[ 旅思 THOUGHTS — 2. 飛行冒險家The Flying Adventurer]
這一吻，是一位妻子給予丈夫的祝福；同一吻，卻是一位丈夫給妻子的道別。他擺脫的，不是妻小，不是引力，而是平庸；即將開展的，不僅是冒險，更是充滿愛、恨、諷刺與悲劇的旅程。
This kiss, was a blessing sent from a wife to a husband; This same kiss, however, was a goodbye sent from the other way around. What he freed himself from was not family, nor gravity. It was mediocre. What had begun was not only adventure, but a journey of love, hatred, sarcasm and tragedies.
沒有人能阻止Bill Lancaster踏上探險一途。空軍退役後，一心想闖出名堂的Bill決定成為第一位駕駛小飛機從英國飛往澳洲的飛行員。在一場社交派對上，Bill認識了從澳洲來英國的Chubbie。一心想回澳洲的她和Bill提議，讓她協助籌措這趟旅程的資金，但要帶她一起飛行。沒錯，Chubbie，正是照片裡的那位co-pilot。
Nobody could ever stop Bill Lancaster from going on adventures. After leaving the air force, he decided to gain himself a reputation by being the first to fly from England to Australia. At a social event, Bill met Chubbie, an Australian lady who got stuck in England and wished to go back. She suggested that she help find the funding for the trip, in exchange for the opportunity to fly back. The fund raising went quite smoothly. Hence, Chubbie earned herself that co-pilot seat.
由於小飛機有其性能極限，一路上困難重重，不僅天氣是對手，有時還得降落在不知名、充滿危險的荒野。為了加速抵達目的地，Bill教Chubbie飛行。Chubbie日後也成為一位傑出的女飛行員。一路的巔簸、不確定性、刺激、新奇讓兩人相依為命，點燃了愛的引線，也埋下了悲劇的種子。
The journey, however, didn’t turn out to be as smooth as expected. The function constraint of the small aircraft had turned the weather condition and technical problems into their biggest “drag”. Sometimes, they had to risk landing at unknown places. In order to accelerate the entire progress, Bill taught Chubbie how to fly in the middle of the journey. She fell in love with flying and had been an outstanding female pilot later on in her life. The difficulties and obstacles along with the thrill and excitement had connected the two in the strongest way, ignited the sparks…but also planted a tragic seed.
然而，這趟為了破紀錄的冒險，在途中被另一位飛行員超越，Bill不再是第一位從英國飛往澳洲的人，Chubbie卻成為第一位完成此旅程的女性。爾後，有好萊塢片商想將他們的故事拍成電影，於是他們搬到美國，展開本以為美好的人生，只可惜這部片最後取消拍攝了。為了生計，Bill到墨西哥，幫一集團飛走私貨機；Chubbie則遇見了一位宣稱可以協助寫自傳的新銳作家，成功出版後將能平分版稅。
The goal of the adventure was unfortunately being surpassed by another aviator on the way. Bill was no longer entitled to be the first ever person to fly from England to Australia. Yet, Chubbie became the first female to achieve this record. Later on, a Hollywood film production wanted to make their story into a film, so they left Australia for America. Regretfully, the film was never made. To make a living, Bill went flying “cargo” planes in Mexico. On the other side, Chubbie met an emerging writer who claimed to be capable of drafting biography for the two. They agreed on splitting the royalties once published.
Chubbie在回到澳洲時就和丈夫離婚了。即使Bill很愛Chubbie，但始終沒切割在英國的家庭。Chubbie和作家日久生情，寫信給遠在墨西哥的Bill，告知她想與作家結婚的消息。Bill連夜趕回，希望可以挽回。入夜後，一陣槍聲響起，作家身亡了。Bill作為頭號嫌疑人，被以謀殺罪起訴。為了保住Bill不用上電椅受刑，Chubbie向法院作證，宣稱作家本身患有精神疾病，並有自殺傾向。一連串的質問後，Bill最終以無罪釋放。此後，Bill和Chubbie被遣返回英國，不再有交集。
Chubbie had divorced her husband right when she made her way back to Australia. Bill, however, had never initiated any separation with his family. Flying work made Bill stay out of the country most of the time. Chubbie started to have more intimate bond with the writer. She wrote to Bill who was out in Mexico at the time about her decision on getting married to the writer as she no longer wanted to suffer from the wait. Bill came back to the States right when he got the news to talk her down. The same night, a gunshot broke through the silence in the bedroom where the writer stayed. The writer was shot dead. Bill became the primary suspect and faced a murder charge. To prevent Bill from being sentenced to death on an electric chair, Chubbie made a statement at court (possibly a perjury), claiming that the writer had mental illness and had intended to suicide many times before. Bill was acquitted. They were both sent back to England afterwards and had not crossed path ever since.
