After four years of college all the hard work has paid off. I have an associate's degree in Fire Science Technology and my dream of becoming a fire inspector will finally come true. Before I begin to practice my dream career I am going on a vacation. I will use the next three weeks for mental relaxation. The first week will be spent skiing and hiking in the Rocky Mountains, and then I will travel to Honolulu, Hawaii where I will spend the final two weeks taking pictures of volcanoes. Instead of taking a commercial airline, I have decided to charter a small Lear jet. I find myself departing from Tampa International Airport at 6:20 a.m., Eastern Standard Time. As the plane reaches takeoff speed, the rumbling of the engines puts me to sleep. For approximately the next three hours and thirty minutes, I rest comfortably with my head pressed up against the window, dreaming of the vacation that I have planned. I begin to hear very loud and unusual noises. I convince myself that it is only a dream and fall back asleep. About five minutes pass before I finally awake to the sound of coughing. When my eyes open, I cannot see. The cabin is filled with smoke. Oxygen masks have been deployed from the overhead compartments. I realize that one of the loud noises that I hear is the pilot screaming. The last thing I can remember is looking out the window and seeing trees so close that I could almost touch them. The plane crashes. I regain consciousness only to find that the plane has nearly been destroyed. Quickly realizing that this roller-coaster ride is not over yet, and the plane is about to explode, I grab three things that could save my life: a knife, a lighter, and a satellite phone. The first thing I need to do is make contact with the world.
