UAAG CH68

Twenty kilometers east of McFly’s Burbank factory was the test flight base built exclusively for the McFly factory.

Before delivering the aircraft to the airline and conducting the maiden flight, the aircraft manufacturer would repeatedly test fly around its own airport. The number of test flights ranged from hundreds to thousands, or even tens of thousands.

At 11:00 AM, a brand-new McFly F475neo was parked at the first parking spot of the test flight base. In the control tower, designers from the McFly laboratory, McFly’s Public Relations Director Johnny Berkeley, McFly’s current chief designer Thor Renner, and former chief designer Zhuo Huan stood in front of the 360° wraparound glass, looking from afar at the aircraft shining brightly under the sun.

Five minutes later, it moved.

The blue and white aircraft slowly reversed from the parking spot, taxied out, and finally stopped at the start of the runway.

The bright May sun shone on the streamlined fuselage, reflecting a cold, sexy metallic luster. The strong light intensity contrast created a significant black hole effect in the aircraft’s cockpit. Looking down from the tower, the windshield in front of the cockpit appeared almost solidly black.

Knowing perfectly well that nothing could be seen, Zhuo Huan kept his head lowered, staring at the windshield in front of the captain’s seat.

Meanwhile, in the cockpit enveloped by boundless silence, Fu Cheng completed all pre-takeoff preparations. He also raised his head and looked toward the tower.

Separated by hundreds of meters, all Fu Cheng could see was a tower illuminated by sunlight, dazzling like a mirror reflecting light. Yet in this soundlessness, he seemed to feel that person’s gaze and quietly looked back at him.

Fu Cheng held the headset: “Test aircraft F475neo, ready, requesting takeoff.”

The next moment, Zhuo Huan’s voice sounded from the headset: “Takeoff permitted.”

On the airport with only one runway, Fu Cheng held the throttle lever with one hand, looking straight ahead.

Like every ordinary and stable takeoff, the white aircraft began to accelerate on the runway. The engines roared deafeningly, and the aircraft’s shell vibrated slightly in this explosive acceleration. Only in the cockpit, the young man in the captain’s seat remained composed, quietly looking ahead, unwavering.

Only 1000 meters, 500 meters, 300 meters remained to the hill at the end of the runway…

As if gently tiptoeing and jumping from the earth, this massive McFly F475neo suddenly raised its nose, tires leaving the ground without a single bump. It leaped into the blue sky.

In an instant, it disappeared into the white clouds.

…

After stabilizing the climb to 10,000 feet, Fu Cheng contacted the tower again.

In the headset, Zhuo Huan’s instruction came: “Permitted to climb another 5,000 feet. Captain Fu Cheng, today requires you to perform more test flight maneuvers; high-altitude operations are safer.”

Fu Cheng paused in his heart, voice calm: “Yes.”

McFly Airport, Ground Tower.

PR Director Johnny looked at Zhuo Huan strangely and asked suspiciously: “Mr. Patrick, we didn’t mention doing extra test flight maneuvers before. What do you intend to do with these extra maneuvers?”

Zhuo Huan said indifferently: “Check the changes in aircraft lift, pressure distribution, and boundary layer laminar flow…” He stopped, provocative with a smile that wasn’t quite a smile: “Do you understand?”

The smile on Johnny’s face froze, but he soon smiled again: “I am a McFly employee after all, Mr. Patrick. I still know what you just mentioned.”

Zhuo Huan: “Oh.”

Having casually thrown out a word, he apparently had no intention of saying more.

Johnny was extremely embarrassed, but not because of Zhuo Huan’s sarcasm. As a PR person, he had seen too many storms. When working for a securities company before, he even had a client splash dirty water on his face. His first reaction at the time was “it’s not sulfuric acid,” and his second reaction was “then it’s nothing.” Now, being criticized by Zhuo Huan didn’t hurt or itch at all.

What he cared more about was whether Zhuo Huan’s sudden extra actions would steal McFly’s trade secrets.

Johnny winked at a laboratory designer he was familiar with. The latter understood his meaning and said bracingly: “In previous test flights, we have already tried all necessary test flight maneuvers and procedures. Mr. Patrick, I think… perhaps there is no need to do extra maneuvers.”

Zhuo Huan looked at the designer wearing glasses. He paused for two seconds and called out his name: “Robertson Marquez?”

Robertson suddenly felt flattered: “You remember me? Mr. Patrick.”

Zhuo Huan didn’t answer his question but said: “Your major is fly-by-wire systems… tsk, what are you doing here today?”

Robertson’s eyes widened instantly, speechless.

Johnny also had nothing to say. Robertson was brought over specially by him from the laboratory. Johnny himself wasn’t a professional. If he encountered any professional issues, he wanted Robertson to help answer them from the side so that he wouldn’t fall behind the rhythm of Zhuo Huan and the others, thereby missing any key information.

By this time, everyone understood Johnny’s intention.

As a non-professional, the reason he appeared here today was to prevent UAAG from stealing trade secrets of McFly’s new aircraft model.

