TO SAVE A PRINCE

Flight Journal, Oct 2004 by Gabella, W F "Bill"

Ten minutes later, Saudi gave a call-up. "Rescue Two; ATC says they can only raise an Arabic speaker in the GCDA office, and they don't have anyone who speaks it at ATC at this hour."

"Roger, Saudi. Please tell ATC to find someone who speaks Arabic, even if it is only the janitor, so we can communicate our needs to GCDA; otherwise we may all be in trouble on this one. No kidding!"

I often wondered how the trip steno transcribed that!

Maddeningly, the lights of Al Badi still dangled off the tip of the nose. The CP did not ask to fly, nor did I press him. I felt uncommonly alert and not fatigued-must have been the quart of adrenaline coursing in my veins. High adventure tends to do that!

With the major lightening of the bird, I trimmed it out to around 115 knots, hoping to offset the headwinds. I could see the North Star low on the horizon.

Wheeling and dealing!

At last, the lights of the ville at Al Badi passed under the nose, and I intercepted the North/South road coming out of the canyon country. I called Riyadh again and got an answer that sat me bolt upright.

"Rescue Two; this is Learjet, November XXX; do you copy? Over."

"Roger!" I repeated my shuck to him, and he rogered, calling Riyadh for me.

"Roger, Rescue Two. Riyadh says they are in contact with your Ops. They want to know, how is the patient, and what are your intentions?"

I spied the big circle I had made around Al Hillah on the map. My decision was instantly made, as the last two fuel warning lights came on.

"Learjet; the patient is resting quietly and seems all right. I plan to fly up to Al Hillah, where there's a huge lighted hardstand and where we can transfer the patient, as I am bingo fuel; all of my warning lights are lit as we speak. Tell Rescue Six to contact ATC for a vector to Al Hillah. They have enough fuel for a roundtrip from Riyadh. Also tell ATC to contact whoever in the government controls the hardstand lights at Hillah to keep them illuminated."

The Lear wished us luck, his transmissions noticeably weaker. I wondered whether he was a Spooky running borders.

"All's well that ..."

Forty minutes after we landed at Al Hillah, Rescue Six came in, guided by our radio and beacon lights. The hardstand was ablaze with tower lights. We transferred our patient, who was whisked to the Defense Hospital in Riyadh. I was told he survived and recovered.

The power station personnel were very helpful. After a quick hot shower, I fell asleep on a couch at about 0400; I had been up for 23 hours straight. Woody shook me around 0830. A fuel truck from Al Kharj filled our mains and small auxiliary tanks.

I had a crust of bread, a cup of coffee and an orange for breakfast, and then took off across the hellacious broken terrain toward Riyadh.

En route, Woody said he had probed the big auxiliary tank with a measuring stick, and he believed we had no more than 10 to 15 minutes flying time left in it. We were lucky to have made it to Al Hillah.

Woody and Billy Boggess went home on leave and never returned. I guess they thought too much about "It." I missed them! They were good guys to have around when the going got tough-and Woody was a good cook, too!