Free Web NovelChapter 461: Chapter 372: How to Drive Away a Helicopter?
Helicopter Piloting (Beginner), 80 Military Merit Points.
That’s the cost to take a helicopter for a spin.
But this is not something he would exchange for in the Military Merit Shop.
Piloting is a pleasure, and he had flipped through seven or eight books on helicopters in every aspect. He wouldn’t give up the joy of flying for a shortcut.
Moreover, even if he did, it would be pointless.
If you thought you could fly a plane whenever you wanted, how many crashes would there be in a day?
To pilot a plane, you need a license, not to mention this cumbersome thing. Even gliders require a sports license. To fly a helicopter without a license would result in hefty fines and possibly the crime of a major flight accident.
There are three types of flight licenses.
Sport Licenses (for basic airplanes, rotorcraft, gliders, balloons), Private Pilot Licenses (for non-commercial airplanes with fewer than 4 seats), and Commercial Pilot Licenses.
To pilot one of these, without the military’s corresponding training, one would have to at least get a Commercial License, requiring over 250 hours of flight time, after first obtaining a Private License.
Some Forest Firefighting pilots train for a Commercial License.
Going further, there are upgrades.
Flight instructors, transport airplane pilots (passenger and cargo planes), and pilots for large private planes (business jets).
One can study without leaving their job, but it’s quite expensive. A Commercial License course could cost several hundreds of thousands. Currently, there are only a few flight schools available for private study. The standards were relaxed in later years, making the training more accessible, and training organizations became more common. The Commercial License might then cost thirty to forty thousand less.
When Fang Huai learned this, he had already planned how to arrange his holidays.
If possible, he would take Yang Shaoqing with him to learn too.
Before 2013, the civil aviation physical examination for pilots was extremely stringent, capable of eliminating eighty percent of ordinary people. After 2013, policy changes opened up the private flying sector.
Of course, Fang Huai had no concerns about the physical examination.
The problem came up, if you stumbled upon a helicopter, how would you standardize it to fly it away?
To fly a plane, first, you need approval from civil aviation air control, and each take-off requires contacting air traffic control to report.
Once onboard, consult the aircraft checklist, fasten your seatbelt, and check the condition of the aircraft.
That is, all those densely packed buttons.
Adjust friction—release foot pedals—correct altimeter—adjust field pressure—check instrument panel and fire extinguisher—depress all circuit breakers—overhead switches: turn on anti-collision, secure other buttons—power on test—instrument and warning light test—exceedance check—check fuel level—audio test—foot pedal brake test—power on aircraft battery—open pump valve.
Then, ease the throttle into idle position, press the start switch, and the aircraft revs up, propellers slowly starting in front, speeding up, faster and faster.
The roaring begins to rise.
Upon reaching peak power, start the generator, coordinate the artificial horizon, turn on the electronic equipment switch, release ground friction, ground personnel check the status of the aircraft, put on noise-cancelling communication headsets, ready to drive (fly).
Pull up the collective; the aircraft slowly takes off.
The moment it rises from the ground is extremely dangerous. If you’re not careful, if the posture isn’t adjusted right, everything’s a mess, and the blades could touch the ground.
Oh ho, explode on the spot, life GG.
If you don’t reincarnate well, please struggle for another forty years before entering the cockpit again.
That’s why there are so many checks before takeoff.
Then the communication system must be used to report to civil aviation that all is well with the aircraft, with reports four times a day, constantly.
To fly a Helicopter, it’s all about two sticks and a board.
The collective control lever is usually on the left side of the pilot’s seat.
Pulling up increases rotor blade angle and lift, making the helicopter take off; pushing down does the opposite.
The cyclic pitch control stick is located in front of the pilot’s seat.
The angles of the rotor blades changing left and right, forward and backward, allow the helicopter to achieve lift on either side and facilitate movement in all directions.
By manipulating the foot pedals that control the tail rotor, pilots adjust the thrust and control the rotation of the aircraft: pressing the left pedal causes a left turn, while the right pedal initiates a right turn.
Up and down, forward and backward, left and right, rotation—with these three controls involving collective pitch, cyclic pitch (control stick), and foot pedals.
The main pilot seats at the right side, while the co-pilot is on the left. Large military aircraft generally have tandem seats with control systems on both sides; the co-pilot assists the main pilot and sometimes takes over control.
