|
Report:
Well,
we finally got some lawyers. The interrogations
were harsh and scary, but I think once they figured
out we weren't terrorists or anything, we were
just stupid, everything seemed to simmer down.
Man, I need to learn Italian. It could prove helpful
in future situations like this.
Please
don't believe what you may of heard on Fox News.
We weren't attempting any kind of terrorist act.
It was a simple misunderstanding.
So
how did we end up here in a cold, dark holding
cell in Italy? Oh, the story is one of carelessness
and stupidity. Thankfully, repairs to our beloved
Hopper won't take too long. Getting cleared to
fly again is a entirely different matter.
See,
it all started a week ago, leaving Interlaken.
We were set, having had our landing gear repaired
from our unexpected harsh landing there. The morning
was cool and a tad hazy down low, but a nice day.
It's a longish trek to Rome from Interlaken, and
we had set ourselves up with some Belgian beer
)Kwak, in this case) since local fair was nearly
impossible for us to find. Loaded up a few daring
souls who wanted a cheap flight to Rome, and we
were off.
The
Swiss Alps are spectacular from the air, and GB
clawed us up through the dramatic valleys and
stunning scenery until we finally locked to the
autopilot at FL180 or so. The flight, for the
most part, was uneventful aside from a bit of
turbulence that jostled us from time to time.
The passengers were satisfied with some sandwiches
and drink, and this looked to be a rather uneventful
leg of our Earthrounding journey.
As
we approached Rome, we trained our eyes (well,
not me really, but Geoff did) on the area in the
central part of the city. Landmarks in Rome seem
to be gathered together in a rather compact manner.
"The
Coliseum," I exclaimed. "I want to fly
over the Coliseum!" Like some little kid,
I figured we could take some pictures, entertain
our guests and take in one of the most beloved
and historical sights in all of Europe. GB obliged,
and brought us down to around 2000 feet as we
made our way towards the cluster of landmarks.
This
is where the interrogators spent lots of time
on us. Freakin' ready to send us off to some CIA
camp in Poland if we didn't come clean. How in
the world could we NOT know we were flying directly
over The Vatican?
As
followers of our journey inherently know by now,
we don't pay attention to airspace very much.
We really haven't had much reason to. That was,
until this incident happened.
The
first sign that something was horribly wrong was,
well, bullets hitting the wing. Shouldn't they
hail you in the COM or something before firing?
Apparently not. BANG! WIZZ! ZING! Before we could
say "Valentino
Rossi" we were without power, leaking
fuel from the punctured tank and looking for a
place to put down.
Now,
I must say here, for as bad as our decision-making
was up to this point, our emergency management
of the situation was pretty skilled. The closest
airport we had a shot at (pardon the pun) was
LIRA. But we were, since we were "sightseeing",
a bit low. The PC-12 has a pretty decent glide
ratio and we meant to use every bit of it. Declared
an emergency on all frequencies, made sure the
passengers were aware of the problem, and then
managed our unpowered descent as well as we could.
It
wasn't long before we realized that the airport
was too far away. We could stretch it some more,
but the elevations were against us. Looking closely,
we found a road - a highway, actually, that would
just have to serve. The locals saw us coming and
cleared the way for what ended up being one of
the smoothest landings GB has ever performed.
Of
course, there was no time to bask in our glory.
Before we could say "Jarno
Trulli", we were being lifted, roughly.
I might add, into some sort of vehicle and whisked
away for questioning.
So,
I think we'll be out of here in time for Christmas.
I hope so. Somehow, I don't think we'll be invited
to Midnight Mass with the Pope. We'll be avoiding
the Vatican entirely for the foreseeable future.
So
anyway, does anyone know of any good Italian
beer?
GZ
|
