Chapter 211 – Updated Later

In the middle of a field very far away from the Sneggor, there were just Anna, Del, Morris, and an MH-60L helicopter equipped with no weaponry but the side miniguns. It was in the warm region of Ilbistirum, no cold weather gear was needed, but it was close to winter. Temperature should drop significantly sooner or later. 

In the pilot seat, Del was sitting down with Morris sitting down on the co-pilot seat. He was wearing the helicopter pilot helmet while Morris would be the instructor for today. He was holding a book, “Manual Of Operation: UH-60”. 

“Ok, first of all, turn on the power by pressing on this knob.” 

It was easy. Most of the startup procedure were listed inside of the helicopter internal computer. The hard part was finding the right knob. Still, it was pretty much manageable. As long as Morris was on his side, he guided him.

Eventually, after pressing several knobs and buttons, the blade of the helicopter started to spin. Anna was sitting down on the side door of the helicopter, she said she wanted to enjoy the breeze of cold air. 

“Now, lift this stick very slowly.” 

Del lifted the stick on his right as the helicopter gained altitude very slowly. However, it seemed that it kept rotating to the left and right direction. “Use the pedal on your legs to stabilize the helicopter.”

Del pressed the pedal on the left a bit and the helicopter turned towards the left direction. It went the same for the right pedal. The helicopter stabilized eventually as it gained altitude from the ground. 

Anna commented as she moved her legs around on air. “Nice flying Del. Still, when will we move forward?”

“Wait, I don’t want this boy trying to move the helicopter at such low altitude. Bring us to service ceilling, Del. From there, we can practice maneuvers. Bring us to 5,000 meters,” Morris said. 

Del lifted the stick on his left more and the helicopter gained altitude way faster. The building of the city located near the field became smaller and smaller. Anna admired the view from her side. 

Del was too nervous, he didn’t take his time to enjoy the view. Yes, he could gain altitude and stabilize the helicopter, but he was afraid that he would press something out of his curiousity and the whole helicopter would fall into the ground. It was nothing compared to when he was working to get his driving license. 

Still, the view of the cloud from the helicopter was rather amazing. He looked at the altimeter, it showed that the helicopter had reached 5,000 meters from above the ground. It was time to do maneuver. 

“Push the stick forward to move forward. Do it slowly while maintaining the stability of the helicopter, alright?” Morris asked him as he looked at the stick of the helicopter. 

Del pushed the stick forward. The helicopter moved forward slowly as the stick was pushed forward. The airspeed of the helicopter increased as well. “Get us to 100 knots. Push the stick forward.”

This helicopter was the biggest thing Del had ever operated, besides the military vehicle that he just figured out on how to operate it. And yet, it flew very fast, it just never put him into perspective since the fastest he had ever been was when he flew with his flying spell. 

He looked at the altimeter. He was in the same altitude. The ground radar also projected that there was no mountain in the region. It should be safe for him to fly faster. The airspeed meter showed that he had gone past 100 knots. 

“You’re going too fast, move the stick a little bit backward. Try to sustain 100 knots.” 

Del adjusted the speed of the helicopter. He slowed the helicopter down to desired speed. Multiple radio chatters were coming into his radio. It looked like he was close to a conflict zone. The radio seemed to be unencrypted as well. 

“Switch to private channel. It looks like the onboard system intercepted the enemy’s radio again.”

“How?”

“Ah, right. Use that knob.” 

Del switched up the radio frequency to the private channel. The communication would only between these three people only. Unless they needed interceptor from the AFB, they shouldn’t even need the other frequency. 

“Ok, tilt the helicopter to the left as you fly it forward. Move the stick to the left direction.”

The helicopter tilt to the left direction. Del maintained his heading towards the north direction using the tilt rotor of his helicopter. So far, so good. Nothing had become a problem for him yet.

Well, with the exception of his rather stiff maneuvering, it was rather impressive. “Good fly, not really bad for a first timer. Now, tilt to the left while turning left. You need to be sharper on this turn, use the tail rotor for balance.”

The helicopter turned for the west direction while maintaining the 100 knots speed. The sky was clear, no aircraft was on the radar, with the exception of those who were probably twenty to thirty kilometers away. 

“Ok, great job, do a level flight again.” 

Del straightened the helicopter back to its original level. “Now, do the same exact thing, head to 360. Push the stick to the right.”

Del pushed the stick to the right while maintaining the 100 knots limitation for training. The helicopter headed to the north direction again. Well, it was easier than expected. Still, Del was still afraid to push the knob and buttons in the cockpit. 

“Alright, now, try to reduce airspeed and fly backward. Maintain speed at 10 knots while flying backwards. Pull the stick backwards.”

Del pulled the stick and the helicopter began to slow down. It even begun to fly at the back direction. Del maintained the stability of the helicopter using the tail rotor. The helicopter maintained the speed of 10 knots backward. Anna felt a little bit on the edge here. 

“Del, I don’t like you flying backwards like this.”

Morris instructed Del to level the helicopter again. He flew towards to the north direction towards Sneggor. He couldn’t believe it himself, he wasn’t even dreaming of it. He enjoyed every single bit of it once he got used to it. 

“Alright, Del, increase the airspeed to its maximum speed. Keep the flight level and watch out for the rough weather. Keep the airspeed green. Weather in Sneggor is never friendly,” Morris said. 

Del flew towards Sneggor. Well, Morris wasn’t lying when he said that the weather wasn’t friendly in the first place. The wind speed from the other direction made stabilizing the helicopter quite a task, but it was nothing that Del couldn’t handle. 

“Damn, it’s cold out here.”

“Obviously, we’re incoming to Sneggor. Del, I want you to circle around Sneggor. Keep the speed at 100 knots while circling. Keep altitude at 4,000 meters, is that too much for you?” Morris instructed him. 

“No sir. I can do it.”

“Awesome. Now, we are arriving at the outskirt of Sneggor. Push the stick to the left side and start circling by banking to the right direction. Maintain it for six times, is that clear enough.”

Anna moved her sitting place to the right door. She wanted to see Sneggor from up close. Del maintained the flight as he circled around Sneggor. The snowy town looked rather beautiful from altitude with glimmering lights and smoke coming from the chimney of the houses. 

“I wouldn’t be lying, the city looks beautiful from up here,” Anna commented. 

“Yeah, it’s a shame that the city hides constant danger for us.”

“Oh boy, you should have seen Afghanistan,” Morris added. 

The helicopter continued circling around Sneggor at high altitude. The helicopter would only look like a very small dot on the sky above. Del continued circling around Sneggor for several times. 

“Alright, Del, that’s enough. Now, let’s land, can you do it, or should I do it?”

Del wanted to try it, but landing a helicopter near the cabin would be pretty much the riskiest thing he would do if he had the chance to do it in the first place. Well, Del would let this one to Morris. He was way more experienced that him in this regards. 

“Sorry sir, that’s out of my league by a margin.”

“Alrighty. I’ll handle the stick now. You’ve done pretty good, just repeat this every day and we’ll have another helicopter pilot.”

Morris took over the control of the helicopter and he landed the helicopter right next to the cabin. As usual, the temperature reached minus again. In fact, it was colder there than up in the altitude. 

“Disembarking,” Del got out of the helicopter. Anna followed him from behind. Morris lifted the helicopter again, he would be parking it in a more discrete location than next to the cabin. 

“How was the flight?” Anna asked. 

“It was rather… interesting.” Del smiled.. He wanted to do it again.