Hijacking the thread for a moment.
I know you may have just been adding to the conversation. But just in case:
May 18 of last year, the engine on my 172 died and I ditched. I swam out, the rescue I planned on was waiting on the shore, and I was, generally speaking, fine.
May 15, I took a friend and his daughter on her first XC, across the Cascades. Against my better judgment, we returned at night, following the interstate.
May 19, I was planning on taking two of my kids to the coast. We would’ve been over uninhabited mountains for an hour.
Dark places? I know them. I could’ve lost so, so much. Shoot, five minutes one way or the other on the 18th, and I probably would’ve been in a memorial.
If you’re mentally going to these places, step one, stop. Don’t entertain the thoughts. There’s a million what ifs. Consider what you’d do, if you want. But not what you might’ve suffered. It can’t help. It won’t help.
And step two: if you can’t stop the thoughts, please find someone to speak to. You don’t need to have been in the incident to be affected. The resources are there. ALPA, friends, the carrier… I can even help; I have family ties to nationwide mental health organizations and can set you up with an anonymous referral. PM me. Even set up an alt to talk about it here if you want. But don’t carry this around.
