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Mercenary at heart - стр. 31

The next task was more difficult. It was necessary to land the helicopter on the site of a fifteen-storey residential building. In fact, this task was no different from landing a helicopter on the runway, except that the space there was much smaller. But when you know how to handle a vehicle well, you won't have much trouble with it. Michael studied very carefully and tried to absorb everything like a sponge, never missing anything.

The weather began to turn bad. The wind was blowing hard on a scale of 6 out of 10, and the sky was covered with clouds. A helicopter flew close to an apartment building and hovered in the air. Residents began to look out of their windows, watching what was happening. It was not a novelty for them to watch the helicopter circle over their building, land on it and take off. An agreement had been reached with the management company to use their roof for training purposes on certain days and hours. For this she received a considerable amount of money. Not all the tenants were happy with this, as they feared that something could go wrong and end in tragedy for everyone. In addition they were annoyed by the occasional noise coming from the helicopters. The aircraft began to sway slightly due to the strong gusts of wind. Michael was a little tense about this.

Instructor: ‘It's okay. Keep a firm grip on the steering wheel. That's it. Now level the helicopter so that the bottom is exactly parallel to the circle. And slowly start to descend.’

Michael listened attentively to his instructor. He was confident that he was not alone in the cockpit and that his teacher could back him up at any moment. The helicopter hovered from side to side as it neared the roof and began its descent. The cabin was tense: every now and then the instruments beeped, signalling a loss of altitude, the machine shook and wobbled from side to side. Michael's seat vibrated as if he were in a racing game simulator with a lot of special effects. The examiner slid to the edge of his seat and hunched over, trying to concentrate as much as possible. Finally, the task was completed and the helicopter sat down, landing precisely in its circle. Michael leaned back in his seat and breathed a sigh of relief. All that remained was to take off from here, fly to the range, land the machine, and the exam would be passed.

Instructor: ‘Take a little breather and return to base. You're doing great.’

A couple of minutes later, Michael began to slowly lift the helicopter into the air. The wind continued to rock the machine in different directions. Drops of the beginning rain began to appear on the glass, which was getting heavier by the second. The examiner switched on the windscreen wipers. As the helicopter rose to a height of several dozen metres, a strong gust of wind blew, which broke the perfect balance of the vehicle and the helicopter tilted slightly to the right side.

Страница 31