The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1945-02-08

SS~>S
thing like this before.
1t was out of my hands. I sat
helpless, fascinated by the fit
ting, spinning mechanical ballet.
All this time the air speed was
being governed according to GER
tain memorable laws. It fell back
and back until the trainer lost
flying speed, and the entire cast
plunged violently into a theoreti-
cal spin. Now all the instruments
frantically reversed themselves.
The artificial horizon momentari-
ly came out of hiding, tipped
across the glass, and went out of
sight below. The altimeter
drunkenly peeled off feet by the
thousands while the rate of climb
dropped as if it had been shot.
The compasses reeled ecstatically,
gay to the very end, and the air
speed so recently shrunk to forty
m. p. h. was now fat at two hun
dred and fifty.
"You better recover" called
Briggs weakly. According to the
altimeter you are now eight hum
dred feet below the earth's sur
face"
Coincident with that crushing
announcement the light on the
instrument panel went out, leav-
ing me in complete darkness. For
minute I hung peacefully sus-
pended and undisturbed between
two worlds. Then for no reason
an image of the hellfire-and brim-
stone sign that stood for years on
a familiar road at home issued up
where the instrument panel had
been. I opened and closed my
eyes. It was pitch-black, but the
image of that sign stayed and
grew brighter and larger until
the red painted message filled
the entire cockpit.
THE WORLD IS COMING TO AN
END. ARE YOU READY?
The letters flowed filmily over
me. felt a giddy detachment.
It didn't matter any more. The
flight that was not a flight didn't
matter, and the crash that was
not crash didn't matter. Ac-
cording to science I was whirling
eight hundred feet underground,
but what the hell! If you don't
understand your environment, 60
beyond it. picked up the micro
phone and called to Briggs in a
low, pulsing voice: ''The world
is coming to an end. Are you
ready?"
It'll be damned!" said Briggs.
'Tell Buck and Wilma" I went
on.
"Buck who?" cued Briggs,
coming face to face with his first
albatross.
"Buck Rogers in the twenty
fifth century," I blared.
Briggs quickly snapped off the
power and let me out. I started
to apologize for my poor show
ing, but then I thought better of
it. I walked off without a word.
Briggs just stood and stared. What
he had witnessed would never
be spoken of with Lindbergh's
crossing or Amelia's feats, but he
was well aware it had signifi-
canoe of its own. He never men
toned it again as long as I was
there.
When I got to the point where
l could keep the instruments un-
der thumb, Briggs took a deep
breath and proceeded to explain
the basic principles of the radio
range. He was ankle-deep in the
subject when he stopped, pushed
his sailor cap back on his head,
and said belligerently, Some
how I get the impression you're
workin' against me-"
'That's funny" I said. I had
not understood a word of what
he was saying.
'Teachin' this stuff to you is
like hollerin' up a pipe" he said.
He wanted to get angry. Gall the
cadets is OK dumb, but I can beat
that by just sayin' the same
thing sixty times over. They're
goin' to be officers, y'know, so
they get it by the sixtieth time,
but with you it's like blowin' up
a balloon with a hole in it. What's
wrong with your" he asked in
despair.
Come on, just once more" /
coaxed.
Finally it came to me that
radio range may be considered as
the compass field divided into
four quadrants, two of which are
A quadrants, and two of which