{"id":768,"date":"2024-12-16T09:48:14","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:48:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=768"},"modified":"2024-12-16T09:48:14","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T15:48:14","slug":"the-night-before-christmas-aviation-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/?p=768","title":{"rendered":"The Night Before Christmas (Aviation Style)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"\"

Fellow Pilots will understand<\/p><\/div>

<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The aircraft were fastened to tie downs with care,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In hopes that \u2014 come morning \u2014 they all would be there.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

With gusts from two-forty at 39 knots.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I slumped at the fuel desk, now finally caught up,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And settled down comfortably, resting my butt<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When the radio lit up with noise and with chatter,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I turned up the scanner to see what was the matter.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

A voice clearly heard over static and snow,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Called for clearance to land at the airport below.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He barked his transmission so lively and quick,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d have sworn that the call sign he used was \u201cSt. Nick.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I ran to the panel to turn up the lights,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The better to welcome this magical flight.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He called his position, no room for denial.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSt. Nicholas One, turnin\u2019 left onto final.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And what to my wondering eyes should appear,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But a Rutan-built sleigh, with eight Rotax Reindeer!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With vectors to final, down the glideslope he came,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As he passed all fixes, he called them by name:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Now Ringo! Now Tolga! Now Trini and Bacun!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

On Comet! On Cupid!\u201d What pills was he takin?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

While controllers were sittin\u2019 and scrathin\u2019 their heads,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

They phoned to my office and I heard it with dread,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The messae they left was both urgent and dour:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Santa pulls in, have him please call the tower.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He landed like silk, with the sled runners sparking,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I heard, \u201cLeft at Charlie,\u201d and \u201cTaxi to parking.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He slowed to a taxi, turned off of three-oh,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And stopped on the ramp with a \u201cHo! Ho! Ho! Ho!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He stepped out of the sleigh, but before he could talk,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I ran out to meet him with my best set of chocks.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His red helmet and goggles were covered with frost,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And his beard was all blackened from Reindeer exhuast.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

His breath smelled like peppermint, gone slightly stale,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And he puffed on a pipe, but he didn\u2019t inhale.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His cheeks were all rosy and jiggled like jelly,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

His boots were as black as a cropduster\u2019s belly.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He was chubby and plump, in his suit of bright red,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And he asked me to \u201cfill it, with hundred low lead.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He came dashing in from the snow-covered pump,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I knew he was anxious for drainin\u2019 the sump.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

I spoke not a word, but went straight to my work,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

And I filled up the sleigh, but I spilled like a jerk.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He came out of the restroom, and sighed in relief,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then he picked up a phone for a Flight Service brief<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And I thought as he silently scribed in his log,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

These Reindeer could land in an eighth-mile fog.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He completed his pre-flight, from the front to the rear,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then he put on his headset, and I heard him yell, \u201cClear!\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

And laying a finger on his push-to-talk,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

He called up the tower for clearance and squawk.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cTake taxiway Charlie, the southbound direction,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Turn right three-two-zero at pilot\u2019s discretion.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

He sped down the runway, the best of the best,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYour traffic\u2019s a Grumman, inbound from the west.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Then I heard him proclaim, as he climbed through the night,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cMerry Christmas to all! I have traffic in sight.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Research<\/a> indicates this was first published in 2002 and, sadly, the author is unknown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  Twas the night before Christmas, and out on the ramp, Not an airplane was stirring, not even a Champ The aircraft were fastened to tie downs with care, In hopes that \u2014 come morning \u2014 they all would be there.   The fuel trucks were nestled, all snug in their spots, With gusts from […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,4,20,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-768","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aviation","category-christmas","category-funny","category-holidays","category-29-id","category-4-id","category-20-id","category-8-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=768"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":769,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/768\/revisions\/769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=768"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=768"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/aliendreams.ddns.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=768"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}