It didn't happen with a bang, but a whisper. One moment the newly rebuilt 235 horse power engine was roaring, filling the cockpit with an almost overpowering noise. The next instant, there was only the subdued sound of air rushing past the airplane's windows. The near silence was deafening.
Tim Dodson was not afraid when the engine fell quiet. He had expected it. It happened almost every time he flew with an instructor. While he was an accomplished small plane pilot, he was working on an instrument rating and was wearing a hat that only let him see the instruments and controls. He was well trained. First he pulled back on the yoke with a mighty effort, slowing from 130 knots to the best glide speed of 75 while trading that excess speed into life giving altitude and trimming to ease the mighty force he had to exert on the yoke. His eyes roamed the controls as his hands worked through the drill. His only surprise was that he didn't find what she had done to shut the engine off.
Sandy Faulk was caught totally off guard, as the instructor, this flight was her responsibility even though Tim was doing all the flying. She was the one who could see and she had been watching but she had also been doing a touch of daydreaming.
At the precise moment that the engine failed, she had been looking at Tim and wondering what he would be like in bed. She was a beautiful woman but lately her whole life had revolved around teaching flying and her social life had been non-existent. She had been longing for some human contact, some sex, perhaps a relationship, maybe even a baby. Tim was one of her few students who was handsome and single. The fact that he had a great sense of humor and had just sold his business for more than 30 million dollars didn't hurt either. Not only was she attracted to him, even her mother would love his bank account.
This was her first almost free weekend in months. Tim was her only student for the whole weekend. She had always acted the true professional around him but she had found herself drawn to him from the first time she met him. He had never seemed to be interested in her however.
It took her several seconds before she could react to the sudden quiet. In that time, Tim had been doing everything right. She took a deep breath. In 800 hours of flying and instructing, she had never experienced a real engine failure, until now. She had watched him perform the engine failure drill and he had done everything right.
Sandy felt no fear because she already knew that they had a very good option. A minute ago she had spotted a small grass airstrip. It was now just in front of them and they could glide easily to it. They might even be higher than they needed to be.
"I've got the airplane, Tim. Take the hood off. This is for real." Her voice was calm.
Tim pulled the hat from his face as his earphones flew. He saw the propeller. That sent a wave of anxiety through him. Even in a simulated engine failure, the propeller should be invisible as it turned at idle speed. Instead he saw the two blades slowly turning in the slipstream.
He looked at Sandy and saw the peaceful look on her face. Her confident almost relaxed expression eased his fear.
"There's an airstrip right ahead of us. I've got it made easily." Sandy said to him.
Tim looked for a second before he saw it. Grass is not easy to tell from new green corn or beans but there was a high wing airplane pulled into an open area just beside the long thin strip of green. He took a look at the property and decided it must be a campground. There was a pond and a pool along with a great many small cabins. There were also a number of camping tents and one big event tent set up. The whole area seemed cut into a heavy wood that had been left around the boundary of the property. He could see people and activity.
He looked at Sandy and then at the strip. She seemed to have things under control but he fidgeted. This was his airplane, his baby. He had had it rebuilt from a run down condition to near new. He was an accomplished pilot and it was not easy to relinquish control to someone else but she had found the spot and she had the airplane and the situation under control.
He looked at his lap. The IFR chart and the approach plates lay there, useless. They showed no detail except those needed to fly by electronic navigation. Small private airstrips were not depicted.
"Do you know where we are?" He asked her.
"Sort of. We're right on course and about 35 miles from home but I don't know what airstrip we're headed for." Now they were about 2 miles from the end of the grass strip. Less than two minutes from touchdown. "I don't see any signs of fire and this is going to be a normal landing but why don't you go through the emergency landing checklist while I fly." She told him.
He quickly found the procedures in the pouch in the door. He tossed the useless IFR map and the book of approaches in the back seat. Step by step, he went through all the suggestions in the aircraft manual. He had done them all from memory a moment before and nothing brought back the roar of the healthy engine.
Sandy put the airplane into a slip as she slowed to 65 knots trying to lose a little more altitude. She was concentrating of putting the wheels on a spot on the grass. This landing had to be perfect, there would be no second chance.
Tim watched the trees rush up on them and then pass less than a hundred feet below. He opened his door as the wind blasted in. He watched the grass coming up. Sandy flew perfectly, resisting the temptation to drive the airplane onto the grass or to slow too much.
They landed about 1000 feet down the 2500 foot strip with a perfect swoosh of grass as the main wheels touched down. The resistance of the grass and the heavy breaking stopped them in another 500 feet, much quicker than on concrete. Tim watched Sandy open her door and unbuckle her belt, then he got out his already open door.
