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Yet Another Flightsim Adventure


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Yeah, in my line of work, it happens. I get people contacting me all the time wanting to take them off to...wherever. Most of them are kooks and I pay little attention or quote some outrageous price so they'll go away. But every once in a while someone catches my fancy and draws me in. That's exactly what happened one early spring night it Toronto.

 

A text on my phone invited me for a free meal, which I wasn't about to turn down, although it would mean listening to someone pitch his scheme. I decided to go, since I was free that evening, and I have to admit, I'm still glad I took the opportunity.

 

4-17-2021-22-31.jpg

 

The little restaurant was right downtown. Nothing fancy, but I'm a pretty simple person. It didn't take long for me to spot the guy who'd sent the invitation, the description matched him exactly. I sat across from him at the farthest table from the door, and took my time with the menu before settling on their specialty chicken. The server, the term waitress has fallen out of fashion in a lot of places, was probably in her early 40s, dress in her uniform of a white shirt with black pants. She tapped her pen against her pad, clearly not impressed with my indecisiveness.

 

When she left, my dining companion took a sip of his beer. He swished it around in his mouth like he was at a wine tasting, then held his glass up to the dim light which hung over our table. He stayed like that for several seconds, and it was just as I was about to ask that he lowered the glass again.

 

"Thanks again for coming tonight," he said. I nodded but didn't have anything more to add. "Let me ask you a question. What do you know about the lost Great Temple of Peru?"

 

"Wasn't it a Scooby Doo episode?"

 

He closed his eyes. "No." When he looked at me again, I half expected he was going to get up and walk away, but instead he shook it off. "Lost in the jungle of Peru is the Great Temple. It's only been seen a few times over the centuries, and even fewer have made it back alive. I want to go, and I'll need your help."

 

The chicken arrived. Well, not by itself; the server brought the chicken. Along with bar-be-que sauce. It was good, they deserved to call it a specialty.

 

"You can't just go in, it will take some doing."

 

"Sure," I said. I was more interested in finishing my meal before it cooled.

 

"So I'll pay your way, and I've rented us a plane."

 

All of a sudden, he was speaking my language. "Oh?"

 

"We'll be going where and when I tell you, there will be no questions asked," he said.

 

I turned the idea over in my head for a good few minutes before nodding. "Alright," I said. "You've got a deal."

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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His faced brightened, I could tell despite the dim light hanging over the table. His hand shot out to me, I looked at it but didn't bother shaking, after a while he pulled the hand back.

 

"The name's Scott," he said. "Scott McGillivray." I nodded.

 

For the most part, Scott was quiet while I finished my meal, then sat back, eyeing him.

 

A few times, he opened his mouth as if he was about to speak, but then closed it again without uttering a word. Finally he got a few words out. "We'll be catching a plane tomorrow.

 

Sure enough, I was at Pearson early the next day, and it was just in time to get through the gate. Pretty lucky, too bad that luck wouldn't hold. We didn't sit together as the flight landed at JFK, and I followed Scott to the international departures area. It was about a third full, with people sprawled amid maroon coloured seats.

 

Remember I said our luck wouldn't hold? Case in point. We waited an hour, then two then six; all told we huddled together there for 14 hours. I would've gone somewhere else if I'd had somewhere to go.

 

Clouds gathered overhead and when we walked through the gate we could hear rain drumming down steadily. We took a blue World Travel 747 all the way to Rio.

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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We left JFK in the early morning, and by the time we landed in Rio it was after dark. We landed pretty far down the runway and I was a little worried about what would happen. The brakes hit pretty hard and I could feel the sudden deceleration as the plane dragged itself to a halt before exiting the runway to the left.

 

I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do next, but Scott led the way through the terminal. We passed McDonald's, Burger King, Starbuck's, we could well have been at any airport in the US. Eventually we got the the entrance of a hotel with a sign identifying it as Prodigy. I held back as Scott wandered to the desk. After a few minutes, he led me to the elevators where we went to the seventh floor. Scott pointed me to a room and handed me the keycard, before disappearing into the room next to mine. He had spoken very little since we had lifted off, and I assumed he was as tired as I was.

 

Despite myself, I had trouble sleeping that night, as usual. I kept waking up and couldn't get back to sleep. It must have been around 4 o'clock before I was really asleep, though I woke up again after about two hours, and couldn't get back to sleep.

 

I showered and was relaxing when a knock came at the door. I opened it to find Scott on the other side.

 

"There you are, good to see you. Ready to go?"

