It Has to be Fate Pt. 04

Mica said, "Hey, I have heard that any wife or husband can be seduced by the right person under the right conditions. It is probably true I guess. I do know it can never happen if you do not let yourself get in those conditions. That is how I feel anyway."

Billy said, "I think that if you live by the old rule that says you never do or say anything you would not do or say in front of your spouse, you will stay out of trouble."

Mica added, "Damned good advice, old Buddy."

They were about two minutes late when they reported over Miami so Mica added a couple of minutes to his ETA at Palm Beach. They were on time at Palm Beach so he added a couple of minutes for the ETA at Vero Beach. They were on time at Vero Beach. He recalculated their ground speed and the hit the rest of the ETAs on the money.

The refueled at Craig Field and filed a new IFR Flight Plan to Cherry Point. Mica took the left seat for this leg and Melissa took over as navigator and radio operator. Mica adjusted the climb for 750 feet per minute and 115 knots. They leveled at 8,000 feet again and Melissa checked in with Brunswick Radio with their ETA for Brunswick. They were on time there and at Savanna. They hit Myrtle Beach and Wilmington on the nose and requested a decent after Jacksonville, North Carolina.

The weather was clear over Jacksonville so Melissa canceled their IFR clearance and the proceeded under Visual Flight Rules. She contacted Cherry Point tower on the radio and was advised that they were expected, that they were landing to the Northwest and to report five miles east for landing instructions. Mica turned inbound 5 miles out and Melissa reported to the tower and they were to land behind a flight of F9F-6s. Mica was watching the fighters and slowed down so the wake turbulence they created would be gone when he landed. He landed well up the runway, needing very little of the runway and wanting to get clear for other aircraft. The tower thanked him for landing long and cleared him to taxi to the VMF-312 flight line.

Several ground crew men waved him to a tie down spot next to the Maintenance Office. He shut the engine down and secured the switches while the others disembarked. A crowd of the squadron pilots and men surrounded the small plane.

The Maintenance Master Sergeant grinned at his commanding officer and Mica. "'Wash and Wax' after we check this little beauty over Sir?"

"Not on Government time, chief, 'volunteers' will be paid for their time." Mica grinned as every man's eyes followed Dawn and Mellissa as they walked toward the car of Major Norm Livershege, who was going to drive all of them home. The view from behind the two beautiful ladies wearing the snug fitting flight suits was delightful.

The next morning between flying, catching up on his duties as squadron Intel Officer Mica found time to call the Pamlico County Zoning and Transportation offices. He had the necessary permit applications for a private airstrip mailed to him. He was told he needed permission from MCAS Cherry Point and from the Federal Aviation Commission to operate a private, not-for-profit airstrip that close the air base. That night he told Melissa what he had done. She kissed him and said, "Give me all the information you have and I'll work on it for you. You concentrate on being a good pilot. OK?"

A week later she handed him letters of approval from everyone but the county government. She smiled and told him she had talked to each of the county commissioners about the permits and all of them were in favor of granting the permit, especially since she had a petition from all the nearby neighbors with no objections if there was a restriction limiting the hours of operation to the hours to daylight hours only. The hearing for the permit was on the agenda for the next week's Commission Meeting.

Mica shook his head in awe of his wife, "How in the world did you get that much done so fast?'

She laughed, "I got all dressed up in that navy blue suit I got for a wedding present. I wore a cute little hat and my navy pumps with the very high heels. I just walked in the offices like I owned the place. I told people what I wanted and had all the documentation required by the rules and regulations. I had the signed petitions, Court rulings, zoning regulations, letters from the Federal Aviation Commission and the Marine Corps all in my little gloved hands. I acted as if there was no way I would accept any answer but an immediate 'YES'." She smiled at him. "I have to confess I pretended that I was a princess and that they were my subjects, I more or less directed them to approve what I wanted."

Mica grinned, "I know how they feel, you are really hard to resist when you get that regal look on your face like you will not even contemplate a 'no' for an answer."

Melissa giggled, "Honey, that's not 'regal', that is the look I practiced in college and in Officer Training School when I wanted an enlisted person to obey me without question. It works good on royal subjects and husbands too."

Mica looked at her with raised eyebrows.

She smiled gently, "Sweetie, you know I am teasing about that, I know that 'look' wouldn't work on you. On you I use a kiss and other enticements." She giggled again."That works pretty good." He looked at her for a moment, then he jumped up suddenly and picked her up in his arms and carried her squealing happily into the bedroom.

