Free A New World: Chaos by John O'Brien

were damn near the same.   Totally not good .   That was to just fly to the airfield and didn’t include the fuel required to fly an approach which would most likely be required there.   I had one ace up my sleeve and that what was called and enroute descent.   That is a fuel saving request where you start your descent into the airfield from a farther distance out.   This allows a shallower descent path allowing gravity to work on your behalf for a longer period of time.   Normally about 100 miles out.   Still, it did not save that much fuel.
    I continued to calculate the fuel.   The fuel required and fuel onboard differential kept shrinking.   I had serious thoughts that I would have to bail out; to the point of going through the controlled bailout checklist.   The thought of bailing out didn’t exactly please me.   It would be a long silk ride down through some very cold clouds.   There was also the chance that the chute could freeze up with ice and cease being a parachute and more like a large piece of cardboard.   Plus, there was the inquiry that would follow.   See, the Air Force severely frowns on planting their aircraft into the earth.   I knew I could probably skate on this one but still, not a pleasant thought.   I liked my companion even more now!
    The fuel differential finally became a negative one.   I should have declared an emergency much earlier on but I always hesitated on doing that.   “ Denver Center , Otter 39 flight, declaring a fuel emergency at this time,” giving out particulars with regards to position, fuel remaining and intentions, “request enroute descent into Altus for the PAR runway 35.” (Precision Approach Radar.   An approach option for military aircraft whereby the controller guides the aircraft in with very precise headings and altitude corrections).
    “Otter 39 flight, Denver Center , copy emergency.   Turn left heading 125, descend and maintain 15,000 at your discretion.”
    About 100 miles out, having furiously checked and rechecked calculations, I signaled my wingman back into fingertip formation, completed our approach to field checks, and we started down towards Altus .   During my numerous fuel checks, I would also inquire as to my wingman’s fuel.   We were about on par with him being a touch lower.
    I called Denver Center as we began our descent.   We were handed over to Fort Worth Approach and received vectors and clearance for the approach.   I was still constantly looking at the fuel gauge and calculations.   We had gained a measure of fuel savings on the descent and, after switching to approach, they gave us short vectors to the airfield.   The cloud ceiling was considerably higher here and when we broke out, approach asked us if we had the airfield in sight.   I answered in the affirmative and we were given instructions to circle to land runway 17 which basically gives us the freedom to maneuver to and align ourselves with the runway.
    We touched down in formation and taxied to base ops.   My fuel gauge read zero; I mean absolute zero while taxiing.   I was pretty hot and furious and stormed over to base ops to give Mr. Know It All a pretty big piece of my mind after shutting down.   As I walked in, the DO walked in behind me.   I think he felt the mood and swept his arms wide and said, “My friends, at least we all made it.”   That put a pretty good perspective check on me and settled my mood considerably.   He was pretty good with stuff like that and it made an impression on me.   Always keep things in perspective.
    Pulling my mind back to the present, I make a U-turn and retrace our route.   We ride back mostly lost in our own thoughts after Robert shares our plans for tomorrow.   Michelle seems to take it in stride only mentioning she doesn’t have a sleeping bag with her.   “We have some extras,” I tell her.   Those being only words I say as we drive through town and back down the highway towards home still thinking