 

I glanced into the room to be sure I wasn't leaving anything behind. "Yup."

 

Scott led us back to the elevators and to the front desk, here he turned our keycards in, and spoke to the young woman who pointed down the hall to the right.

 

"It's over here," Scott said. To what 'it' he was referring I had no idea, but I stayed on his heals as he headed outside to a small building not far away. There was a red sign with white lettering, but my Portuguese is pretty much non-existent.

 

Inside the building was a straight hall that extended for about 40 feet before ending in another set of doors. A counter was about halfway along and Scott stopped in front of it. There was a young woman there, probably in her 20s with dark hair, black jeans and a salmon shirt. As Scott spoke to her, her eyes opened wide, then she called to someone and another woman appeared. She was older, about 50 in a blue-and-purple dress. Between them and Scott, there was enough gesturing and pointing I half felt someone might lose an eye.

 

Finally Scott pulled his wallet out and handed over a credit card, then motioned for me to follow. We went out the far doors to the plane Scott had reserved. A nice luxurious ride, right?

 

No.

 

In front of us sat a little two-seat icon.

 

4-19-2021-13-56.jpg

 

 

I was mad and i couldn't contain myself. "Are you aware that Peru is on the opposite side of the continent?"

 

"No problem," Scott said. "I've got it all worked out. Everything will be okay."

 

I was about o start screaming where he left the canopy and climbed into he plane, as cool as can be. I decided I could fight it out with him there, or let him learn a hard lesson, and decided on the latter of the choices. Starting the plane took us all of about two seconds, and we taxied down to the runway. As we climbed away, Scott used his phone and the GPS to get us pointed in a westerly direction.

 

"You do know where you're going, right?" I finally asked.

 

"Sort of."

 

"What do you mean 'sort of'?"

 

Scott glared at me. "Well it wouldn't be much of a lost temple if there was a map saying 'Here I Am'."

 

I hated to admit it, even to myself, but he wasn't wrong.

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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If you've ever followed any of the things I've done in the past, you'll know that there is one theme that comes up over and over.

 

I'm the pilot, and there's a reason for that. So many of the people who decide to make use of my services think they know better than me, and obviously this trip was going to be no different. So I played along with Scott and pointed that Icon in the direction he wanted to go. We climbed to several thousand feet, but I knew we could only do so much. Cross the mountains in that little plane? Nope.

 

What's worse, the clouds built up pretty quick, and we were flying blind while getting thrown around. I didn't care what he thought, I reduced the power and found a nearby airfield. We managed to get a ride out to Lima, and on the way I made it clear that from that moment on, I called all the shots related to our travels.

 

4-19-2021-16-01.jpg

 

Scott was ready to disagree, but I told him I was more than happy to leave him on his own. He relented.

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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If I remember correctly, there is some saying about science and coincidences. That they can't co-exist, or...something.

 

But every so often, they happen. And that day was one of those times.

 

The plane had to put down high in the mountains of South America to take on some fuel. And it was while we were sitting there that Scott jumped to his feet and dragged me across the plane to the exit.

 

"What's going on?" I tried to croak.

 

"We're almost there," Scott said as he let go of me at the bottom of the stairs.

 

"Where?"

 

"The temple, it's only a few hundred miles from here!"

 

Only?

 

But he was of and running, and I had to hurry to keep up. The airport served a little town, and it didn't take us long to reach the outskirts, even on foot. Scott held his phone in the air, along with a compass and some maps, all of which I had know idea how he'd brought along. After a bit, he left the dirt road behind as he clambered down an embankment and followed a small creek as it wound through the forest. After a time, he left the creek too, as he made his way between the trees, until arriving at a rough foot path. From there, he turned and followed it toward the east.

 

I did what I could to stay behind him. My balance isn't too good, and I came perilously close to toppling over more than once.

 

Then Scott reached an arm out and held me back. "Oh...my...God..." I came closer for a better view.

 

temple.jpg

 

It was there, he'd really found it. Scott let out a whoop like a kid in a candy store, and then he was taking pictures. And getting GPS co-ordinates, and trying to make phone calls, though he couldn't seem to get a signal.

 

I was happy for him, and for myself since it meant I could go back home. But I wasn't about to interrupt his discovery, I stood back and smiled.

 

That was when I heard the first gunshot.

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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My mother didn't raise a fool. Well, my brother.

 

I was on the move immediately, running down the trail we'd just come from, and Scott was hot on my heels. I told you my balance isn't too good, and it caught up with me. My foot slipped and I toppled over to the right. Scott reached out to grab me but instead of helping, he was pulled along. The ground sloped away and I was tumbling over and over. Through the bushes, past the trees, I couldn't stop myself.

