King Air!

Wow! What a day I had today! Right when I got to work, Eli and Pat (two of the Midwest Aviation pilots) were in the office in the hangar. They had to go and check out the oxygen tanks at altitude on one of the planes. I pretty much ignored what they were talking about. "Hey Fire-plug (my nickname---don't know where they came up with that one!), How are you feeling?" "Oh fine" I replied, "Why?" They were wondering if I had a head-cold.

"Feel like taking a ride?" I didn't understand at first. "Come on, Joni...let's go fly!" Pat said. My face lit up...and then, Sam, the director of maintenance, said, "Go ahead Joni...go fly!"

Grinning from ear to ear, I grabbed my coat and climbed aboard N185MV, a King Air B200 (Beech---10 passenger plane). Our mission was to check to make sure that the oxygen masks were ejecting at the proper altitude. So the cabin wasn't pressurized or something like that. Pat said to sit right behind him and to pat him on the back when the oxygen masks fell. (What a cool job, huh?) I got comfortable in the plush leather chairs, pushed my face up against the windows and buckled up my seat-belt as we got ready to take off. I was so excited I didn't have time to worry about the "un-pressurized" cabin comment, or why they were wondering if I had a head cold. Hmmm???

I guess we got to 13,000', the masks fell and Pat looked at me and got up. He was co-pilot and Eli was flying the plane. He smiled and said, "All-right, ...get into the cockpit...you can ride shot-gun; we're giving you a captain's chair-window seat while I put the masks back in their compartments". It was so AWESOME! I got to put on the headset and listen to the other planes and I could talk to Eli through the mouthpiece. I flew over Lake Shetek, Currie, Balaton, Camden. and they asked me where I lived and I flew over my house and The Bike Shop...sigh. What a day. My ears are just barely coming un-plugged. It was very very very cool. I could see all the frozen lakes. Camden looks like an oasis amongst the vast, barren flat prairie. We flew over the tree line surrounding the Redwood River (near Redwood Falls).

Since we didn't celebrate my birthday this year anywhere else, it was kind of like a birthday treat...and I thanked everyone profusely for bringing a big old grin to this getting older girl's face. How'd they become like family in a matter of weeks? They're busy trying to convince me to stay in Marshall. It's touches my heart.

I told you---if you gotta have a job in Marshall, my job is pretty cool! Enjoy your day!