They both moved away from the stricken airplane despite it not showing any sign of being dangerous.
Tim examined the aircraft from a few feet away. He could see no sign of anything wrong. He walked slowly around it, almost caressing its skin but not a single rivet was out of place. He got to the front and opened the inspection panel. There was little he could do or even see but he could find no sign of anything wrong. No strange smells, no smoke, and no smudges of fluid.
He shifted his gaze to Sandy and sucked in his breath. She was one gorgeous woman! It wasn't the first time he had noticed, in fact he was totally smitten by her, even if she didn't know. He loved her long dark brown hair and her shining brown eyes. Her olive complexion seemed nearly perfect to him. He had rightly assumed that most of her male students hit on her, but wrong in assuming that she would be upset if he did the same.
Sandy had come to join him at the nose after her own quick inspection. "Doesn't look like I did anything to hurt your bird."
"I hate to say this but you did a better job of flying than I could have."
Tim looked deep into her eyes and felt his knees going weak. For a moment he wondered if it was the adrenaline leaving his body, his repressed desire for her, or the relief from escaping a shared dangerous situation.
Until recently he had been too busy building his business to have time for any relationship. In the last few months, he had discovered that he had been missing something. When suddenly he had time for himself, he found that he needed someone to share his time and his money. He had been yearning for someone in his life.
Suddenly he felt that yearning in his soul. Sandy was standing close to him. He reached out and touched her waist. For a moment they looked at each other. Tim looked into her eyes for any sign of protest and found none. He took her in his arms and she moved into him as their lips met.
The shock of their lingering kiss went through both of them. And then she wrapped her arms about him and pulled him close. Tongues met. Fireworks flew. Their emotions overcame them. The kiss became all consuming as the emotions flooded through them. The escape from death. The desire that both had repressed, all emptied in those moments.
They were lost in that embrace. There was no other world but theirs. They were not aware of what was happening around them. They did not hear the swooshing of the golf cart over the freshly cut grass. They were not aware that they were no longer alone.
Dennis Dodge was the manager of the club and he was less than amused. He was much too busy getting ready for the annual celebration to be bothered by intruders. Airplanes were not common but neither were they unheard of. But the members knew to come check in with him.
He had expected the airplane to turn around and taxi back to him and present their membership cards and their reservations for the weekend. Instead the airplane stopped and the people got out. He assumed they were there to crash the party. When he saw them get out of the airplane, he had rushed to his golf cart and started in their direction. Smoke was rolling from his ears and he was girded for a confrontation.
He was almost happy when his wife Virginia flagged down the cart and climbed on beside him. She knew her husband and knew that he would be angry. Her presence would tame him slightly and at least he wouldn't yell and scream quite so loud at the intruders.
The two people, now engrossed in a kiss were oblivious to them and that made Dennis even more angry. Virginia put her hand on her husbands arm to calm him. It worked to a certain degree.
"Excuse me!" Dennis Dodge said..
Reluctantly Tim and Sandy broke their kiss and looked at the pair on the cart. Sandy's eyes flew open in surprise. On that golf cart was a man of about 50, slightly overweight and slightly balding with the biggest flaccid penis she had ever seen. Normally, Sandy would not have noticed, but the man was just as nude as was the woman with him.
Dennis Dodge was somewhere between boiling in rage and totally confused. This was not what he had expected at all. He had expected a plane full of young men trying to get an eye full. Instead they were intent on their embrace. He had no idea that they had lost an engine. Dennis did not consider his nudity abnormal and had assumed that they knew where they were. It didn't occur to him in that moment, that it would be other than expected that the manager of a nudist camp be naked when he confronted them.
His wife Virginia was more in tune to the situation as she looked from one face to the other. She was an attractive woman of 48. Twenty years before she had been a beauty queen and she still retained most of her looks.
Virginia was also a very perceptive person and she had sized up the situation a little differently than her husband. She didn't know what was happening, but she knew immediately that these were not gate crashers. She understood that something was wrong.
Dennis's anger faded quickly as he realized that the situation wasn't quite what he had thought. When he got around to talking, his voice was more matter of fact than angry. "This club is for members only and I'm going to have to ask you to leave."
Tim was slightly flustered. There were lots of things going on inside his head. He was still off balance from the emergency landing. His senses were stirred by the passionate, unexpected kiss that had rocked his soul. He had not expected to be confronted by a naked upset couple.
Sandy was less rattled. She had just shared the most passionate kiss of her life with a man she wanted. She wrapped her arm around Tim's waist and looked from the couple to Tim's face.
