An Angel Flight with local pilot Derward Brooks
Budget eight hours for the mission, Derward Brooks told me. We were going to need a whole day for this.
Our mission was a three-leg flight: from Baltimore to Philadelphia to Lynchburg, Va., and back to Baltimore. A retired accountant, general aviation pilot and North Laurel resident, Brooks had volunteered to help fly a cancer patient home.
My mission was to film and photograph, despite being generally afraid of heights and flights.
Brooks met his co-pilot, Larry Esser, of Glen Burnie, at a small airfield behind BWI at 9 a.m. on June 10. Esser was already prepping the single-engine Cessna — the Skylane II — when we arrived.
The inside of the cabin was about the size of a compact sedan, fitting the pilot and co-pilot up front and two snug passengers in the back. Brooks had to confirm the combined weight of my body and my equipment before agreeing to take me, which didn’t help with my fears.
With three camera bodies, some audio equipment, lenses and spare batteries, I easily made weight. He also warned me that the ride was going to be a bit bumpier than what one might experience on a commercial jet.
- Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, wipes off the front windshield of the single-engine Cessna airplane he will fly on a mission for Angel Flight East on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at BWI Airport. Angel Flight East relies on volunteers like Brooks to fly patients with cancer and other medical conditions from their homes to places where they can get treatment. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, checks over the single-engine Cessna plane he will fly for Angel Flight East on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at BWI Airport. Brooks does not own the plane, but rents it and pays for the fuel for all Angel Flight missions, which take patients with serious illnesses to places where they can get the treatment they need. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, checks prepares the cockpit of the single-engine Cessna plane he will fly for Angel Flight East on Wednesday, June 10, 2015 at BWI Airport. Brooks has been flying since the late 1990s and has about 600 hours of flight time. He has done several Angel Flight missions over the past few years. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, checks over the plan he’ll fly the next day on a mission for Angel Flight East on Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at BWI Airport. The mission, which took place on Wednesday, June 10, involved flying from Baltimore to Philadelphia, then to Lynchburg, Va., before coming back to BWI. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Larry Esser, right, of Glen Burnie, is a long-time friend of Derward Brooks who often co-pilots with him during missions for Angel Flight East. The two are getting ready to set out in a single-engine Cessna plane, departing BWI Airport and headed for Philadelphia to pick up a patient and take her to Lynchburg, Va. on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- A section of the Susquehanna River can be seen here in northern Harford County as Derward Brooks and Larry Esser fly a single-engine Cessna from Baltimore to Philadelphia on an Angel Flight East mission on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Pilot Derward Brooks checks the GPS as he and co-pilot Larry Esser prepare for a descent into Philadelphia on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. The pair volunteered to fly a patient part of the way back to her North Carolina home as part of the Angel Flight network. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Pilot Derward Brooks, right, prepares for the second leg of his Angel Flight East mission, where he will take Marleene DeNardo, right, from Philadelphia to Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday, June 10, 2015. DeNardo is hosted by Adelina Rush, center, when she comes to the Philadelphia area for her cancer treatment. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Marleene DeNardo, of Sylva, N.C., right, says goodbye to Adelina Rush, of Northeast Philadelphia, who hosts her when she travels to the area for her cancer treatments. DeNardo will fly from Philadelphia with Derward Brooks to Lynchburg, Va., where she’ll meet another pilot to complete the journey. Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Marleene DeNardo, of Sylva, N.C., left, buckles herself into the back of the single-engine Cessna plane, flown by Derward Brooks, right, before departing Philadelphia and flying to Lynchvurg, Va. on Wedneday, June 10, 2015. Brooks says he enjoys the personal aspect of taking patients on Angel Flight trips because they are often very appreciative. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Co-pilot Larry Esser, of Glen Burnie, looks out the window of the single-engine Cessna as he and pilot Derward Brooks follow a course from Philadelphia to Lynchburg, Va., transporting Marleene DeNardo part of the way to her home in North Carolina on an Angel Flight, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Marleene DeNardo, of Sylva, N.C., left, shows pilot Derward Brooks a picture of her daughter on her phone while he flies her from Philadelphia to Lynchvurg, Va. on Wedneday, June 10, 2015. Brooks says he enjoys the personal aspect of taking patients on Angel Flight trips because he gets to spend time with them. