Chapter 10: First Civil Aviation Flight, Company Relationships
Fang Wen officially joined the airline company, and on his third day in Shanghai, he received his first flight arrangement.
The takeoff time was at three in the afternoon, so he took the company’s car to the airport in the morning to familiarize himself with the environment in advance.
Smith went along with him.
After arriving at the airport, Smith introduced Fang Wen to the airport ground staff and the mechanic.
The ground staff were arranged by the Chinese side, while the aircraft mechanic was handled by the American side.
After friendly communication with them, a working relationship was established.
Next, it was time to observe the airport environment and learn about the airplane he would be flying.
The airport was very large, with a spacious runway whose length was twice that of the flight school.
After checking the environment, Fang Wen entered the airplane and picked up the onboard radio microphone.
“Control tower, White Cloud 3 requests test flight.”
Smith’s voice came through the radio.
“Received, White Cloud 3 test flight request approved, do not exceed one hour.”
Fang Wen felt relieved in his heart; this was the benefit of loose management—he could just tell Smith directly if he wanted to do a test flight.
He pulled the control stick, the engine started, and the propellers on both wings began to rotate.
As the airplane continued to accelerate, the fuselage lifted and flew into the sky.
In the sky, Fang Wen felt like a giant eagle, freely soaring in the air.
But this giant eagle could not fully enjoy itself due to a problem with the aircraft equipment.
It seemed that White Cloud 3 had some issues.
Yes, there was definitely a problem; the other mechanics had detected it through experience and naturally left the worst airplane for the newcomer.
Fang Wen carefully sensed it, trying to identify the real problem.
The best way was to test the airplane’s response with various flight maneuvers.
After completing several standard maneuvers, Fang Wen discovered some equipment issues with White Cloud 3.
Whenever the airplane performed a climb maneuver, the engine would exhibit slight vibrations.
This was a reaction to equipment overload.
There was probably something wrong inside the engine.
Although the problem did not seem big now, over time it would definitely become a hidden danger.
He landed the airplane, and while the ground staff refueled it, he walked toward the mechanic who was busy with another airplane.
“Hello, Howard, during the test flight just now, I felt there was something wrong with the engine.”
The mechanic, covered in engine oil, crawled out from under the airplane and stood up to look at Fang Wen.
“Impossible, I just inspected White Cloud 3 thoroughly, and the engine is normal.”
How should he explain it to him?
Fang Wen thought for a moment and replied, “It feels normal at regular speeds, but once accelerating or performing high-load flight maneuvers, the aircraft power can’t keep up.”
“You felt it too?!” The mechanic looked at Fang Wen in surprise; clearly, he had heard this more than once.
He shook his head and replied, “Sorry, I’m powerless to fix it. To solve this problem, we’d have to disassemble the engine for inspection, but with only one mechanic here, it’s impossible. You’ll just have to fly it like this; maybe next year a new engine will arrive for replacement.”
The mechanic’s words left Fang Wen speechless.
Although the problem was not big now, what if something happened later?
Fang Wen thought he should learn some mechanical knowledge; if he flew the airplane to the battlefield in the future and a problem arose, he could perform repairs in the field.
After all, the piston aircraft engines of this era were not that complex yet; perhaps he could learn it himself.
With this in mind, Fang Wen did not argue with the mechanic but instead smiled and continued chatting with him.
This mechanic named Howard was the type who was not good with words and somewhat introverted.
But he liked it when others took the initiative to talk to him.
Fang Wen’s proactive communication made Howard very happy, and the two chatted pleasantly.
Before they knew it, it was noon.
When there were civil aviation flight missions, pilots had their lunch at the airport. Following Howard’s lead, Fang Wen went to the canteen and ate his first work meal.
It had vegetables and meat; not bad.
There was also a special dish provided specifically for the American pilots: potato beef soup.
Fang Wen got a bowl to try.
The potatoes were mushy, and the beef was very tender.
“Seems like no onion.”
Howard nodded while eating.
“Yeah, the preserved onions shipped by sea are all eaten up. We have to wait until next month for the new rations.”
“Doesn’t Shanghai have onions?” Fang Wen was surprised.
“They don’t like them; it has to be onions produced over there.”
The “they” Howard referred to were the pilots.
Those people formed a small clique, often going out together; Smith had vaguely warned Fang Wen not to get too close to them.
As for why, Fang Wen had a vague idea.
In this era, people who came to Great Shanghai to seek fortune were all speculators of various backgrounds; don’t expect them to be gentlemen.
As he was thinking this, Fang Wen suddenly heard someone calling him.
“Commissioner Fang.”
He looked toward the voice and saw Manager Wen Helin walking in from outside the canteen, accompanied by one man and one woman.
Fang Wen stood up and walked over.
Wen Helin introduced, “These are your two students, both returned from studying abroad in Europe. Fei Yizhen, Yue Jinping.”
Fei Yizhen was the male student, Yue Jinping the female student; both were tall, had good temperament, and were good-looking.
Fang Wen shook hands with the two.
“In the future, we’ll cooperate together and make progress together.”
This remark immediately relaxed the two students, who had been somewhat nervous.
Wen Helin smiled and said, “You young people get along easily, so I’ll be off. You arrange the random flight matters yourselves.”
Fang Wen nodded, saw Wen Helin off, and then discussed with the two.
“According to regulations, each flight can only take one; who wants to go first?”
Fei Yizhen looked at Yue Jinping: “Her first.”
After deciding the boarding personnel, Fang Wen bid farewell to Howard and took the two to the airplane.
On the airplane, he briefly introduced the airplane’s various performance aspects and operations to the two.
Yue Jinping exclaimed in admiration, “Commissioner Fang is amazing; you’ve got such complex operations so clear. I understand it, but it feels like I don’t know where to start.”
Fei Yizhen nodded: “Theory and practice need to advance together. I’ll study seriously and strive to become a qualified pilot within a year.”
Fang Wen was momentarily stunned.
What seemed simple to him was considered very complex by these two flight cadets returned from Europe.
This was the change brought by his supernatural ability; fused as one with the airplane, things that seemed complex to others became very simple.
Without this magical ability, he would probably still be waiting to graduate at Nanyuan Flight School.
“Commissioner Fang, boarding is starting; what should I do?” Yue Jinping nervously pointed to the five passengers approaching from afar.
“Don’t be nervous; they’ve already passed inspection. You just need to check tickets, arrange their seats, and ten minutes after takeoff, give each a bottle of beverage.”
Fang Wen dragged out a crate of Cocoa-Cola beverages produced by Watsons Soda Company from the cockpit and placed it next to Yue Jinping’s seat.
This was something he had prepared himself; since the air cadets also had to provide in-flight service, providing beverages to each passenger could count as a type of service.
Then Fei Yizhen got off the airplane, and Yue Jinping greeted the passengers at the hatch.
She then arranged their seats according to the airplane tickets.
After the airplane took off, Yue Jinping smilingly delivered a bottle of beverage to each passenger.
These services that would be commonplace in the future gave the passengers a novel experience.
It seemed that paying a high price for an airplane ride should be like this.
