Fear Of Flying

I flew to Europe once. The plane took off at dinner time and by two in the morning we were somewhere over the mid-Atlantic. I was very afraid of flying and sat wide awake, staring out of the window. I had a seat over the wing. it was a brand new plane, just put into service. I stared intently at the wing, the curve of the engine, the flaps of the wing, the rivets.

A small dark spot appeared on the wing just above the engine. It was very small at first but gradually it got a little bigger. I thought that my eyes were playing tricks on me, but after a while I could see a distinct triangular dark patch on the wing above the engine. But where could a dark patch come from on the wing? Could the engine be heating up the wing because of some malfunction. I decided to wait and see if the dark patch got large enough to cover a certain rivet on the wing. Gradually the dark patch got larger and larger until it covered the rivet and most of a flap.

I went to the back of the plane where a hostess was dozing contentedly sitting on a milk crate. I said, “Can you tell me why there is a dark patch on the wing?” The hostess came to my seat and looked at the wing, then she said, “I don’t know, I’ll go and find out though.”

Then passed a very curious few minutes, which I thought would be my last. I gazed at the sleeping travelers and thought to myself, “I’m the only one that knows that we are all about to..........

But the hostess came back with this explanation. The dark spot was the shadow of the tail fin, cast upon the wing by the light of the moon. It “appeared” because that night there was a total eclipse of the moon, and as the moon emerged from the shadow of the earth it’s light lit up the plane, forming the shadow on the wing.

Hearing that was a big relief!

Dimensions: 5.5” x 7”
Materials: Acrylic paint on gessoed paper
Signature: Along the bottom edge: Richard Britell, July 16, 2002