Republic of China: Ace Pilot

Chapter 466, Part 462: Pan-American Temporary Pilots, Hollywood Charging Ceremony
Fang Wen, who has lived two lives, has never been a father.

When a tiny life connected to him by blood was being conceived, he felt a sense of responsibility and the need to carry on the family line.

At this moment, all he wanted was for this growing little life to be born healthy and grow up.

To help his wife overcome her morning sickness, he not only stayed by her side but also tried to prepare some foods that she could tolerate.

However, Kuang Mingzhu's vomiting did not improve.

If a pregnant woman cannot eat and does not get enough nutrition, not only will the pregnant woman's health be in danger, but the fetus will also stop developing due to lack of nutrition.

As a result, Fang Wen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, completely losing the composure he had when fighting in the air.

The people in the company were also watching and were worried about Kuang Mingzhu's situation.

The top floor of Taishan Airlines headquarters.

Fang Wen held a bowl of warm millet porridge and fed it to his wife little by little, saying, "Mingzhu, the doctor said that millet porridge is easy to digest and can nourish the spleen and stomach. It can help regulate the spleen and stomach weakness caused by pregnancy vomiting. Have some."

Kuang Mingzhu nodded, weakly opened her mouth, and swallowed half a spoonful of millet porridge.

But then, he couldn't help but vomit, and apart from the little bit of millet porridge, he vomited only clear water.

Seeing his wife in pain, Fang Wen couldn't bear it.

It seems that the only treatment for my wife is the Four-Faced Golden Buddha.

For the safety of his wife and unborn child, he put aside his concerns.

“Mingzhu, I have a way to restore you, which is the four-faced golden Buddha that I mortgaged to the American consortium.”

Kuang Mingzhu opened her eyes, a hint of life returning to her: "The Four-Faced Golden Buddha, that's right, it can cure illnesses. But you've already mortgaged it to an American consortium, is it possible to get it back? Or I'll go to America with you and get treatment there."

Fang Wen was even more worried about having his already extremely weak wife come with him, especially since the journey would be bumpy.

He coaxed his wife to sleep, then went out to make arrangements.

The company's doctor was found, and Fang Wen spoke with him.

"My wife is too weak and can't eat anything. Is there any way to help her get better?"

"I don't have a way to completely cure her, but I can help her recover to some extent. General Manager, have you heard of glucose infusion?"

Fang Wen was stunned by the familiar term. Yes, in the future, when people are sick and weak, doctors will prepare glucose nutrient solution for intravenous infusion to replenish their energy.

"Do you have it?" he asked eagerly.

“I don’t have it. This stuff only came out a few years ago. It works very well for people who are weak, but you have to go to a British hospital to get it.”

Fang Wen immediately turned around, picked up the hand-cranked telephone at home, and dialed a number.

He told the operator in English, "Transfer to naval base, supervisor's office."

During the subsequent call, he used his connections to get a case of glucose solution.

The doctor took the 5% glucose injection solution, which was still a high-end medical product, and after preparing it, gave Kuang Mingzhu an IV drip.

With the help of intravenous fluids to replenish her energy, Kuang Mingzhu's complexion improved somewhat.

Seeing this, Fang Wen instructed the doctor to continue administering intravenous fluids daily to provide energy, and he immediately set off for the United States.

Because of his wife's situation, Fang Wen wanted to go to the United States as soon as possible to bring back the four-faced golden Buddha.

How to get there?

It's faster to take the Pacific route than to travel through Europe and then across the Atlantic, since the Pan Am route has excellent transit airports along the way.

Therefore, Fang Wen sent a telegram to Pan Am Airlines to negotiate.

He wanted to use Pan Am's airport for resupply.

Pan Am Airlines responded that there was absolutely no problem.

But then Pan Am made another suggestion.

As the only transoceanic route in the Pacific, their business is booming. There may not be many pilots flying this transoceanic route, and two of them were hospitalized because they suffered food poisoning while resting in the Philippines. They are currently short of pilots.

Since Fang Wen is the best pilot in Asia, Pan Am wants to temporarily hire him as a seaplane pilot for the trans-Pacific route, to fly the passenger plane back and forth.

It's not impossible to fly a Pan Am passenger plane to the United States and then fly back.

Fang Wen chose to fly the plane to the United States himself because he preferred to have control of the aircraft.

He immediately agreed and set off in a seaplane.

For his wife's sake, Fang Wen chose the most direct route to fly to Manila, Philippines.

It's just a straight line.

Even if it flies in a straight line, it still requires a distance of 2700 kilometers.

Therefore, Fang Wen carried twice the amount of fuel on the plane.

After the plane had flown halfway, he didn't land on the sea, but instead had Gong Xiuneng refuel the tank with an oil drum.

