6 Miles With Courage Read online

  6 Miles With Courage

  By Thomas G. LaCorte

  Copyright © 2013 by Thomas G LaCorte, all rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  Dedication

  This book is dedicated to my late father Fortunato Peter LaCorte the greatest story teller of them all.

  1926 - 2012

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to acknowledge my wife Colleen whom has always given to me her full love and support in all that I do, my mother, and all of my children, T.G., Jessica, Joey, and especially Jeremy and his wife Brittany for helping with the content and review. I also would like to acknowledge my friend Marie St. John for her encouragement and enthusiasm, Heather Henderson for all her encouragement and advice, and Mark Leach of Digitaarts.com. Without their help and devotion this book would not have been possible. A special thanks to all of the Professional Land Surveyors whom I have had the privilege of working with over the past forty years, and I thank God for all of those above.

  Disclaimer

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty One

  Chapter Twenty Two

  Chapter Twenty Three

  Chapter Twenty Four

  Chapter Twenty Five

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Chapter Twenty Eight

  Chapter Twenty Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty One

  Chapter Thirty Two

  Chapter Thirty Three

  Chapter Thirty Four

  Prologue

  Every morning before the sun comes up, all across this great state of Florida, men and women alike are preparing for a day’s work in the swamp. The old and the young, the experienced and the not so experienced, these are the modern day explorers that you hear nothing about. These are the Land Surveyors and Mappers that prepare the maps. Maps that in this day and age are used more for land conservation than for anything else.

  Rob Sykes is such a land surveyor. He has spent forty years of his life exploring and mapping the Florida wilderness. Putting on his waders, placing his lunch in his hat, and grabbing a machete, he has spent many a long day and even a few nights in the cypress swamps and river basins of Florida. He is a well-seasoned professional and wouldn’t trade his job for any other job in the world!

  His experience allows him to ghost gracefully through the swamp with enjoyment and much ease, his mind on the wonderment and beauty of it all. And while the newbie or “greenhorn” is struggling in waist deep mud, cussing his very existence, mere inches away is Rob, standing in ankle deep water with dry boots! It all comes from experience.

  Rob’s son Ryan has no such experience. Ryan has heard many tales from his father through the years. Swamp tales of spiders, snakes and alligators. Tales that would curl Ryan’s hair and send shivers up his spine. Ryan has no interest in land surveying or any interest in spending a day in the swamp. Ryan wants to be a pilot when he finishes high school and has become quite an accomplished model-airplane and simulator pilot.

  Rob has an interest in aviation as well. He has already received his pilot’s license and has just purchased a small plane to help him scout his future survey projects. It’s this common bond that finds Rob and Ryan planning to share a long needed day together.

  What they didn’t plan for is that Ryan was about to be thrown deep inside his father’s world of land surveying. Six miles deep into the swamp.

  How will he find the courage to go six miles alone?

  Or is he truly alone!

  Chapter One

  “I will meet you at Brown’s Airfield Monday morning at eleven o’clock sharp,” Rob Sykes a Professional Land Surveyor tells his son. “Don’t be late! We have a full day of flying ahead of us.”

  “I will be on time,” promised Ryan. They live just a short drive from the little grass airstrip that is located in Zellwood, a quaint town in central Florida.

  Ryan is true to his word. They meet as planned. The weather is gorgeous—a deep blue sky—the first crisp autumn air has blown in from the north.

  Tomorrow is Ryan’s eighteenth birthday and Rob will be tied up with business so they take the opportunity today to spend some time together. It’s an early birthday present for the both of them.

  After fueling up the airplane, Ryan’s dad makes a last-minute jog back to his truck to grab a duffel bag and lockup their cellphones in the glove box. They won’t be using them during the flight.

  After a run-down of the preflight checklist they rumble down the grassy airstrip, take off, and with a turn to the north they’re off into-the-blue.

  This is Ryan’s first plane ride with his dad. Well actually this is his first plane ride period and as with anybody’s first plane ride there is a sense of awe and wonderment. The plane is his father’s which he had just purchased for business use. His father recently received his private pilot’s license and this is his first chance to take Ryan up. The plane is an older model of the high-wing, single-engine type. The high wing makes it easy to take-in the beauty below.

  When you’re high above the Florida landscape everything below looks like a toy. The trees have the appearance of the little ones that you buy at hobby shops for model train sets. Ryan put his thumb up to the window. It completely covered a boat that was following the curves of the river some two thousand feet below.

  “What are you doing?” Ryan heard through the head set. Turning towards his father he replied, “What do you mean?”

  “I mean that thing with your thumb, what are you doing with your thumb?” his dad asked.

  “Oh, nothing,” Ryan said, turning back to watch the world below.

  “Where are we?” Ryan asked, leaning in a little closer to his dad.

