He could fly a helicopter so competently that the Chief
Flying Instructor complimented him after his final sortie,
having executed a faultless autorotation engine-off landing,
bringing the machine to the ground with artful grace.
He could communicate simultaneously on three different
radio channels with the refined poise of an airline pilot.
He could navigate to within a solitary blade of grass
at a given eight figure grid reference in the dead of night.
He could direct an unseen battery of field artillery
onto an enemy target within three single adjustments.
He could trim the finely balanced dynamics of the
sophisticated machine purely by the seat of his pants.
But ask him to do it all together, at the same time,
in the same instant, without a second thought,
each element crowded in upon his narrowing
vision, and before too long he was well and truly lost.
John H Davies
14th May 2011
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