So I’ll admit, now that I’ve lived to tell the story, I had a fun opportunity to fly on a propeller plane on my connection from St. Thomas to St. Kitts on my latest work trip. While it was exhilarating, beautiful and breathtaking all at the same time, I tried to block out the fact that I knew I was going to have to have that experience again on the return flight back. Thankfully, things were busy at work in Nevis that week so I was able to block out my nerves. I even tried to rearrange my flight on the way home to avoid a long layover in St. Thomas but when that did not happen, I had to embrace the fact that I could not avoid it. Little did I know that I would be asked to be a co-pilot so needless to say, any hopes of relaxing, just even a little bit, went right out the window.

I think it’s also important to note that this request was not based on experience of any kind but I’m sure only from a weight distribution aspect. Either way, when approaching the plane, the pilot looked out his window, surveying the 7 passengers and said, “Where’s Maycock? You are going to be my co-pilot.” As I got comfortable in my new role for the next hour, I made sure to remember where my parachute was that the pilot so kindly pointed out. I also had a couple from the group I was with that week for work so I knew there would be no room for error and had to remain on my A game because I was pretty sure they had not yet filled out their post-trip survey, so the pressure was on. Once we were in the air, the only communication the pilot had with me was as we approached some clouds, he looked over and did the shaky hand motion to signal we might be experiencing some turbulence. As we smoothly got passed the clouds (another prayer answered), I looked over at him and got a thumbs up so safely assumed we were in the clear.

I did, however, through the fear, sweat and anxiety, still did manage to enjoy all the stunning islands around us as we pulled into St Thomas. I did make sure and thank the pilot for a great flight and that it was an honor being his co-pilot but was very happy to put that one behind me and hang up my co-pilot hat… for now, at least.