Using this method of aerial refueling, they arrived directly in Manila without any transit.

After communicating with Pan Am Airport air traffic control, Fang Wen piloted the aircraft down and parked it in the seaplane berth.

After parking the plane, he immediately disembarked and negotiated with the Pan American Health Organization's representative in Manila at the pier.

"Hello, I am Fang Wen, and this is my bodyguard Gong Xiuneng."

"You brought someone else with you?" The supervisor was surprised, but then thought to himself, this is a famous Asian tycoon, it's normal for him to bring someone to fly the plane.

Then he smiled and said, "It's fine if there are more people. He can sit in the passenger seat, I'll make the arrangements."

"Alright, when shall we set off?" Fang Wen asked eagerly.

“The passengers boarded yesterday, but our pilots can’t fly, so we’ve arranged for them to rest at a hotel outside the airport. You decide when to take off, and I’ll go and call them to board,” the supervisor replied.

"Then let's make it an hour. I need to get on the plane and familiarize myself with it first," Fang Wen replied.

The supervisor led Fang Wen to the Xuanming-type long-haul seaplane parked nearby.

This passenger plane, manufactured by Taishan, is numbered '62'.

Fang Wen then entered the aircraft to begin inspection.

He started the aircraft and accessed its mechanical sensors to assess its condition.

This aircraft has a hidden danger.

The engine's power is unstable.

Fang Wen also found out the cause.

The problem stemmed from improper maintenance by Pan-American Mechanics, who added insufficient oil, leading to inadequate lubrication between engine components, increased friction, and accelerated wear.

This situation will worsen with long-haul flights, until malfunctions such as cylinder scoring and bearing seizure occur.

Cylinder scoring and bearing seizure are very serious problems.

Cylinder scoring is a phenomenon in which the piston, piston rings and cylinder wall of an engine are scored, scratched or even seized due to poor lubrication, wear, high temperature and other reasons.

This can cause the engine to emit blue smoke (due to oil burning), and the equipment to vibrate or stall.

Crankshaft seizure refers to a malfunction in which the crankshaft and bearing of an engine seize up due to severe friction and wear, causing the clearance between them to disappear and the bearing to become stuck together, preventing the engine from operating normally.

After this malfunction occurs, the engine suddenly makes a loud, abnormal noise, then stops running and cannot be restarted.

Fang Wen couldn't help but sigh, those two pilots were incredibly lucky to have survived food poisoning.

Without food poisoning, they might have crashed the plane into the Pacific Ocean.

As someone who is driving, I naturally cannot allow this malfunction to continue.

He opened the aircraft's maintenance access hatch, crawled inside, walked to the engine, took out the maintenance tools from the toolbox next to it, and began the inspection.

At that moment, the flight crew arrived.

Two flight attendants looked at Gong Xiuneng standing at the maintenance access point and asked in surprise, "Are you a pilot? What are you doing here?" Gong Xiuneng was a qualified bodyguard, but he didn't speak English. He pretended not to hear the pretty flight attendants' questions in English.

Seeing that Gong Xiuneng ignored them, the flight attendants could only stand there in a stalemate.

After a while, a shuttle bus arrived at the airport, and the supervisor brought a group of passengers.

He saw the flight attendant standing at the boarding gate and came over to check.

Where is Mr. Fang?

The flight attendants chimed in, saying, "Isn't that him?" "We just saw him standing there." "He ignored us."

Just as the supervisor was also puzzled, Fang Wen crawled out of the maintenance opening, wiping the oil stains on his hands with a rag as he walked.

He walked over and explained the situation directly to the supervisor: "There was a problem with the engine, but I've fixed it."

The supervisor knew Fang Wen's identity: the Xuanming-type chief designer, who knew the most about aircraft.

He then smiled and said, "Then there's no problem. Alright, the plane is yours now."

Fang Wen nodded and spoke to the two flight attendants in English: "I am the captain of this flight, and it is a pleasure to work with you."

Through these negotiations, Fang Wen established a working relationship with the flight attendants, and then he instructed, "Let the passengers board."

The two flight attendants then began to get busy.

A person stands at the boarding gate, smiling and greeting passengers.

Another person was at the service station preparing various services for passengers after they were seated.

Gong Xiuneng, watching from the sidelines, felt awkward and scratched the back of his head.

He muttered to himself, "Look at you, you can't even speak a foreign language. You came out with the commander and all you can do is be a wooden stake."

Fang Wen prepared in the cockpit while simultaneously using mechanical sensing to understand the situation inside the cabin.

There were twenty passengers boarding this time, fifteen in the standard seating area and five in the sleeper area.

The Xuanming was not fully booked, but it was enough to generate a profit margin for one flight.

He picked up the phone and called the service station: "The plane will take off in ten minutes. Inform the passengers to close the cabin doors."

