Legendary Captain

Chapter 298: Deceiving Xu Xian into Joining the Air Force!

"Lift fan system? You mean that F-35 from across the ocean?" Ye Qing clicked his tongue. "Even the F-35 has A, B, and C models, only one of which has vertical takeoff and landing. You just made it sound like vertical takeoff and landing is as easy as cabbage on the street, something you can just install anywhere. Don't you know how much complexity a lift fan system adds?"

"That's enough. Is anything more complicated than the AV-8B?" Xu Xian threw back the covers. "Vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft are still somewhat useful. I don't think our country has any VTOL fighter jets yet, right? How about you be the first to do it?"

Xu Xian seemed to be influenced by Xu Qing, and appeared to be very interested in pioneering things.

After getting out of bed, Xu Xian stretched his limbs and felt no discomfort anywhere. He figured it was just that he hadn't been active for a while, and the strenuous running had taken its toll on his body. Plus, he already had some heart problems, which was why he fainted. There wasn't anything particularly serious wrong with him.

"You're just leaving already? Why don't you get some thorough tests done? What if that high cholesterol isn't hereditary?" Seeing Xu Xian about to leave, Ye Qing immediately followed. "Is it convenient for you to go to Hanjing Hospital? How about this, if you have time, let's go to the Air Force General Hospital and have your situation thoroughly examined, okay?"

This clearly indicates that Ye Qing hasn't given up on Xu Xian joining the Air Force. Xu Xian said his high cholesterol is hereditary and there's nothing that can be done, but what if the previous diagnosis was wrong? What if it's not hereditary? Or rather, even if it is hereditary, shouldn't we listen to the advice of professional medical personnel? Who knows, there might be a solution?

Often, hard work can make a good pilot, but top pilots who stand at the pinnacle rely more on that little bit of talent.

This is a rather harsh conclusion, but it is the truth.

Having finally encountered such a genius with exceptional flying talent, Ye Qing had a strong urge to recruit him into the Air Force.

"Air Force General Hospital? Air Force General Hospital?" Xu Xian stopped and glanced at Ye Qing, who was following behind him. "You really want me to join the Air Force?"

Ye Qing nodded eagerly: "With your qualifications, it's a waste for you to stay in civil aviation."

Xu Xian sighed, turned to Ye Qing, and said, "I saw your Cobra maneuver just now; it was truly exhilarating. I also hope to pilot a fighter jet and soar through the skies. But that's only one aspect. You need to understand that joining the Air Force isn't just about piloting fighter jets; it also involves various other components, such as discipline. I'm a very lazy person. How do you expect me to adapt to military life? That's practically asking for my life! Joining the army isn't child's play; those who give up halfway are called deserters. I don't want to be a deserter!"

Xu Xian had a very clear understanding of himself. He could fly a fighter jet, but he absolutely could not live the life of a soldier!

It's not shameful to be unable to adapt to military life. What's truly shameful is thinking you can adapt, only to find out you're wrong and then clamoring to quit halfway through. That kind of desertion is truly shameful.

"Our air force doesn't have that much ground training. It would be an exaggeration to say that too much training would ruin your body, right?" Ye Qing continued to persuade him.

That statement is somewhat of an understatement. It's true that the ground training volume for air force pilots, especially fighter pilots, is less than that of other branches of the military. Because fighter pilots are all highly skilled, maintaining appropriate physical training is essential. But if they overtrain and injure themselves, failing the physical examination would be a huge loss.

However, even though the Air Force has less ground training compared to branches of the military like the Army, it was still quite a problem for the naturally lazy Xu Xian.

"There's no room for negotiation!" Xu Xiancai wasn't fooled by Ye Qing. "Besides, I'm not making this up. I really have no other choice. You have to believe me."

"Alright then, whether you want to join the Air Force or not, find some time to go to the Air Force General Hospital and let's take a good look at your health condition, okay? Even if you don't go to the Air Force, you still need to find a place to get your hyperlipidemia checked out. Are you just going to leave it untreated?" Seeing Xu Xian's resolute attitude, Ye Qing immediately used a strategy of retreating to advance, trying to persuade Xu Xian to go to the Air Force General Hospital first.

Xu Xian looked Ye Qing up and down suspiciously: "Just here to see a doctor, nothing else?"