Bill回到了原本的妻小身邊，但那想要扳回自己名聲的欲望，在心底蠢蠢欲動。於是，他計畫打破從英國到南非最短飛行時間的紀錄。經費有限的情況下，他買了Avro Avian Southern Cross Minor ，一架性能稱不上最迅速的飛機，他必須減短航程間的休息時間才能達標。1933年4月11日，Bill從英國啟程。初始的迷路拖延到了預定目標，加上疲勞駕駛使他判斷力下降，在12號時，引擎故障，他迫降於荒蕪的撒哈拉沙漠。Bill的飛機失去信號後，Chubbie希望可以啟程去尋找Bill，她總覺得，作為一個了解Bill的人，一定能幫上什麼忙。無奈Bill的家人反對以及輿論的評判，最終未得成行。
Bill returned to his wife and family, temporarily. That calling at the bottom of his heart about going on adventure, about having reputation, about being free had become louder each day. He then decided to be the fastest one to fly from England to South Africa. With budget constraint, he could only purchased Avro Avian Southern Cross Minor, an aircraft with a rather low speed performance. To achieve the goal, he had to minimise ground resting time. On April 11, 1993, Bill departed from England. Due to getting lost at early phase, he was couple hours behind planned schedule. Long hours of flying had deteriorated his judgement, that on the 12th, when he experienced an engine failure, he failed to react and crashed in the middle of Sahara. After losing Bill on the radar, Chubbie offered to fly and help search for Bill, but it was turned down by his family. Public opinion had been a huge setback for Chubbie as well. The offer was called off in the end.
奇蹟似地，Bill並沒有受太多的傷亡，但飛機已經毀損，無法飛行，而更漫長的，是等待救援的日子。一天天過去，Bill反思著自己的人生，從英國到澳洲、從威風的Avro Avian Red Rose到為五斗米折腰的走私機、從充滿希望的南非之旅到前途茫茫的撒哈拉，他數著日出與日落，直到他對飛行的熱情、急於創舉的魄力，在缺水而死的那刻，被沙漠的無情地吞噬。
Miraculously, the crash didn’t injure Bill that much. The aircraft, yet, was very much just a pile of wreckage. The days of waiting for the rescue had never been longer. Day by day, Bill thought of his life and jotted down thoughts on his diary. From England to Australia, from flying Red Rose with pride to secretly smuggling in Mexico, from having a motivation in breaking records to crash landing in Sahara…the only ray of hope he could count on at the moment was from someone he didn’t even know. All of his passion for flying and record breaking had all been smothered the moment he died of thirst.
29年後，他與飛機的殘骸才被發現。機旁留下了一本日記，攢著思念與殘念。扣除了Bill對生存的渴望，剩餘的字句都是Chubbie。日記裡的某一頁，記錄了某個還抱有希望的一夜。Bill拂去紙上的沙寫下：「我嘗試傾聽天空中是否有她的引擎聲，如果有，那一定如音樂般悅耳。」只可惜，他並不知道，下一個黎明已與他無關。而Bill死後，Chubbie便不再飛行。
The remains of him and the aircraft were only found 29 years later. Lying next to the left wing was a diary printed with his will and regrets. Most lines were about Chubbie. On one page, on one hopeful day, he wrote down: “I’m still listening for the noise of an engine, it would sound like a music to me now”. Little did he know that the next dawn was no longer his to appreciate. After Bill’s death, Chubbie had never flown again.
Bill Lancaster或許沒留下過人紀錄，或許他造成的破壞多餘貢獻，但，他勇於嘗試的精神，橫衝直撞的熱情與韌性，十足展現了一位飛行員的魅力。
Bill Lancaster may have not left many outstanding records, and maybe the destruction he caused were far more than his contribution, yet his courage of trying and the belief he held onto in adversity had proven him to be a charismatic aviator.
或許這就是飛行帶給人的影響吧？每每看到機組從航廈走過時，會很羨慕他們還是天空的一部分。疫情期間，飛行對他們來說是什麼感覺？是覺得危險，還是覺得振奮？雖還是會聽他們抱怨飛的很累，但那種那種掙脫引力，用雙手開創自己人生旅程的獨立感；那種被世界奇觀，自然天候震懾而感到渺小卻又澎湃的豐沛感，應該是無可比擬的。接完班機，我陪學長去了一樓室外吸菸區，外面可以清楚看到一架架等待載貨的飛機。遙遠的跑道上，飛機起飛的引擎聲隨著秋風傳來，啊，果真如同音樂一般悅耳。等疫情結束，一切回歸正常的時候，我將記住Bill爛漫與率真那面，作為一個飛行工作者，懷著一顆冒險家心。
Perhaps this is the magical influence of flying on people? My heart fills with envy every time inbound crew walks into our office to submit documents. I envy how they are still part of the sky, and I wonder about their opinion on flying during pandemic. Do they feel safe? Do they feel inspired like before? Though sometimes they still complained about feeling exhausted, but the capability of lifting your own self and leading your own path must be beyond words. I miss the spectacular geography I saw through the observation window, and I miss the moment of feeling so insignificant before the mother nature. During break time, I accompanied my senior down to the smoking area on the ground floor. It is an outdoor stall-like area right in front of the apron, where you get to see aircraft cargo’s loading in progress. Not very far from here lies the runway. The noise of the engines from take-off was carried by the autumn wind and flew toward our direction. Ahh, it really sounded just like a music to me. When the pandemic becomes more under control, and when everything returns to normal, I will remind myself with Bill’s stories. I want to be as brave as him in aviation, and I hope to start off a journey like him, like a deep down adventurer.
