FLIGHT 009 - A SECOND OFFICER

"I hope you guys have memorized the A320 landing checklist, tomorrow we will be having your first quiz for the Second Quarter."

"UHHHH!" the girls grumbled.

It's the second week of classes for the Second Quarter. Aviation time is just about to end, with an unwelcoming announcement for tomorrow, Friday.

"Ohh don't give me those looks, you've been listening attentively to my lessons," Andy told his class. "Besides, the landing checklist isn't that difficult, is it?"

"Heh, what does a trainee know about actual landing!" sneered Minako.

Not a day goes by where Andy isn't insulted by this arrogant black-haired, but he fails to recognize those statements as insults. He was puffing off the powders of chalk on his uniform when one of his students called his attention.

"Sir Andy, what will be our lesson next week?"

"Ahh, yes, thanks for reminding me Ayaka. If you want, you can read or watch in advance Etrurian Eagle Flight 200, a 737 that overshot a runway. It will be our first lesson on landing problems."

He picked up his book and reminded the girls, "Also keep the classroom clean, for the past few days, it's been very messy!"

He faced the class president to remind her, "Sayuri, kindly check if the classroom is clean before you leave, please."

"Fiiinee!" she averted her eyes away from their adviser and mumbled, "I'll do it because you say so."

Andy didn't hear the rest of Sayuri's reply. He left the room to leave the girls for their break time.

"I can't wait for this week to end!" he mumbled to himself on his way to the faculty room, "UHHH! And I also have that on Saturday."

Thursday's class proceeded normally, but things were a bit different the following day. Friday didn't start that well for 1 - D, it's already past 7 AM, Aviation class should've started, but Sir Andy is still not inside the classroom.

"What's taking him so long?" Karen mumbled to herself.

"Where is Sir Andy?" Ayaka wondered.

"That stupid adviser of ours, it's our test day and he's late!" Sayuri quietly complained.

"HEH! The trainee must have quitted already!" grinned Minako.

The door swung open, panting and sweating, Sir Andy entered the room while trying to catch his breath.

"Sorry ahh... haa… I'm late," he immediately sat down on the teacher's chair, breathing heavily.

It took him a minute or two to catch his breath, and despite their adviser's tardiness, 1 - D's quiz continued.

"Desk clean, pens out. I want everything ready in 30 seconds!

Everybody followed Andy's instructions; he brought out their test papers and began distributing as soon as the girls are done preparing.

The room was quiet, everyone was focused, Andy watched over the girls to make sure no funny business is going on. Within an hour, everybody finished their exam, at which point the aviation teacher collected their papers, and continued with his lesson about landing problems. He specifically discussed the differences between overshoots and undershoots, but he had to delay parts of their lesson due to time constraint.

"I'll discuss the specifics on next week's Plane Crash Investigators lesson so that it will be easier for you to understand. First will be about overshooting, what causes it, and how do you prevent it from happening."

He placed the test papers inside his bag, along with his reference book and notebook before strapping it on his back. Before leaving the classroom for break time, he had a request for the girls.

"1 - D, kindly leave the classroom before 4:10 PM. There's something I have to do here so I need it to be vacated by that time."

The girls replied with a short but energetic "HAI!"

For most of them, this is good news, an early dismissal is always a good way to end the week. It just means that they can get home earlier and sleep longer. But for a certain girl, this reminder doesn't sound so good.

"Early dismissal, Sir Andy is busy. Awww, that means we don't get to talk about Plane Crash Investigators in the library," grumbled Ayaka.

She felt down and rested her head on her desk, losing her energy to even say goodbye to Sir Andy as he was about to leave.

Classes continued for the remainder of the day. Once it was homeroom time, the girls swiftly cleaned their room without leaving a single speck of dust. When the clock struck 4:10 PM, everybody said goodbye to their adviser.

With the room empty, the class adviser took the opportunity to use the room for his personal use. He wiped off his sweat and took breath.

"Alright, time to do that!"

A few minutes later, the school bell blared through the empty corridors. It's already 4:30 PM, most classes have been dismissed, only a few students remain inside the school, as well as most teachers.

In the school courtyard, a peculiar group of girls are leisurely spending their quality time, enjoying the fresh, cool breeze coming from the greenery. They were dismissed early by their class adviser and have decided to stay at the school for a short while.

"Neh neh, Minako-san, what's the lesson that Sir Andy was telling us about yesterday," a pink-haired girl asked.

"Ohh, you mean the Etrurian Eagle 200 accident," Minako recalled, "It's a Boeing 737 that overshot the runway. It's not a difficult lesson."

