Pilot's Story

Pilot's Story

Chapter 6: Learn To Fly

"Transponder signal detected, Pegasus 550, broadcasting distress code."

"Human technology detected, must investigate."

"Estimate one thousand hours until power levels reach activation threshold."

"Signal lost, restoration protocol activated."

~~

"Okay Dash, the first step in learning to fly this plane will be... that you help me get all of the crates out of the cargo hold, the second step will be... that we are going to need to find a source of fuel." Eva explained, waving a hoof at the aircraft shining in the midday sun.

"You were flying it just fine with all those boxes in there!" Dash protested with a groan "why do we have to move them now?" she complained as the pair walked towards the idle aircraft.''

"Because I know what I'm doing, and you're inexperienced, it would be a lot more difficult and dangerous training you with a fully loaded aircraft, it's far less forgiving than an empty one." Eva explained as she stepped up into the rear hatchway. She saw Twilight standing over the offending crate of animal products with her horn glowing, her face tensed up in concentration.

There was an audible popping noise and the crate shook a little, the glow faded. Twilight opened her eyes and turned to see Eva inside of the plane and Rainbow Dash's head poking in. "I take it things went well with Rainbow Dash?" the unicorn asked.

"Well, I was going to teach her how to fly this, and she was going to teach me how to fly with these." Eva replied, stretching out her wings in explanation. "We just need to get the crates out of here and find some source of fuel... which might be a little difficult because I'm pretty sure you don't just have barrels of avgas laying around." The gray pegasus sighed as she plodded towards the cockpit watching as Twilight's horn started to glow again and the meat crate opened to reveal...

"Why did you fill the crate with dirt?" Eva asked in confusion.

"I didn't fill it with dirt, I turned it into dirt." Twilight explained, more at ease now that the offending material was no longer... quite as offensive.

"You can do that? That gives me an idea..." Eva trailed off, thinking. She spun around to face the other pegasus, "Dash, can you start clearing out some of the lighter things? I need to discuss something with Twilight outside... I might be able to solve one of our problems."

Before Rainbow Dash had a chance to protest the other two mares had already left the plane. She stared at the open doorway and then back to the crates she was supposed to move. "Yeah, no problem at all, I'll just do all the lifting..." she grumbled sarcastically.

~~

"So, you can turn... that stuff... into dirt," Eva started as she slid a bucket under the aircraft's drain valve, "Could you magic up some more of this stuff?" she finished, cracking the valve open long enough to dump a few cups of fuel into the bucket.

Twilight recoiled at the strong smell of the aviation fuel. "What is that stuff? It smells horrible!" She yelled, stepping backwards a few feet and coughing the fumes out.

Eva cocked her eyebrow at the unicorn in confusion. Then the smell hit her, she had a similar reaction, 'Okay, pony sense of smell is superior to the human sense of smell... good to know.' she thought to herself, just barely managing to keep a hold on the bucket as she set it down and stepped back.

"That is the stuff that makes the engines on this plane run, alcohol might work in a pinch but I'd have to re-jet the carburetors and make sure none of the fuel lines broke down from the alcohol... it's really sub-optimal." the pilot rambled on, oblivious to the unicorn's examination of the bucket of foul smelling liquid.

"I think I might be able to transform some heating oil into... something like this." Twilight said, her tone betraying her queasiness over the fumes. "Maybe... with a little less smell."

Eva nodded her head, her attention caught by the unicorn's voice, "I guess I'll need to find some way of making money, I'll need about... eight hundred gallons of fuel to fill up the tanks from empty, I've got about six hundred still in the tanks. I suppose I could try to set up a cargo route to make some coin..." the pilot rattled on while Twilight seemed to stare off into space.

"Four hundred bits, that should be enough for the heating oil and the enchantments." Twilight said finally, her eyes snapping out of the far off look. "I'll do it for free if you pay for the materials involved." She added, turning her eyes back to the shiny metal hull of the plane.

"Free? Why free?" Eva asked incredulously, "I'd be more than willing to pay you if I... you know, had money, which I'll need before you get started anyway..."

"You ramble on a lot don't you?"

Eva turned to see Dash standing but a few feet away, a smirk on the blue pegasus's face.

"Well... yeah, I guess. Anyway, Twilight?" Eva asked, directing attention back where to the matter at hand.

"Well, I'm curious about this aircraft... and you can think of it as a favor." Twilight said with a smile.

Eva nodded, "Alright then. Dash, let's get this thing unloaded and we can get started on your first lesson."

~~

"Alright, I'm skipping the book part of this because you don't really seem the type that would want to stick her nose in a book for hours, and being a pegasus I imagine you already know more than I'd ever be able to teach you about flight theory. So we'll start with the hooves on part." Eva explained into her headset, Dash was wearing the co-pilot's headset next to her.