  “Does it matter? Look around you son we are free from the bonds of the earth.” Ryan liked it when his dad called him son.

  It was true, they were indeed free. Free to soar where the eagles fly and free to climb the endless halls of the sky. Free to dance among white puffy clouds, free from school, free from chores, well they were just plain free. It is a feeling like none other.

  The experience of flying is thrilling in itself, but the fact that he had some alone-time with his dad made it all the more magical.

  It wasn’t that he did not like spending time with his mom, or his brother, or even his sister. He loved them all dearly. With dad having his own business it meant that for the most part he worked six days a week. Then there was church on Sundays and with what little time his dad had for the weekend, well it seemed he wanted to spend it with everybody. “One-on-one” time with dad was rare.

  Ryan did not know exactly where they were but he did know that they were somewhere over the Ocala National Forest and the Oklawaha River. His father had just completed a survey of the river below. They are now going to
scope-out a new project to the north but the destination does not matter to Ryan.

  “Do you want to get a closer look at what’s below?” his dad asked.

  “Sure let’s do it!” Ryan said.

  Rob throttled-back the engine and made a slow descending turn towards the river below. Ryan seeing only sky and clouds patiently waited for the plane to level out. When the river again appeared in his window it had a much different look. The river was wider and the trees were bigger. Ryan noticed that they were only several hundred feet above the wilderness.

  “Do you see that bend in the river?” Ryan’s dad asked.

  “Yes I see it,” Ryan said.

  “That’s where we almost swamped the boat in a thunderstorm during the survey. It came upon us fast, and we tried to make it to Highway 19.”

  “Where is Highway 19?” Ryan asked.

  “It’s over there to the west.” Rob said pointing out the windshield.

  But looking towards the west Ryan sees only swamp. “I don’t see anything,” he said.

  “I’ll take us back up and give you a look.”

  It was a nice feeling for Ryan’s dad to be engaging in a real conversation with his son. When you’re at the age of fifty-four, seventeen-year olds are just plain hard to talk to. When Ryan was younger he would seek the answer to life’s questions from his dad. When adolescence arrived dad’s answers were outdated. Ryan’s father hoped that his next step—the step into adulthood—would bring back the old connection they once shared.

  Ryan’s father eased the throttle forward and the one hundred and eighty horsepower engine sprang back to life with a roar. Ryan felt the plane lifting up. Watching out the window the trees began to shrink.

  BANG!

  The loud noise came without a warning. It was followed by a violent shuddering of the aircraft. Ryan had his seat belt on but he is still thrown from left to right. This motion lasted only a second but it seemed much longer. He looked over at his father to find him with a sense of bewilderment on his face.

  Eyebrows narrowed, leaning forward, his father is staring at the windshield. He reaches out to rub something off of it but it’s on the outside. It’s oil!

  Ryan notices large spots of oil rippling across his side of the windshield too, and there is something else sticking out of the front of the airplane that he had not noticed before. It is a long metal object with a painted tip. It’s the propeller! And it has stopped still!

  Now, for the first time since taking-off there is no deafening engine noise. There is only the sound of the rushing wind.

  Ryan doesn’t know much about airplane engines but he knows this. Something terrible has gone wrong.

  He looks back at his father. He wanted to say something but he could not find any words so he just watches him. He watches him not with a sense of panic or even apprehension. He watches him as he has for so many years, with a sense of pride and confidence.

  They’re in big trouble, and Ryan has no clue that he is about to experience the ride of his life.

  Chapter Two

  When Ryan’s dad heard the bang he knew instantly that it was a major malfunction of the engine. There was no sputtering, no popping, nor any sign of what was to come. The engine locked up and no amount of trying to start it would help.

  Ryan’s father was no stranger to quick thinking. Making quick decisions is a trait you must possess if you’re going to make it as a land surveyor in the Florida wilderness. He quickly and methodically assessed the situation.

  The engine is out of commission and our altitude is six hundred feet. We are low-and-slow. In sixty seconds we will no longer be airborne. We are going to have to make an emergency landing! We need to find a field fast!

  Glancing out his window he sees nothing but cypress trees. Looking past Ryan and out the right window, he sees nothing but more cypress trees. Straight ahead is much of the same. A field landing is out of the question. The emergency landing procedures for this situation runs through his mind. Turn off all electrical switches to prevent a fire. There is only one option left. Fly it into the trees!

  Sounds kind of crazy does it not? Fly it into the trees. But that is exactly what he is supposed to do in this situation. The idea behind this kind of thinking is that beyond anything else you want to keep the cockpit intact, thereby keeping you and your passengers safe. While you still have airspeed you still have control. So you fly it into the trees and knock the wings off. The rest of the plane becomes a twenty-five foot canoe, spearing through the woods and coming to rest somewhere on the forest floor with the cockpit intact.

