Thirty minutes passed.
Brett parked his Fairmont at the Columbus Municipal Airport in the parking lot of Corrie's Flying Service.
There's a small office building attached to the side of a hangar. A "Corrie's Flying Service" sign hangs above the hangar door. Corrie stores a Cessna 172, a Slick 360 aerobatic plane, a Cessna 310, and a Boeing PT-17 Stearman inside that hangar.
Brett glanced around the lot and noticed the Jeep from the flight line during the airshow and from Zaharakos. He smiled.
Brett glanced at the flight line and noticed a white and red-stripped Warrior II parked next to a white and orange-stripped Warrior II.
On the flight line, Corrie opened one of the red-stripped Warrior's engine cowling doors and pulled out the oil dipstick.
Brett walked up behind Corrie and the Warrior.
"Good morning. Performing your preflight?" he asked.
She closed and latched the engine cowling door. Corrie turned around and noticed Brett. "It's the ice cream, man. You know something about flying?'
Corrie walked around to the propeller and ran a finger along the edge.
"I've been reading tons of books about airplanes and flying. I just never had my hands on some actual controls. Unless you accept a joystick for Microsoft Flight Simulator," he replied.
"Sure, why not?" Corrie said, glancing down at the nose landing gear tire and strut.
"My wife hates everything about flying," he said.
"Oh, I see," she replied, then picked up the Gats fuel jar strainer by the nose wheel. She walked over to the fuel strainer at the engine and strained the fuel with the Gats.
"Is your wife around?" she asked, looking at the fuel sample in the Gats jar for moisture and debris.
"No, she's up in Fort Wayne."
"I see," she said. Then, she removed the fuel cap on the wing and poured the strained fuel inside the tank. Corrie placed the cap back on and ensured it was tight.
She walked over, opened the engine-cowling door on that side, and checked the brake fluid level.
Brett's cell phone rang from his belt. He removed it, looked at the phone, and cringed. "Please excuse me," he said, and walked twenty feet away.
"Hello, Dorian. "He answered his call, keeping an eye on Corrie, sampling the fuel from under the right wing near the landing gear.
"Brett, how's that report coming along?" she asked.
Brett kept an eye on Corrie. An airplane took off on a runway.
"Oh, it's coming along fine," he lied. "What's that sound?" she asked.
Brett saw the airplane taking off and made a fake static sound on his cell phone. "Oh, that's the machinery on the plant floor. Must be EMI interference with my cell," he said, making more fake static noise on his cell phone.
"You better be working on that report. We can't afford our existing house if you work in the mailroom. We probably couldn't afford a trailer in the Candlelight Village," she nagged.
"I'll do a good job, Dorian. Don't worry," he replied.
"I still worry since you're on thin ice with daddy. Call me later with an update, and don't forget those pictures," she said.
"Yes, dear," he said, disconnected his call, turned off his cell phone, and clipped it back to his belt.
He walked back to the Warrior.
Corrie checked out the tail section.
"Was that a business call?" she asked, moving the elevator up and down.
"Sort of. Someone checking on the status of a report I'm working on," he replied.
"So, I take it since you're here. Is this report completed?" she asked, checking out the vertical stabilizer and rudder.
"I'm taking a break. Financial work is extremely boring," he said.
"What type of work excites you?" she asked curiously.
"Flying," he immediately replied.
Corrie stood by the wing, looked at the open door into the cockpit, and glanced at Brett.
"Well, if you want, today could be your exciting day," she said.
"How's that?" Brett replied.
"I can give you an introductory lesson. I just bought this Warrior, and I'm taking her up for a little flight," she offered with a smile.
Brett smiled. "Let's go up!"
"Great. Let's go inside and get you a headset," she said.
Brett followed her into her office building.
Inside her building, there was a lobby with a counter. Behind the counter, a young female worked. This was the same female driving the Jeep at the airshow.
Behind the counter was a window providing a view into the hangar.
Immediately to the left of the counter was a small glassed room of available pilot supplies.
In the lobby was a couch with a coffee table.
Off to the right of the lobby was a small classroom with a table and a computer.
To the left of the lobby was a hallway, a break room, and Corrie's office.
Corrie walked Brett up to the counter.
"Katie, I need a headset to give Brett an introductory lesson," she said.
"Sure thing," Katie replied with a warm smile. She rolled her chair over to another section of the counter, grabbed a headset, rolled her chair back, stood up, and handed the headset to Brett.
Brett grabbed the headset from Katie.
"Let's get airborne,' Corrie said.
Brett followed her out of the building.
Corrie and Brett walked down the flight line and got inside the Warrior. She left the door open.
Inside the Warrior, Brett sat in the left seat. Corrie sat in the right seat.
After plugging in her headset, she showed him where to plug in his headset.
"Okay, buckle your seat belts, and we'll get this baby going," she said. "You can observe me," she added.
They put on their headsets.
Corrie checked the circuit breakers and made sure the carburetor heat was in the off position.
Corrie flipped the beacon light to the on position. She pushed the red mixture knob to the rich position.
Corrie pushed the throttle to the fully open position three times, leaving it cracked open a quarter of an inch.
Corrie flipped the battery/alternator switches to the on position.
Corrie flipped the fuel pump switch to the on position.
"Clear prop," she yelled out of her open door.
She leaned across Brett and turned the ignition. The engine started.
