https://soundcloud.com/planobillydfw/the-pilot-v7?si=4726260c485649bb882eb893ff384239&utm_source=clipboard&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=social_sharing

This is sort of a strange song about a strange place in a strange time and part of history.

The Bahamas has been a haven for smugglers from back in the rum runner days. Drug smuggling was a natural progression. It was more or less socially acceptable back in the 1970s. Any reference to actual events are purely coincidental.

Gorda key was an infamous place for smuggling and Sandy Point Abaco Bahamas, a few miles south, was a place I spent a large amount of time. Listened to lots of stories, saw lots of stuff. I have been told that Pilots came there to escape to Marsh Harbor.

FARC=Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
VOR=A navigation device used on airplanes
The mountain of Pic la Selle is by far the tallest mountain in Haiti, standing 8,793 feet
The only place you would get "green avgas" was Colombia and that's is how the DEA would know your plane had been there.

Gorda Key now is owned by Disney and is a cruise ship port for them.

Two tracks from BIAB, the rest is all my fault...lol

Lyrics
The Pilot

The judge gave him ten long years
But he managed to make it out in five
No other thing that he could do
If he wanted to stay alive

FARC army loads the plane at night
In the hidden jungle strip
Green fuel in five gallon cans
Nothing extra for the trip

Eight thousand feet is all the plane will climb
There is a mountain you got to go around
It’s always on your mind

The VOR in Haiti’s out
The mountain is approaching fast
No way to tell if the flight will be your last

Man you got no other way got to make it to Gorda key
If you don’t men with guns will be looking for you and me
If I don’t crash the plane or get shot on the ground
We will take the skiff to Sandy Point, uncle’s truck to Marsh harbor town
If you get away this time, this won’t be the last flight
But you know in the end all this will just not turn out right
Your either gona go to jail, crash and burn or be shot dead
Better drink another bottle of gin to
put this right on out of your head

Uncle said he never knew
What happen in the end
Just on day the pilot
Never showed up again

Who knows if it’s the end of the story
Or if the pilot made it out
You can wish for good luck
But I got my doubts

Billy

“Amazing! I’ll be working with Jaco Pastorius, Charlie Parker, Art Tatum, and Buddy Rich, and you’re telling me it’s not that great of a gig?
“Well…” Saint Peter, hesitated, “God’s got this girlfriend who thinks she can sing…”