Out and back today...it actually happened!

Ok, so I was supposed to have my out and back today with a VFR first leg out to Meridian and then a night ride back here to shoot approaches. However, we had some ridiculous storms and bad weather roll in early in the afternoon. However, everything started clearing up enough that we actually were able to make it out, although our plans totally changed and we were fully 2 hours past our original takeoff times. We didn't use the plans I had originally at all, but were able to use the VR1014 lowlevel route to fly VFR out to Huntsville, AL. Once there we did about 7 overhead patterns. My first 2 or 3 were awful, but the last couple were really nice.


I flew all of this with Capt 'Kegger' who I've flown with once before and I enjoy flying with. We landed a little before 8 and had to take off at 9 so we quickly jumped into the courtesy car and went to Firehouse which is a sub place that makes some great sandwiches. They also have a huge collection of hot sauces and I picked 3 that looked the hottest. I put the hottest one on there, and I really only wanted a dab, but about a whole teaspoon came out. Now, at this point I thought, no big deal; I've have had plenty of 'hot' stuff in my lifetime, this won't kill me, it can't be that bad. Then Kegger put some on his plate and just barely dabbed his sandwhich in it as I took a big bite with all that sauce on it. He asked me how it was and I said, "it's not bad". And really, at that point it wasn't. It had a nice little sweetness to it, and was only just starting to get a little hot. But then it kept going!! Pretty soon my mouth was literally on fire! I seriously thoguht for a while I might need medical help! I was instantly hiccuping uncontrollably, as was Capt Kegger across from me. I was having a hard time even breathing and was feeling the most intense pain I've ever felt in my mouth, it really felt like it was burning! I thought I was going to die, and I may have even welcomed it at that point! So here we were, both grown men in military uniform with tears in our eyes in obvious pain while both hiccuping, laughing, and choking at the same time. Just imagine it!

The only thing that helped at all was continually sucking cold tea down through a stall. Soon I was hurrying across the restaurant for a couple of refills, and Kegger was not far behind! Of course, on the way back I then suddenly had to go really bad for like the last 45 minutes of the flight. Oh well. I wanted to laugh for most of this, but it was just too hot! I can honestly say that's by far the hottest I've ever had in my life! And I'm no foreigner to spicy food!

So then, being the intelligent beings that we are, we THEN read the labels after it was a little late. There were all kinds of labels on there saying that we would not sue them, etc due to any damages from the sauce. Then we read another label for another sauce that only half the level on the scoville spiciness scale as this one, and that bottle said to try only a small drop at a time and even then with caution! And I had a whole teaspoon + in one bite of one that was twice as hot! This thing was a 375,000 on the scoville scale. Please reference the chart below:

You will notice that 375,000 is really not that far below US military grade irritant ammunition! That's weapons grade spiciness!! Also, for most of you who rank jalapenos as being really hot, notice that they don't even reach 4,500 on the scale. So just image something literally 80 times as hot as those! So needless to say, I will never underestimate hot sauces again in the future!

I spent so much time trying to survive there that Capt Kegger had to drive us back so I could try and finish eating on the way. We then got every prepped up and into the jet at around 9 for our night leg. We shot one ILS at Huntsville, and then came back direct to columbus for a GPS and then another ILS that Kegger shot. It was a great trip and beautiful ride back at night with the stars, moon, and city lights and the cool clouds we had out tonight. I loved it, it was a great ride.

Now we'll be leaving tomorrow for our weekend cross country trip. The plans keep changing but it looks like we'll be starting out to Tallahassee tomorrow to spend the first night, and then have 2 flights a day after that. So I'll be getting in around 12 tomorrow to get that all planned. I'm so tired tonight I've just got to get to bed but I'll be packing and everything in the morning and then heading out for the weekend. Should be a blast!