“Yes, sir.” responded Coldman.
When Terry returned to the hangar James Harper had been waiting for him. “I think that we had better have a meeting to talk about planning in-air test flights,” he said. “How about tomorrow at ten in that small conference room 2?”
At ten a.m. the next day there was gathered James, Terry Mettle, Fred Beller, John, Judy and Anthony Elter. James sat at the head of the table in an authoritative manner which let the others know that something pretty serious was on his mind. John had a faint sinking feeling in his stomach.
“I expect that you all heard how Terry’s test flight yesterday caused an undue amount of excitement on the base,” commenced James. “Fortunately half the people here have got secret clearance anyway, and the security guards guessed that this was some new aircraft system being tested and did not panic especially. Even so, there can easily be people without any screening on the base. All you need is to show your driving license for ID to get in here, and lots of vets come in here just to go shopping at the commissary or to use the medical facilities. As far as we are concerned these are just regular citizens and the more people get a glimpse of the Delias then the more the project is endangered. So I think that we had better work up a plan for discreetly doing test flights.”
Anthony Elter spoke up. “In our circumstances I think that there is only one option. We can test it in complete privacy at Homey airport.”
“Where is that?” asked Fred in bewilderment.
Anthony explained: “It’s a highly secure airbase in Nevada that the Air Force uses to test out planes which it simply does not want the rest of the world to know about. From our point of view it is ideal. They have got a 23X25 mile piece of desert where absolutely nobody goes. The airspace over it is closed to everybody, even military pilots who do not have special permission. There are hangars and buildings there which we can use for setting up and adjustments. Then when the time comes, the Delias can fly out for the first time in complete privacy. They have a huge runway at Homey, just like here at Redstone. Delia should fit inside a military transport. So we can just roll her into the back of one here at Huntsville and roll her out in one of the hangars at Homey. Then we can try her out as much as we like in complete privacy. Everybody who works on that base has a secret or higher clearance. I expect that you will need to be there for a week or so at a time while we are doing test flights. They have a daily commuter flight in there from Las Vegas. So you can stay in a luxury hotel there, and fly in each morning to work at Homey and then back to Vegas to whoop it up in the evening. Most groups really look forward to their time spent testing at Homey.”
“That’s amazing!” said Judy. “How come we never heard about such a place?”
“Well, you may have heard about it under a different name,” said Anthony. “In days gone by people used to call it Area 51.”
Terry looked at Judy. Judy looked at John. John swallowed hard. “Oh my god!” he muttered. Then he said: “Well I guess we have to do what we have to do, but I have spent the last two years trying to get away from this flying saucer thing and every time I do then it comes back to bite me.”
“Wow, I never thought of that” said James. “What an amazing coincidence. You know there is all kinds of folklore about UFOs being seen around Homey, or area 51 as it has been called. It’s not surprising really since every really new and secret flying system goes down there for flight testing. I have never even been there myself, but inside Air Force R&D they advertise their facilities and it has always sounded great to me. They have every conceivable kind of computer, radar and radio capability, and there are underground quarters where you can stay which they claim are quite comfortable. But it would be hard to compete with Vegas and so I can see why they have that morning commuter flight.”
John shook his head sadly. “We will do what we have to do,” he affirmed.
Chapter 40
It was in August that John, James, Judy, Steve, Fred, Terry and Anthony met in the hangar to review the progress on the Delias. Anthony started off: “It’s really been amazing how much of the hardware we have been able to copy from other existing systems. For example the pressurization, heating and air conditioning systems are really all just copied straight out of the Space Shuttle.” Outside there was a tremendous thunder clap. The lights in the hangar flickered. Suddenly outside a siren could be heard wailing. “Tornado warning!” remarked Anthony. ‘We have all got to go to the tornado safe refuge area.” Fred, John and Steve all felt their blood turn to ice, while Judy feigned indifference. “Follow me!” said Anthony. They all trooped into a rather small area where there were massive concrete walls on three sides, and by chance the floor level was actually below the adjacent ground level outside. There were probably fifty people cramped into that small space, all looking self conscious at taking refuge in that fashion. Fortunately after only five minutes the sirens stopped and everybody was able to get back to work.
John attempted to get things rolling again. “Fred, tell us where things are up to.”
“At this point all the major systems are physically installed in the airframes. All of the pieces seem to work separately, which is nearly a miracle, since Anthony tells me that this hardly ever happens. We have got redundancy for everything – for example the main processor could fail and its twin could take over everything for as long as needed to perform a reboot. There are two jet fuel tanks, two hydrazine tanks, even two water tanks. Come on inside!”
The seven of them clambered up the short ladder into Delia 1. They stood proudly around the pilot seats, which were in front of an absolutely huge display panel. Fred turned a key in the dashboard, and numerous lights came to life on the massive console. On the main screen, different parts showed information about the altitude, velocity, temperatures of critical parts, etc. “One of the really fun features is the surveillance camera,” said Fred. He pressed a soft key below the display and immediately a section of the display showed an image of the floor underneath the vehicle with part of the ladder visible. “From twenty miles up you can read a newspaper on the ground when you use full magnification. Anthony, you tell us how it is all working together.”
