Chapter 27: Hotlanta

"Would you care to ride up front?" Bill asked. "You can try left seat if you want, I'll read the check sheet to you." Bill opened the onboard stair and grabbed the 'preflight walk around.'

So Bill read and Art kicked, cranked, lifted and shook, pulled pins and removed air dams, stuck his finger in the wing tanks and drained a little fuel looking for water. He read the engine hours meters and scribbled the readings on his palm.

Bill walked along behind and kicked, cranked, lifted and shook, checked on pulled pins and removed air dams, stuck his finger in the wing tanks and drained a little fuel looking for water. He read the engine hours meters and scribbled the readings on his palm.

If something breaks at eighteen thousand feet it's damn hard to fix. He might be right seat this go-round but it was a real bitch to buy a new one of something they quit making thirty five years ago.

So, in military parlance, they 'kicked the tires and lit the fires' and got the flock outta there. Bill was actually pretty amazed he knew what each gauge and switch was named, but then, he'd never just dropped in the seat, buckled up and went for it. The checklist was important.

A guy walked out of the hangar with a fire extinguisher in hand and stood in front of the right side engine ... Art threw the right switches and the big radial began to turn over ... gas, spark and compression did their thing ... a puff of black smoke and the propellor made the change from a stick to a sword ... mag check. The man on the ground looked it over and thumbs up-ed it and sauntered over to the left engine.

The left side was quicker because the right side and it's electrical was running. Mag check and another thumbs up. He made a run around the wingtip, snatched the wheel chocks, stuffed them in the onboard stair and closed it and shut the door.

"I got a red light here," said Art.

Bill got out of his seat and checked the access hatch. He opened it and shut it again. "Green," shouted Art

Bill sat back down, buckled up and put on his headset. "It does that most often when it's shut from outside."

Art just shook his head.

With winds from the south, the tower sent them to the 18. Bill was switching back and forth between tower frequency and TBC (talk between crew) "They've been 'improving' the diagonal since we've been here. I can not wait until Sharpe Field is finished."

"Sharpe Field ... that's been abandoned for years."

"Megan bought the whole 1800 acres and she's turning it into a 'flight subdivision.' The runways are restored and she's been shipping old hangars from all over the US down there. It's going to be pretty. People from all over the country are buying homesites where the old barracks used to be."

"What about water and sewer?"

"Megan bought a company that makes a plastic that is forced into the old pipes and lines them ... they suck out the excess and run a polymer hardener behind. It's like new piping but a tenth of the price ... works with both sewage and water pipes."

"So?"

"When the government closed Sharpe Field they were in a major hurry. You know what the KKK South and black folks are like. The military didn't want any evidence of Negro competence around ... sweep it under the bed ... so they left all the plumbing in place ... even capped it off."