The flight attendants got busy.

The flight attendant at the door lowered the lever, closed the aircraft door, and then, together with her colleagues, announced to the passengers that the plane was about to take off.

Ten minutes later, Fang Wen took off alone, piloting the plane. Without a co-pilot, he smoothly accelerated the plane on the water and flew into the sky.

The journey was uneventful.

Pacific Miles Airlines, after transiting through several islands, took two and a half days to arrive at Los Angeles Seaport.

After the plane came to a stop, Fang Wen immediately completed the handover with the airport supervisor.

Then they couldn't wait to leave the airport.

A black Lincoln was parked outside the airport, and Zhao Jiu stood in the car waiting.

As usual, Fang Wen drove, Zhao Jiu sat in the passenger seat, and Gong Xiu was in the back seat.

As the car started, Fang Wen asked, "I sent a telegram to the American consortium before I came, but I didn't receive a reply. What's their attitude?"

Zhao Jiu replied, "They said they already know you're in America and want to talk to you in person about the Four-Faced Golden Buddha. It'll be in the Universal Studios studio in Hollywood."

Universal Pictures?

Fang Wen was surprised. Hollywood had only started to develop in recent years, but it wasn't very famous.

At that time, Universal Pictures was just a small company that specialized in making horror films.

What are they going there for? Is it because of the special abilities of the Four-Faced Golden Buddha?

Fang Wen didn't hesitate and drove straight towards Hollywood.

After driving for a while, the road ahead was blocked by police, forcing the car to stop.

Fang Wen looked over and saw a crowd gathering to watch a parade.

The people in the parade were all wearing the same uniform, with some beating small drums at their waists and others carrying American flags in the middle.

But in front of the Stars and Stripes, there was another person holding a Nazi flag.

Fang Wen was surprised, "Nazis are popular in America too?"

Zhao Jiu replied, "I heard it's an organization founded by a World War I German veteran in Buffalo, called the German-American Alliance. The alliance recruited many former friends of New Germany who were Nazis, and modeled the United States after Nazi Germany's administrative divisions, establishing three major regions: the East, West, and Midwest, and forming 69 Nazi groups. They also established training camps and conducted activities in New Jersey, New York, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and other places, holding regular rallies to spread fascism to young people. The people marching now are from the German-American Alliance."

Fang Wen was even more surprised and continued to ask, "Does the US government support them?"

“In the United States, as long as they don’t evade taxes, no one will bother them.” Zhao Jiu had lived in the United States for a while and had already learned about the rules there.

"What about Germany?"

"Germany fears that this organization will affect its trade with the United States, and has already distanced itself from them."

It turned out to be so.

It's truly strange that they used the Nazi name and made such a big show of themselves, yet weren't recognized by Hitler.

Fang Wen ended the conversation about American Nazis, feeling that these people were just a farce.

After waiting for a while, the parade passed by, the police lifted the blockade, and Fang Wen drove his car through the street.

There were no traffic jams during the subsequent drive, and we arrived at the Hollywood film set smoothly.

There was no large-scale film industry there yet; instead, there were mostly factory-style film studios.

In this respect, it's not much different from Shanghai's Star Film Company, mainly because Hollywood is much larger.

The car slowed down, and along the way were all sorts of actors, as well as workers carrying props.

Finally, they stopped outside a film studio.

Outside the studio, two tall, strong white men stood guard.

Upon seeing Fang Wen, the other party politely asked, "Are you Mr. Fang?"

After Fang Wen nodded, the two allowed them to pass, but forbade Zhao Jiu and Gong Xiu from entering.

Gong Xiuneng was a little anxious about this. He came here to protect Fang Wen, so how could they be separated?

Fang Wen waved his hand, "I'll go in alone, you guys wait outside."

He then walked into the movie studio.

The center of the dark studio was lit, and all the audience members, hidden in the surrounding darkness, were focused on the center.

Fang Wen had excellent eyesight and could see the faces of the audience in the dark.

They included movie stars, American tycoons Fang Wen knew, and many more whom he had never met before.

Why are so many people here?
Fang Wen looked toward the center, where it was bright but empty.

Until a group of people in cloaks and robes walked to the center.

A deep chanting voice gradually rose.
"The Son of God will surely come! We are called by God to bring the Gospel to everyone."

The leader lifted his cloak, revealing the object in his hand.

Amber cross.

"Come, feel the call of God, and be reborn in the Holy Light."

People emerged from the darkness, excitedly reaching out their hands. The moment they touched the amber cross, they felt a sense of holiness!
Fang Wen was stunned. So that's how they used the amber cross.

He didn't mind; it was like recharging the amber cross.

I wonder how much faith energy I've already accumulated; maybe I'll absorb it later.

(End of this chapter)