Her Island Homecoming by Anna J. Stewart

Author:Anna J. Stewart
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2023-03-08T14:51:40+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

SYDNEY WASN’T ENTIRELY sure what surprised her more: the fact that sixty minutes to the second later, Theo stepped onto the landing pad or that he’d shown up at all. Given his initial reticence regarding the very mention of getting into a helicopter, she would have laid solid odds on the latter being true, yet here he was, with shadows of doubt and trepidation on his handsome face.

“Let me guess,” he said as he approached, casting wary eyes on her vehicle as she closed the cargo door where she’d stashed some last-minute snacks for a stop she planned to make. “You weren’t entirely sure I was going to come.”

She smiled, scrunched her nose. “It may have crossed my mind.”

“You changed your clothes.” He glanced down at his khakis and polo shirt, then inclined his head as he reached a hand out. “And tied down your hair.”

“Yeah, well, I don’t fly in flip-flops.” She waggled one of her sneaker-clad feet in front of her and ran a suddenly nervous hand down her loosely twisted braid. “And the fewer distractions I have up there, the better.” She sobered at his wince. “How about we get those nerves under control before we take off?”

“Not entirely sure that’s possible.”

“We’ll see. We’re all gassed up and ready to go, but to satisfy that scientifically leaning mind of yours—”

“I’ve watched some videos,” he said as she pulled open the pilot-side cockpit door. “There was this one on YouTube, how to fly a helicopter in six minutes.”

“Six minutes, huh?” She rolled her eyes. “And here I wasted thousands of hours earning my license. All right, then. Let’s see what you learned.” Sydney stepped back and pointed. “What’s that?”

“Ah. That’s the collective, and it’s operated with the left hand. It controls height and moves the pitch of the blades.”

“Huh.” Sydney gave him an impressed nod. “All right. How about this?” She indicated the main controller situated in the center of the pilot’s seat.

“The cyclic. It’ll tilt the craft forward and back. It’s what you use to keep the nose of the helicopter where you’re going.”

She laughed. “Okay, so maybe YouTube wasn’t a bad idea after all. What about the foot pedals?”

“There’s two of them.” He moved closer, peered in as if actually interested, which was what she was hoping for. “They work as anti-torque and maintain resistance against the blades. Without them, the chopper would just spin and spin. They’re what keep the vehicle steady.”

“All of it together requires a bit of a light touch. I’ve been flying since I was seven years old, Theo. I made my first solo flight when I was sixteen. I won’t say I’ve never had issues up there, but I know what I’m doing.”

“I believe you.”

“Uh-huh. I can see that. Okay, how about some stats to help ease your mind?”

“What kind of stats?”

“Helicopter crashes, aircraft crashes in general, are anomalies. For example, did you know there has to be at least seven catastrophic failures on a plane for it to go

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.