"What else could it be? If you don't want to join the Air Force, am I going to tie you up and force you to go? Does that make sense?" Ye Qing chuckled, a hint of cunning in his smile.

However, Ye Qing's words also make sense. If Xu Xian is determined not to join the Air Force, then who can force him?

Moreover, although high cholesterol isn't a major problem, it's still quite bothersome. If he could find a way to cure it, it would be a great thing for him. Otherwise, carrying around this ticking time bomb of high cholesterol means he has to think twice before indulging in his cravings, which is very troublesome.

Xu Xian had heard of the Air Force General Hospital before; it was a renowned hospital in China with formidable medical capabilities.

"That works too. Could you leave your contact information?"

Seeing that things were looking promising, Ye Qing immediately grabbed a piece of notepad, wrote down a number, and gave it to Xu Xian: "This is my private number. Call me when you've made up your mind, and I'll schedule a time for you."

"Oh, thank you for your help."

Ye Qing quickly waved his hand: "No trouble at all, no trouble at all. We'll figure out a way to deal with your high cholesterol anyway. We can talk about other things later."

After saying this, Ye Qing secretly breathed a sigh of relief. He had gotten a little carried away and almost blurted out the proverb, "You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub."

Xu Xian didn't think much of it, put away the note, and asked, "Where is my master?"

"Your mentor? Oh, you mean the captain who was with you? They're waiting in the lounge on the first floor. After you go out, turn around and walk to the end of the corridor; that's the lounge. Your whole crew is there."

"Alright, see you again sometime." Xu Xian checked the exit direction, said goodbye to Ye Qing, and left the ward.

A short while later, a middle-aged man entered the room. Seeing that Ye Qing was the only one left, he asked in surprise, "Where is she?"

"What else could it be? They're gone." Ye Qing sat down in a chair and stretched. "Is the plane alright?"

"How could you be alright? You know the C42 isn't really suited for the Cobra maneuver. You're lucky you even came back alive." This middle-aged man was the commander who had just been on the control tower, and he immediately launched into a verbal attack on Ye Qing.

Not all fighter jets can perform the Cobra maneuver; certain specific conditions must be met to safely execute it. The C-42 prototype we just saw was, in fact, not designed for the Cobra maneuver.

As one of the designers of that prototype, Ye Qing was well aware of the situation, but the circumstances were urgent at the time, and he had no choice but to take a gamble.

"Don't get so worked up. We landed safely, didn't we?" Ye Qing said with a smile. "You still haven't told us what the problem was with the plane."

"Don't you know how much load the Cobra maneuver puts on the aircraft? The trailing edge flap on the right wing became loose, but thankfully it didn't break. Otherwise, if the right trailing edge flap had broken off, you would have rolled and been in a complicated situation. You're only a hundred feet off the ground. If you were in a complicated situation, even if you had the best skills, you wouldn't have been able to fix it." The tower controller said with dissatisfaction, "You were lucky this time; the right trailing edge flap held out until the end. But what about next time, and the time after that? Can you always be this lucky? So those guys in the Western Air Force really mean you're a reckless brute. You are a reckless brute."

"What do you mean, 'reckless man'? That's so harsh. We didn't have any other choice back then," Ye Qing said, somewhat aggrieved. "No matter what the method was, the prototype was saved, and it really did malfunction this time, so we collected the fault data. The result is good, right? Besides, if it were someone else, they probably would have parachuted to safety. I saved the prototype through my own actions, so I deserve at least a second-class merit."

Prototype test flights are primarily for collecting various flight data. If a malfunction occurs, that's actually a good thing. The real problem is when everything seems fine during the test flight, but all sorts of issues arise once it's actually deployed – that's the most troublesome situation.

Therefore, from the perspective of flight test principles, Ye Qing's words make sense. At least this case of the nose landing gear getting stuck needs to be thoroughly investigated to prevent similar situations from happening again.

But looking at Ye Qing's smug expression, the tower commander felt an itch to punch him. Ye Qing was certainly capable, but why did he seem so cheeky?

Thinking about the recognition he would receive again, Ye Qing couldn't help but become smug: "By the way, where did those two parts on the runway come from? Is the C42 that fragile?"

"Where else could it be? Inside the nose landing gear wheel well, of course." The tower controller pulled up a chair and sat down next to Ye Qing. "After we translate the aircraft's touchdown data, let's see if it's because you touched down too hard, or if there's a problem with the airframe's structural strength."

