Monday's Trip to Block Island

We finally made our long wished for trip to Block Island by plane on Monday. Dave and Gena got the plane and flew a short distance to pick me and my husband up. We then flew into a headwind to Block Island. Because of the wind it took a little longer than planned. We landed and found the airport building closed. Perhaps it was because it was a Monday evening and very little activity was going on. Or it may be that the amount of visitors was down because of the economy. In any case, we were able to get the number to call a cab and went into town. After a nice dinner, we walked around a bit and then headed back to the plane. It was now dark and the airport was more deserted than before. We got into the plane, Gena and I in the back and George in the copilot's seat. When he closed the door hatch, the handle broke off. Now... what to do? We couldn't open the door. If we took off, we weren't sure the door would stay shut. It was fastened on the bottom latch but on top it wasn't quite locked in. Dave said it would be noisy because the air pressure would pull the door out and we would hear a lot of air rushing over the opening. NOT exactly what we wanted to deal with. Not to mention the fact that we would be worrying about the door flying open. In addition to that situation, we wouldn't be able to open the door easily if there was an emergency and we had to exit quickly, like if Dave had to ditch the plane in the water! Yikes! Not a good situation at all! Well, George and his trusty Swiss Army Knife came to the rescue. George used the knife to unlatch the hook on the top latch. He them unscrewed the plate that held the whole mechanism together and figured out how it worked. During this time the batteries in the small flashlight we had were wearing down and the light began getting dimmer and dimmer. Our stress level was getting higher and higher but we all remained very calm through the whole ordeal. George was able to fit an armature that held the door tight and while he had to hold it to keep pressure on it so it wouldn't come out, it held the door tightly closed. We took off with a sigh of relief. The rest of the flight was uneventful. It's always an adventure flying with Dave! Surely one trip we won't easily forget!