We left Homer this morning, flew out over the water for a ways, the pilot started to work more with the dials and then gave me a tense smile, turned the plane back toward Homer Air Airport. We landed at the edge of the runway and the smell of smoking tires, the result of braking hard, filled the cabin. We taxied over to the hanger and were told that we would be switching planes. Apparently, we had some malfunction up there and the pilot decided he could not make the flight.
I paused, reflected and got on the other plane. The pilot went into the building and another pilot took over the flight. This time we made it all the way to our destination.
Upon arriving at the clinic, I was infromed that the second pilot crashed a plane around 18 months ago, and they were surprised to see that he was back flying so much. He apparently left the flying business for awhile to regroup. Another Homer Air pilot had his plane malfunction at 5000 feet. He managed to safely land on a glacier, the plane flipped over and all walked away alive with scratches. He walked away from flying as well.
I must say that my nerve was tested when we were heading back to the airport. My nerves were tested when we had both another plane and pilot. I hear that winter is going to be fun, I think they're kidding around, and that we're coming into the time when the pilots refuse to fly on many days.
I'll keep you posted on all of this fun. The ground feels really good under your feet at times.
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