Ye Qing blushed. He was in the cockpit at the time and could clearly feel the grounding load. If it were any other older fighter jet, it would probably have been smashed to pieces on the spot. The main problem was that Ye Qing was getting annoyed seeing the plane just hovering like that and not landing, so he used a bit too much force and released it, resulting in this "unprecedented" hard landing.

"If those two parts were damaged because you grounded too hard, I'd like to see if you still have your second-class merit award," the tower commander sneered.

Ye Qing immediately protested his innocence: "I was just trying to knock the front landing gear out, I simply didn't control my strength well, how could it have hit me?"

"Hmph!" The tower controller was too lazy to argue with Ye Qing, and instead gestured towards the door with his chin: "That kid is Xu Xian? The Xu Xian who's been making waves in civil aviation lately?"

"Yeah! What do you think of him?" Ye Qing became interested when Xu Xian was mentioned: "What do you think of this kid?"

"He's courageous and resourceful, and he seems to have handled several special situations in civil aviation. He's quite famous, so he's probably a very talented young man." The tower controller had a pretty good impression of Xu Xian. Just based on Xu Xian's timely provision of information about the foreign object on the runway, it was clear that Xu Xian was at least a responsible and good man. However...

"But...this kid still looks a bit too frail," the tower commander said regretfully.

Ye Qing curled her lip: "What's the use of us pilots being so strong? Flying a plane relies on your brain, not your muscles."

"But their physical fitness isn't up to par, and they can't perform many maneuvers." The tower controller waved his hand. "There's no need to argue about that. Anyway, the physical examination criteria for Air Force pilots are there. I don't expect them to have a lot of muscles, but at least they have to pass the physical exam, right?"

Ye Qing chuckled, nudged the control tower operator with his elbow, and said with a wicked grin, "You want to lure him in here too, don't you?"

The air traffic controller frowned, a hint of displeasure on his face: "What do you mean by 'turning the corner'? This is called appealing to emotions and reason, or maximizing value. 'Turn the corner'? You're uncultured!"

"That's the same thing." Ye Qing took a sip of tea. "It's a pity. I tried to reason with him and appeal to his emotions, but it was all in vain. I'm afraid this matter won't work out. Besides, he does have some health problems and needs to go to the Air Force General Hospital for a checkup."

"He has a health problem?" The control tower operator was taken aback. "What problem?"

"It seems he has mild coronary atherosclerosis," Ye Qing explained. "He said he has hereditary hyperlipidemia, which has no good cure. So strictly speaking, he probably wouldn't even pass our Air Force physical exam."

"Hereditary hyperlipidemia? This thing can be inherited?" This was the first time the tower controller had ever heard that hyperlipidemia could be inherited.

Ye Qing shrugged: "This is the first time I've ever heard of hyperlipidemia being hereditary. I've never seen anything like it before. I don't know if he's just making things up or if he's mistaken, but I've almost made an appointment with him to go to the Air Force General Hospital. Don't those people at the General Hospital always boast about being Hua Tuo reincarnated? Let's see if they have any solutions this time."

"What if there's a way to treat Xu Xian's high cholesterol? Would he be willing to come here?"

"Didn't I just say that the falling flowers are willing, but the flowing water is indifferent?" Upon hearing this, Ye Qing became angry: "This guy can't stand hardship, he's so lazy. If he joins the army, won't he be the kind of guy who gets disciplined every day?"

In the military, there's no room for lazy people. And judging from Xu Xian's own account, he's practically addicted to laziness. If he went to the military, wouldn't that be torture for him?

At this point, Ye Qing couldn't help but sigh deeply again: "Oh dear, these young people nowadays, why can't they endure hardship?"

"That settles it then, the deal's off." The tower controller scoffed. "Even if he didn't have that high cholesterol, it's all for nothing, isn't it?"

"Let's take it one step at a time and see if there's a solution for his high cholesterol. If there is, we'll figure out what to do next." Ye Qing rubbed his temples, looking extremely agitated. "By the way, he was just talking to me about vertical takeoff and landing. That reminds me, I wonder if the Marine Corps has placed an order for C42s! If the Marine Corps needs them, I'll have to start increasing the number of C42s equipped with STOVL mode."

