Chapter 970 970 Demo Flight
”This construction is brilliant. Light, yet sturdy, and I don’t see any sort of seams at all. How did you weld this? It can’t be milled out of a single block, that would be too heavy, and these beams must be hollow.
But this smaller one, it looks like it’s made of wood. Did you really use wood for a flying device? And how?” The youngest of the trio asked.
“The wooden one is made by the Witches, grown with their magic as a single plant and then cut from the ground. The outer covering is actually one large leaf, bonded to itself and the frame. It’s the first attempt that we made at the airplanes, as it could be quickly and cheaply produced, but it might be impossible for your people to repair.
However, we can make similar ones with metal tubing and cloth skins coated in resin, so there is no reason that you can’t pick that design. It is also the more pilot friendly version, with a very stable flight manner and relatively slow speeds that the built-in safety measures can compensate for.
Even if you crash it, you are unlikely to damage it, thanks to the protective spells. As long as you don’t run it out of mana that is.”
The three Artificers gave Petros a pleading look, while alternating between the two planes. Both were similar, in that they were high winged designs, with wide wings and high lift ratios for carrying cargo, but the twin engine was nearly three times the size of the smaller plane, with a much more complex flight system.
The twins wandered over while the Artificers were drooling over the new toy, and waved at Wolfe, before giving their ideas.
“You know, if you left some people here, like the Incubi did when they placed their orders, we could train them to fly the planes and send them back when the order is ready. We’ve got enough of them, and take enough flights, that they could be ready in a month or less.”
Petros looked intrigued. “That’s not a terrible idea. We will need pilots for our first batch of planes, and I want to give them to favoured Nobles. Normally, their carriage man would be the driver for all their transport, but I suppose that an airplane needs a bit of special training.”
The witch just shrugged. “There’s no reason that your carriage driver couldn’t learn. You just need someone who can use magic to keep it charged between flights. If he’s a Rank Two magic user, he can do that indefinitely, but a Rank One mage can recharge the plane in a matter of hours.”
Petros thought about that for a moment. There were a fair number of Rank One mages working for the Nobles, but not normally as the drivers. The carriage guards, on the other hand, were almost always skilled mages. Teaching them to fly would be perfect, and then the driver could do his usual duties of letting the Nobles out and helping them to the ground.
King Petros nodded. “Alright, I have an idea of whom to send to learn to pilot these things. But we should try both version first, to see which would be more suitable for general usage. How much space do they need to take off and land, how stable they are for children and luggage, that sort of thing.”
The Artificers played rock, paper, scissors for the honour of the front seat in the smaller plane, with the first winner taking the spot.
Then the others accompanied Petros in the back seat, while Wolfe took the Pilot’s seat.
“The rollers are down, so we can push it to the water, or take off from short grass. I will take off from the grass this time, but I will show off the more advanced features later. If you have the mana to spare, you can actually lift these straight in the air with the included charms, so you don’t need a long runway at all.
But that takes skill and practice with the spells, and I’m not certain if your people will be able to use them well, given our different styles of magic.” Wolfe explained.
If they couldn’t use Air Magic at all, they wouldn’t be able to modify the spell activation to be able to use the vertical takeoff functions.
“So, you’re saying it would be in our best interests to send one of the other style mages, or a beastkin with magical aptitude to learn both spell craft and flight systems?” King Petros asked.
Wolfe nodded. “While that might not be the optimal approach socially, it would be most effective for the flight controls of the plane.
Now, I will lead you through the checklist for the preflight. First, flaps down, that’s this lever here. Then headwind spell activated, that’s this switch here. If you put a hand out the window, you can feel the wind rushing by us, and we haven’t begun the power on sequence yet.
Next, we increase the throttle, and the propeller begins to spin. That will start us moving, and the headwind over the wings helps us take off in a shorter distance without needing to control the magic, so a nonmagical pilot can operate the machine.
Once we’re in the clear and looking at a nice smooth takeoff runway, we go to full throttle, and in ten metres, we’re up off the ground. Now, we lift the flaps and gain some forward momentum, and then shut off the headwind spell. It has a built-in slow shutdown, so it doesn’t just abruptly end. Finally, raise the wheels, which will flip into the top of the pontoons for smooth airflow.”
Wolfe paused as the others all stared out the window, marvelling at the fact that they were smoothly flying fifty metres above the ground, in a magical device, without using any magic except what was stored in it.
“The controls in your hands turn left and right to roll left and right, pull back to lift the nose, forward to lower it, and the two pedals under your feet turn the tail left and right. They all work together to manoeuvre, so we can bank like this and take in the forest from the air.” He demonstrated.
With the change in direction, they stayed in their seats without sliding, which was normal to anyone who had flown before, but startling to the occupants, who were looking down at the ground out of the left windows.
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