Sunday, October 28, 2012

Sunday, October 28, 2012

The alarm goes off early around 6:00am.  We jump out of bed and prepare for the day ahead.  Surprisingly, Leroy is already waiting for us before 6:30.  We hurry and pack up ready to head to the airport.  The woman at the airport had told us yesterday that the airport wouldn’t open until 7:00 AM.  We beat her to the airport but she did let us slide in a few minutes early.

Dad reviews his flight plan and makes some calls before we took off.  We were finally in the air by 8:00 AM.  It was a little cloudy in the sky but overall a pleasant flight, especially since we were tailing Hurricane Sandy.

We landed in Ft. Lauderdale around 11:00 AM.  We made our way towards customs and were cleared fairly quickly, a nice surprise from our trip before.  The airport staff was pleasant and offered us all cold water bottles.  We rested a little while in the pilots lounge and Dad updated his flight plan, while we waited for the airport to finish fueling the plane. 

We checked the weather while we were there.  Dad and Brad had a discussion about where we would end up having to land.  It seemed Sandy was loitering close to our area, and may or may not still be there when we were due to arrive.  Dad talked about possibly landing further inland in Shenandoah or Roanoke.  Brad was hoping for the possibility of landing in Emporia, only about an hour drive home.

We were back in the sky in just over an hour, still unsure of where we would end up.  Another pleasant smooth flight, it was hard to believe there was a hurricane nearby.  We landed in Brunswick, Georgia a little after 3:00PM.  We asked the airport to fill the plane up and we borrowed the courtesy car to get some lunch.  We decided to check out the barbeque restaurant that we had heard so much about.  Wasting as little time as possible, we took off by 4:20PM.

Once back in the sky, the first thing I noticed was the increase of clouds.  The first thing Dad noticed, however, was that the fuel gauge was not pointing to full.  We had gotten a little fuel but not enough to make it home.  Thinking quickly, we were able to fly for an hour before landing in Charleston, South Carolina.  We were only on land long enough to fill up and in less then half an hour we were back in the air.  Another thing I noticed while we were there was how much colder it was.  We had gotten use to the hot temperature in the islands, and I was glad my sweat pants were in reach to pull over my shorts.

Once again I noticed how increasingly the clouds around us were growing.  We were definitely approaching hurricane Sandy.  Although completely confident in Dad’s flying abilities, I couldn’t help but wonder how terrified Mom would be right now.  Looking out the window, there was barely any lapse of cloud underneath us.  It almost looked like sand or water with the lack of landscape.  It seemed strange that there was barely any turbulence.  In fact, I dozed off for a few hours enjoying the melody of the motor’s hum. 

Yanked from my siesta abruptly, I was very confused by my surroundings.  Unsure of where we were or what time it was, the first thing that came to my attention was the rough ride I was on.  Outside it was dark, rainy, and very cloudy.  I heard Dad communicating with someone from the tower on the radio.  I could feel the different angles the plane was being tossed into, while Dad fought to keep it under control.  There was no visual to speak of that I could see and I have to admit I began to worry.  It seemed that we had finally come head on to Hurricane Sandy.

Dad was definitely struggling to find a runway to land on.  I hoped that the view from the pilot’s seat was better then mine, or lack there of.  I listened to the man on the radio to keep my spirits up.  I was glad that it was only dad and the tower communicating and that there was no one else in the nearby air space.  I don’t think we could have seen any other aircraft if they were there.  Luckily, only my father was crazy enough to brave the weather.

The closer to ground we approached, we may have been able to see more, but the flight grew rockier and rockier.  In my head, I could hear the ear piercing screams my mom would be making as if she were in the seat next to me.  Trying my best not to overreact, I remembered that my dad would never risk our lives.  Still dazed from my sudden return to consciousness, I had not completely recovered.

The angle of the plane to the runway had me convinced that we would lose a wheel or worse when we hit pavement.  I was pleasantly surprised that the rough jolt of the land was not nearly as powerful as I had anticipated.  Don’t get me wrong, it was still hard, just not wheel fall-off, plane crash, fly out of your seat through the window hard.  Mom probably would have disagreed though.  Lucky for all of us, she wasn’t there.

Finally safely on the ground, I got the skinny.  It was just after 8:00 in the evening, and we had landed in Raleigh, North Carolina.  The man in the tower had filled the guys in that the further north we would have gone, the worse the weather conditions would have become.

Brad got to work right away on renting us a car.  We made plans to find the closest hotel and make our way home in the morning.  We all made calls to our loved ones to let everyone know that we had safely landed and what are plans were.  We then piled up in the rental and headed out to look for somewhere to eat.  We settled on a sports bar and ordered a bottle of wine.

I brought up the subject of the drive home.  Half-joking I made the comment that I was surprised that the men didn’t want to push the trek through and finish the 3 hour drive to make it to Virginia Beach that night; especially since before Brad had seemed to be in a hurry to make it home.  That was all it took. 

The renewed energy spread like wildfire through the group and before I knew it, I was behind the wheel taking the first shift on our continuing journey.  Me and my big mouth…  I really didn’t mind, I must admit, after all I had taken a nice power nap earlier.  The trip was actually pleasant compared to the last few minutes of the plane ride.  It felt good to be on land and safe again.

By the time we pulled into the driveway, it was past 1:00 in the morning.  We made it!  The adventure comes to an end and I was sad to see it go.  We survived flying over the ocean and into a hurricane.  We even did some good along the way.  Next time, we will probably fly commercially.  The overall experience, I must say, was fantastic!

Until Next time…