Trifter

I woke up at around 0430H in the morning after the alarm on my cell. I rose up to clear the bench at the living room and turned off the laptop computer which was fully charged and was left plugged at the computer table. I was thinking of the schedule of departure for the day, my flight mission to Zamboanga on my 1st assignment as a fixed wing mechanic. I was reminded of the freak drinking spree which caught me to be placed on the mission. It was a consequence which I couldn’t completely blame on alcohol or the loose talking that follows when one gets the booze. But I could not take for granted the camaraderie that was opened by that conversation which brought me in close relationship with the Chief of Headquarters. A noted fixed wing pilot himself who pioneered early missions paving way for the establishment of the 4th Air Station of the unit in the south. Just by then, the course of my writing suddenly took a twist.

There was a little trace of fear that comes with the uncertainty in being exposed to a new situation making me a bit worried. I was reminded of those early missions I managed to get through in my past assignment at the rotary wing and such gives me a bit of inspiration. I proceeded for the bath the way every day’s routine mission has to start. Dressing up afterwards and collecting my things putting the laptop computer on its carry bag, my life story is on the go again. After nearly 4 months of being grounded on the mission and anticipating to get out of the service for the opportunity outside that never came to being, I am back to square one. I could no more have double thoughts about getting full time in the service and watch my chances disappearing as I grow in age. Whatever consequences I may meet along the way against my freedom of choice, writing about it gives me the freedom to loiter the possibilities in my favor. It would be the least human ability that was imbued in my being and something that couldn’t be taken from me.

I wake up my cousin in sleep to get the key to the main gate of the residence prior to leaving. Wearing my sneakers and finally having my laptop’s carrying case on my shoulder, I have felt the usual weight on my shoulders. I was reminded of the early morning when I left our home in the province to attend my first day in college as a freshman at the University of the Philippines in Iloilo. I was carrying a bag loaded with clothes and two volumes of Grolier International Dictionary and my uncertainties were twice as much. 15 years hence was just a bit different with a longer journey and a lighter load. I could have hardly imagined advancing to a laptop computer loaded with an encyclopedia and with all the photos I’ve taken through the years and the writings, which I have managed to organize through the experiences. But here I am now. Everyday in new assignments always bear the usual strangeness that becomes familiar as it unfolds in the process. I set foot to walk the distance to the main road of the subdivision at the absence of tricycles at 0415H, a walk further until I manage to get the ride to the jeepney stop. I was too early to avail of an orderly pour of commuters at the terminal. Taking the ride on a jeepney filled with an even seating capacity, my day has begun smoothly beyond my worst expectations. The trip pressed on without tight traffic at Aguinaldo Highway so I arrived at MIA Road in time to walk the distance of the Nichols jeepney stop along Tambo. I made it at the entrance of Delta Gate of the General Aviation Area of the Domestic Airport at 0500H and everything remained still. I walked crossing the taxiway eyeing for the silhouette of a Cessna 421 at the flightline in front of the unit hangar but it wasn’t there. With the door of the unit hangar halfway opened I realized I made it early for our scheduled departure.

The Cessna-421B Golden Eagle could cruise at 444 km/hour at 27,000 feet  

I left my laptop on top of the table of the duty and verified the baggage I have to bring along. The dispatch bag I have loaded with my clothing and things remained as I have left it resting at the bench in front of the row of steel lockers. So this is it, I thought to myself, the day I have to leave my routine paradise. I took my worn out flying suit from hanging at the side of my locker and eventually advanced to dress up.   I tried to find something on my locker which I have failed to locate, it’s funny how one could remember searching for something when he’s out of time to look for it. Having to think of something worth doing when time is freely given becomes a mind boggling issue. That got me into closing the search and start carrying my baggage on the waiting aircraft. I was able to place my load on the nose cargo compartment of the Cessna just in time before the bell broke up the morning’s silence with the ring. My dispatch bag was weighing around 30 kgs. making me think it over could the aircraft actually take-off with such a weight. We towed the Cessna to the flightline and everything were all set except for one thing, the senior mechanic on the mission who failed to arrive. I returned for my laptop at the duty table and rushed in joining to get board. Having been the only reliever on the mission at the absence of the senior mechanic brings me additional worries. Worse comes to worst, I will be all alone when the eventuality of the assignment consumes my being. We took off at 0615H. The morning wind was barely blowing reminding me of the turn of the tides at the winds of change in May the other year. We patterned our take-off along runway 04-13 climbing at 15,000 ft. and leveling thereat. I watched the remnants of Nayong Filipino falling prey to the ill effects of industrialization while the new image of Terminal 3 at the opposite side was gaining shape. I tried to cool myself on my seat anticipating the possible situation should I be caught at the chain of inconsistencies where I don’t have the reservation to adapt to it. Being aware of yourself in the midst of worst situations would be the least consolation that you could honestly give to yourself. If you die in the struggle you may at least tell yourself, “well at least I knew it’s coming. I have done my best to come up with rational reactions owing to the issue but it wasn’t good enough”. So that would be how the curtain of life will have to close before me.

From the aircraft’s wing the wisps of clouds seem a thrilling view

I was seated on the right seat directly behind the co-pilot of the twin-engined Cessna 421, the same seat I took during the flight home more than a month that passed I was directly in front of the relieving pilot seated at the opposite side of the duty crew. There are 5 of us, passengers plus a general’s aide on my right who will be joining his boss in the south and another colleague at the backseat who is going home for vacation. The hum of the twin Lycoming spinning 3 blades on both sides seemed like a hypnotic spell which has kept my wakefulness at its peak. The crew and the aide got so bored leading the former to produce a set of playing cards kept at the back pocket of the seat. The relieving pilot in front of me have awakened from a nap and soon joined the game. Uncovering my laptop computer from the bag and opening a new document for the writing, a new phase in my career suddenly opened up. Writing at 17,000 ft. while cruising at 240 knots with the peripheral view of cotton-like clouds reflecting the rays of the morning sun on a clear day allows one a glimpse of heaven. If heaven is a place and not a state of mind what I’m seeing may come close. I haven’t been to the place to describe what it’s like being there but here, now, there’s something about the way I think that reminds me of it. Or maybe its just a feeling about the luxury in feasting out of a stolen moment aboard a government aircraft knowing not even the obedient taxpayer had been fortunate to gain a coveted seat. I started to collect words from the void and began to convert my thoughts into sentences, hitting the keyboard and watching the cursor reveal the thoughts transformed into written words. Writing leisurely with a little emphasis on the experience is something. On board a twin-engined aircraft of the Chief without restrictions on how would I treat boredom at the span of 2 hours and 45 minutes means nothing. Sometimes we get into heaven without our knowing. Oftentimes we set destinations at the beginning of the journey and arrive to it forgetting our purpose. Would I forget my own tasking when the landing gears of this flying machine bring me back to the surface? I’m destined for the Land of Promise but that is something beyond my own capacity to promise to myself as a poor, struggling earthling .