191: Chapter 191: Engine Roar, Terrifying Moment of Hovering

The moment the cabin door locked with a "click," the air pressure inside the cockpit seemed to solidify.

Da Xiong sat in the co-pilot seat, his thick fingers gripping the seatbelt buckle so tightly that his knuckles turned white, as if he were about to crush the metal.

He turned his head to look at Su Han, his Adam's apple bobbing several times, but in the end, he didn't dare to try and persuade him again—the certainty in Chief Instructor's eyes was harder than the granite at Falcon Base.

"Old Su... no, Chief Instructor," Da Xiong's voice trembled as he frantically checked the co-pilot's instrument panel, "The avionics system self-test is normal, and the engine preheating is complete, but... but the tail rotor damper was just replaced yesterday. Its sensitivity is thirty percent higher than before, so please be gentle when you push the pedals..."

Su Han didn't reply, simply tapping his fingertip lightly on the start panel.

"Vroom—" A low engine roar suddenly came from the bottom of the fuselage, like the growl of a dormant giant beast waking up, causing the cabin walls to vibrate slightly.

Immediately after, the rotor blades overhead began to turn slowly, and the resulting airflow poured in through the gaps in the cabin door, causing the stray hairs on Su Han's forehead to flutter slightly.

The training ground fell into instant silence.

Zhou Mo's fingers gripping the cabin door tightened abruptly, his knuckles pressing against the cold metal, not even noticing the pain that made him wince.

Monkey stood behind him, his hand holding the phone to record shaking, the image on the screen shaking like an earthquake scene—he wasn't really recording; he was clearly trying to leave evidence of "Chief Instructor Bravely Entering the Cockpit," just in case something went wrong and he needed to provide an explanation.

Lynx's fingers remained hovered over the emergency stop button, cold sweat dripping down his temples.

He stared fixedly at the helicopter's rotor tachometer, watching the needle slowly creep from "0" to "300," his heart in his throat—the critical rotational speed of this thing was "350," and once exceeded, the fuselage could very likely disintegrate due to resonance.

The female soldiers of the Womens Special Operations Team didn't even dare to breathe.

Su Qingcheng instinctively grabbed Lin Yu's arm, her nails almost digging into the other woman's flesh.

Li Xue closed her eyes, pressing her hands together and muttering, not knowing whether she was praying to the Bodhisattva or asking the Chief Instructor to show mercy.

Zhang Meng was the most direct, standing on tiptoes and staring fixedly at the cockpit, her dark face filled with the expression "It's over, it's over."

"Rotor speed 320, approaching critical value!" Zhou Mo's roar exploded amidst the engine's roar, "Old Su, release the throttle! This isn't the slow startup of a civilian aircraft! Any more acceleration and..."

Before he could finish, Su Han suddenly pushed the cyclic pitch control stick slightly.

"Vroom—!" The engine noise suddenly soared, sounding like a lion roaring after having its tail stepped on.

The rotor speed instantly broke through "350," and the resulting gale whipped up gravel, creating a visible wave of air on the ground that blew everyone's hair upright and made it hard for them to even stand steady.

"Damn it!" Monkey lost his footing and sat down on the ground, his phone falling with a "clatter" and the screen cracking like a spiderweb.

Da Xiong nearly jumped up in the cockpit: "Chief Instructor! Why aren't you following procedure! The critical rotational speed must be maintained for three seconds before..."

His words were cut off by the violent vibration of the fuselage.

The helicopter suddenly swayed at a height of half a meter above the ground, like a drunk strongman, its left wing suddenly dipping downward, nearly scraping the concrete platform on the ground!

"Ah—!" Exclamations rang out across the training ground. Zhou Mo rushed to the cabin door, anxiously pounding on the cabin wall with his fists: "Old Su! Stop! Stop quickly!"

Control was now in Su Han's hands. He was in the pilot's seat, and if he didn't hand over control, there was nothing Da Xiong could do.

And in this situation, even if control were handed over, Da Xiong wouldn't dare operate it! Dammit, he was just an ordinary pilot, not an ace capable of various special maneuvers!

Just at this critical moment, Su Han flicked his wrist slightly and pressed down lightly on the right pedal with his right foot.