"So, I'm right in assuming you understand the basic principles of lift, drag, thrust, aerodynamic stalls, and the like?" Eva continued, turning to look at the rainbow maned mare on the other side of the cockpit.

"Yeah that's basic stuff you learn in flight school." Dash explained with a wave of the hoof.

"Well, that's great, this isn't so much teaching you how to fly as it is teaching you how to control the aircraft, and the aircraft's limits. As a rule you won't want to go over three gees empty or two and a half with a load, and you'll want to avoid negative gees whenever possible." Eva explained distantly as she ran through a mental pre-flight checklist.

"And what happens if I do?" Dash asked, placing her hooves on the control yoke and moving it around gently.

"Well, those are conservative limits, but if you go over the limits you could potentially snap the wings off of the fuselage, and then we crash. I will be very sad if that happens." Eva said with a slight smirk, "Still, don't worry about it, as long as you don't go crazy with it. Now, you're holding the control yoke, twisting the wheel to the left will raise the left aileron, and lower the right aileron, causing a left roll, turning the wheel to the right will perform the opposite action."

"Aileron... like an aileron roll?" Dash asked, her curiosity piqued.

"You call them that? Yeah that's exactly right. Pulling the wheel towards you will pitch the nose of the aircraft up by deflecting the elevators, pushing forward will pitch the nose down. The pedals at your feet, left pedal is left yaw, right pedal is right yaw... anyway let's run through engine start-up and we'll get this thing into the air."

In the distance, unseen in the underbrush, a pair of blue eyes watched the aged aircraft intently, mentally taking note of all of the details of the situation, not even flinching as the pair of thousand horsepower radials roared to life. The blast from the propellers as the DC-3 charged down the meadow blasted his brown mane as he watched it lift into the air.

"They always do find a way." He laughed to himself as he turned back towards town, "Humans, you never stop surprising me."

~~

"I figure we travel parallel to the railroad tracks for a while, do some light maneuvering practice, so, take over." Eva said with a grin as she let go of the yoke. She suppressed a laugh when Dash's hooves shot out to grab on the yoke.

The cargo plane dipped slightly before Dash brought the yoke back, after a few experimental movements of the controls she found the point where she had to hold it to keep it level. "It's more sensitive than I thought it would be." she said.

"It'll be more sensitive as airspeed increases, but it'll also be harder to manipulate..." she trailed off as something outside the cockpit windscreen caught her attention. A plume of black smoke rising in the distance, at least twenty miles out by her best estimation. "Hey Dash, hold it level for a few minutes I've got to go get something out of the back."

"Wait!" Dash called out as Eva ran into the back of the plane, but the pilot had already taken her headset off and couldn't hear her over the sound of the engines. Dash stared intently out the windscreen, understandably nervous at being left alone in control of the machine.

Almost as suddenly as she'd rushed out, Eva returned to the cockpit with a pair of binoculars. "I want to see what's going on up ahead, are there any towns out here?" She asked as she pressed the binoculars up to her face and gazed out at the source of the smoke, the image fuzzy as she struggled with the focus ring.

"Well, Appleoosa is out this direction but it's an overnight train ride, Ponyville is behind us, and those are the two closest towns... that I know about anyway." Dash explained, relaxing slightly now that the pegasus who actually knew how to fly the plane was back on the flight deck.

"Appleoosa? Really? I'm trapped in a world of puns..." the gray mare trailed off as she got the binoculars focused. "So it's not a town... It's a train derailment, I can't see much else, looks like there might be a clearing, let's hope there is." she finished, climbing back into her seat and grabbing the control yoke.

Eva reached over and pushed the throttle and propeller levers forward, "We're going in, we might be the only ones who even know about this, let's see if we can help them."

Dash nodded her head and started to unbuckle herself from the co-pilot's seat, "I fly faster than this thing, I'll fly ahead and see if there's anything I can do to help!" she yelled over the sound of the engines.

Eva looked at Dash in confusion for a moment before the implication of the latter's statement finally click, "Alright! Just take that headset with you so we can communicate, there's a two-way you can plug it into by the door, just twist the knob to turn it on!"

She was answered with a nod and the younger pegasus rushed out of the cockpit. Gripping tightly on the controls she prepared for the inevitable lurch that would rush through the aircraft when Dash popped the door open.

The DC-3 jumped. 'That's it.' she thought as she eased the controls, compensating for the change in aerodynamics. A second later she saw the blue streak of Rainbow Dash shooting ahead of her and towards the rising smoke.

"This day is certainly more interesting than I thought it would be." She commented to herself, nosing the plane over and increasing airspeed, if anyone was hurt, she didn't have time to screw around.

~~

"Transponder detected, tracking."

"No, I don't think you will."