J20024

"Captain Li, I'm sorry. I've been terribly busy these past two days!"

As a mid-to-senior-level executive at Yu Aircraft, Director Chen put on no airs at all. As soon as they met, he began apologizing to Li Zhi repeatedly.

Given Director Chen's position, he didn't need to be overly deferential even when meeting Lei Hu, the leader of Li Zhi's own leader.

After all, Director Chen hardly ever needed to ask Lei Hu for help. If anything, it was Lei Hu who frequently needed favors from Director Chen. The Jiaolong 10 was a Yu Aircraft product, and Director Chen was responsible for fighter aircraft re-equipment.

"Director Chen, you're too kind. We were the ones in too much of a hurry!"

Li Zhi had come early to receive the fighter aircraft on Xu Feng's orders. The actual delivery date was a week away, but Xu Feng feared that delay might bring complications, so he had sent Li Zhi, who had nothing else to do, ahead of time.

"The sooner we hand them over to you, the sooner they can protect Dragon Country's skies!"

Director Chen's words made Li Zhi feel at ease. As expected of a corporate executive, his way with words was beyond reproach.

As they talked, Director Chen signed several documents. Some were for Li Zhi to take back, while others were to be kept on file by Yu Aircraft.

After all, Yu Aircraft was now an independent group company. Although it and the air force were still one family, it had its own rules and regulations.

"Captain Li, I won't be able to accompany you. I have guests from Lanan to receive shortly."

There was an air show in Yuzhou next month, but most major orders were settled in advance, so this was Director Chen's busiest time of year.

"That's all right. Sorry for the trouble, Director Chen!"

After signing the documents, Director Chen hurried away.

The handover of the fighter aircraft naturally wasn't this simple. The division headquarters had already handled the important formalities before Li Zhi arrived.

The documents in Li Zhi's hands were more like a permit, allowing him to fly the four Jiaolong 10Bs out of the hangar!

There were no red ribbons or decorations, let alone firecrackers or fireworks. The airport wouldn't have allowed those anyway. The fighter aircraft now belonged to the base and had to be flown back within three days, or the airport would have complaints.

Li Zhi couldn't possibly fly all four fighter aircraft back by himself, but he could have the first pick.

The four aircraft were identical, so there wasn't much to choose between them. Li Zhi casually selected one near the hangar doors.

This time, with the paperwork in hand, he wasn't stopped from approaching, and Li Zhi finally got to touch the brand-new Jiaolong 10B.

Once Li Zhi confirmed that he would fly this aircraft back, the ground crew began disconnecting the cables from its fuselage and refueling it.

Both 201 Airport and Chicken Coop Base were under the command of the Southwest Military Region Air Force, so fuel supply and aircraft maintenance posed no problems.

If this had been a civilian airport, Li Zhi would have been worrying about fuel by now. After all, he hadn't been given a single cent in operating funds this time!

The Jiaolong 10's cockpit layout was identical to the Eighth Master's, so he didn't need conversion training. Li Zhi's flight ban had also just been lifted today, so he could fly the Jiaolong 10 back.

"Tower, J20024 requesting taxi clearance!"

After the ground crew signaled that he could taxi out, Li Zhi contacted the airport tower.

Since the Three-Yellow Chicken call sign was registered to his previous Eighth Master and his information had yet to be updated, he could only use this aircraft's number to request takeoff from the tower.

"J20024, taxi to holding point two, runway R01, and wait!"

"Holding point two, runway R01, understood!"

Li Zhi had been squeezed into the schedule at short notice and wasn't carrying out any mission, so he had to wait beside the runway until it was free before he could take off.

Li Zhi's luck didn't seem to have been very good lately. 201 Airport was unusually busy today, with many special aircraft from Lanan countries landing there, leaving Li Zhi waiting an exceptionally long time.

For safety reasons, even when gaps opened up, the tower didn't clear Li Zhi for takeoff during the tighter ones, as they weren't familiar with him.

The wait was extremely boring. More than thirty minutes passed before the tower contacted Li Zhi again.

"J20024, prepare for takeoff. You'll take off in three minutes. You only have ten minutes!"

"Take off in three minutes, understood!"

Since this wasn't a combat-readiness mission, regulations required him to read back every transmission from the tower. Those were the rules!

Upon receiving the order, Li Zhi immediately taxied from the side lane onto the main runway.

Ahead of him, a special passenger aircraft bearing Aseya's national flag was taxiing toward a jet bridge.

Two Jiaolong 10 escorts also flew overhead. Through the canopy, Li Zhi could clearly see that the pylons beneath both their wings were packed with missiles!

Li Zhi could recognize the flags of every country in the world. It was something every qualified air force serviceman had to know; as a superpower, Dragon Country inevitably had dealings with those countries.

While waiting, Li Zhi had already seen aircraft from several countries land here with his own eyes. It seemed something important was indeed happening here.

But none of that had much to do with Li Zhi, at least not for now. Even if it did, he wouldn't go prying into it.

"J20024, cleared for takeoff. Field pressure 1089, southwest wind force three, gusting to force four."

Once the Aseyan aircraft had taxied to the jet bridge, clearance for takeoff came from the tower.

Before the clearance came through, Li Zhi had already begun feeding fuel to the engine. But because he hadn't released the brakes, the aircraft trembled slightly without rolling forward.

The instant he received clearance, Li Zhi released the brakes and pushed the throttle all the way forward. The fighter shot ahead like an arrow.

The long wait had left Li Zhi feeling a little pent-up. He switched on the afterburner, wanting to take off faster.

There were no explicit rules governing takeoff procedures, but because afterburners consumed a lot of fuel, most pilots didn't use them for takeoff unless it was a combat-readiness mission.

After all, burning nearly fifty percent more fuel just to take off a few seconds sooner hardly seemed worth it.

Although Li Zhi used some extra fuel, there was nothing improper about what he did. After all, 201 Airport wasn't very far from the Chicken Coop.

Once he was over the base, its tower would require Li Zhi to use up most of his fuel before allowing him to land.

Landing an aircraft with a large amount of fuel on board was relatively dangerous. If a civilian airliner reached its destination with a lot of fuel remaining, it would generally dump fuel in the air.

What Li Zhi didn't know was that an Aseyan representative who had just disembarked happened to see what he did.

Wu Qineier, the representative Aseya had sent to Dragon Country to purchase fighter aircraft, had been a pilot and knew a great deal about everything related to flying.

By his visual estimate, the Dragon Country Jiaolong 10 on the runway just now certainly hadn't taken more than 350 meters to take off!

Aseya had already purchased ten Jiaolong 10s, and Wu Qineier knew their performance characteristics very well. Not a single Aseyan pilot could take off in one within 350 meters!

It truly was worthy of being a great Eastern power. Even a pilot chosen at random was better than most Aseyan pilots.

He also thought highly of the Jiaolong 10's performance. After all, even the best pilot needed a powerful fighter aircraft!