I learned the meaning of trust yesterday!

After a 7 hour mission we were on our way down to land. The landing gear was lowered, but one of the gear's indicators didn't show a safe down and lock. We checked out the window and saw that it was down, but no way to make sure it was locked. We flew past the tower so they could visually look at the gear. It looked down to them. So we went around and the pilots decided to cycle the gear. If it didn't work, then the gear might have been stuck up and we would have been SOL.

The part I found interesting in all of this was that I never felt overly worried. I was more concerned that my in-line crew (The sailors under my charge) were fully aware of what was going on, (they couldn't hear the coversation that I could hear) and that we reviewed exactly what we were going to do in the event that we had to make a belly up ditch.

I think I felt that way because I trusted the pilots at the controls. I knew them and had flown with them for several months. They had my confidence. I didn't realize how much of it they had until I was put in that situation, and I remained as calm as I did.

btw, after they cycled the gear we got a down and safe indication from all 3. The landing went fine.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit methamphetamines