The originally tilted fuselage was seemingly steadied by an invisible hand, the airflow generated by the rotors suddenly became stable, and even the gravel on the ground settled back into place.

The tachometer needle stopped steadily at "400," not a bit more or less, exactly the standard value for hovering.

The entire process took no more than two seconds.

Inside the cockpit, Da Xiong's mouth hung open, unable to close for a long time.

He looked at Su Han's hand on the control stick—that hand was as steady as if it were welded there, without even a trace of unnecessary trembling, as if the heart-stopping sway from just a moment ago had been an illusion.

"It... it hovered?" Da Xiong muttered to himself, feeling as if his worldview had been rubbed against the ground repeatedly.

He had studied at the Army Aviation Brigade for half a year and broke two ribs during his first hover; when the veteran pilots of the War Eagle Squad took him flying, he had to practice on the ground more than a dozen times before he could stabilize it.

Yet Su Han... this guy took one look at the manual, touched the control stick for the first time, and actually hovered it just like that?

The exclamations from the training ground gradually turned into gasps. Zhou Mo's hand, still holding a fist, froze in mid-air, his mouth hanging open in an "O" shape.

Monkey scrambled up from the ground, not bothering to pick up his phone, just staring wide-eyed at the helicopter hovering half a meter in the air, as if looking at a monster.

Lynx quietly withdrew his hand from the emergency button, his training uniform soaked through with cold sweat—just a moment ago, he had even thought he was about to witness a plane crash.

"This... this was just luck, right?" Zhang Meng scratched the back of her head, unable to hide the disbelief in her tone.

Su Qingcheng shook her head, her eyes shining brilliantly: "It wasn't luck. Look at the rotor airflow; it's as steady as if it were frozen in place."

She wasn't wrong. At this moment, Helicopter No. 07 was like an iron box nailed into mid-air, the fuselage motionless, and even the sound of the wind generated by the rotors had become uniform.

Sunlight spilled down through the gaps in the rotors, casting flickering spots of light on the ground, creating an eerie sense of harmony.

Inside the cockpit, Su Han turned his head to look at the dumbfounded Da Xiong, the corners of his mouth curling into a familiar, mischievous smile: "What? Instructor Da Xiong, is this hovering posture good enough to qualify as a substitute pilot for the War Eagle Squad?"

Da Xiong snapped back to reality, his face flushing red. After holding it in for a long time, he blurted out: "You... how is this being a substitute? With this level of skill, you'd be more than qualified to be a flight instructor at the Army Aviation Brigade!"

His words were heartfelt. Hovering is the foundation of helicopter piloting, yet also one of the most difficult subjects.

Even the slightest deviation in wind speed, air pressure, or the aircraft's center of gravity requires micro-adjustments by hand. What Su Han just did, to put it bluntly, was "violating regulations," but to put it nicely... that's called boldness born of high skill!

"Just basic operation." Su Han smiled, gently pushing the control stick with both hands, "Let them see what actual combat-oriented flight is."

Before he finished speaking, the helicopter suddenly seemed to be yanked by something, shooting straight up from the ground!

"Vroom—!" The engine noise soared again, sharp enough to pierce eardrums.

The fuselage climbed upward at an almost vertical angle, rising from half a meter to five meters, ten meters, twenty meters in the blink of an eye...

"Damn it! Vertical climb?!" Zhou Mo looked up at the shrinking helicopter, his eyes nearly popping out, "This madman! He's actually using a tactical evasion maneuver to climb!"

A vertical climb is a life-saving skill in special operations, allowing one to escape ground fire grids in a short time, but the requirement for control precision is ridiculously high—a slight deviation could turn it into a roll, leading to an immediate loss of control.

Monkey clutched his head and crouched on the ground, not daring to look again: "It's over, it's over. If this thing crashes, Captain Wang will skin us all alive!"

The female soldiers of the Womens Special Operations Team, however, were stunned.

They looked up, watching that dark gray helicopter trace a steep arc in the sunlight, like a falcon suddenly soaring into the sky, its posture so fierce it made one's heart stop.

Especially Su Qingcheng, who stared fixedly at the helicopter's tail rotor—that momentary adjustment just now clearly used the clever force of "borrowing strength to strike" from Su Family Boxing!

The Chief Instructor had actually applied the essence of martial arts to helicopter piloting?