Tales of the Groundbound: A New Bird in the Flock, Chapter 10

[steuben]

Chapter 10

Khenry limped, leaning on his cane, into the briefing room. He sometimes wondered, if it wouldn’t have been better if the doctors had taken the leg. Other times, he was glad they hadn’t. Besides, the photos of him leaning on the cane did look good. The eight pilots in the room stilled and looked up.

“Okay kerbs,” he said. “This is the familiarization briefing for our latest bird.” He turned on the overhead projector. “The Air Based Satellite Launcher, reporting name is ‘Gull.’”

He placed an acetate sheet on the projector. It had the three views of the aircraft. It’s high center fuselage and down swept wings created several meters of clearance underneath.

“We’ve got three of them in the nest, and enough parts to build another two from the frame out.” He looked at Jebediah. “This does not mean you get to push them.”

“I haven’t see a body that high since folks at Kavalier managed to figure out counter-props,” Geofgan, one of the pilots, said. “Since she’s a jet, what’s she slinging underneath?”

Khenry changed the acetate sheet. “This, the ALS. It’s a modified version of the standard low mass launcher we’re pushing off the pads now.”

“That’s, what? A Reliant at the bottom of that thing?” Callin said. “You sure it isn’t going to cook my belly when it lights off?”

“No. The separation charge and a half second delay will give enough clearance before the engine kicks in.”

“Okay,” Desney said. “What’s the flight profile for a standard launch?”

Khenry swapped the acetate again. “This. You fly up to angels three. From there maneuver to the launch vector. Accelerate to 350 mps and climb to angels ten. At that point release the launcher and RTB. Kasey-sat will take control of the launcher upon release.”

Callin frowned. “Angels 10 is at the top of the Wheesley’s operating envelope.”

“Yes,” Khenry said. “But, the folks at C7 have managed to figure out a way to squeeze out an extra angel. The techs and test pilots at Just Frames report that she’ll have sufficient control and power. But, don’t hang around up there.”

He opened up a folder on the table next to projector. “Okay, now that the basics are out of the way.” He placed acetate thick with text on the projector. “Let’s get down to details.”

Edited February 15, 2017 by steuben