WHERE IS THE HELICOPTER?
Something happened when I was a control tower supervisor in Japan that I can never forget. Two jet fighters were flying in formation and had just started their descent when the lead pilot radioed, “I’ve just lost my wing man.” Immediately we picked up the red crash phone connected to the rescue helicopter team on stand-by duty. When that phone is lifted, a rescue team is to be in the air in 120 seconds. The pilot descended below the clouds looking for his wing man. When he found him, he had bailed out and was in the ocean. The radio communication from that pilot stabbed our hearts as we listened. “My wing man is tangled in his parachute. Have you notified the helicopter?” “He’s floating, but having a difficult time getting his life raft inflated. Have you commissioned the helicopter?” Minutes later: “He’s still not inflated. He’s beginning to sink. Where’s the rescue team?” Minutes later: “Now he’s above water,…
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