eglin Air Force Base, held the largest remaining stands of Longleaf Pine trees in the world. In the area that we were flying the forest was interspersed with small farms that were homesteads that had not sold out when the state was purchasing land for the forest.

We continued flying east for some time. I told Julie that we were just about to turn south as we had reached the point on the map where I had placed Point 1. I just started banking the aircraft when she said, "Wait a minute, I think I see something up ahead."

Rather than continue the turn I banked in the opposite direction to remain close to our old heading. I could hear Julie's excitement rise as she said, "Up ahead. There's smoke."

I was disappointed as I had seen smoke twice earlier and both times had been fires that had been burning since the day of the collapse but I flew ahead to investigate. The fire was smaller than the earlier fires and it was most likely spontaneous combustion in the matted needles of the pine trees on the forest floor. Just as I was thinking that, Julie almost shouted from the front seat, "Steve, there's smoke coming from the chimney of that cabin. There are people down there."

She was pointing to a small home that looked to be a farm house. It was in a small cleared area of the forest with fields off to the south. There were also a barn and several outbuildings. In an even more excited voice Julie practically shouted, "Steve, I count five people. It looks like we've found a family."

Of course by the time she said it I could see them. I dropped down and waved my wings at them. We hadn't brought one of the CB radios packaged in Styrofoam to drop to them as this was just supposed to be just a familiarization flight. They waved and were jumping up and down as we flew back and forth across their clearing. There appeared to be a man and two women and two younger children. I could tell by the way they were moving around that they were happy to see us.

I thought of something as Julie was gazing longingly out the window at the other people that proved we were not alone in the world. "Take your notepad and write a note telling them we have to return to base but will be back and drop them a radio later on this afternoon."

She quickly wrote the note and then asked, "Now what do I do with it?"

I replied, "Wrap it around something heavy. We'll drop it to them so they will understand we're coming back."

Julie looked around and then said, "I don't have anything heavy. What can I use?"

I thought and then replied, "Take the battery out of your survival radio and use it. It should be plenty heavy enough."

She hurried to do what I suggested and then asked, "Okay, what do I do next?"

I said, "Wait until I slow down and open the canopy. I want you to throw the battery behind the wing. Try not to hit the tail or the aircraft."

Julie did as I asked and I could see the white object plummeting to the ground. Just before it hit the paper came loose. I could see one of the children run over and grab the paper and hold it over his head. He walked it back to the adults and as they read it they waved to us to let us know they understood. I circled one more time and headed back to the base. I told Julie to call the base and tell them, 'Five people found slightly beyond Point 1 ... Returning to base ... Have CB radio ready."