I knew that. She had not fastened the seatbelt until then. It was the reason why she could look to the back by that much.
“Okay! Done! Fly to the foot of the mountain.”
“Before that, I will get the helicopter off our tail.”
“But how?”
The chopper was flying beside us. I checked the terrain below. The altitude was 50 meters. Below us was a forest. I spotted a straight road.
I lowered the altitude gradually.
I am pretending to land. I turned and decreased the altitude. The helicopter was coming down as well.
While making an extra banking move, I revved up the engine slightly.
I put the elevators down once.
After a moment of weightlessness, the plane pointed downward.
This acceleration is rather good.
The airplane swooped down toward the road.
I looked backward. The helicopter was getting farther away from us, but it was still trailing us.
Well, then ...
The tall coniferous forest had an opening only around the vicinity along the road. Our plane was descending into the valley-like spacing between the trees. While the road was getting closer, I slowly and gradually pulled the control stick to deflect the elevators. At the fast speed, we flew and grazed the ground. We had gotten ourselves all the way down to the altitude of five meters.
The chopper was behind and above us.
Higher engine output.
The airframe danced, and the engine roared.
Finally, have all the four cylinders woken up?
I pulled the control stick to angle the elevators upward. The nose of the aircraft was pitched upward.
We were lifted even more.
The nose was almost pointing to the zenith.
I looked back to locate the helicopter.
It was attempting to lift the nose and put on the brakes.
There are woods on both sides. To go back, it has to turn around.
Our plane is flying above the chopper. So, what can it do next?
Our climbing speed was going down.
I started the inverted flight maneuver.
The chopper looks as if it has stopped in the air.
Our plane was oriented completely inverted. The elevators were still maintaining the same angles.
Then, we were diving to the helicopter.
They could not have expected me to loop the loop here.
The sensation of the main wings bending.
The engine kept running.
We could not maintain the inverted flight forever.
The reason was that the fuel tank was installed high above the fuselage.
The helicopter was losing its forward flight speed.
Our plane is probably appearing to fall at an oblique angle.
The chopper began to turn its tail. It seemed to be changing the direction to retreat.
By using the ailerons, I made a roll to the left.
The aircraft was brought to the upright orientation in an instant.
It was falling even more.
The helicopter was in front of us.
We grazed just above it and went up.
We slid to the direction, from which we had come, to backtrack.
I pulled the control stick to deflect the elevators upward.
She screamed in the front seat.
“It’s gonna break!”
It won’t break. This is an everyday occurrence of an aircraft.
The nose of our plane was pointing to the zenith again.
The chopper seemed to have managed to turn around and was facing us.
Executing a somersault that was smaller than the previous one.
While descending, I had the main wings go vertical.
We were falling while assuming the knife-edge orientation. I controlled the nose angle with the rudder adjustment.
The helicopter turned its nose to the left.
It is intending to fly forward.
I made a feint for a moment by flying downward.
She yelled something again, but I could not catch it.
One second before the stalling, I let the airframe assume the upright orientation.
I pushed the throttle up.
At the altitude of 10 meters, I entered the pitch-up control.
The tires of our aircraft were about to touch the road surface.
I heard a massive sound behind us.
I looked back.
It seemed that the helicopter had landed.
The tail rotor apparently bumped against something, and the helicopter was getting off balance.
Was the helicopter making an emergency landing, because it could not hold on anymore? Or did it fall on its rear end and make the tail collide with something?
I continued to let the airplane gain the altitude gradually. We went through the valley in the forest, and finally returned to the open sky.
I saw a large trailer truck coming toward us. Due to the helicopter blocking the road, that was guaranteed to be a problem.
After ascending to the altitude of 200 meters, I choked the throttle. Finally, tranquility took over.
“Are you okay?” I called out loudly into the fuselage.
“I thought I was going to die.” She replied.
She showed me the direction in which we were going to fly. We flew at an altitude at which I could survey the terrain. Otherwise, we would get lost.
We have just enough fuel to get us there on a one-way trip. Once we land on the destination, we are not coming back unless we refuel the plane. I wonder where she is going.
Still.
I am feeling really good.
If this is entirely a hallucination, then it is not so bad. For example, my body might be dead already, and this could be a dream I am having during my last breath. Wonderful. A person’s life is like that. Everything is an ephemeral illusion.
It’s a little short on altitude, but this place is wonderful anyway.
Everything is clear in the sky.
It’s free, and then soft.
I took off the sunglasses that I was wearing in place of goggles. The air coming in through the windshield polished my eyes more clearly.
The sensation of floating in the air.
Only the air was around us.
There was none but air, and nothing is being blocked.
I had never thought that it would feel so good to be away from the ground.
It’s so exhilarating that it makes me want to dance.
However.
The only thing I’m dissatisfied with is ...
The one to share the experience with me.
Right.
I have no one to dance with.
Not that fat helicopter.
As for me, rather than this blunt biplane ...
More sharply.
I wanna dance with somebody.
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