"Wow, Minako-san is so cool. She's so knowledgeable in aviation."

"HAH! I bet I'm even more knowledgeable than that trainee teacher,"

"I mean, Sir Andy's a good teacher," a short girl remarked.

"Yeah, but he's only a trainee. He doesn't have the experience to teach Aviation well."

"Minako-san, I think you're underestimating Sir Andy too much," a girl with long blonde hair warned.

While the group continued their chatting, Minako noticed something out of the ordinary. She felt her skirt pockets were unusually light.

"Hmm, my phone's not in my pocket?"

Worried for their friend, the girls frantically asked, "Is it in your bag?"

"I don't put it in my bag."

"Could you have dropped it?" the blonde-haired asked.

"Are you dumb? If I dropped then I would have heard it!" Minako chided, "Hmph! I must have left it in the room. I'm gonna go back."

"But Minako" - the short girl grabbed her hand - "Sir Andy said no one is allowed beyond 4:10 PM."

"Hmph!" she pushed the girl's arm away and raised her chin, "I don't care what that trainee says. He doesn't control us, that classroom is ours."

She got her bag and hurriedly left her friends. She felt crossed and wasn't in the mood.

"Who the hell does that trainee think he is! He's just a Second Officer that replaced our former, worthless teacher. That doesn't make him any better."

She angrily slammed the classroom door open, but stopped herself from setting foot inside. Minako was astonished at the sight before her eyes. A sight she never imagined that she'll see.

The plane wasn't slowing down, the reversers won't deploy.

"Damn it!"

Stepping on the pedals and pushing the yoke down, he tried to force the plane to stop by applying full braking power.

"STOP! STOP, DAMN IT!"

He pulled the reverser lever once again and this time it worked, but he knew it was too late. He could see the edge of the runway just merely meters away.

Even so, he tried to stop the plane by swinging the yoke hard to the left. He released his foot from the right pedal in an attempt to drift the plane, but his actions were futile.

"CRASH! BOOM! BANG!"

A fire erupted from the mangled wreckage of the plane, orange flames and black smoke were displayed on his laptop screen. The plane he was trying to land, has overshot the runway, and crashed.

Gritting his teeth in anger, he slammed the thrust levers with a loud "BANG!" back to idle, and stomped his feet with frustration.

"DAMN IIIIIT!"

"So this is the other side of Sir Andy that we didn't know."

He was caught off guard, surprised to see his student inside the classroom.

"So, this is why you wanted everyone to leave early, so that they won't see you in your pitiful state."

He tried to hide his anger and compose himself before asking the black-haired girl.

"Is something the matter, Minako-san?"

"Don't hide it, Sir Andy. I saw you venting your anger on your flight simulator."

"So you saw" - he scratched his head in embarrassment - "well, never mind that, what brings you back here?"

"I went back to get my phone," she walked towards her seat in the rear and found her missing phone in the compartment under her seat

"Well, kindly get it and leave please."

"I won't!"

"Huh?"

Minako stood tall, she pridefully raised her chin up, looking down on the aviation teacher, "I won't leave yet."

"Minako-san, it's already dismissal time," reasoned Andy.

"HEH? Seeing the Sir Andy I know in this pitiful state made me want to see him more!"

"Do what you want."

Andy was too tired, and too irritated to argue with his student anymore, he sat back on his seat and fixated his eyes on the laptop screen.

"Actually, Sir Andy," Minako took a seat a sat beside the Aviation teacher, "can I see the replay of your last landing."

"Why should I?" he asked with a disheartened look.

"Just show it!"

He navigated his mouse towards the replay button and played the recording of his horrible landing with a Boeing 737. It was raining, there were fairly strong winds, but that's not a problem. The view of his plane touching the ground fast and not even decelerating came.

Amidst the horrific landing and the confusing situation, Minako noticed something odd, "Can you show me the cockpit view?"

Andy did what his student said and changed the camera setting to the cockpit view; there, Minako spotted something,

"I see now!"

"What is it?" Andy eagerly asked.

"HEH? Why should I tell you? You're an Aviation teacher, and what are you even doing out here, playing a flight simulator app? Are you really qualified to teach us Aviation?" Minako insulted.

But Andy didn't have the energy to retaliate, "I have a simulator check flight tomorrow. I wanted to try landing on a rainy runway, they said that's where my check flight will be."

"Ohh, so what?"

"I wanted to pass my check flight. If I do that, I can finally be an actual Second Officer, a relief pilot."

He looked down at his yoke, disheartened, "Yet, I can't even land on a rainy weather. I could handle emergency situations, but I can't perform a routine landing."

