Rogue Hearts / Sky Silk (working titles)

This is an initial trial run for a possible online series of connected stories. I have been trying to figure out the best format to present them with - whether via video or a combination of text and video.

This will be a fictional story about an experienced Canadian aircraft ferry pilot who unintentionally gets caught up in government intelligence operations from US Homeland Security, US Navy Intelligence and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service. The location covers the geographic areas of the western mountain range of British Columbia and the US States of Washington and Alaska. 

His ordered and quiet lifestyle is disrupted when he is approached for help by a beautiful US Navy Intelligence analyst. The backdrop to all of this involves illegal arms smugglers, drug lords and corrupt government officials. 

Below is a rough draft introducing one set of protagonists in a developing story arc.

Jonas had been searching for his pilot’s licence for the past 20 minutes, but to no avail. Sitting at a small kitchenette table in their rented suite, sipping her morning tea, Ilana watched with amusement as her husband muttered to himself, totally oblivious to her presence, as he looked underneath their hotel room bed for the third time; desperately trying to find the document she knew was not there. Mainly because she had hid it on purpose.

They had arrived in Tofino BC for the first time two days ago, and booked a room at the Wickaninnish Inn. Today they would be checking out and flying across the mountains to Campbell River on the eastern shore of the island.

As she watched her husband’s legs protruding from beneath the bed, Ilana’s mind drifted to the past. It was almost six months to the day since retiring as Director of Flight Operations for the Czech Republic’s National Carrier, Czech Airlines. After 25 years of postings throughout Europe and the Middle East, she had felt the time was right to begin enjoying life at a slower pace. Especially given the fact she had never given herself the opportunity to get married or settle down. Oh, she had received many romantic overtures throughout her career, but never felt any of them would be fulfilling. She often wondered if she was being too picky.

A month after retirement, accompanied by her two closest friends, Ilana decided to take a road trip from her home town of Prague, to Germany. The time spent on the road was great until they were just outside the eastern outskirts of Berlin, where their car decided it could go no further. After contacting roadside assistance, they were met a short time later by a local representative who took them into Berlin. His name was Jonas.

At first she thought he was a bit too intense. But as she and her friends chatted with him on the drive in, they found out he too was recently retired. He had flown military  aircraft in the German Air Force for 28 years. That revelation gave her added insight into his personality.

Ilana would never have thought such a regimented, orderly person would be interesting to her; given her somewhat mischievous and carefree nature.

“Ilana...Ilana?”

Ilana stirred from her memories and found Jonas, kneeling beside their bed, with a knowing look on his face.

“You wouldn’t happen to know where my pilot’s license is, would you?”

“License? What license?” She replied, feigning innocence and trying not to smile.
Jonas took all of this in stride.

In the five months he had known her. He had moved beyond bemused tolerance to unabashed admiration. When he first met her on that German roadside less than half a year ago, her spontaneity and mischievousness ran counter to his ordered and logical way of thinking. He had mistakenly assumed, Ilana and her friends were just your typical free-spirited, holiday makers. When he discovered she recently ran the Flight Operations department of a major European Airline, he found himself readjusting his thinking about her.

That unexpected encounter out on the Autobahn, had turned even more unusual, when not two months after their first meeting, while visiting her in Prague, she had proposed to him. She must have taken his stunned look as affirmation, because within a month of that request, they were married in a quiet civic ceremony.

The second clue to her ongoing penchant for surprises, came on their wedding day. Ilana had presented a gold-lined, black velvet box containing a silver key to him. As it turned out, the key accessed an exclusive private hangar at EuroJet’s Intercontinental FBO at Prague’s Vodochody Airport. Inside was a brand new Aircraft Industries L 410 NG ("New Generation") twin turboprop aircraft. Ilana had generously provided this as her wedding gift to him. This was a specially customized variant of the of the L410 Czech Turbolet aircraft. She had yet to reveal how she pulled that off, but they have been travelling the world in it ever since.

