As the site owner, I’ll occasionally grant myself the leeway to branch off and let a bit of my emotions leak onto the forum when something hits close to home.
As I sit now, I’m off duty, a bottle or two into some fine Malbec, and watching the clock countdown toward midnight and 2022. My thoughts tonight are with the families of the crew (pilots and nurses) of the medevac Learjet that crashed a few days ago just outside of San Diego, killing all onboard. All of us in the business have looked at the videos and heard the tapes and examined the FlightAware tracks in an attempt to be our own version of the NTSB. I have my thoughts on the accident that I will keep to myself for now.
I saw so much in the accident that is relatable - no matter whatever the ultimate cause that is determined to be. All of us that have been in the aviation business for a long time know the feeling. Pulling onto the ramp, shutting down the engines, and putting a hand on a knee to stop the shaking. Whether it happened ten hours into your career or ten-thousand hours, you remember those nights. It could happen tomorrow. A lapse of judgement, one missed thing in a hundred. Fatigue. Weather. Mechanical issues. Or just plain stupidity. I’ve done all of them. Learned from all of them. But tomorrow has all the potential for making some new and creative mistake.
There are families tonight that are missing their loved ones immensely…and they are confused, and sad, and angry. And I hope that they will find peace at some point down the line. They may not. I would struggle with it. It is a reminder for all of us that tomorrow is not guaranteed. No matter what you do for a living. I know my memory will be short on it, but when my son inevitably crawls into bed next to me tonight (he still does that), and jars me awake tonight, I’m going to make sure I’m not annoyed. I’ll scratch his back and be glad for being woken up. To wake up tomorrow is a great thing. Enjoy it.
