|
It was another night on the flight deck, just like a hundred before. I had finished writing VIDS-MAFS on the gripes found during a daily and turnaround inspection. What had been a long night wasn't even close to being over yet. In fact, before it was over, I would come close to dying.
Shortly after I finished my paperwork, Maintenance Control called and told me to start a wash job. This had become a nightly routine, so I grabbed my gear and headed for the flight deck.
I though flight operations were over, so I decided to take a shortcut through the 03 weather deck to the catwalk on the port side and then up to the flight deck. I climbed up a deck-edge ladder and took a second to look around the deck. Satisfied, I started to cross the landing area.
On most nights, flight operations would have been secured at this point, but I didn't know that several aircraft were recovering late. By the time I reached the centerline, an S-3 had passed about
30 to 40 feet over my head. Before I even realized my mistake, the flight-deck chief was pulling me out of the landing area, and he sent me on a guided tour of the island.
The first stop was flight-deck control, where the handler and the CAG maintenance chief calmly explained just how close I had come to becoming a statistic. Next stop was the Air Boss, and he had some profound thoughts to share with me. The grand finale was my personal visit with the commanding officer of the ship. He invited me to a private viewing of the PLAT tape, and it pointed out clearly the error of my ways. The CO was mad, but he was more concerned about my safety. He told me the Viking that flew over my head was on final approach and about two seconds from touching down. If
the flight-deck crew hadn't stopped me, I probably would have died.
I had been two seconds from death and this thought kept running through my head. Until I saw the video, I didn't realize how lucky I was. Somebody must have been watching out for me that evening. From now on,
I'll use the starboard catwalk.
Airman Henry is a plane captain with VFA-115.
The video clips of Airman Henry's stroll across the flight deck
is located on our video library page. |