"HEY, tell me why did you want to become a pilot?"

"Huh?" his student's question caught him off guard, "It's my dream to become one. Ever since I was in high school, I've always wanted to travel to other places and see the world. I was fascinated by airplanes, they're cool and amazing. I fell in love with Aviation ever since."

Andy stood up and walked towards the window, the sun was setting, bright orange light filled the entire sky.

"I saw planes crashing in a documentary, many were killed because their pilots failed to save them, then I thought to myself, 'I don't want that to happen.' I decided that I want to become a pilot, not only because I want to travel, but also, I want to bring people safely to their destinations."

Hearing her teacher's sincere answer flipped a switch inside Minako.

"Sit down, I don't want to hear your life story. A simple I love flying would have been fine."

Ohh, sorry," he sat back on his seat while scratching his head.

Minako pointed on the altitude indicator on the screen, "You bounced your first landing" - then she pressed the forward button and switched to a view showing the aircraft on the runway - "then you landed the plane smoothly but fast, and that's where you botched your landing!"

"How?"

As unusual as it sounds, Minako began to explain the Aviation teacher's mistake.

"Landing smoothly on a wet runway and your reversers not deploying, isn't that familiar to you, Sir Andy?"

"Hmm, I don't know. Was I floating?"

"You were aquaplaning!" Minako emphasized. "You landed too smoothly and applied full brakes immediately. Your plane was skidding, there's no way it would stop."

Andy was surprised, both with the startling revelation and how his student was able to spot his mistake.

"How did you -"

"Your altimeter shows it, it's at ten feet, not zero. Next, you stepped on the breaks immediately, it was at that moment that your plane began to skid. The reversers won't deploy because you're floating on the ground. To make things worse, you didn't turn on the anti-skid protection, it would have saved you."

She scratched the back of her head and expressed her concerns, "Honestly, are you even an aviation teacher?"

"How did you know all that?" asked Andy

"Don't ask!" she retorted, "If you want to do it properly, land the plane a bit harder, but not too hard. Then, don't apply braking power, reduce power on the engines then reverse, apply minor breaking power to prevent your plane from skidding. Got that?"

Andy could only nod in amazement, he was simply speechless.

"Then do it!"

He set his flight simulator app to start with the plane on short final. On landing, he followed Minako's instruction to apply more force on the yoke so that the wheels were firmly on the ground. He then applied reverse power and manual breaking action to decelerate the plane.

"You landed too hard, do it again!"

Andy tried once more, but he bounced the jet again.

"Apply force on the column, and don't flare too early!" Minako infuriatingly reminded him.

The two continued to fix Andy's difficulty with landing on a soaked runway. They were so into it that they didn't notice the time. But at the end of the day, Andy finally did everything right.

"Ohh, damn it, it's already past 5 PM. I'm gonna get home late," Minako complained.

"Sorry about that, Minako-san."

"Hey look, I'm doing this for your sake" - she pointed her finger on Andy's chest - "I don't want to hear that you failed your check ride after I went through all the effort of helping you."

"I won't fail, I promise I'll pass that check ride."

Out of curiosity, Andy asked, "How did you spot my mistake? How did you know how to correct it?"

All Minako could say is one sentence, "That's because somebody expects a lot from me."

"What do you –"

"Tell me the result on Monday. If you fail, don't bother showing yourself in front of 1 - D again."

A grim picture flashed through Andy's mind, he remembered the joyful moments he had with his students, even if it was only for a short while. Minako's threat was a concern to him, he mustn't fail his check flight.

"And if I pass?" he asked with lips trembling, shivering in fear.

"If you pass, well, I have something I want you to do."

"And what is that something?" Andy asked with concern.

"I'll tell you if you passed. But it's not something you should be concerned with."

Minako spun around "That thing about you not showing your face in front of 1 - D. Don't feel threatened" - she made a faint smile and faced his teacher - "you'll pass, right? For the sake of your dream."

Seeing his student's efforts to help him, and receiving her support, Andy was determined to pass his check flight, for Minako's efforts, and for his students.

"I will, I will pass that check flight!"

"That's good to hear," Minako smirked and with pride in her words, she told Andy, "You're not a bad teacher, but you're awfully annoying."

She hurriedly left the with an irritated yet interested look on her face. Her eyes gazed at the empty corridor and sighed.

"Sir Andy, huh? You're not as bad as I thought. It's hard when someone has high expectations on you. I hope your dream doesn't end here."

Unbeknownst to the teacher and his student, a figure stood outside the classroom of 1 - D, listening intently to their conversation.

"Futaba Minako, my have you become softer. Looks like I have to deal with this guy myself."