George Santos told me during an oxygen break at the 23,612-foot elevation on our free-climb ascent of Kilimanjaro, or Fujiyama (Fugaku to gamers), I forget which, “It’s not the lie that gets you,” he then saved a koala from falling into a crevasse before adding, while lighting up a Lucky Strike (our corporate sponsor), “It’s the cover-up.” I let him finish the climb alone, because that statement added too much weight to my already overly ladened conscience. Most guilt lingers from dumb things I’ve performed in my half-century in aviation. So far.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/insider/yes-its-a-balloon-alright