This true story took place in 1982. At the time, Dean was a W1 and stationed in Korea. He had only been graduated from the army's flight program ten months and did not yet possess the flight experience befitting the multiple flight decisions required of this flight. Not only did Dean need to deal with the flight environment but had to come to terms with the unfortunate decision matrix that he used to fly in the first place. Dean quickly realized that he had first to understand his flight conditions before he could modify emergency procedures designed to save his life.
To his horror, Dean had never come to grips with the plane crash that killed his father, twin, and two additional passengers fourteen years earlier. That traumatic event was haunting him this day while dealing with the environmental conditions that were trying to kill them all on this flight. The two flights' parallel is uncanny. There is enough background provided to allow the reader a glimpse into the unique and sometimes disastrous Doudna early years. The author does his best to remind the readers that God is the real hero. At every turn, the Holy Spirit whispers solutions, guiding Dean with decisions decades ahead of his ten-month flight experience.
There are plenty of human-interest stories scattered throughout the novel to give the reader a rest bit from the life-threatening drama that plays out in the cockpit. Dean continued his career where he served thirty-five years active duty in the army. Upon retirement from the army as a CW5, was selected to be the Government Flight Representative, where he served for another eleven years risk mitigating and approving the maintenance procedures and flights for all of Fort Rucker's 650 helicopters. He retired in 2015 and felt compelled to tell this story.