CHARLIE COMPANY by RON SKELTON

Author:RON SKELTON [SKELTON, RON]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-12-06T00:00:00+00:00

46

Monday, October 21, 1968

John met me for breakfast around seven o’clock. I asked for background information on Jake in order to understand what motivated him. I learned that he had not only sold John his plane when he closed his flight school, but Jake had also sold off a Cessna 180 and a Piper Cherokee, which he had taken out loans for to expand his business. I knew there was a cautionary tale there somewhere, but I chose to ignore it.

Jake was now working for a state contractor, dropping firefighters into areas consumed by wild fires. From the company’s De Havilland Beaver, he also directed resources where they were needed. I liked what I was learning about him and his pilot qualifications.

Callaway broke me out of a trance, saying, “Jake should be home. He was laid off after the fire season ended.”

“So, today let’s call and see how much he wants for the hangar. Set up a meeting for Friday, so I can meet him and hopefully, sign the lease. I just hope we aren’t too late.”

John smiled and said, “Yeah, don’t sweat it. This is meant to be, remember.”

I had my heart set on it now, much like when I was negotiating for the Majestic position. “Seriously, I’m willing to pay any reasonable amount.”

“Let’s go. Should be a little daylight peeking out by now. By the way, I liked it better when you were overly confident. I’m doing this for Angela. I won’t fail.”

Sam was putting jacks under a customer’s plane to exchange floats for skis. He had already pulled the Beaver out for us. I asked John to do the walkaround and said I’d be right out. Sam had his back to me, tightening bolts on the ski attachments when I walked up.

“What do you need, boss?” he said without turning around.

“Just wanted to thank you for your hard work around here. How are you handling things?”

“I’m fine . . . thanks for asking. A little down, maybe. I like to stay busy when I feel that coming on,” Sam said, finally turning toward me, anguish gripping his face.

“Tomorrow, it’s just you and me, buddy, the whole day. I want to help shoulder this load you’re carrying. Go rest if you need to. Save some work for John.”

“You better get going. It’ll be dark again before you know it. And thanks. I truly appreciate your concern.”

“We’ll talk later,” I said before turning and jogging out to the Beaver in my mukluks and parka.

The sky was a mixture of blue and yellow swirls. I jumped into the left seat, and John explained how to operate the retractable skis, now in the up position. At 7,500 feet, the view out the windscreen seemed like a different world. Everything on the ground was now a brilliant white. Five miles out of Fairbanks, the controller gave us the option of landing on a cleared runway or the snow-covered strip of land that paralleled the taxiway. John told the controller we’d take the runway.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.