The Commercial Pilot

As I wake up to the sound of my alarm, I roll the covers off my body. I stand up and walk over to my closet. I look inside and see my captain's uniform, my hat, and my ID card. I pick up all three items. I quickly get dressed and walk down the stairs to the first floor. I walk out of my door to the cool outside. I call an Uber. When my Uber arrives, I hop in and I am off to the airport. As I am pulling up to the airport I spot the first rays of the sun peeking out. I walk in and I put my hand on my chest to make sure my ID badge is on my neck. I am relieved when I feel the cold hard plastic that makes up my badge. I walk to the doors. The automatic door opens into O’Hare International Airport. I immediately walk over to the pilot's security line. I pull off my coat and my shoes and place them in a bin. I place my travel bag on the conveyor. When I am done with security I walk over to the Dunkin' Donuts to get coffee because I am so tired since I woke up at 4:00 in the morning. As I sip the warm, refreshing coffee, I suddenly feel energized and I walk over to the terminal where the plane I will be flying is sitting on the tarmac. I could have come later, but I always come early so I can get coffee and so I can get a head start on the pre-flight checks. As I flick through the switches, they all go green and I give a sigh of relief. I hear the door open and Jim, my copilot, walks in and says, “Good morning, Larry.” I say good morning back to him and with a crashing noise he sits down in his chair. He re0checks everything I had checked and when he is done he says, “nice job.” I say, “thank you."

Two hours later. As the first passengers get on the plane, I double-check the brake to make sure it is on. When I see the light is working, I sit back in my chair and wait for all the passengers to get on board. When the boarding ramp is disengaged, I release the brake and slowly and gently push the yoke back. I push the yoke back so that we can back up onto the runway then turn. In a few minutes, I push to the right on the yoke so the plane is at a straight angle on the runway. It is be easier to get the location of the takeoff correct this way. I push the yoke forward. I check with the tower to make sure we're good to go. On the takeoff part of the runway, they say, “you are clear." So I turn the yoke to the right again and line the plane up with the runway. I check everything again--all green, I think to myself. Jim puts the throttle to max and I pull as far back on the yoke as possible. The plane is going faster and faster until I see the nose rising a little. Then the nose rises a little more. In a minute the plane is off the ground in the sky and heading to St. Maarten, a tropical island in the Caribbean. As the plane reaches the clouds, I can't see, so I pull the yoke further back and the plane goes above the clouds. When we are at our max altitude, I click the autopilot button. I check the fuel level and the heading and those all check out. I release the yoke, pick up my headset and lay back into my chair. I check the radar to make sure we aren't close to any other planes. I open a comm channel and hear nothing. After checking the important things, I relax in my chair again. I'm still scanning the monitors 4 hours later.

I hear the buzz of the St. Maarten control tower in my ear. I look out at the islands the plane is going over. I think to myself that several islands look like small mountains. I see St. Maarten's beach first, then the runway appears. I bring the throttle to half and start descending. As we are descending I see people on the beach. I bring the throttle to zero. The plane gets closer and closer until SLAM. The plane hits the tarmac and Jim enables the wind brakes. I start worrying, thinking that the plane will overshoot the landing. Just then, the plane starts slowing. We come to an abrupt halt. I take the yoke once again and push it forward. I push the throttle forward a bit so we can move faster. The control tower says, "Flight 73456, proceed to Terminal A4." I push the yoke to the left, then forward, and then turn off the engines and everything else. I make sure everything is off, then I lay back in my chair. I look out the window to my left and I see the passengers disembarking into the hot air of St. Maarten.