They were ready after a communications check with the headset, ground checks, radio configurations, and clearance from the tower to taxi. She closed her door.
Corrie taxied the Warrior down taxiway "C" to runway 5.
After performing her ground run-up and receiving permission from the tower, she was ready to take off.
Corrie taxed the Warrior to runway 5, aligning it with the centerline before pushing the throttle in.
"Airspeed coming alive. Engines gauges in the green," Corrie called out, glancing at the gauges in front of Brett.
"When airspeed is between forty-five and fifty-five knots, I'll apply a little back pressure on the yoke," Corrie instructed.
The Warrior made a smooth take-off and was airborne.
"I'll lower the nose a little to build up airspeed; then I'll climb out around seventy-nine knots," she told him.
Brett watched Corrie fly the Warrior out of the pattern and head east away from the Columbus airspace.
Way up in the sky, Corrie climbed the Warrior to four thousand five hundred feet and leveled the plane.
"What a gorgeous view," Brett said into the headset microphone, glancing out his window. "I should have brought a camera," he added.
"Well, if you take lessons, you'll be too busy to be snapping pictures," she replied from the headset. "And you're right; it sure is beautiful up here," she added.
"I feel like a bird," he said, loving the view out his window.
Corrie smiled. "I also feel like a bird when I'm up here."
Corrie flew the Warrior fifteen miles to the southeast of the airport.
"Okay, do you want to fly her?" she offered.
"You bet!" he beamed.
"When I say, your airplane, you can take the controls. I'll take over the controls when I say, my airplane."
"Okay, it's your airplane," she said.
Brett held his control yoke and looked like a kid having free rein in a toy store.
"Just keep her straight and level," Corrie said. "And once the gauges indicate she's straight and level, you should be looking outside and using the horizon as a reference to keep her straight and level. And you should be scanning the area for other traffic," she instructed.
Brett kept the Warrior straight and level and made minor adjustments with the control yoke.
"You're doing well so far. I take it you practice a lot with your flight simulator," she asked.
"I spent hours on it and used the lesson portion of the program," he responded.
"Excellent. Now, let's try a banked turn to the right. Turn the control wheel to the right. Push in on the right rudder pedal. Use the bank and turn indicator," she instructed. She stopped. "Since you've practiced on your flight simulator, you can probably handle this technique," she added.
"I believe I can perform this maneuver," Brett replied confidently.
"Good, keep it at a ten-degree bank to the right," she said.
Brett performed a good ten-degree banked turn to the right. He deviated a little from the ten degrees but immediately corrected himself.
"Great turn. Now straighten her out." Brett straightened out the Warrior.
"It's my airplane," she said, taking over her control yoke.
Brett removed his hands from his control yoke.
"Are you from around here?" she asked curiously.
"No. I live in Fort Wayne. I'm here on business for a few days. How long have you lived in Columbus?" he asked.
"I moved down here about six years ago and started my flying service here at the airport."
"Why, Columbus?"
Corrie pondered. "I don't know. I just had this overwhelming feeling that Columbus would be a perfect place to live," she said.
"How long have you been flying?"
"I started after I graduated from high school. I've wanted to fly since I was about six years old," she answered.
The engine sputtered, and Corrie immediately looked at the gauges in front of Brett.
The engine quit, and the propeller stopped and stood still. It was an eerie, quiet sound.
Brett looked worried. "This doesn't look good."
Corrie leaned over Brett and tried to restart the engine, but the Warrior would not start. Corrie looked out her window.
"Don't worry," she said with a tone of confidence.
"What do we do now?"
"First, we establish the proper glide speed of seventy-three knots. Then we look for a safe place to land, as I don't feel we can make it back to the airport," she said, glancing out the windows.
"Like down there," she said and pointed at a field in their two o'clock position.
The field was five miles to the east of Petersville.
Brett looked where she pointed. "It looks like a challenge."
Corrie smiled with confidence. "It looks like a piece of cake." "Don't worry."
Corrie glided the Warrior to the field.
She flew the Warrior into a right-hand traffic pattern around the field.
She turned the Warrior onto a final approach and headed in for a landing.
Corrie made an excellent soft field landing with the Warrior in the field.
The Warrior rolled to a stop.
She secured the inside of the plane.
Brett and Corrie got out of the Warrior.
Brett looked around at the field.
Corrie opened up the engine compartment door and peeked inside. "I'll have to send my mechanic out and truck it back to the hangar. I'm sorry about this, and I won't charge you for this lesson," she said.
"Thank you," he replied, glancing at her. "You did an excellent job bringing us down safely," he added.
"Thank you," Corrie responded with a smile.
Brett looked around the field. A strong deja vu feeling flooded his body. "This is weird. I had a dream similar to what just happened to us."
Corrie got curious. "Did you say a dream?"
"Yeah, but it happened around nineteen eighteen, and I was flying an old bi-wing airplane. A nineteen seventeen Curtis Jenny. I had engine trouble and landed in a field like this. And I spent some time in Columbus. Then I fell in love with a beautiful woman, but two thugs beat me up and told me to leave Columbus for good. "But I had to come back because I was deeply in love with this beautiful woman," he said.
Corrie looked at Bret. "That is weird," she replied.
She glanced around the field and spotted a road. "There's a road close by. Let's see if we can hitch a ride back to the airport," she said, pointing at the road.
Corrie locked up her Warrior.
They walked off into the field to the road.