As Jonas stood up, he smiled affectionately back at her, confident his license was not lost, but quite safe. He also knew visiting Campbell River would just be another opportunity for her to hide something else, or surprise him once again. Either way, because of her, retirement would never be boring.

I felt it before I heard it. A sound reverberating from the south.

I was just finishing lunch at the Fuel Up Cafe, located in Campbell River’s main airport terminal, when a distinct rumble morphed into the sound of twin turbines, but with a deeper resonance than a KingAir 350 or Dash 8.

The wind was out of the north at the moment, but the view of the approach from the south was blocked from my vantage point. I could not confirm the source of the sound, not until I saw an aircraft flare just over the threshold of RWY 30, landing just past the numbers. It was then I had my first glimpse of what originally arrested my attention.

The aircraft touched down smoothly, slowing in sufficient time to exit at the first intersection. It then proceeded to pull up to a vacant parking spot just on the other side of the window where I sat. I first thought the high-wing, twin-engine turboprop was a Mitsubishi MU-2, the venerable Japanese rocket. The MU-2 was one of Japan’s most successful postwar aircraft, with over 700 coming off Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ assembly lines before production ended in 1986 in both Japanese and US manufacturing plants. I recalled MU-2’s had a somewhat justifiable reputation for being difficult to fly. They had a negative record of fatalities; over 300 if I remember correctly. That in part prompted the FAA to mandate specific training for this high performance, low cost aircraft. That move invariably reduced the fatality ratio.

As I watched the engines spool down, I realized this was not an MU-2. While it had a similar shape and profile of the Mitsubishi, I got the impression of an MU-2 on steroids. This aircraft had a more utilitarian look, and was not quite as sleek.

I watched as two people exited the aircraft; a man and a woman. He was taller by about 4 inches, clean shaven, with a powerful build. He walked with a military bearing, and had a very focused look about him. His head was slowly tracking from left to right as he walked, as if he were identifying and cataloguing his surroundings. His female companion seemed more relaxed, and was laughing at, or with him about something. I noticed no one else exited from the aircraft.

While this was all very intriguing, I didn’t have time to linger. I had my own flight to attend to. I had to prep for a flight to Pemberton. A last minute route diversion to pick up an American nurse who needed to catch a flight to Stewart on the BC/Alaskan border.

I was scheduled to ferry a new Daher Kodiak turboprop aircraft, recently outfitted for the Canadian arm of the Mission Aviation Fellowship relief agency. Originally, I was to fly from Campbell River direct to Stewart to deliver the aircraft to one of the agency’s pilots, who coordinates medical flights between Stewart and Dease Lake in the Northern interior of British Columbia. Getting today’s route diversion was unexpected, but not uncommon.

According to the little details I had been given, the nurse I was supposed to pick up had been in Pemberton attending a medical conference for the past two days. She needed to get back to her regular assignment on The Hospital Ship USNS Comfort. This just happened to be the world’s largest Hospital Ship, which ran under the flag of the United States Navy. It was currently docked in Ketchikan Alaska waiting for her to arrive on a  connecting flight out of Stewart. I was advised the connecting flight out of Stewart for my pending passenger was also another ferry contract requiring me to fly a Dash 8 Q400 to Ketchikan.

Whoever this person was, she must have some serious connections in the US Navy. Assuming she really is a nurse! Probably best not to speculate too much…lunch was finished and I was already past my quota limit of intrigue for one day.

I got up from the table and left some cash for the waitress. Glancing once more at the unfamiliar turboprop that was now being refueled, I took out my phone and snapped a couple photos of the aircraft. As I was about to exit the restaurant, I saw the couple enter. The man brushed past me on the right side, with his eyes locked on me until I walked past him. Wondering what I that was all about, I proceeded to make my way over to one of the south-side maintenance hangars housing the Kodiak. It was time to file my flight plan and get moving.

I thought again of the couple who had just flown in on the strange aircraft, and wondered what their story was.