"Good morning!" He chirps as I come into view. "We're loading th AG-14 into the back of the Galaxy, we'll continue work on her while you're flying. Use the intercomm if you need anything"
I climb into the cockpit and contact ATC. They give me permission to taxi and takeoff. I line up with the centre lin and gun the throttle.
My palms are sweaty as I roll the plane and leap into the air. It isn't as bad as I expected, the plane flows smoothly. The skies are clear and I begin to climb to my assigned altitude of 12000
In a couple of hours I pass over the coast of north Australia. This is the last I will see of it for a long time.
Heading over the Pacific I decide to call Todd to the cockpit. He comes up quickly.
"You needed me?"
"Yeh. Sorry about my abruptness, but how is it a guy like you has a Galaxy and Chinook in his possession?"
"Ha ha! I've done a few favours for some gonvernments and was able to strike a couple of deals." He left and went back to the crago hold. For some reason his answer didn't make me feel any better. I look up and see we're over Indonesia.
After another couple of hours, the first of the Philiipines emerges. They look amazing.
Soon afterwards Manilla is contacting me and vectoring me onto final. They give me the runway and I dial in its ILS into NAV 1. After a few minutes the morse code starts beeping and the VOR needle swings around. I switch on the approach hold to establish me onto the localiser. When I'm a few miles out I flick off the approach hold and prepare to land. So far it's looking good, I'm lined up perfectly.
I approach the threshold. I close my eyes. The sinking feeling stops and I can hear the wheels screech. I open my eyes and see that I've landed. I didn't even feel it touch, it was so smooth.
I apply breakes and spoilers and have it stopped by the second taxi way. I exit at the third and taxi to parking.
I locked her down for the night and went to find out the progress of my AG-14.
"I haven't got any good news," Todd informs me, "She wont be able to fly long distances anymore. The shock had nearly ruptured her two auxilary tanks and the heat fused the fuel lines, that's why the engine cut. We were able to replace the main fuel line but the others were melted into the stucture. We can't repair them. We had to remove the fuel tanks as well. She'll be able to fly short hops and sight seeing, but that's about it. I'm sorry we couldn't do any more." This hit me quite hard. I got up silently and left for the hotel.
