Read Online A New World: Chaos by John O'Brien - Free Book Online
Authors: John O'Brien
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side. He reaches inside and lifts the seat forward. I am curious as to what he will do next. Without hesitation, he climbs into the back pulling the seat back once he is there. Good, I raised him right . Michelle then climbs in, closes the door, and buckles herself in.
With all of us buckled in and Michelle’s bags situated to make room for Robert, we leave. When we arrived, I contemplated leaving the Jeep running to enable a quick exit but wanted to be able to hear any noises. Nothing except the occasional sound of a bird greeted us during our entire stay.
“Time check,” I say looking in the rear view at Robert.
“Ten to two,” he responds.
I don’t wear a watch except when I am running so I am forever asking Robert. I usually use my phone for the time but am going to have to rectify that very soon. As a matter of fact, I might as well do it now. There is this one watch I have wanted for quite a while but didn’t want to spend the money. Plus, it has a very useful aspect to it that comes to mind right now. It has a flight calculator on it. I wore a similar one many years ago in the Air Force and found it to be a great tool many times when flying. It even helped save my bacon once. And I had a lot of bacon to save back then.
I was an instructor pilot and we were flying to Colorado Springs . Just a bunch of other instructors who were in my class and doing this as kind of a reunion flight and get together. The plan was to fly there, get skis and passes from MWR, cars from the motor pool, and go skiing up at Breckenridge. Our current wing DO (Director of Operations) was in my class and therefore along with us. It was actually his idea to do this so we had no trouble getting the aircraft and didn’t foresee any problems with the motor pool upon arrival. It was nice having a full bird colonel along with us. There were ten aircraft in total so we divided up into (2) four-ship formations and (1) two ship. I was only one of two Americans; the rest were German pilots. I think I was the lowest ranking as well.
So, off we went, stopping at Amarillo, Texas for gas before heading on. I was the lead for our 4-ship at that point. It was a gorgeous day and we landed at Colorado Springs without incident. The skiing was great as well except for the time I found myself on a double black diamond slope. Yeah, that was the last time I let the Germans ‘guide’ me up a lift. They just powered down the slope: the term slope being a relative term. I am pretty sure skiing is most effective if there is some sort of slope involved. This ‘slope’ looked like it actually angled back in towards the mountain in places and the moguls looked like Volkswagens were parked under the snow and glued to the side of the mountain.
The German’s just tipped their skis over and performed some sort of ballet through the moguls and down the slope. I couldn’t very well cry mommy and slide down on my ass so I tipped my skis down as well. That was a freaking nightmare. I arrived at the bottom checking myself over because I was pretty sure I had lost an arm, a leg, both kidneys, and expected my intestines to be trailing behind me along with most of my gear.
Our DO pulled up next to me. “You ski pretty well for an American,” he said and off he went.
I looked quizzically after him. I didn’t know if he was joking or what because I must have looked like a one-legged goat doing an interpretive dance while falling down a cliff. I remember only touching snow like three times as I ricocheted my way down and looked up at the slope expecting to see a yellow trail marking my route down. “That’ll never happen again,” I remember telling myself as I pushed off to catch up.
Well, that was Saturday and we met at base ops Sunday morning for the trip home. It was overcast with clouds around the mid altitudes. So, a little weather on the
With all of us buckled in and Michelle’s bags situated to make room for Robert, we leave. When we arrived, I contemplated leaving the Jeep running to enable a quick exit but wanted to be able to hear any noises. Nothing except the occasional sound of a bird greeted us during our entire stay.
“Time check,” I say looking in the rear view at Robert.
“Ten to two,” he responds.
I don’t wear a watch except when I am running so I am forever asking Robert. I usually use my phone for the time but am going to have to rectify that very soon. As a matter of fact, I might as well do it now. There is this one watch I have wanted for quite a while but didn’t want to spend the money. Plus, it has a very useful aspect to it that comes to mind right now. It has a flight calculator on it. I wore a similar one many years ago in the Air Force and found it to be a great tool many times when flying. It even helped save my bacon once. And I had a lot of bacon to save back then.
I was an instructor pilot and we were flying to Colorado Springs . Just a bunch of other instructors who were in my class and doing this as kind of a reunion flight and get together. The plan was to fly there, get skis and passes from MWR, cars from the motor pool, and go skiing up at Breckenridge. Our current wing DO (Director of Operations) was in my class and therefore along with us. It was actually his idea to do this so we had no trouble getting the aircraft and didn’t foresee any problems with the motor pool upon arrival. It was nice having a full bird colonel along with us. There were ten aircraft in total so we divided up into (2) four-ship formations and (1) two ship. I was only one of two Americans; the rest were German pilots. I think I was the lowest ranking as well.
So, off we went, stopping at Amarillo, Texas for gas before heading on. I was the lead for our 4-ship at that point. It was a gorgeous day and we landed at Colorado Springs without incident. The skiing was great as well except for the time I found myself on a double black diamond slope. Yeah, that was the last time I let the Germans ‘guide’ me up a lift. They just powered down the slope: the term slope being a relative term. I am pretty sure skiing is most effective if there is some sort of slope involved. This ‘slope’ looked like it actually angled back in towards the mountain in places and the moguls looked like Volkswagens were parked under the snow and glued to the side of the mountain.
The German’s just tipped their skis over and performed some sort of ballet through the moguls and down the slope. I couldn’t very well cry mommy and slide down on my ass so I tipped my skis down as well. That was a freaking nightmare. I arrived at the bottom checking myself over because I was pretty sure I had lost an arm, a leg, both kidneys, and expected my intestines to be trailing behind me along with most of my gear.
Our DO pulled up next to me. “You ski pretty well for an American,” he said and off he went.
I looked quizzically after him. I didn’t know if he was joking or what because I must have looked like a one-legged goat doing an interpretive dance while falling down a cliff. I remember only touching snow like three times as I ricocheted my way down and looked up at the slope expecting to see a yellow trail marking my route down. “That’ll never happen again,” I remember telling myself as I pushed off to catch up.
Well, that was Saturday and we met at base ops Sunday morning for the trip home. It was overcast with clouds around the mid altitudes. So, a little weather on the
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