Dreams Take Flight by Jim Dalton Read Free Book Online

aloud.
    “Let’s do it.”
    Lucas began reading the checklist to Mike: “OK, starter selector is on the right, door lights out, got the manifold pressure reading. Ramp agent is giving me a thumbs-up on the right—let her crank on the right.”
    Following that command, Mike engaged the starter on the right engine and the mammoth-sized propeller began to turn. During that phase, Lucas monitored the turning propeller. “There’s one blade,” he said, “two, three, four, five, six, seven…twelve and ignition.”
    Shortly after Lucas called for ignition, the engine roared to life, with a heavy cloud of smoke billowing from the exhaust.
    “Mike, it’s yours for the left side.”
    After Mike went through a similar routine on the left side, Lucas announced: “Both are fired up and it looks like we’re about ready. I’ll finish the checklist and we can go. Booster pump and external power is off, cowl flaps open, starter arm normal, door warning lights are out. Checklist completed.”
    Mike said, in an authoritative voice, “OK, Lucas; let’s get this show on the road. Why don’t I take the leg to Dallas and you can bring her home?”
    “Sounds good,” responded Lucas.
    Lucas: “Ground control, this is Convair thirty-seven-thirteen-papa, IFR to Dallas at Gold Coast: ready to taxi with information bravo.”
    The ground controller responded by saying, “Convair three-seven-one-three-papa, taxi to runway three-zero left.”
    “Roger, three-zero left, one-three-papa,” responded Lucas.
    The Convair slowly pulled from its parking place and began its journey to runway three-zero left. Once out of the ramp area, the landing lights were turned off and the plane continued with a slow, lumbering pace between the dimly lit blue taxiway lights.
    While Mike and Lucas went through their routine, Heather sat in stunned silence, speechless as she watched two people bring a machine to life. They were about to take her into what appeared to be a boundless night. She now saw Mike and Lucas in a completely different light. She had seen them both as they moved about the lobby area, but never before in such a mesmerizing setting. Watching Mike and Lucas work together was breathtaking—each seemed to know what the other was going to do before he did it.
    Now Heather’s focus lingered on Lucas, hardly aware that Mike was even present. Heather realized that her feelings for Lucas were about to soar to new levels. It may have been Lucas’s mystique that originally captured her interest, but now Heather was about to witness this trim, good-looking guy perform magic as he took her into the waiting night sky.
    Despite Lucas being unhappy about Heather joining them, he didn’t feel any urge to worry her about the potential rough ride ahead, so he decided to discuss the weather as obscurely as possible while remaining able to navigate through or around the storms.
    “So, Mike,” he said. “Based on the latest radar summary, do you feel like we may need to go a little south of our course to Tulsa?”
    “Looked like it, but you know those cells are likely to move by the time we reach that area.”
    “You can count on it,” responded Lucas. “I saw in the logbook that the radar had been repaired—thank God for that!”
    Mike pulled the Convair onto the run-up pad just short of the runway and began the engine run-up phase of the checklist. Lucas, with checklist in hand, began to read and respond to portions of it.
    “Fuel, water on, and oil: check; flaps set; generators and inverters: check; radios: check; flight instruments: check; engine instruments—” Lucas glanced at the BMEP instrument and then quickly away.
    Oh my god! What now? Not wanting to call undue attention to his observation, he forced his eyes back to the checklist. Lucas still couldn’t believe his eyes—the jump seat was positioned so that the occupant’s legs straddled the rear component of the center console. I look at the BMEP instrument and I don’t see an