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The cockpit flashed to life; Lights began sequencing, the navigation screens begun Loading local airway maps, Cooling fans hissed into action and the myriad of dials began to give their readings. The onboard computer had a female voice interface, which announced ‘welcome aboard Bell industries model BH300Z'
Jason appeared to know what everything did - at least he seemed to know what buttons to push and in what order. Still, He had no Helicopter License, not even any officially recorded flight hours. Whether he was capable of flying it or not, it was against the law to and breaking the law was never a good idea. He began punching commands into the main console. 'Initializing system check' the voice sounded once more
Thomas, Jason's cousin, sat alongside him in the cockpit. They both had spent many hours in their uncles Flight simulator, which was used to train all the senior company members, who could be called upon for transport duties.
Since the end of the 21st century, with the chronic overcrowding of cities and strained transport systems, the more wealthy citizens used aircraft for everyday travel. Fixed wing aircraft, private jets and airships were chartered for longer overseas journeys and for inner city trips it was the helicopter that was Ideal. Many road vehicle companies had switched long ago to producing aircraft, attempting to design machines that were easier to fly and able to run at lower costs.
"you sure you can handle this?" Tom asked
"well, we're gonna find out pretty soon" Jason started the ignition sequence the computer voice read out several more announcements then the rotor blades rumbled into life and slowly started to thump round. "As long as the navigation system works as it should, there's no reason for anything to go wrong"
Navigational computers were one such invention that made travelling by air much simpler. All sectors of the city were preloaded onto a navigation computer, most helipads or important locations would have a tracking node that transmitted co-ordinates. Essentially once the desired location had been punched and the connection between the Navcom and the beacon had been made, the Chopper was laser guided to its location. Still, this simply meant they wouldn't get lost, there was still the issue of flying it.
"Those things never go wrong. Do you want me to fly?" Tom made it obvious he considered himself the more capable pilot
"No, I got this. You can make the return Journey, anyway it's not like we're going far. We can't afford to get busted for this or it'll screw everything up"
"we won't, we just need to make a few trips to get used to flying, then we can start having fun. If we pull it off we can fly everywhere for the next 5 months"
The throttle was now fully open and the blades were roaring round at full speed, despite sounding no more than a low hum in the cockpit; the lights inside switched off, leaving a green glow from the instruments. They were now ready for take off. Jason eased up the collective lever and the Chopper tilted forwards as it started to lift from the ground. Nervously, he lowered it back down, but immediately he tried again, this time more smoothly. He had taken off in a real helicopter before, but only on four or five occasions and all were made at ground level - He was now attempting to launch from a private helipad on the company tower, some six hundred feet up.
Jason was uneasy as the aircraft ascended, not so much because of his inexperience as a pilot, more the fact that they were joy-riding with a very expensive piece of kit - they must not get caught.
Moments later they were completely airborne, going up vertically- with very little fault considering the lack of experience in the pilot and co-pilot. Occasionally there was some over rotation, or a slight accidental shift to one side. Still they continued higher, the company tower gradually fell from sight, they could now see across the whole city.
It stretched for as far as the eye could see in all directions, although it was night time the City was alive with lights and motion. the Skyway trains could be seen zipping in and out, through buildings and bridges, there were searchlights sporadically dotted around, sending huge beams of light skywards and Giant screens scrolled advertisements and public information. Nearly all the buildings in this sector were skyscrapers; the actual ground was barely visible at all. Between the more modern buildings there were platforms suspended hundreds of feet above ground, they were used for anything from shopping centre’s to sports grounds.
Even the sky was busy, it almost looked like a motorway with so many lights flickering. To The west a huge airship was looming upwards, lurching above the city. A regular flow of aeroplanes streamed from the various airstrip decks and other choppers could be seen, randomly appearing and disappearing in the distance, like flying insects.
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