“One of the biggest features has been getting all the software to work simultaneously with itself and the hardware,” declared Anthony. “As it is right now, you can lean the cyclic control stick over to whichever way you want and it will move smoothly in that direction. The software which detects sideways motion seems to work just as you would want so that in general the vehicle will execute a corner maneuver pretty much automatically if you use the foot pedals to turn it. Terry has been driving it around the hanger to prove that. Of course, the one piece of software that has not been tried out is the routine for recovering from Judy’s nightmare in which the vehicle somehow gets set exactly on its edge so that all the regular flight controls are deactivated and the vehicle plummets down. What I am thinking of doing is setting up a gantry with ropes so that we can suspend a vehicle while it is running. Then we will use a crane to forcibly tip it on its side and see whether it will recover itself to the right way up. One stage beyond what Judy dreamed, we will tip it completely upside down. The software people have written a series of routines which will turn it the right way up again completely automatically. We will test that with the same gantry, ropes and crane.
“Over on this side we have the toilet, just like in a commercial aircraft, and next to it the little galley – there is a sink with running water, a microwave oven, a fridge to store food and a storage cabinet for supplies. This little cabinet here contains a tool kit that might allow some level of emergency repairs in flight – you have got patches to close a meteorite hole, and there are pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers and even an electric power drill with a small selection of drill bits. So if something goes wrong during a mission you will not be totally helpless. Over here the space low down to the floor where there is little headroom is all taken up with storage lockers where you can keep pressure suits and othe
r gear which you will rarely need. There are lightweight blankets there to make it comfortable for the crew to sleep during extended missions. Terry, would you like to share what you have been learning?”
“My experiments have been constrained to what I can do inside this hangar!” said Terry. “I admit that it’s a huge one, but if you are a pilot then that cramps your style to say the least. I have been studying the cornering ability especially. It really does corner nicely now, within the limits of the hardware. If you swing it around then the software automatically stops the sideways drift as fast as the hardware is capable of, which is probably all you could ask for, except for one thing. When you go round a corner fast it is comforting if the floor tilts slightly so that at least roughly gravity still feels like it is pointing straight down. When you are in an airliner you take it for granted these days that when the pilot goes round a corner he tips the floor exactly enough so that it feels like gravity is still straight down. Think about those times when you glance up from reading a book and discover that the ground looks to be somewhat beside you instead of below you. At the moment, in contrast to this, Delia behaves just like a car running on four wheels – as you go round a corner; she stays absolutely as flat as can be. That feels quite strange. You can turn the vehicle round, and the computers immediately figure out that it is going sideways and start pushing thrust in the direction to get you going straight again. That is great, but it feels weird for the pilot and passengers. So my request for the software people is, can we please adjust the horizontal stabilization loop so that it automatically tips the floor sideways when you are going round a corner, so that it feels as if down is towards your feet?”
Everybody looked at Judy. “Sure we can do that – eventually. But that is a big one to do and it will take everybody for several weeks to get that one going, and then we will have to recheck that we have not screwed up some other function. I don’t think we can do that before the first test flight at Homey. By the way, when exactly is that?” She looked at James.
“Unfortunately everything at Homey is super important or it would not be there,” said James. “I have managed to reserve the facilities for a two week spell at the end of September, about four weeks from now. I really am worried about how we are going to transport the Delias up there. We should have thought about that before we started constructing them here. Back in history when the Saturn rockets were being built, they made a special aircraft which used to be known as the pregnant guppy just to move the rocket parts that were built here. Luckily Boeing recently built three outsize cargo planes called the Dreamlifter for moving the parts of their Dreamliner around amongst their world wide factories. So I am in the process of negotiating with Boeing to get the use of their B747LCF Dreamlifter aircraft to move the Delias from Huntsville to Homey. The Air Force has a lot of influence with Boeing, especially for national security issues, so I am expecting that I’ll be able to manage it. Delia is 25 feet across, and the Dreamlifter has a width of 27 feet, so with care we will just be able to fit it in.”
After this the meeting was climaxed by Terry and Judy taking Delia 1 on a trip around the hangar at an altitude of twenty feet. Fred and Anthony sat in the back while John, James and Steve watched from the side. When they came back, Fred remarked: “That APU sure is noisy. It’s only a few feet behind you as you are sitting there! I am going to look into designing in some serious soundproofing otherwise we will all have to wear earplugs when we are inside.”
Judy said: “All the same - I just love it. This is my kind of transport!”
James broke in with: “Well I should hope so, because it has cost $200 million so far!”
At that the meeting broke up and they all made their way out through the sweltering midday heat to the cafeteria.
