I like to write about the funny stories in my life. But, life doesn't always give us humor to write about does it? This is about a flight I made two days before Thanksgiving, and how I almost made my destination. Jo Beth and I were hosting my family reunion on this particular year. My folks stopped by the airfield in Waycross on their way to my house in St. Marys. I was eager to show off my new plane, my first. It was red and yellow and I was showing them all the particulars and then I climbed in and fired her up. I made a short ground roll and pulled her up toward heaven. I didn't know how close I was to making that trip. I did a few maneuvers around the field, landed and sent my folks on to my home. I would now fly my plane to St. Marys, for the first time. I was only up in the air for a few stunts but I knew I needed to top off my fuel tank before I started that flight. I got excited when a friend wanted to make the flight part way with me in his plane. I didn't refuel, I wanted to, I needed too, but I didn't, mistake 1.
David and I took off in our two birds and flew side by side. We talked with each other by radio until my uncharged battery died. That was mistake number two in this flight. David talked with another pilot friend that was going to join him and fly back to Waycross. I didn't know about the other plane. David dropped down and flew to my right and landed in a small field. I thought he was in trouble so I turned and landed to check on him, mistake 3. I heard the third plane and watched him touch down not far from us. We were chatting when I saw big black clouds rolling our way. We said our goodbyes and climbed in our planes and took off. They headed west, I headed east but I had a big storm coming straight at me. I could see cars going straight into that wall of water and instantly disappear. I had to fly northeast to clear the storm. Why didn't I top my fuel tank off? I was worried as well I should be. I kept flying.
Just as I was approaching, Kingsland, I spotted a school just off to my right. Should I land there and call home? I looked at my fuel tank, it was low, but maybe I had enough gas to get me home. I only had fifteen miles to my runway. I kept flying. I was flying five hundred feet above Highway 40 and now I was within five miles of my runway. I should have been able to see the runway, but the sun had dropped below the horizon. I was cold and numb, there was no heater and no lights on my plane. I couldn't see my fuel level anymore, I was scared. The road was full of people trying to get home from a hard days work. The monotonous noise and vibration of my engine stopped. It was really quiet up there as I prepared my plane for an emergency landing. It was too dark now for any landing other than the road. I lined my plane up and continued my downward glide to earth.
With no lights and no working radio, I was going to surprise a whole lot of people. As I got within a hundred feet above the road I had seconds before touching down. I found an empty space between cars and maneuvered toward it when the sky lit up. The power lines that crossed the road were invisible to me until I hit them. A fireball raced across and through my plane. Steel cables and braces that held my wing and fuselage in place were melted like butter. One red hot broken cable caught the right side of my face and burned through the flesh. Other wires found my hands and knees burning through my gloves and jeans. Again, I was on fire as my crippled plane broke through the power lines sending wires across the highway and my left wing would strike the road first and crumble up like an accordion. My fuselage would be next as the nose plummeted to the asphalt slamming the left side of my face on the road before settling into a twisted piece of wreckage. I was still strapped in what was left of my cockpit. It was the worst day of my life! But in a twist of fate it had some great moments too.
As my plane had headed toward the ground I flew over a police car that captured my crash on camera. Behind the police car was an ambulance with full crew on board. To the side of the road was an African American Church where ladies were gathering for a prayer meeting. And of course all those cars stopped and no one hit my plane. The ladies from the church prayed as the EMT responders rushed to my plane. I was still burning from the wires and kicking and flailing my arms so they gave me a shot of morphine while I was still strapped in. My neck was in terrible pain but I had calmed down as the morphine took effect. They cut me out of the wreckage and placed me on a stretcher. A lady EMT was treating me when my cell phone rang. She answered it and when my daughter asked, what she was doing answering my phone, she handed the phone to the police officer next to me. He told her about my crash and that I was alive. Jo Beth was at the airport waiting for my overdue flight when she got the call.
I would be life flighted to Shands Hospital in Jacksonville. I had two cracked ribs, burns and cuts, severally damaged neck, and a whole lot of damaged pride followed by severe guilt over my stupidity. I would fly that route a thousand times in my mind saying why didn't you top off that tank. It would take years to overcome that crash or perhaps never. But I would fly again three weeks after the crash which really upset Jo Beth but not nearly as much as the plane I bought two months after the crash. My family all made it to my home for thanksgiving dinner and I made it home that day from the hospital to celebrate with them. After my recovery and many flights later my buddies would talk about the "Bird on a wire" and I was that Bird. I would fly for more than two thousand hours after the crash and own many airplanes. I never flew again without being mindful of a place to land just in case I couldn't reach my intended runway. The pain of this flight is over. I carry the scars on my face, hands, and knees and wear them proudly for they are my tattoos with a story. Thank you for flying with me. Let's fly again later! Now when did you make a mistake and have to pick yourself up? I'd like to hear about it!
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