That flight up the Willamette and down the Umpqua was ever afterwards a nightmare to Bill. There were so many times when the difference between life and death rested upon his moving that heavy three thousand pound plane in a fraction of a second. Sometimes he missed an unusually high tree by a fraction of an inch when he was sure that he would hit it. Once he did not miss a tree, but was fortunate in that the landing gear merely smashed its way through the small top branches. Other times he was forced to jump up into the clouds to escape colliding with a hill which suddenly loomed up ahead. It was tough going all the way, with no let-up.