CHAPTER 11
 

Cassie was starting to get concerned because she hadn’t seen either Starsky or Hutch in quit a while.  She knew that they had gone up front into the cockpit, but that was at least a good twenty minutes ago.  She decided to see what was going on. She knew that Charlie was tied up near the entrance and she would have to get past him.  He looked pretty harmless as she
approached him. He had been struggling to get free but Hutch had him tied up good.  She crept by him and opened the door slowly…afraid that they might yell at her for not staying put…but even more afraid of what she saw when she looked inside.

“Hutch…Holy Shit!” She said as her eyes opened wide in amazement.  She couldn’t believe what she was witnessing.

“Watch your language…” Starsky said smugly. “Get in here and close the door…we don’t want anyone else to know.”

“But Hutch can’t fly…” Cassie said as she shut the door and slowly walked closer.

“He’s about to take a crash course.” Starsky told her.

“Do you mind not putting it like that.” Hutch asked him.  “I’m nervous enough as it is.”

‘Delta 645….this is Dallas tower…Flight Commander Thompson speaking…” Came a voice over the radio.

“Officer Ken Hutchinson here…just tell me what I need to do.”

“First let me explain a few of the basics…then we’ll give you instruction.” He told him. “First of all the altitude reads ten thousand five hundred…that means that your ten thousand five hundred feet above sea level.  The airstrip that you are about to land on is at two thousand three hundred and forty seven feet above sea level. That means gentlemen that your only flying
about eighty two hundred feet from the ground…at that altitude you will burn a lot more fuel than you need to…but we’re not going to have you try to climb higher.  It would be too difficult to explain. Find the fuel gauge and tell me what it reads.” He instructed.

“Hold on…” Hutch said into the mic as he looked around for it.

“It should be to your right and near the bottom.” His voice called back.

“Right…got it…it’s near the red…it looks like a little below a quarter of a tank…” He told him.

“You have a reserve tank…if you need to you can transfer from there…but I think you’ll be fine.” He said in a calm voice.  “There are several sets of levers on your right…the large ones in the middle are your trim or flap settings. I’ll tell you when to touch them.  They have four positions…one quarter…half… three quarters… and full. As you descend…you’ll have to adjust
them to slow you down. There is another lever on the far right…that’s the landing gear. You pull that one down on final approach. When you have your airspeed at around 120 knots.  That’s the next gauge…your airspeed should read right around 180-190 knots. It should be to your right near the top of the panel…do you see it?” He asked.

“Yes…185 knots.” Hutch told him.

“Raising and lowering the nose will cause your airspeed to increase or decrease…nose up slows you down…nose down speeds you up. When the landing gear touches down you should be pulling up slightly on the yoke…it will get harder to hold as the plane slows down so you’ll have to pull harder as you feel the resistance.  Don’t pull too hard or you’ll climb back up…just hold the nose off the ground. When the plane slows down enough the nose will drop on it’s own and as soon as the front gear hits the runway you’ll have to hit the retro thrusters and push lightly on the brakes.” He told him without realizing that he was probably talking a bit too fast.

Hutch was trying to pay attention but he was afraid that when the time came that he wouldn’t be able to remember all of it. “I think I can do it …but would you mind talking me through it when the time comes…I don’t know if I’ll remember everything.”

“Just get familiar with the equipment…I’ll be here to guide you through don’t worry.” He said calmly.  “You’ll make it as long as you do exactly what I tell you.”

“Do you know where we are?” Hutch asked.

“According to the last transmissions, you should be coming in from the North East….radar should be able to pick you up in a few minutes…your still about 200 miles out. You’ll need to start your approach at around 100 miles out and radar should have you by then.” He said.

“Keep talking till we’re close enough…tell me everything you can think of and I’ll keep my eye on the gauges.” Hutch replied.

“The gauge in the middle of the panel is your rate of decent or VSI gauge…as you are approaching the runway it should read as close to 500 feet per minute as you can get it. VSI stands for vertical speed indicator and measures your rate of speed up or down…do you see it?”

“Yeah…it’s reading close to zero…is that good.” He asked.

“That means that your not climbing or falling…is the little airplane still on the centerline?”

“Yeah…holding level.” Hutch told him

“You just popped up on radar…we know exactly where you are now…you’ll start your approach in about twenty minutes. Any questions?” He asked.

“Just one…how do I transfer out of this chicken outfit?” Hutch kidded.

Starsky smiled at the comment. Hutch was gonna be all right. He always joked like that before he faced a challenge…it was his way of preparing himself. Starsky knew how his mind worked and he was comforted by it.

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