The Aviation Diaries

CHAPTER 2

Miss. Grace moved her fiery eyes from me to the front when Sally confirmed and Charles signaled us for a take off and moved aside.

She pressed the fuel mixture knob completely and advanced the throttle slowly. I won't deny I was impressed, however the take off is usually an obligation on the Captain. Miss. Grace seemed to have forgotten her status or she was too wrapped up in herself.

"If you've forgotten Miss. Grace, I'd like to remind you that you're-"

"RPM has increased and we're ready to move" conceitedly she continued with the proceedings of a take off without adding proper rudder.

In no time the plane started moving towards the left and Miss. Grace certainly didn't notice that we were going off the center-line.

"Miss. Grace-"

"Mr. Ford, if you can keep quiet-"

"Miss. Grace we're not on the centerline!!!" pushing her hands off the throttle, I advanced it slowly, adding proper rudder and turning the yoke into the wind to reduce the effects of the crosswinds outside.

Reaching an appropriate speed, the throttle was fully on and I could see the nose of the aircraft lifting from the ground. Maintaining the climb speed I pulled the yoke back and we had reached a safe height above the ground after a few minutes.

Miss. Grace intervened by returning the flaps and the landing gear back to neutral.

"Miss. Jennifer Grace, I'm the Captain of this flight. If you ever try to play with 200 lives behind us it won't be good. The repercussions of the stunt you've pulled today would not only effect you but will drag me too. While you're the junior, major blame will be on me." I snarled at her. She must've taken off smaller aircrafts with 30-50 passengers but this time it was a humongous aircraft.

"Mr. Harrison Ford if only you gave me a little more time to adjust the yoke I would've managed to get the plane on the center line. How could you think I would keep '189' lives in danger?" She snapped back. Her tone stung me when she corrected the number of passengers in the flight today. It wasn't my duty to calculate the number of passengers anyway but I couldn't take it for an unknown reason.

"You wanted to showcase your skills... you wanted people to appreciate you... it hurt your ego to see a lady take the charge in front of you. You are a self centered, narcissistic, male chauvinist!!" her voice raising in pitch and volume with each word she said to insult me with her false allegations.

"Why on earth would you take off when the captain is sitting next to you in all good health?? AND it isn't just me but the crew believes that a lady pilot is not capable enough of handling an aircraft as huge as this one." I could feel my veins throbbing on the sides of my forehead with the amount of frustration that filled in me.

"OHHH so now the crew thinks I can't handle this aircraft? well then it isn't just me, the crew believes that your body runs more on estrogen than testosterone seeing how graciously your mood swings from being a depressed soul to a mean retard! Also they believe you're scared of lady pilots because they might over power you and your skills ,hard work, passion might seem nothing when compared to them."

" In that case you should've joined a medical school! at least you'd be of some use to the human world-"

"hahahahaha..hahahha..hahaha." her voice that seemed soothing earlier was now piercing my tympanum. I could feel the drum rupture. she banged her hands on her laps with a hysterical laugh falling sideways.

I kept my eyes on the six pack to make sure we were flying at a desirable altitude above the artificial horizon.

"You must go back and rest up."

"you.......hahaha... you didn't deny the ....... estrogen..... in you" her face was red after the episode of cachinnation.

"Harry, coffee?" Candice knocked the door and popped in with two mugs of coffee. Seeing a human other than the retarded ones after 50 minutes seemed heavenly.

"Hey Candice" Miss. Grace smiled at her.

"Are you okay? You have tears." Candice asked worriedly.

"yeah yeah! Thank you so much." she answered, sipping from her coffee, after sobering up.

"Any weather reports so far?"

"The PIREP from the tower seems to be satisfactory. Doesn't seem like we'll face any turbulence." I replied moving my eyes from the controls to Candice.

"That's a relief." she sighed.

"How's it inside babe?" Miss. Grace turned her chair in my direction so Candice was to her left.

"The usual. Help light is shining bright every second seat. Kids won't stop crying..... etcetera" she exhaled out loud.

"It's your first journey together. How has it been so far?"excitement etched in every word that slipped of her mouth.

"So amazing! it has been so pleasant and wonderful that jumping off this aircraft seems more appealing" I answered with a serious tone. PS. those were my genuine feelings cum thoughts after the horrifying take off and past 50 minutes spent in this pit.

"Never expected a 'senior' pilot would so immaturely pass lame statements" Miss. Grace was getting on my nerves.

I couldn't leave the cockpit for her to handle. I couldn't ask her to leave me in here to handle the flight because she would never listen to me. why god? just why?

The next 10 hours went by smooth. Miss. Grace and I decided to cooperate this one flight and on reaching Toronto we were both going to make sure the authorities knew we didn't want to travel with the other person.

The last 30 minutes were again a nightmare when Miss. Grace interfered with the landing.

Once we got the clearance from the ATC, I reduced the speed by lowering the flaps and aimed for the right angle of descent. The numbers were visible on the horizon as the nose lowered. We were landing short when miss grace reduced the throttle hurriedly to show her capabilities. However, we landed long but safe.

I just wanted to leave this pit and reach the crew hotel as soon as possible.