They went to Dawn and Billy's for cocktails and dinner the next night. The men talked about the upcoming flight to Puerto Rico. Billy was going to lead the first division with three flights of four aircraft each. Norm would follow an hour later with the second division of the remaining flyable aircraft. If there were any stragglers, Mica would lead them on south when all the remaining aircraft were repaired. All divisions would refuel at Naval Air Station Cecil Field, Jacksonville Florida if any aircraft in the flight had less than 2000 pounds of fuel remaining over Jacksonville, otherwise they would continue on to Marine Corps Air Station, Opa Locka, Florida, just north of Miami. The next leg would be from MCAS Opa Locka to NAS Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The final leg was from Guantanamo Bay to NAS Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico.

Melissa and Mica spent a sleepless night before the squadron departed. They had not spent a night apart in six months. Melissa tried to be stoic about the next two weeks. Whenever she thought about it, tears would start and she would go where Mica couldn't see her wipe her eyes. She knew she would be a wreck the whole time he was gone.

VMF-312 departed on schedule the following morning. The first division left with eleven planes and the second division departed an hour later with ten planes. Mica remained behind while the jets were being fixed. One, whose canopy would not close was repaired quickly with the replacement of a switch. The next problem, a hydraulic leak took a bit longer. The last FJ-2 wouldn't start and the problem required the replacement of the igniters. It was two hours before it was ready to go.

Mica's flight climbed to altitude and headed south for Miami.

One plane was below the fuel minimums when they reached Jacksonville and Mica elected to land and refuel. They were briefed before departure that the visibility at MCAS Opa Locka was greatly reduced due to smoke from fires burning in the everglades. Mica filed for an alternate destination of NAS Key West if they were not able to land in Miami.

The weather was clear except for the smoke in Miami and Mica elected to depart VFR. When they were approaching the Miami area they were able to contact a flight of VMF-312 jets climbing out of Opa Locka. Mica was informed that because of the smoke several planes had landed at Miami International Airport and that one had run out of fuel and crashed into houses in the town of Opa Locka. The pilot survived but was injured and hospitalized. The flight Mica talked to was headed for Cuba and then Rosey Roads.

The tower at MCAS Opa Locka advised that the wind was variable and switched from the west to the north west. When it was from the west landings were possible. Mica advised that he would hold out to the south and when he saw an opening they would start inbound and advise his intentions. The tower operator said that was fine, the field was officially closed to traffic but he had orders to made exceptions for VMF-312 planes. After a few minutes Mica saw the cloud of smoke drift away with a large clear area behind it . Mica told his flight to space themselves for a landing interval and turned for the runway. He called the tower and was cleared to land with a flight of three.

When they taxied in to the refueling area LTCOL Billy Marker was there to greet them. He shook Mica's hand. He said, "I tried to get a message to you to wait for tomorrow. I guess you didn't get it. What took you so long?"

"Well we got off late and we didn't hit our bingo at JAX so we refueled. Did I do wrong?"

"Hell no Mica, you did just right, the rest of us fudged a little on the bingo and got here a little low on fuel with no place to land. There goes my career."

"Billy, you never know, I don't know about you but I checked the weather a couple of times on the way and was told it was clear down here with visibility unlimited. That was the weather I got for Miami, just before take off. It is not your fault. You have to go by what the weather guys tell you.

"Yeah! But if I had stuck to the bingo on the flight plan we would have had plenty of fuel when we got here and Roger Sutliff would not be laying up there in the hospital."

"True, but it never would have happened if you had the correct weather report. I know that if there was even a hint of possible bad weather you not have tried to make it on in."

"I'll just have to wait and see how the Accident Board sees it. I sent Norm ahead to Gitmo with the first division. I have done all I can do here for now. I will be leading the second division off in a few minutes. We still have three repairable aircraft here we will take your three good planes and you stay until the others are fixed and then follow us down.

Mica snapped to attention and said, "Aye Aye Sir! I'll bring your birds in as soon as we can."

Mica and the other two pilots watched their friends disappear in to the sky. The last plane was not ready that day so they checked into the BOQ for the night. Mica found a pay phone and talked to Melissa until he went through ten dollars worth of quarters. He met the other two pilots and they went to a nearby restaurant for a good meal.

Mica had to do a test flight on one of the planes. He did the test reroute to Gitmo and the plane checked out OK. Landing at Leeward Point was always thrilling because the end of the runway was on the edge of a high cliff with jagged rocks and boulders sticking out of the water below. They refueled and got a weather briefing. The weather on to Puerto Rico looked good and Rosy Roads was reporting 15 miles visibility with showers in the area.