One can ascend to the skies and look at the clouds.
Below the sea of clouds, mountains emerge through gaps in the clouds as if part of a picturesque landscape.
From an altitude of 2000 meters, the cities appear chessboard-like; at 5000 meters, one can behold circular rainbows, vibrant and colorful; at 7000 meters, the wind carves through the clouds, with the earth resembling a painter’s canvas; at 9000 meters, the cloud layers show almost no gaps, resembling waves steaming with vapor.
However, based on visual flight rules, one should not fly through the clouds, as the loss of visual references can lead to spatial disorientation and loss of flight attitude.
If not careful, upon emerging from the clouds, one might be heading straight towards the ground.
Moreover, clouds are not as small as the cotton candy seen from the ground; their actual size is immense. Mid-level clouds can stretch several kilometers in length, while high-level clouds can reach tens of kilometers. A helicopter can ascend thousands of meters, but if it inadvertently enters a cumulonimbus cloud, the hurricanes within can tear the aircraft apart.
Landing.
The transparent windshield of the cockpit provides an excellent view. With the nose slightly downward in a tilted position, the control stick maintains the aircraft’s balance.
The descent begins at 50 meters, heading towards the landing spot. Upon reaching 5 meters, pulling back slightly on the cyclic pitch control stops the descent; the pilot then tries to maintain level flight, decelerate, and land slowly.
A jolt is felt beneath the seat.
The propellers are shut down.
A smooth landing, and another day is lived.
Fang Huai opened his eyes and took a deep breath, ending the simulated flight that had just played out in his mind. freёweɓnovel.com
With a strong memory, the more realistic the scenes become during imagination. Through a brief dream, the large machine before him had already taken him up among the clouds.
In the serene state of a post-cigarette philosopher’s time, Fang Huai couldn’t resist reaching out to touch its rounded belly again.
So wonderful.
Once the funds are available, I’ll definitely purchase it outright.
As the last of the team arrived, Hu Peizhou, covering the rear, saw Fang Huai eagerly standing beside the cockpit of the Straight 8A, looking utterly obsessed, and couldn’t help but be torn between laughter and sympathy.
At that moment, Fang Huai truly resembled a 19-year-old soldier.
"Number 1, what are you still gazing at here? Assemble the troops, bring them to the front camp, sing and start the meal!"
Fang Huai then snapped back to reality, seeing the helicopter quietly parked there, knowing it wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon, immediately spoke with sternness and a loud voice:
"Everyone, assemble, prepare to eat!"
The people rushing from behind suddenly felt disappointed.
"Wow... such a big helicopter, Captain Hu, let us take a look, will you?"
"Whose fault is it for running slowly? Tonight you’ll have the chance to look all you want! Starting tomorrow, anyone falling more than five hundred meters behind the instructor will have points deducted!"
"Damn..."
"Is Number 1 also an instructor? He’s not even human!"
At this point, Fang Huai turned his head and made a wry face.
"Who said that? Who just said that?"
Following that, no one spoke, and everyone quickly formed up.
"Look right!"
"Eyes, front!"
"At ease!"
"Soldiers, your responsibilities are heavy, hey... get ready, sing!"
With Fang Huai’s shout, his eagerness to start the meal was apparent.
"The Soldier’s Love for Military Songs," known as the shortest ding-dong song, is typically sung in one segment. This song, with just four lines in a segment, can be finished in six or seven seconds if sung quickly.
Everyone suddenly went at 8x speed.
"Soldiers, your responsibilities are heavy, hey, military skills must be solid, hey, love the army and practice martial arts to be the best, hey, establishing achievements and building a career in the barracks, hey hey!"
Without a single punctuation mark.
When Fang Huai sang this, it was as if he quickly wanted to start eating and get to work on the planes.
As soon as the song ended, Fang Huai immediately turned around, saluted, and asked for instructions.
"Comrade Captain, the meal formation is assembled; please give your command!"
However, Captain Hu’s face darkened.
"You’re all in such a rush to eat, huh? Sing it again! Sing ’The Three Major Disciplines and Eight Points for Attention!’"
As soon as he said that.
Soldiers: (;´༎ຶД༎ຶ`)
Fang Huai was numb too.
Damn, what kind of divine song is this?
From the time I enlisted until I was discharged, I’ve never sung this song at mealtime!
lines!!