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Marleene DeNardo, of Sylva, N.C., right, meets pilot Edward Rapp, a volunteer with Angel Flight Soars, at a small airport in Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Rapp will take DeNardo, who travels to Philadelphia for her cancer treatment, on the last leg of her journey. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Marleene DeNardo, of Sylva, N.C., right, fills out paperwork with pilot Edward Rapp, a volunteer with Angel Flight Soars, at a small airport in Lynchburg, Va., Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Paperwork must be filled out at every stop along Angel Flight journeys. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Dobbins Island, bottom, and Little Island can be seen off the coast of Maryland as pilot Derward Brooks and co-pilot Larry Esser fly a single-engine Cessna from Lynchburg, Va., back home to BWI Airport in Baltimore, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- The Chesapeake Bay Bridge can be seen from inside the single-engine Cessna being flown by pilot Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, and co-pilot Larry Esser, of Glen Burnie, as they return to BWI Airport on Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Pilot Derward Brooks, right, of North Laurel, and co-pilot and friend Larry Esser, left, of Glen Burnie, deplane at BWI Airport after their Angel Flight East journey from Baltimore to Philadelphia to Lynchburg, Va. and back, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
- Larry Esser, of Glen Burnie, ties down the single-engine Cessna plaine he flew in that day with pilot Derward Brooks, of North Laurel, on a mission for Angel Flight East, Wednesday, June 10, 2015. Esser, a flight instructor, was diagnosed with leukemia in 2010 and temporarily had to flying until he was healthy. (Jon Sham/Baltimore Sun)
Brooks and Esser worked mostly off iPads, which were loaded with apps to track the flight path and conditions. Aside from the take-offs and landings, Brooks barely had to touch the yoke, thanks to autopilot.
All aboard had to clamp on a pair of Bose noise-canceling headsets to drown out the sound of the otherwise deafening propeller. With the sets on, we could communicate with each other and air traffic control.
The first take-off and flight were relatively smooth — that is, compared to the second, which was a whole new world of terror for me.
We had arrived in Philadelphia just before 11 a.m., where we met our passenger, Marleene DeNardo. She lives in Sylva, N.C., and had connected with Brooks through the nonprofit Angel Flight East, which offers free transport for treatment to people with serious illnesses. She is being treated for inflammatory breast cancer by a specialist in the Philadelphia area.
Pilots like Brooks volunteer at Angel Flights to help patients travel to their appointments more quickly, as long road trips can take an additional toll on a person undergoing treatment.
This was not DeNardo’s first flight, a fact that became more evident to me as we departed for Lynchburg.
At the start of that flight, we were met by the fluffiest, white clouds you could ever expect to see. I’m sure they looked idyllic from the ground. But from the cabin of a single-engine plane, they make an otherwise easy flight feel like the worst parts of a rickety, wooden roller coaster.
Without warning, we would jolt up into the air, or quickly sink. My stomach tossed with every movement as we ascended 6,000, 7,000 feet. I kept a hand clutched to the bench below me and one behind my back, a sort of self-made seatbelt. My knuckles turned white as I tightened my grip.
And then I looked over at DeNardo, who was just as calm as I was perturbed.
She was posting pictures to Instagram and sending texts to her teenage daughter, while I cowered in the corner. She asked if I was OK and laughed a bit at how unpleasant this was for me.
Eventually we made it past the clouds and Brooks settled us into a more comfortable glide.
The flight path this time took us southwest from Philadelphia, over western Maryland and then south, where we hit Lynchburg about 90 minutes later. There we met Edward Rapp, a volunteer with AFE sister organization Angel Flight Soars. Rapp would take DeNardo the rest of the way to Sylva.
Our return trip took us south and then east of Washington. I watched the outlines of the islands and peninsulas as we traced our way up the coast line of the Chesapeake Bay. We came up around and flew parallel to the Bay Bridge before touching down at BWI around 4:30 p.m.
And maybe it was because I had gotten used to it after several hours, or maybe it was because of DeNardo’s calm, but this time I was ready for the rocky descent. My grip on the bench was looser, my teeth not gritting quite so hard and my fear significantly diminished.
We didn’t talk much about her disease, but I thought to myself that if DeNardo could face it head on, I should be able to handle a rough plane ride.