International Rescue: The Next Phase


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Re: Gear Up and Buckle Down [message #1935 is a reply to message #1932] Sat, 28 July 2012 20:22 Go to previous messageGo to previous message
Tikatu is currently offline  Tikatu
Messages: 813
Registered: April 2012
Location: South Carolina
Karma:
Field Commander
Ubiquitous one
Tracy Island, Tuesday, March 27th  1.30 p.m.

They were standing alongside the Ladybird, Tin-Tin's aeroplane, listening to Scott. Kat looked at Nikki and Brandon, who were both paying close attention.

Her thoughts began to wander.  She thought back to when she was working for Lady Penelope.  Lady Penelope had paid for Kat to have higher education in automotive, marine, and aviation mechanics.  She had also paid for Kat to have flying lessons.  Now there was a problem.  Kat could still remember the instructor patiently explaining how to fly, but every time that he had handed the controls over to Kat, she had frozen.  Time and again the young girl had tried, but on every occasion she would just freeze up.  The written test had gone well, but Kat could remember crying to her parents. "I'll never be able to fly, and Lady Penelope won't need me," she had sobbed. In the end, both Lady Penelope and Kat had agreed that for the time being, she would not have any more flying lessons.

"Kat!" Scott's voice brought her back the present. "Perhaps you could tell your colleagues about the mechanics of the engine."

"Oh, er, yes, Scott."

Kat wandered round the small plane, her friends following her.  "Well, maximum speed is 3,000 kph, endurance 15 hours."

"How is it powered?" Brandon asked.

"It's powered by 2 Tracy Aerospace turbojets and 2 ram booster jets."

"Here is the main jet engine turbofan, here is the port ramjet booster unit." Kat added, leading then round the other side, where she pointed out the Tracy Aerospace turbojet engine and the engine air intake.  Heading back towards the front, she pointed out the radar scanner and the radar pack.

"Okay, I think that's enough about the plane, now let's head for the simulator," Scott said.  The small group followed him along to the simulator.

Kat watched as her friends took their turns trying to fly a virtual plane.

"Come on, Kat. Your turn next." Scott called.

Kat scrambled into the simulator. In front of her was a mock version of an aeroplane's cockpit.  There was a very complex mixture of dials, handles, knobs and buttons.  Suddenly Kat felt the age-old panic.  You're in a simulator, she tried to reassure herself.  You can't physically crash.

"Now, when I say so, start the engine,"  Scott called from outside.

Kat looked hard at the cockpit and the conglomeration of dials, buttons and levers. Suddenly she didn't feel very confident at all.

"Okay, start the engines and taxi down the runway for takeoff," Scott said  Kat started the engines and started slowly to move forward. 

"A bit more speed, please," Scott ordered.  "Or you will never leave the ground."

Kat gritted her teeth. Slowly she pushed the handle forward and saw that she was indeed rising up from the ground.  The ascent was very unsteady; the plane appeared to be unbalanced.

"Good, good, keep it smooth." Scott said, as he watched on his monitor.

To Kat the plane seemed to be rolling alarmingly, the horizon came first up one side and then up the other.  She pushed hard on some levers, suddenly the plane formed a barrel roll. Kat totally panicked.  She started pushing and pulling levers.

"Okay, steady, Kat, try and relax. Just do one more circuit and then see if you can land the plane," Scott calmly called, watching from his monitor

Kat realised that it was one thing to get it in the air and keep it there, but it was an entirely different matter to land the thing. Starting her descent, she began to wobble and to over-compensate, then tried to gain altitude again. 

"No, no, Kat. Lever back and hold it steady,"  Scott said in a calm and steady voice

This made Kat nervous again. "I can't find the runway," she almost sobbed, "What can I do?" Kat began to completely lose it, and headed in a sharp descent to the ground below.  With a sickening crunch the plane crashed.

"Well, Kat,"  Scott remarked kindly, as he looked in at the young girl trembling in the pilot's seat.  "Let's try this again later. That's all for today."

Kat smiled weakly. "Sorry Scott, guess maybe I should keep my feet on the ground, or if in the air, I should not be the one flying."

"Don't worry about it," Scott said kindly.  "We'll try again tomorrow."

As Kat walked away from the simulator, she didn't feel too sure about trying again.

"Well, how did you do?" Nikki and Brandon both wanted to know.

"I crashed," Kat replied with a slight sob. "I simply crashed the thing. Guess I panicked.  Just like when I tried to learn to fly for real."

Nikki put a hand on Kat's shoulder and squeezed it. "I'm sorry you're having trouble. Even if you can't learn to fly, you are a really great mechanic."

Kat smiled at her friend. "Thanks."

Brandon looked at the two girls. "Well, we'd better move along; there's a lot more work to do."

Scott walked behind the three. Hm, Kat has a real fear of flying a plane. I'm not sure flying is going to be for her.

Post by Tawnyangel22 on 13/01/2005

Jeff heartbeat Dianne plain My IR:TNP OTP!

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