Jake paid his landing and tie-down fees and then secured a BMW 5 series from the rental car agency. He spent a few minutes perusing the map in the vehicle and then they made the drive to the Hyatt Regency in downtown Phoenix.
He and Greg hung out at the hotel for the rest of the day. They went down to the pool for a bit but had to retreat when some of the patrons recognized them and they got mobbed by autograph seekers and the just plain curious. They signed a few autographs, answered a few dumb questions about why they were here, and then returned to their rooms. Jake took a nap and then they met for dinner in the hotel restaurant and had a few drinks at the bar. Greg did not mention Mindy Snow or the conversation they’d had on the flight in. Jake did not bring it up either.
They climbed into the Beemer at 8:00 AM the next morning and made the drive back to Deer Valley, where the CEO of PetShop kept his plane. The arrived a little early and had to wait a few minutes before Austin Grover, the CEO’s pilot emerged from the airport office.
Austin was a short, stocky man who sported a mustache and a goatee, probably because he would have looked ridiculously young without them. His dark blonde hair was cut short on the sides, spiked on the top with some sort of gel, and he wore a simple pair of blue jeans and a white, button-up shirt. He seemed very starstruck at meeting the two celebrities and was a bit tongue-tied initially, until they were able to assure them that they were mostly normal people who put their pants on one leg at a time, just like him.
“How old are you, Austin?” Jake had to ask as they strolled toward the hangars.
“Twenty-eight,” he said. “Been flying since I was sixteen.”
“No kidding?” Jake asked.
“Yep,” he said. “Got my private license just after my eighteenth birthday and started working as a CFI shortly after that, working for peanuts, you know. Gradually got enough hours in and got my commercial license. Started doing a lot of odd flying jobs after that; flying mosquito abatement runs, cloud seeding over the San Joaquin Valley, photography runs over the agricultural regions. Got to fly a lot of different planes doing that. Eventually got my multi-engine and pressurization certs and then, three years ago, got my passenger transport cert.”
“How long have you been working for the PetShop guy?” Jake asked.
“A little over a year now,” he said. “It’s a pretty sweet gig. He’s a cool enough dude, not all that much older than me, really. He pays me seventy per flight hour plus standby wages and full benefits. And the 180 is a sweet fuckin’ aircraft. Have you ever seen one, Jake?”
“I have not,” Jake said. “I understand it’s a pusher, not a puller, right?”
“That’s right,” Austin said.
“A pusher?” Greg asked. “What does that mean?”
“The props face to the rear instead of the front,” Austin explained. “That means that the thrust pushes the plane forward instead of pulling it like a traditional prop setup.”
“What is the reason for that?” Greg wanted to know.
“There are several advantages,” Austin said. “It’s a quieter ride since the engines are in the back. It’s a smoother ride since the thrust is not passing over the wing, and it’s less vulnerable to foreign object damage.”
“Then why don’t all aircraft do that?” Greg asked.
“Well ... there are some disadvantages too,” Austin said with a shrug. “You need a longer takeoff roll because you don’t have the thrust passing over the wings, and, though it’s quieter inside the aircraft, it’s noisier outside of it. If you’re on the ground near the airport, the 180 sounds like a goat getting its balls squeezed in a vice when it takes off. Also, it’s more vulnerable to icing on the wings and the ice can break off and damage a prop.”
“I guess we try not to allow any icing then?” Jake asked.
“You know it,” Austin agreed. “How many hours do you got in your logbook, Jake?”
“Eleven twenty-five as of my landing at Deer Valley,” Jake said. “Most of that in the Chancellor.”
“That’s a pretty sweet aircraft too,” Austin said. “I would assume you’re IFR, multi-engine, and pressurized rated then.”
“I am,” Jake confirmed. “No commercial rating though. Never needed it.”
“Out of fuckin’ sight,” Austin said.
They reached the large hangar where the aircraft was stored. Austin produced a keyring from his belt and unlocked the door. He then slid it open. Jake looked at the red and white twin engine plane for the first time. It was not a case of love at first sight, but it was definitely a case of lust at first sight.
It looked like something out of a science fiction story. The fuselage was curved from nose to tail in an airfoil shape (Austin would later explain that a sizable fraction of the aircraft’s lift came from the fuselage itself). Just behind the nose was a small wing that made it look like the business end of a hammerhead shark. The primary wings were mounted in the middle of the fuselage behind the passenger cabin, just forward of a large T-tail. The engines were mounted atop the wings with the five-bladed propellers facing the rear.
Greg was not so impressed. He looked a little fearful as he took it in. “This thing actually flies?” he asked.
“Like a motherfucker,” Austin assured him. “It’s the fastest, most fuel-efficient twin-engine prop-driven transport aircraft in the world. It’ll climb at 3K per minute and soar up to flight level 410 if you want it to. Once up there, it’ll cruise at three hundred and twenty knots and carry you more than sixteen hundred miles if the tanks are full. The way my boss has it configured, it’ll hold up to ten passengers, not including the pilot.”
“And it has a bathroom?” Jake asked.
Austin gave him a strange look. “Yes, of course it has a bathroom. You think the CEO of Pet-fucking-Shop pisses in a urinal while I’m hauling him and his fellow suits to Vegas or Houston?”
The primary door for the aircraft was on the left side, just behind the cockpit. Austin opened it and then pulled a small staircase out of a hollow on the bottom side. He invited them to climb aboard and take a look. They did so.
The passenger compartment was compact, with a ceiling too low for Jake or Greg to stand up straight (although Austin, at around five foot seven inches was able to do so, which meant that Laura, Pauline, Nerdly, Sharon, and Elsa would all be able to do so as well). There was no door between the cockpit and the passenger compartment, although it appeared there could be one there if one wished there to be. The passenger seats were situated on either side of a central aisle. They were plush, luxuriant chairs that each had a video monitor mounted in front of them and a retractable table that slid out from an inset in the wall. The chairs immediately behind the cockpit were oriented to the front while the other four were oriented facing each other. Behind the chairs were two couches that could each sit two people. Behind that was a small bar and refrigerator setup. Behind that, was a small door that was currently closed.
“Not bad, huh?” Austin asked. “There are other configurations, of course, but this is the most popular one for executive transport.”
“It’s very nice,” Jake said. “Just like the business jets we ride on.”
“This basically is a business jet in all but propulsion,” Austin said. “And you only need one pilot to fly it. Let me show you the flight deck.”
“Hold on a second,” Jake said. He pointed to the door in the rear. “Is that the bathroom?”
“Uh ... yeah,” Austin said.
“I want to check it out,” he said. He lowered his head and started walking that way. The height of the cabin gradually decreased as he moved aft.
“Dude,” Austin said to Greg, “what is up with him and the bathroom?”
“His wife wants a bathroom on the plane,” Greg explained. “That’s why he’s upgrading.”