Murdered Under the Pools

As soon as the automatic pilot was turned off, the plane began to take a nose dive toward the ground. Officer Cox was not prepared to lose control of the plane so quickly. He pulled the yoke toward him to level the plane out. This plane was nothing like the planes he had flown in Viet Nam. Kay was holding the armrest so tightly that her hands squeezed their impressions into the leather. She thought she was going to break the armrest off the seat. She wanted to say something to Officer Cox but she was scared speechless. Sweat was beading on Officer Cox’s brow and running down the sides of his face. Faster and faster the plane plummeted towards the ground. They could hear the flight controller’s voice over the radio asking what was happening and yelling out flight instructions. Officer Cox continued to pull back on the yoke until finally, he was able to get control, leveled the airplane, and answered Mr. Green.

“We are flying at nine thousand feet now, sir,” exhaled Officer Cox. “I have control. What do I do next?”

From the celebration noises coming from the other end of the radio, Officer Cox could tell the control tower people were relieved and happy he had gotten control of the plane.

“You need to keep your directional compass gauges at latitude and longitude 38n50, 104w49, to Colorado Springs, Colorado. Your estimated time of arrival (ETA) should be fifteen minutes. We are preparing a runway for your arrival. I will need you to circle the landing strip twice before attempting to land. Are we clear with this?” asked Mr. Green.

“Yes sir,” answered Officer Cox as he turned to look at Kay. “How are you doing?”

Kay was totally amazed that he could get the airplane to fly straight again. She had already visualized them crashing into a mountain and exploding in flames. She was able to paste a frightened smile on her face for Officer Cox as she used the sleeve of her blouse to wipe the sweat off his face. She realized he was as scared as she was.

“If you know any prayers or have any angel friends that could help us out of this situation, I think this would be the appropriate time to ask them for some help,” said Officer Cox.

Kay was praying. She thought jumping out of a burning plane over the mountains in Black Hawk, Colorado was scary until now. She closed her eyes to say another prayer for Officer Cox.

“Give him strength, Lord,” she silently prayed. “Please keep him safe.”

“I never dreamed I would be flying again,” said Officer Cox to break the silence. “It is harder than I thought but I was told it was like riding a bike. Once you have flown an airplane, you can fly anything.

“So, when we were flying out of control, nose-diving towards the ground,” Kay sarcastically questioned. “Is that how you used to fly in Viet Nam?”