Re: I'm still here, thanks to a pilot
For years, I sat in the back of my skydiving Cessna 182 with all the confidence in the world in my pilots. And flight after flight, it was a boring, dozing ride to 10,000 feet. Then one day, I happened to be kneeling in the "co-pilot" position on another routine take off. At 100 feet AGL over a residential neighborhood with kids playing in the streets below, the engine coughed and cut back to 1500 RPM, not much more than idle. Looking at the gauges and what he was doing, I could see everything was "to the firewall" and correct. In a heart-beat, we both knew we were looking at "the big one."
With no time for feeling, analyzing or 2nd thoughts, I pointed to a debris and rock strewn vacant (future school) lot and screamed to put it down there. On the verge of a stall, he sank it in over power lines and set it down under control. The plane was totaled but we all walked away and within minutes were staring at cameras and reporters. Since they knew us, the skydivers, the reporters were all over us and never even interviewed him. But since he had Alaska bush seat time, I was not surprised when he shrugged it off like it was just another day and all part of the job.
His name is Chirs and although he couldn't skydive worth a lick, he sure could handle a fully loaded airplane. I'm ashamed to say I don't know where he is today.