Chapter 2
Ed Hanson had come in at 5 o'clock in the morning to finish installing the rudder. He and Jared had completed the sheet metal work last night and Jared had helped lift the rudder and install the first bolt. They smoked a little pot and decided to go home and let Ed finish installing the other two bolts in the morning. Jared said that it was too dark to do it right anyway. Ed hadn't had any problem finishing the installation except the top bolt. He looked but couldn't find the bolt that was supposed to go into the hinge at the top of the rudder. Ed went into the shop and looked for a bolt to replace the missing bolt. He found a similar bolt lying on the bench. The only difference was the bolt had threads its entire length. Ed installed the bolt. It was a little stiff but a few taps with the rubber mallet and the bolt went in. As he tried to install the nut on the bolt he found that the bolt was a little shorter than the stock bolt. He could only get three threads in the nut. He installed the nut and closed up the access panels and tried the rudder. It worked fine. He gave the plane a two-minute preflight, which assured him that the wings were still on, and sat down to wait for the pilot.
Ron and Cal arrived within minutes of each other. They pulled their cars up to the airplane and unloaded the gear they needed for the fishing trip. They set everything next to the plane and then pulled their cars to the parking area. After locking the cars they got a coffee from the coffee machine and walked back to the plane. Cal started checking the gear while Ron started pre-flighting the plane. Cal pulled everything apart making sure that nothing had been forgotten. Cal and Ron were going to check into the fishing lodge and then take the inflatable raft downstream. They would camp out two miles from the Lodge. This was a man's dream, nothing but two pals and 3 days of fishing and telling each other lies. The fishing spot that they had found was one of the best in Alaska. Neither would tell anyone where it was. Even the folks who owned the lodge didn't seem to know about the fishing spot.
Cal called Ron over and they took inventory of the gear again. Cal called the items out while Ron checked them off from the list they had made several weeks ago. Tent, 2 sleeping bags, inflatable 2 man raft, blankets, a couple of changes of clothes for each of them, cooking equipment, folding shovel, hatchet, waterproofed matches and disposable lighters, metal plates, some old silverware, boots, parkas, raingear, and food. Ron picked up the box of food.
"MRE's Cal?" Ron said with a laugh holding up one of the packages of dehydrated and precooked meals, "Meals-Ready to-Eat? I thought we were going to eat fish."
Cal smiled, "Knowing you, I'll probably catch all the fish and have to feed you. You never were a decent fisherman."
Ron picked up the bag that had the raft in it and saw Cal's 22-caliber rifle hidden under the bag. Cal liked to fire his rifle at targets if the fishing tapered off. Ron continued searching the equipment.
"OK Cal, where is it?" Ron said.
Cal grinned and stuck his hand in the rolled up sleeping bag. He pulled out his "toy". Cal loved his Glock pistol. It wasn't good for hunting, but he always brought it anyway. The Glock would blow apart any small game. Ron shook his head. Cal would take that pistol with him when he died.
They started loading the gear into the plane. They stored most of their gear for the fishing trip in the back seat of the plane leaving the baggage compartment for the luggage of the passengers. The rifle was on the bottom out of sight. Ron didn't want any mouth from the passengers about firearms in the cabin. As they were finishing storing their gear a Howell company van pulled up to the plane. The driver got out and opened the back door.
"We can't take any cargo," Ron told the driver. "We're almost at load limit now."
"Ms. Acton had me pick up her luggage," the driver said.
Ron groaned. He went to the van to see what she had sent. He was surprised to find that she had only packed 2 soft-sided suitcases and an overnight case. Cal picked up the suitcases and stored them away. He put the overnight case in the back seat. Cal left to get more coffee from the machine and Ron started rechecking the airplane. Cal brought the coffee back and started reviewing the flight plan.
"Did you call the flight plan in?" Cal asked. Ron nodded his head yes.
Ron and Cal saw a man walking toward the airplane. As he got closer they recognized him as the Howell Controller. He was a slight man about 5 feet 4 inches tall. He always had a look on his face like he was afraid someone would hit him. Cal figured that Carl had to be about 68 now. Cal knew that the man's wife had died last year and that he had decided to continue working until he couldn't do it anymore. The man was Carl Patchett. He had been with Sam Howell since Sam had started with a service truck and a lot of guts. Carl would have a job as log as Sam Howell drew a breath. Carl was a good Controller and was responsible for a large part of Howell's success. Carl had a small suitcase and a briefcase with his laptop computer.
"Hi, Carl," Cal said as he reached the plane.
"Where do you want my bag?" Carl asked. Carl was obviously nervous about flying in a small plane
Ron took the suitcase and the briefcase and stowed them in the baggage compartment. Cal watched as Ron closed and latched the baggage compartment and Cal rechecked to make sure that the compartment was secure. Carl stood and kept glancing at the plane like he hoped it would disappear.
Ron groaned as he saw Brenda walking toward the airplane.
"I was hoping she would chicken out," he said.
Brenda reached the airplane and it was apparent that she was not happy about something. She marched up to Roy and stopped in front of him.
"What the hell is this?" she asked. "Where is the Kingair? I am going nowhere in this puddle-jumper."
"Sorry Brenda," Ron replied, knowing that she hated that he did not address her as Ms. Acton, "The Kingair is down for major maintenance and this is our transportation for this trip. The Kingair doesn't even have engines in it today."
"Why didn't Sam tell me?" she said, "I would have flown commercial."
Ron bristled, "Are we going to sit here and argue about the size of your coach or are we going to Anchorage? This is a 6 passenger and there is only 4 of us."
"Let's get going," she snapped as she headed for the plane.
Ron held the door open for her and Cal opened the starboard side door for Carl and helped him in. Brenda had worn a dress, stockings and high heels for the flight. The plane sits higher off the ground than a car and the designers of the Cessna did not really care that a woman in high heels would have trouble getting into the plane ladylike. Brenda got into her seat and was embarrassed that she showed quite a bit of thigh getting in. Ron made sure that she saw him checking out her thighs. Brenda thought to herself that this was another reason to hate him.
Ron and Cal buckled their seatbelts and Ron turned and checked that
his passengers had their seatbelts installed properly and were buckled.
Ron started the engine.