  On the other hand, if you try to stay airborne as long as you can, the airspeed will drop-off to a point that is too slow to sustain flight. The plane then falls out of the sky, nose down destroying the cockpit and you along with it. If he expects to survive the crash Rob knows what he must do. There was no time for a “May-Day” as all attention must be given to flying the airplane. They will be in the trees in less than 60 seconds.

  “Ryan I want you to listen to me very carefully,” he said, as one hand quickly began flipping all the electrical switches to the off position, and the other hand kept a tight grip on the yoke. His eyes were watching the horizon for a gap in the cypress trees. “Tighten your seat belt and put your head between your knees. I need you to brace yourself for an impact. We are going to have to put her down son.”

  Ryan does not question his dad. He tightens his seat belt and takes one last look outside before lowering his head. He notices that they are so close to the tops of the trees that he feels as though he were an eagle, looking for a place to land. He notices something else. There seems to be a lot of cargo-netting strung out across the treetops like giant hammocks, but in reality, it was only vines. He lowers his head.

  Ryan felt his father’s hand land gently on his back. He turns his head and looks up to hear his father say, “When we come to a stop we need to move away from the plane as quickly as possible, ok son?” Ryan smiled and nodded his head. His father nodded back. There was no need for “I love you” they both knew it. There was no time for it either. Ryan’s dad withdrew his hand and went back to the job he had to do. Crash an airplane the best way he knew how!

  Thirty seconds until impact and Ryan’s dad has his eyes set on a small separation of cypress trees dead-ahead. His mind was made up; this was to be their best hope. Only one thing left to decide, should he put the flaps down or not. Lowering the flaps would lower the airspeed but then he could run the risk of falling to the forest floor and crushing the cockpit. He left the flaps up and decided that he would enter the trees at fifty knots. He pulled back on the yoke one last time to bleed-off a little airspeed. He then pushed it forward aiming the little craft towards the target. He did everything by the book. It was all up to fate now.

  The last that Ryan remembers is a big bang and a violent jolt, and then the sound of metal ripping apart. Everything goes dark and silent as Ryan is knocked unconscious.

  Chapter Three

  At first thought Ryan had no idea how long he was knocked out, but later he determined that it was about ten minutes. When he at last awoke he looked out his window. It is covered on the outside with leaves, twigs, and splotches of mud.

  His eyes begin to focus through the window at the scenery. It is a scene Ryan remembers from movies, Tarzan movies.

  There are long vines hanging down from ghastly looking trees. They look like sleepy hollow type trees. They have the long spindly scary looking branches. There is an occasional spot of dry ground but for the most part it is swampy with ferns. There is a mist in the air, and it is dark under the canopy of cypress and gum trees. Ryan rubbed his face to make it all go away, but it does not go away. He looks at his watch. It is two o’clock in the afternoon. Apprehensively he turns to look towards his dad. He is afraid for what he might see.

  Looking to where his father was seated he sees a tangled mess of pilot seat, yoke, and instrument panel. Wedged between it all is his dad!

 
His heart sank.

  “Dad,” he whispers softly as his eyes lock onto his dad’s dark head of hair. He cries out louder, “Dad!” His hand is reaching out to touch the back of his father’s head. It was the only recognizable part of his father amidst that side of the mangled cockpit.

  “I’m here son. I’m alright for now I think anyway. I can’t see anything and I can’t move.”

  It was the sweetest words Ryan had ever heard. He breathes a sigh of relief, and sits back into his seat to let his pounding heart settle. He’s alive! I’m alive! For the moment that’s all that mattered.

  Remembering what his dad told him about moving away from the plane. He put his hand on the door handle but stops short of pulling it open.

  On his dad’s side of the cockpit Ryan sees a large cypress tree pressing up against the left side of the airplane. Or what remains of the airplane.

  The cypress tree covers the left side from the back passenger seat, past the cockpit, almost to the propeller. It is a huge tree. It looks like his father’s face could be pressed up against it but he cannot tell for sure. If there is any room at all, it couldn’t be much. The left wing and left door are gone. He thought to himself, there would be no extracting his father from the left side of the airplane.

  Ryan’s wing is also gone, but his side of the cockpit was in good-shape with the exception that his door is slightly ajar. The fuselage (minus the wings) is intact and sitting on a tuft of dry ground slightly above the level of the swamp. There is a slight smell of fuel but nothing to be alarmed about. The fuel tanks are in the wings which are now somewhere in the swamp behind them. For all intents and purposes Ryan’s father had made a textbook, into-the-trees crash landing.

  Ryan’s father may have done everything by the book but unfortunately for him, his side of the cockpit was severely damaged. Ryan wanted so desperately to see his father’s face that he pulled the handle on his door and hopped out.