San Juan International Airport was reported closed due to heavy rain. The Air Force base on the north coast was also closed because of heavy rain. Mica and the two pilots talked over the situation. Right now Rosy Roads was still reporting the weather was OK with only showers in the area. The bad part was that the rest of the island's airports were closed. They would have no alternate place to land after they were just over half of the way there. At that point they had to contiue ad land in Puerto Rico Mica tried to have the Navy Communications people contact the Squadron Command at Rosy Roads. They had no luck. Mica decided to press on to Rosie Roads. The distance 1200 miles was at about the maximum range of the FJ-2. They flew at 40,000 feet to give them the best range. They were within sight of land for most of the trip.

When they were within radio range Mica contacted the tower at Roosevelt Roads and was advised that the weather was unchanged. He also contacted Ramey Air Force Base and found that they were closed due to torrential rains.

When they got nearer they could see massive thunder clouds covering the island. Mica descended with his flight and flew towards the runway, which was not visible because of the rain. He requested GCA (Ground Controlled Approaches) for the flight. The tower informed him that the GCA was only certified for practice approaches.

He requested some immediate practice approaches. He was told that it would take some time to get the unit in operation. He asked if the arresting wire was in service, and he was told it was in service.

Mica circled over the water where the weather was clear. All of the rain was over the land. Several times Mica could see the runway briefly through a break in the rain. There was a small sail boat anchored directly off the end of the runway. Mica pointed it out to his flight. He told them that the situation was getting critical with the fuel running out and no place to land.

One of the other pilots said there was supposed to be a landing strip at Vieques Island, just five miles or so off shore. They could see the Island and Mica led the flight to check it out. The strip was easy to see, it was covered with cattle and appeared to have several ditches across it. Mica led the flight back towards the runway. They could see many large sharks in the crystal clear water. That made a water ditching a very unattractive option.

His number three man, LT Mike Adams had the least fuel. Mica told him he could try a approach by flying over the sailboat with gear, flaps and tail hook down and maintaining that heading while descending as low as he dared before waiving off. Mica watched as the jet turned inbound and heard Mike tell the tower his intentions. The FJ-2 had its gear, flaps and tail hook down as it disappeared into the solid wall of rain.

Mica and his wingman continued trying to contact the tower but got no answer. Fred Johnson was running very low on fuel by then. He chose to attempt to land also.

Mica watched Fred disappear into the soup too! He heard nothing. The rain slackened for a second and he saw Fred's plane on the runway before it was again obscured by the rain. Mica checked his fuel and saw 300 pounds indicated, the instructions in the aircraft pilot's handbook said the gauge was not accurate below 300 pounds.

Mica turned inbound and got set up for a landing. He called the tower and said he was commencing his approach. He whispered to himself, "I love you Melissa, God Bless you and keep you!" The rain hit his windshield like a solid wall of water. He made a quick scan of his instruments , he was on heading and passing through 200 feet. He saw something out of the corner of his eye, he glanced, it was the side of the runway.

A voice on the radio said, "You are over the end of the runway, drop it in." Mica pulled the throttle back and around the detent and into the shut off position. He felt the plane slam into the ground. He flipped off all electrical power and started seeing that he was on the runway. Ahead he saw a blur in front of him as he pushed hard on the brake pedals.

There were vehicles along side the runway and he saw the arresting cable pass under him. He tried to tap on the right brake to turn a little , giving it hard right rudder too. He passed to the left of a FJ on its belly on the side of the runway. Fire and rescue vehicles and people surrounded it.

Brakes had no effect at all on the speed of the plane. He seemed to hurl down the runway unabated and saw the end of the runway ahead. He had the presence of mind to open the canopy and felt the rain hit him.

When the plane crossed the end of the runway he passed another FJ with one wing and the nose on the ground. It was surrounded by people and jeeps and trucks. He went between two trucks parked on the end of the runway. The nose of his jet dropped as the nose wheel hit the mud and then jerked as the nose gear broke off. A sheet of mud and water flooded the cockpit. He saw one of the main landing gear wheels fly past him and disappear toward the front. Finally the plane stopped. Everything was quiet.

Mica flipped up his visor and looked back. FIRE! He unlatched his harness and jumped over the side and sunk in mud to his knees. He had to get away from the burning plane. The mud coated visor fell down as he humped through the soggy mud. He became caught on something as a roar grew louder. He broke free and humped on as fast as he could. The noise was deafening now. He was caught again. He struggled free once more.

He saw Melissa's face telling him to struggle harder. He felt both arms caught this time. He screamed and broke free again. Mica was gasping for air. His oxygen mask was still on but was clogging with mud. Something flipped him on his back. The helmet was torn from his head. He saw the muddy face of a man yelling for him to stop. Then he felt the blast and recognized the noise from the helicopter hovering in front of him. Two men helped him towards the door. One of them screamed in his ear, "JUMP FOR IT." He launched himself for the door and everything went black.

The End. Part 4