 

Finally I came to rest, and I was sore. Scott landed next to me and was on his feet right away, trying to pull me up. I didn't really want him to leave me with people shooting at us from not far away, but I didn't want to move either. Finally I relented and stumbled to my feet.

 

I finally was able to look around, and could see that the hill we had fallen down ended at another, slightly more obvious path, which Scott started down. I had no idea which way to go, but I didn't want to be left alone so I did my best to keep up. We walked for a good long time before the trees parted into a long, narrow clearing with a few small houses at one end.

 

As we made our way along, a small plane was parked ahead of us.

 

4-20-2021-22-47.jpg

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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I knew we were way up in the mountains, but I didn't realize quite how high until I got the engine going and had a look at the altimeter. I don't fly taildraggers too often, but I didn't have a lot of choice at that moment.

 

I turned the plane hard to the right and taxied all the way to the end of the grass strip before swinging it around and giving it full power, along with a few degrees of flaps. Part way along, the tail lifted and the nose swung to the right, I had to act pretty quick to keep it aligned. We needed the entire runway to gather up enough speed to really get clear, and I caught a glimpse of a look of terror on Scott's face shortly before we left the ground.

 

With that, we were airborne flying amid the mountains of South America. I didn't want to get too high in the unpressurized plane, but sometimes I had no choice. More than once we had to climb over terrain which had me worried, and more than once the lack of oxygen made it hard to focus. At first I wanted Scott to keep me awake, but it didn't take too long to find out that he wasn't much better off than myself.

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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We stopped to refuel, then we stopped again, and again. At first, I tried to keep track of the number of legs we flew, but after a while I had no idea. I was cramped and sore from sleeping in the plane.

 

Using the GPS, Scott and I made our way from the mountains down and across the continent until we were down in the Amazon basin. I had told Scott more about myself than anyone else I'd ever known, and the same went for him. We had to pass the time somehow.

 

Some days, the weather was bright and sunny. Sometimes we had to wait for the clouds to part enough to get out.

 

We got lucky for a long time, until finally the thing we knew was coming happened.

 

We were flying low to keep out of the clouds, the rain was coming down steady, though not so heavy as to make it hard to see. We passed over a small city to land on a gravel strip. We stopped to wait out the weather, but when the time came, the plane wouldn't start again.

 

4-23-2021-21-50.jpg

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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We didn't have much choice, so we wandered into the little town. It was mostly just wooden buildings scattered around dirt lanes, but we went from one person to the next, trying to make ourselves understood. I was pretty useless, but Scott knew enough of the language to get some information, and a little cash here and there didn't hurt. It wasn't long before we found ourselves huddled in the back of an old pickup truck as it trundled along the road.

 

At one time, the truck would have been red, but most of the paint had peeled off and had been replaced by rust in most places. As for suspension, I felt every bump and every rut we hit. As we sat with our backs against the cab, a thought came to me, something which I had been wondering about for some days.

 

I leaned towards Scott and asked him why people had been shooting at us outside the temple, but I wasn't sure if he could make out what I was saying.

 

He looked at me and then leaned in close, shouting to be heard over the old engine. "There are people like me who go to those places for science and for history. Then there are people who are just there to pick up some treasures they can sell."

 

With that, I was determined. I would get him back there. "Listen," I said, turning to look him in the eye. I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. "I'll tell you what." My phone buzzed again and I pulled it out to quiet it. I was just about to try to speak a third time when the phone went off again. I rolled my eyes and unlocked the device. There were several messages, and as I read them, my jaw dropped.

 

"What is it?" Scott yelled.

 

"You know that illness that has been going around?" He nodded. "Things have gotten bad, they need me."

 

"Go," Scott said.

 

"But..."

 

"Never mind me, there are more important things."

 

Some time later, the truck dropped us off at a little grass field, where Scott and I said our farewells. He had the same plan I had thought of, though I hadn't said anything. He was going back to the temple, and he wasn't letting anything stop him.

 

As for me, there was a small jet there, and I caught a ride to the nearest large city, from where I was able to get a ticket home. I was disappointed I hadn't been able to help Scott, but like he said, some things are more important.

 

4-26-2021-8-07.jpg

Spent way too much time using these sims...

FS 5.1, FS-98, FS-2000, FS-2002, FS-2004, FSX, Flight, FSW, P3Dv3, P3Dv4, MSFS

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