Chapter 41
Four weeks later it felt as if the summer heat and humidity of Huntsville had been going on forever. Most of the Long Beach contingent had never experienced anything like it before. Even though the Electrolev hangar was air conditioned throughout, in the large open area where the Delias had been assembled, the temperature still seemed uncomfortable to West Coast people. The locals commiserated with them, and said: “You just have to kind of take things slowly when there is this heat and humidity!” Even the leaves of the trees around the Arsenal seemed to be drooping limp and lifeless by the end of each day. The temperatures were often around 95F, and although the western deserts have much higher temperatures, it was the 80% humidity that was the real killer.
Steve and James had arranged that the personnel working on the project were going to travel to Homey via Dallas and Las Vegas. Since the accommodation available at Homey was little and barrack like, Steve took the initiative of getting rooms for all the staff at the Paris Hotel in Las Vegas. John, Terry Entmann, Judy, Cynthia, Irena, Terry Mettle, Fred, Ian Smith, Jim Telham, Harold, Tanya, Anthony and Reginald were slated to go. After a lot of arm twisting, a Dreamlifter was freed up to make the 1500 mile trip from Redstone to Homey airport. Terry Mettle managed to get a seat on the flight deck of the Dreamlifter and was the only member of the LeviStar team to actually fly with the Delia prototypes.
When they were loaded into the Dreamlifter, Fred had the loading team make use of lifting loops which he had thoughtfully provided at four points on the Delias periphery, which allowed them to be conveniently lifted with a small crane. They were also used to tie the Delias down inside the Dreamlifter hold.
The Electrolev team flew into Las Vegas on a Sunday, having spent almost the whole day getting there. After the sweltering summer humidity of Huntsville they luxuriated in the dry desert heat. They all took cabs across to the Paris Hotel and checked themselves in. John had suggested they get together at the Café Ile St Louis for dinner at 7.
During dinner, John went over the travel arrangements: “We are all booked on a charter 737 flight which leaves McCarran airport – the EG&G Airlift Terminal, at 7am every morning. Now your average taxi driver may not know where it is, so I have written down instructions for you all here. As he spoke he passed around a stack of papers with maps on them. The Airlift Terminal is on the edge of McCarran airport close to the junction of E. Hacienda Avenue and Haven. The driveway is on Haven close to the junction. The sign outside will just say EG&G Airlift Terminal, and the airline that will be taking us is called JANET. It is only a small terminal, and once you show your Air Force ID badges and tickets the airline staff will help you find the flight to Homey. You had better get there sharp or you will be left behind. I heard already that Terry and the Delias got there safely and the Delias have already been wheeled into the hangar which they have assigned to us. There is supposed to be office space for us close by with phones, computers and anything else which we might need. They have workshops there which can provide almost any mechanical adjustments that we need. After tonight you are all on your own for meal arrangements. The good news is that Electrolev is new enough that we do not have any rules yet on acceptable expenses. So here is a warning – we can all have a great time here while the Delias are debugged, but if somebody goes and buys a $50 bottle of champagne then we will end up being forced to have a strict allowance for what is OK – so be warned! The flight back leaves from Homey airport at 5. If you miss it then you will have to spend the night in the barracks there.”
The following morning they all assembled uneventfully at the airlift terminal and caught the Janet flight to Homey airport. Upon arrival they were greeted by an Air Force representative who showed them where their offices were to be, which was right adjacent to the hangar where the Delias were housed. He himself had only just viewed the Levistars for the first time, and even though he had obviously seen a lot from working at Homey, the amazement showed on his face. After an hour fiddling around getting security badges for the airport facility, a brief meeting was called in a conference room adjacent to the hangar, at which the base staff were introduced and it was explained what services they could provide. John explained the nature of Delia without explainin
g how it worked. Delia was apparently rather rare in its need for the hydrazine which it would use for its high altitude tests, but they had proudly laid on the capability. A shuttle over to the Janet airways terminal was to leave the hangar at 4.45 each day to get everybody back to Las Vegas for the night. During the meeting the sequence of tests was planned out:
Low speed low altitude maneuvering
Test maximum speed possible at low altitude
Test pressurization and climate control systems by rising to 10,000 feet.
Try out regenerative descent from 10,000 feet.
Test horizontal flight speed at 10,000 feet
Test out the cornering ability at low altitudes, flying a circuit around the airport.
Test altitude capability to 50,000 feet, testing pressurization and climate.
Regenerative descent, using the incandescent lamps to dissipate energy.
Test altitude capability to 80,000 feet,
Shut down the APU and rise to 100,000 feet using the batteries.
Test out parking at 100,000 feet.
Take vehicle to 30,000 feet and then halt the inverters to simulate a total power failure.
Operate the big safety parachute and test parachute descent.
Test out the ground surveillance camera from 80,000 feet.
With two vehicles available one could be executing the tests while the other was being serviced and adjusted. It was anticipated that minor tweaks to the software especially would be conducted all through the testing. There were many empirical parameters in the control software which had only ever been set up inside the hangars at Huntsville.
A Disruptive Invention Page 19