ATHENA'S DAUGHTERS: Millie

“See anything yet?” Sara knew she should be worried when she was slammed back in her seat by another round of tumultuous air. She forced herself to remain focused. The worry could come after she landed safely.

“Negative.” Blocker’s voice was calm, but the tightness of his grip on the yoke when he keyed the mic coupled with the muscles straining on his neck revealed he was seriously on edge.

The discordant cadence like of thousands of tiny drums playing out of synch blasted their ears as a wall of rain hit the windshield.

“Use the wipers if you need to,” Sara yelled over the cacophony.

“Will that help?” Blocker sounded hopeful.

“Probably not. But it might make you feel better.”

Come on, come on, where is the runway? Sara stared at the altimeter.

“Five hundred,” the plane’s automated female voice sounded.

Sara snuck a peek over the high dash of the plane but couldn’t see anything beyond the driving rain. Another gust slammed into them.

“You don’t actually have to see the runway,” Sara said.

The plane rolled to her left, and Sara righted the C-12 while adding a burst of power to keep their speed up. “Just the runway environment, like the approach lights.”

“Copy,” Blocker replied.

The altimeter scrolled through three hundred feet and Sara felt a knot of anxiety form in her chest. This was cutting it far closer than she liked in a C-12. Times like this, she longed to be back in a helo with the ability to slow way down and “snoop and poop” for the runway environment when she was flying in the goo. On top of all that, it was Friday night after a long week, she was exhausted, hungry, had to pee, and she just wanted to go home to her dog.

Another shot of green lightning rocked them to the left so far off course it almost forced a go-around.

Sara had to use both hands to wrestle the plane back on course, and fought against her dancing rudder pedals as the wind whipped around the plane. Just as the tower controller came on to instruct them to cancel the approach, Blocker pointed excitedly below and to the left.

“Field in sight!”

Approach lights! Adjusting her course, Sara let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding, and lined up the aircraft with the lights she knew would lead her like breadcrumbs to the field.

Tower cleared them to land, and the clouds broke. There, right before them, was the most beautiful sight Sara had seen all day. Two large, white runway numbers: 0 and 1.

Sara landed Christine without further incident. As she pulled the power levers into reverse and gently eased onto the brakes, she grinned.

“Hey Blocker, better ask Maintenance to be ready to clean the tires.”

He gave her a confused look.

“Because after that landing, they’re definitely covered in grease.” She caught his stare. “You know, because my landing was so smooth. I greased it in… oh, come on it’s not funny if I have to explain it to you.”

He rolled his eyes and tried to hide his smile as he pulled out the After Landing Checklist.

“SUNY, keep your speed up. Unknown aircraft landing behind you.”

“What?” Sara jammed the power levers forward, taking care not to over torque the engines, but still hightailing her plane off the active runway. She didn’t fancy getting landed on.