"Why are you concerned about the Marine Corps? Just focus on getting our Air Force models sorted out," the tower commander snapped.

"The Air Force is just the basic type, what's so great about it?" Ye Qing muttered under his breath.

"What are you muttering about?" the tower controller said with displeasure. "Although you have many models of this aircraft, which can be equipped by the Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps, the Air Force is your foundation. Don't turn your back on others and keep thinking about their business. It's better if the Marine Corps doesn't want it or not. It would be best if they also removed the Navy's carrier-based version and only used it by our Air Force. That would be a good thing."

The Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps are all equipped with fighter jets. If they pretend to be enemy aircraft and conduct surprise attack exercises, it would be extremely troublesome.

The Navy placed an order for the C-42 at the very beginning of its development. Therefore, the C-42 now exists not only in its basic version, but also in a naval carrier-based version with a tailhook, folding wings, and a larger wing area. However, the Marine Corps, which was originally scheduled to join the procurement, suddenly hesitated for some reason. This has caused the development of the C-42B, a vertical takeoff and landing (STOVL) variant specifically prepared for the Marine Corps, to stagnate.

This greatly displeased Ye Qing! Wasn't this just playing with him?!

To achieve vertical takeoff and landing, they would have to design a lift system for the aircraft independently, which would be time-consuming and labor-intensive. If the buyer eventually decides not to buy it, wouldn't they suffer a huge loss?

To be honest, Ye Qing was very pessimistic about vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) fighter jets, because these types of fighters often suffer from short range and are often only suitable as "airport defenders" or "mast defenders." However, the Marine Corps operates in a more variable environment, and they highly value VTOL capabilities. Yet, the Marine Corps only made requests but didn't place any orders, and even their willingness to purchase seemed very weak, which was quite embarrassing.

"Forget it, forget it, let's not talk about this anymore." Ye Qing got very angry when she heard about vertical takeoff and landing.

The tower controller suddenly tapped the table: "I noticed you seemed to be really interested in that kid Xu Xian."

Ye Qing curled her lip: "You talk as if you don't care about him? How could our Air Force not want a talent like him? But he doesn't like military life, it's a problem!"

"He simply can't stand ground training in the military. Leave that to me. However, everything is predicated on the Air Force General Hospital having a solution for his hyperlipidemia. If his hyperlipidemia can't be resolved, then there's no point in discussing anything else." The tower commander said seriously, "Also, no matter how much people outside praise him, you have to let his talent shine through. Only then will he be worth making an exception for."

"So you couldn't resist after all!" Ye Qing laughed heartily. "Pilots like Xu Xian are too rare to be missed, we can't let him go. There's also Xu Qing and Han Qi in civil aviation. Actually, someone like Xu Qing is the most suitable candidate, it's a pity his hand is injured. As for Han Qi, I personally feel he's just average, maybe it's because I don't have a high opinion of hard-working types. Xu Xian's talent is no less than Xu Qing's, he just lacks a bit of the spirit of hard work and perseverance. However, once he joins the military, there are plenty of ways to change his lazy personality."

"As for showcasing his talent?" Ye Qing pondered for a moment, "The C42 simulator is already built. With Xu Xian's abilities, he should be able to operate the C42 with minimal training. If the higher-ups could grant him special permission to participate in the Level 3 pilot simulated combat assessment, he could definitely show everyone that our Western Air Force has gained another unparalleled genius!"

The basic design of the C-42 is now largely finalized. Once Xu Xian resolves his physical issues and completes a period of training, that will be enough time for the C-42 to be commissioned into the Air Force. As a member of the Western Air Force and the designer of the C-42, Ye Qing will likely receive some preferential treatment from the Western Air Force and may be the first to be commissioned into the C-42.

Ye Qing's idea was to start flight training for the C42 directly after Xu Xian finished his necessary training, instead of slowly accumulating time with older aircraft as usual.

Xu Xian has a background in flying, so I believe the conversion training will be very fast. As long as Xu Xian is willing, he can quickly become a fighter pilot.

Although there are many differences between civil aviation and military aviation, they were once one entity. It's much simpler for a civil aviation pilot to become a fighter pilot than to train a complete novice to become a fighter pilot.

So now there's only one question left: how do we convince Xu Xian to join the Air Force?

(End of this chapter)