“Simply ridiculous!” Thor Renner revealed a mocking, arrogant smile on his face. He looked at his student and asked him: “You’ve seen the neo. Can you tell where it has changed?”

Zhuo Huan was silent for a moment and asked back: “What do you think?”

Thor Renner was a man of few smiles, but living for more than sixty years, he was occasionally amused by some incredibly ridiculous things. He sneered: “If someone can observe the unique features of a new aircraft just by visual inspection and a few special test flight maneuvers… hehe, then why should he be an aircraft designer? Why doesn’t he go be God?”

Dead silence in the tower.

Zhuo Huan swept an indifferent glance over these people and looked back at the sky. He didn’t speak, but the corner of his mouth hooked up in mockery revealed his thoughts at this moment.

But there was no need to say some words to these people.

Zhuo Huan felt utterly bored. He took out his phone and sent a message to Fu Cheng’s phone. After sending it, he remembered that Fu Cheng had left his phone in the terminal building and didn’t bring it on the plane.

…So fucking boring!

Fu Cheng didn’t know what happened in the tower. After climbing to 15,000 feet, he reported to Zhuo Huan: “McFly F475neo currently at 15,000 feet, requesting instructions.”

Zhuo Huan: “Level flight for 30 seconds, then execute rapid dive.”

Fu Cheng: “Yes.”

One continuously issued instructions, the other executed methodically.

As if having practiced countless times, their tacit understanding was perfect. Fu Cheng could quickly realize every maneuver Zhuo Huan wanted. At the same time, McFly staff also received some basic data transmitted from the aircraft. They used computers to calculate and infer, simulating a virtual aircraft on the computer screen. In the sky, whatever maneuver Fu Cheng’s McFly F475 performed, this virtual aircraft would repeat it three seconds later.

All the basic data that should be there was public.

Thor Renner never thought anyone could figure out anything substantial through this data, even under his nose. Even if this person was his favorite student, it was absolutely impossible. Because he couldn’t do it. He was extremely reassured.

After seven basic flight maneuvers, the eighth special flight maneuver began. Zhuo Huan turned on the communicator, gazing at the plane shuttling through the clouds in the sky, and issued the first special maneuver instruction—

“270° sharp right turn, level flight for 10 seconds, followed by rapid spiral.”

Pausing, he added: “Can you do it, Fu Cheng?”

In the cockpit, the young man looked straight ahead, smiling slightly, his voice steady: “Mn, I can do it.”

Can do it, not just performing high-difficulty maneuvers of military fighter jets with a civil aircraft. But while confusing McFly with these difficult maneuvers, remembering all the data Zhuo Huan needed on the instruments!

What Zhuo Huan issued were just simple maneuver instructions, but for these maneuvers, as early as the previous night, he had already detailed every piece of data. Including the altitude when executing the maneuver, including the need for Fu Cheng to make immediate calculations and adjust corresponding flight data when encountering different wind forces and directions…

He had already memorized all formulas and data, and he could also convert them according to reality within a minute.

Can he do it?

He can.

A full hour of test flight ended.

Mr. Renner kept a straight face, watching the plane in the sky gradually approaching the airport. Because he had no special reaction, although Johnny was very worried about Zhuo Huan stealing McFly’s trade secrets, since Mr. Renner felt it was nothing, he could only choose to believe his own chief designer.

However, Johnny had actually kept a hand prepared long ago. He installed a camera in the cockpit of this test aircraft!

Once Fu Cheng got off the plane, he would secretly take the camera and watch the recording inside. He would never let go of any special actions by Fu Cheng.

Mr. Renner sneered: “Got any useful data now?”

Zhuo Huan glanced at him and said indifferently: “Need to analyze slowly.”

Everyone was waiting for the plane to land.

A designer said: “We specially installed the landing gear of the McFly F485 on this test aircraft. Its safety has greatly increased. According to laboratory calculations, there should be no landing gear failure this time. It’s just that the F485 landing gear is too heavy and large, and the cost is too high. Unlike the F485, the F475 is a medium-sized airliner. We redesigned it to reduce costs. So it’s impossible to actually use the F485 landing gear as a replacement. This is just a special measure to ensure safety during the test flight process.”

This was something Zhuo Huan hadn’t expected. He breathed a sigh of relief slightly and raised an eyebrow: “The F485 landing gear has 1.8 times the pressure resistance of the F475.”

“Yes, so Mr. Patrick, this test flight is safe.”

The plane flew closer and closer, from a small black dot on the distant horizon gradually turning into a behemoth with a wingspan of over sixty meters. It cut through the hot air and fell toward the ground. However, at the moment the plane was about to land, just as the landing gear touched the ground, blinding sparks suddenly erupted from the contact point.

Zhuo Huan took a step forward, and everyone else also looked surprised.

The next moment, Zhuo Huan turned and left, leaving a sentence in an extremely cold tone: “Get the ambulance waiting by the airport over there immediately!”

—

Author’s Note:
Zhuo Rest-In-Peace: ??? What happened to the agreed-upon changed landing gear?
Fu Chengcheng: [Calm face] Not afraid, I am the protagonist.

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