Angle of Climb

“Let me help you. Who are we most likely not able to get along with? I mean, what kind of people really irk us?” asked Steve exercising his Masters Degree in Counseling.

“I don’t know. You mean attitudes or abrasive personalities?” John replied.

“Something like that,” said Steve. “What I am getting at is this. We sometimes dislike those who remind us of ourselves. You see, in our minds we recognize room in our spheres of influence for only one of us. So when a personality appears on someone else that is much like our own, or how we used to be, we don’t like it. We actually feel threatened.”

“Let me see if I can understand, Herr Freud. You are trying to tell me that because Jason and I are somewhat alike, we repel each other like water and oil,” said John.

“Precisely,” replied Steve in a horrible German accent.

Laughing, John felt better. He realized Steve had calmed him down without having to belittle Jason.

As John lifted the left aileron of the Cessna 182 a torrent of water greeted the back of his neck. Although a shock, he felt refreshed as the water ran down his spine and was absorbed into his shirt. He saw Steve hide an amused grin, then take a seat in the passenger side. John inspected the fuel reservoir for telltale signs of water and concluded his inspection before taking his place in the left side of the cockpit. He adjusted the instruments for the proper barometric pressure, horizontal level, and direction on the heading indicator before taxiing to the runway and setting the flaps to full.

“Tiom traffic, this is N7724V taking runway 10, departing to the South west,” John called to inform other pilots in the airspace. He looked 360 degrees, searching for traffic before applying full power. He waited to release the brakes until the RPM’s registered high on the tachometer. At the precise moment, he released the brakes and the powerful engine rolled the plane off the mark, and slowly accelerated toward the trees at the end of the runway. John lifted the nose until it was at the proper attitude to clear the jungle obstacle, and achieve the best angle of climb.

Jeffrey W. Bennett, is the author of Commitment-A Novel and other non-fiction books, novels and periodicals.