547: Chapter 543: What Kind of Person is This?
547: Chapter 543: What Kind of Person is This?
Gao Yang had been in Portland for four days, and his daily routine was very disciplined.
He got up every morning and went to flight school with Cui Bo, ate lunch, then went to Allian Mossen Studio for shooting practice.
After a few days, Gao Yang became very familiar with the procedures of a three-gun shooting competition; all that was left was to wait for the pistol and shotgun to be modified, familiarize himself with the shooting characteristics of what were effectively new guns, and improve his accuracy.
Gao Yang’s purpose in learning to fly was simple—he did not want to find himself in a situation again where there was a plane but no one knew how to fly it.
Gao Yang’s requirements were also simple.
As long as he could pilot a fixed-wing plane, that would be sufficient.
Of course, he also wanted to be able to fly a helicopter, which were the aircrafts most frequently encountered on the battlefield.
Getting a flying license in America wasn’t very difficult, and there were many flight schools, quite similar to learning how to drive a car.
By passing a physical examination and paying a fee, you could learn.
Gao Yang had never thought about obtaining a flying license.
He only wanted to learn how to take off and land a plane safely in the shortest possible time, so his learning process was much more condensed.
After grasping only the most basic and essential knowledge, he was ready to go airborne with an instructor on the fifth day to directly learn practical operations.
What was special was that Gao Yang was not learning to fly fixed-wing planes this time but helicopters, as there happened to be a school in Portland that taught helicopter flying.
More importantly, this flight school was big and had the models they needed.
After Little Donnie promised to pay a hefty sum, the school skipped all the steps they could to get Gao Yang up in the air as soon as possible.
However, even if it was violating regulations, and even if they could skip some steps, the scrutiny for flight students in America post-9/11 was quite strict.
Although the flight school could compact the course schedule and cut some teaching processes, the procedures for verifying student identities and logging records couldn’t be skipped.
Gao Yang and Cui Bo had “truthfully” registered their identification, and then underwent a physical examination by a doctor certified by the Federal Aviation Administration.
On the morning of the fifth day, Gao Yang and Cui Bo first went to the clinic to pick up their fitness certificates and the clinic-issued flight learning permits before they could finally fly as planned.
According to FAA regulations, obtaining a private piloting license required at least 35 hours of flight time and 30 hours of ground-based theoretical instruction.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the school’s teacher only taught two hours of ground courses per day and because it was a weekend, Gao Yang and his team would have gotten their flight learning permits two days earlier and could have flown sooner.
The steps that couldn’t be skipped had to be followed, but where the rules were not explicit, or where they could be expedited, they certainly had to make the most of the time.
Initially, the flight school started with small helicopters, but the first aircraft Gao Yang and his team were set to fly was Sikorsky’s S-70 heavy-duty helicopter.
The S-70 is a civilian model, and its military equivalent is the UH-60, also known as the Black Hawk, which Gao Yang and his team had encountered not long ago; to be precise, they had seen the Angel Mercenary Corps shoot it down.
Flying a small helicopter cost about two hundred dollars per session, but with added fuel tax and other fees for the pilot, the normal price was around three hundred dollars.
However, changing the aircraft to an S-70 raised the price to two thousand dollars per hour.
Although it required a lot more money, if not for this high price, he wouldn’t have been able to train with an S-70.
Upon arriving at the flight school and completing the formalities, all that was left was to wait to board the plane.
However, before boarding the plane, they had to wait for the pilot to arrive first.
The weather was somewhat cold, and a staff member took Gao Yang and others to the helipad.
After standing there for about five minutes, the pilot who was supposed to arrive still hadn’t shown up.
After waiting another ten minutes, as Gao Yang began to feel his hands and feet grow cold, the staff member could no longer stand it.
He clearly went angrily to the place where the flight instructors stayed, personally calling for someone.
After about another ten minutes, when Gao Yang was starting to get angry, the staff member hurried back and, catching his breath, said, “I’m sorry, Mr.
Gao.
Today’s flight plan must be canceled.
Sir, the pilot had an accident, and we are extremely sorry for the delay in your schedule, but the pilot had a regrettable and serious accident and won’t be able to fly for some time.”
Gao Yang knew who was supposed to fly him today.
He frowned and asked, “What happened to Mr.
Hamichel?”
“Mr.
Hamichel just fell down the stairs a little while ago, and he has a gash on his head.
It’s unclear if there’s any damage to his bones.
As you know, Mr.
Hamichel is quite old, and he has very poor feeling.
He has been rushed to the hospital urgently, so I am very sorry, but today’s flight plan must be canceled.”
Gao Yang frowned and said, “Oh, that is indeed an unfortunate and terrible accident.
