Mon, Dec 22, 2003
The following missive
was written by Cirrus SR20 Pilot Jerry Zezas... who kindly
allowed us to share it with all of you.
"... of the Angel Flight I did last Thursday. I took a young
girl who was a lung transplant patient home from Shands Medical
Center in Gainesville to Miami. As we flew south, just past Lake
Okeechobee around 6:00pm, I started my descent into Opa Locka
airport and was busy with Miami ATC vectors and altitude crossing
instructions for quite a while (busy airspace down there). I turned
to see if I was descending too fast for my passenger and asked how
she was doing. She had been leaning her head on the door and turned
to me to tell me she was fine, yet there were definite tears in her
eyes.
I, feeling quite guilty that I'd descended too fast and hurt her
ears, told ATC that I needed to shallow my descent since I had a
medical patient on board. They, as usual, were very understanding
and basically gave me PD altitudes the rest of the way in.
The end of the story is that, when we landed at Opa Locka, I
apologized to this poor young girl for descending too fast and
hurting her ears. She looked at me, puzzled, and then put 2 and 2
together.
She said the reason she was crying was not because of her ears,
but because she'd spent so much time in the hospital that this had
been the first sunset she'd seen in over two years! She then gave
me the sweetest hug, before walking to her car and going home for
the holidays."
This aviation thing we love... it is such a gift to all
those touched by it in oh-so-many ways.
Happy Holidays to you all -- Jim Campbell,
ANN
More News
DETRESFA (Distress Phrase) The code word used to designate an emergency phase wherein there is reasonable certainty that an aircraft and its occupants are threatened by grave and i>[...]
"General aviation is at the forefront of developing and introducing innovative technologies that will transform the entire aviation industry..." Source: Kyle Martin, Vice President>[...]
Direct Straight line flight between two navigational aids, fixes, points, or any combination thereof. When used by pilots in describing off-airway routes, points defining direct ro>[...]
Aero Linx: Women in Corporate Aviation Women in Corporate Aviation support individuals seeking career advancement and professional development in the business aviation industry. Me>[...]
“We would like to thank the many volunteers that help throughout the year to pull off the event, as well as the several reviewers, judges, and SURVICE staff that provide team>[...]