Flying High and a Moment With John Steinbeck

2008 Hurricane Watch The Atlantic Basin has been quiet for the past week, however there is one disturbed area near the Lesser Antilles, which is moving toward the eastern Caribbean. Hurricane Center forecasters are watching for further development. Stay tuned.

Attention Airline passengers: You are a passenger aboard an airliner flying at 30, 000 feet. Outside the pressurized cabin you wouldn't live more than a few seconds, inside you don't give it a thought. Suddenly the pressure system fails and a yellow oxygen mask falls into your lap -- don't panic. Just follow instructions the flight attendant gave you before takeoff. Put the mask over your face and breathe normally. Now as a way to tell you why, I'm going to take you through a typical training class, before pressurized cabins, that was given by the navy to all aircrew members in the use of oxygen masks.

Excerpt from The Hurricane Hunters and Lost in the Bermuda Triangle.

I was in torpedo bomber training at Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and taking a course about oxygen as it relates to altitudes. Suddenly our class was whisked off on a field trip to Miami that introduced us to an air chamber, which simulates air density and oxygen levels at various altitudes.

We were escorted through a thick door and into a large room, on one side two rows of chairs were setup and on the other side were two 50 caliber machineguns and gun mounts. Once everybody was in the room the instructor asked us to take seats in the chairs and said he needed a couple of volunteers for the machineguns. Then he said, "Now this is not a trick question and no matter how you answer it you will not be put on report. I need someone that has had no alcohol in the past 24 hours. And I need somebody that had a few drinks of whiskey last night."

Everyone squirmed a little, but finally McMillan stuck his hand up and said, "I don't drink at all so I'll volunteer as the non drinker." Robinson stood. "I had a few shots of bourbon last night." "Great. OK you two go to the gun mounts, take your seats and get in firing position. Everyone other than the gunners put on your oxygen masks. You two at the gun mounts, don't put on your masks yet."

He then gestured and said, "Looking straight ahead is 12:00 o'clock. I'll be calling out various airplanes, when I call an enemy plane simulate shooting it down and friendly planes just wave them off. We'll be starting out at an altitude of 8,000 feet." He called out, "Spitfire at 11:00 o'clock." They waved it off. "ME 109 2:00 o'clock low. Both of them fired at the German plane. "P-51 12:00 o'clock high, and a Zero at 1:00 o'clock low. They waved off the P-51 and fired on the Zero. Then he changed the altitude to 11,000 feet and called out another group of planes. McMillan was as sharp as before but Robinson was slow to react. Then the instructor said, "The next test will be at 13,000 feet. P-38 2:00 o'clock high." McMillan waved it off. Robinson hesitated, but eventually fired at the P-38. Next altitude as 14,000 feet "Now I'll give you a few quick ones and then I want you to put your oxygen masks on."

He called out a string Spitfire, ME 109, Stuka -- Dive Bomber, Betty, F6F, Zero, and TBM. McMillan gave the right signal on all of them. Robinson, on the other hand, made a mess of the whole thing. He was erratic as he waved off the enemy and fired on friends. The instructor then said, "Now, if you were mountain climbers trained in high altitude climbing you could move to a very high altitude before you required oxygen. But with no training and starting at sea level the average person needs oxygen at about 14,000 feet. And if you don't get your mask on you'll begin hallucinating and eventually pass out. The higher the altitude the quicker you pass out.

Next week we are going back to 1881 Tombstone, Arizona Territory. We'll pick up the narrative just moments after the gunfight at the OK Corral.

Writers Notebook

Yolanda Fintor, California Writers Club provided the following tip. Anne Lamott on perfectionism: "Perfectionism will ruin your writing, blocking inventiveness and playfulness."

Another moment with John Steinbeck: "the more one learns about writing, the more unbelievably difficult it becomes. I wish to God I knew as much about my craft, or what ever it is, as I did when I was 19 years old. But with every new attempt, frightening though it may be, is the wonder and the hope and the delight."