I hope Mr.
Hamichel is alright.
However, doesn’t the school have anyone else who can teach us or take us flying?”
The staff member looked distressed and said, “I’m sorry, but our school only has two pilots who can fly the S-70.
Mr.
Hamichel is one, and the other is currently on vacation in Florida.”
Gao Yang said helplessly, “So you’re saying our flight plan has to be indefinitely delayed?”
“I’m sorry, unless you can switch to a different model today, or, actually, I think you could start with another model first.”
“What do you mean by ‘or’?”
After hesitating with difficulty, the staff member said, “Actually, we have another person who can fly the S-70, but Mr.
Hamichel is a very experienced flight instructor, and you’ve paid a lot more for him.
If you were to switch instructors now, the new one wouldn’t quite match Mr.
Hamichel’s qualifications.”
Gao Yang perked up immediately and said, “Qualifications don’t matter to me, just tell me about his flying experience.
How is it?”
“Well, this pilot, although he just got his flight instructor’s certificate, he already has nearly two hundred hours of experience flying the UH-60.
Yes, there’s another issue, this pilot previously flew military transport helicopters, not the civilian type S-70.”
Gao Yang’s eyes lit up, and he hurriedly said, “No problem, no problem, he’s the one.”
The staff member still looked troubled and said, “Then, about the instructor’s fee.”
For Gao Yang, having a military helicopter pilot teach him was definitely better than having Mr.
Hamichel, the old-timer civilian helicopter flight instructor teach, although Mr.
Hamichel would cost more money.
But Gao Yang wasn’t concerned about that.
“Fees are not an issue, no need to change or refund anything.”
Finally, a smile appeared on the staff member’s face, and he nodded, saying, “Alright then, please wait a moment.
I’ll call someone over immediately.
It won’t take long.”
After the staff member left to call someone, Gao Yang smiled and said to Cui Bo, “Do you think this is a blessing in disguise?
A military pilot, hey, we should take this opportunity to ask about how to operate the UH-60.”
Cui Bo gave Gao Yang a look and said, “Is it that different?
If you want to know about that, just ask National Bird; he flies Black Hawks.
Do you still need to ask someone else?”
Gao Yang waved his hand and said, “How can that be the same?
Without the helicopter, Jacklan could explain all he wants and we still wouldn’t understand.
On the aircraft, even if it’s a civilian model, we’d still get the gist of it.”
Cui Bo nodded and said, “That’s true, alright then, we really are turning a misfortune into a blessing.”
As they chatted, it wasn’t long before they saw someone swaggering toward them from the office building, taking three steps at a time.
The newcomer wore the typical aviator sunglasses and a massive headset, a cigarette dangling from their mouth, dressed in an olive M65 coat, jeans on the legs, and military boots on the feet.
Their hair was very short, just slightly longer than a shaved head, and they looked to be about 1.7 to nearly 1.8 meters tall.
Seeing the flight instructor’s appearance, Cui Bo smacked his lips and said, “Hmm, this person looks like they’re fresh from the military, but judging by their appearance, I feel like it’s a double-edged sword.”
Gao Yang also felt that the newcomer was unreliable; perhaps they were a good pilot, but not necessarily a good instructor.
Thus, his initial thought of turning a misfortune into a blessing wavered.
As the flight instructor approached them, they waved, then removed their headset, and loudly said, “Hi, nice to meet you.”
Up close, Gao Yang realized there was something awkward about the instructor.
How to put it, by the clothes, hairstyle, and actions, this was a man, but looking at the face, if you said man, the face was a bit too small and also somewhat overly feminine.
If you said woman, however, the lines on the face were very rugged, angular, but even so, with such a hard-lined face, it still looked somewhat feminine.
Gao Yang tried to determine the gender from the person’s chest, but that was impossible because the person wore a bulky, padded M65 coat, which concealed any chest contours.
Subconsciously nodding, Gao Yang greeted the newcomer and then took a sharp breath.
He asked in Chinese, “Rabbit, do you think this person is a sissy or a tomboy?”
After giving the person an up-and-down glance, Cui Bo said with a conflicted face, “This is tough, might be a sissy, but I’m not sure, probably a sissy, or could it be, a transgender.”
Gao Yang and Cui Bo exchanged these few words in Chinese, then fell silent.
When the newcomer finally reached Gao Yang, they did not extend a hand for a handshake but stood two steps in front of Gao Yang, studied him and Cui Bo through their sunglasses for a few moments, then without using their hands, spat the cigarette to the ground beside them, stepped on it to put it out, and said, “Hello, my name is Eileen Zepp Alleporg, and I will be your flight instructor for the coming period.” (To be continued.
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