"Attention! At ease! Let’s sing a song! Every revolutionary soldier must always remember, get ready, sing!"
"Every revolutionary soldier must always remember that the Three Major Disciplines and the Eight Points for Attention
The first is that every action must follow command; only with unity can we achieve victory
The second is not to take even a needle or thread from the masses; they will support us and like us more
The third is that all captured goods must be public; we make efforts to lighten the people’s burden
We must adhere to the Three Major Disciplines; the Eight Points for Attention must not be forgotten
..."
It was a total mess, honestly.
The first few lines, everyone sort of got them, but as it went on, it turned to almost only Fang Huai singing, with hardly anyone else remembering the lyrics, just humming along.
Captain Hu:
"Sing it again."
"Sing it again!"
"Sing it again!! If it’s not sung correctly, there will be no meals today!"
This meal today, it’s not going to taste good.
After singing for 20 minutes, their voices, which had already become hoarse from calling out to Logistics personnel on the way here, were practically useless now.
"Steal 1... paper not extra extra..."
After singing, they were finally dismissed to start the meal, and Lian Xu number 26 said to Fang Huai while clutching his throat.
Fang Huai: ???
"What did you say?"
A translator next to him spoke up.
"He said, stealing chickens won’t work!"
"Right!" Lian Xu nodded his head.
Fang Huai rolled his eyes irritably, "Just eat properly!"
A soldier’s thoughts are indeed different from those of the cadres.
Fang Huai had noticed Hu Peizhou’s intentions at a glance.
Hu Peizhou was not angry at all.
This was not just a matter of a ding-dong song, but the troops had been outside for a long time, especially in the past few days with training making everyone walk listlessly during their rest time, lacking a soldier’s posture. It’s inevitable that periodic team-building needs to be done, and singing military songs is the simplest and most feasible method.
In these six days, they walked from Chongqing to Yin Strip Ridge and then to the outskirts of the Shennongjia Forest Region, covering 170 kilometers, which with backtracking, was probably close to 200 kilometers.
At this rate, after 44 days, the actual distance covered might well be no less than 1500 kilometers.
They also had to study while marching, and many people had already started to break down and complain of fatigue.
It’s hard to imagine how the Red Army traversed the routes during the Long March, marching while fighting, crossing dense forests and cold snow mountains, all without supplies.
Most people wouldn’t reflect on this; their concern today was the missing dish in their meal.
Logistics was short by five people until now.
And so, the meal that usually consisted of five dishes was reduced to four.
The mapo tofu, criticized countless times for its poor taste but always present, was no more.
Logistics Lieutenant Colonel Jiang, with a beaming smile, told everyone that the Logistics soldier who had been using pot number 3 to make mapo tofu "died" at Yema River, which they had passed earlier that day.
The body, now resting on the cool air-conditioned coach, covered with a blanket, was soundly asleep with the air conditioning on.
So desolate! They looked at the noticeably less oily dishes in their bowls and suddenly started missing the mapo tofu that had been improvised with pickled chili instead of red oil bean paste.
Damn it, at least there were some bits of meat in that dish!
Uncontrollable tears streamed down from the corners of their mouths.
"Hey, hey! Anybody want to learn about plane technology tonight?"
With Captain Hu’s shout, everyone’s expression instantly perked up.
"Plane technology? What kind of technology?"
"Me! Me!"
Several people eagerly raised their hands.
Just as Fang Huai was about to raise his, he thought about it, damn, it’s a trap.
Didn’t he know those dumbass instructors? Who knew how to fly a helicopter?
"Come on, come over here!"
Captain Hu smiled a crooked smile and quickly pulled a few of the first to raise their hands together.
"You guys, after you finish eating, go find Logistics for some towels and rags, get a couple of buckets of water, and give the plane a wipe! Logistics personnel will still need to wash dishes and clean up later, so they’re short-handed. You guys will learn about external maintenance of the airplane together!"
"I, no, I was just stretching because my arm was sore a moment ago."
"Oh yes, right, I misheard just now."
The few immediately wanted to leave.
Damn, a plane over 20 meters long and more than 6 meters high! Do you think it’s a fire truck? Cleaning it with a towel? Even using a hose would be difficult!
Hu Peizhou’s face fell: "Heh, none of you want to do it? Then let’s all do it together! Today, I’ll teach you about ground support for helicopters! This is the first lesson in cooperation!"
