Port Angeles, State of Washington, U.S.A.
Ingrid about to test a prototype
Jeff Hiller had a big, satisfied smile as he looked at the prototype of the Hiller A-24 SHARK, sitting inside the prototype workshop of the Port Angeles Hiller production plant.
‘’It is a truly magnificent beast, Ingrid. You did a bang-up job in designing it and in building a prototype so quickly. I also love that big shark mouth you had our technicians paint around its engine air intake.’
‘’You can thank Joe Pirelli for the paint job, Jeff: the man is a real artist when it comes to aircraft paint jobs.’ replied Ingrid, wearing a kaki flight coverall, G-suit, parachute and rescue vest. She also carried her flying helmet in her left arm. Jeff Hiller nodded once before speaking further.
‘’Concerning our new baby, I am happy to announce to you that we may have at least three more potential customers for it. On top of Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam, which have already promised to buy a total of at least 140 A-24s on the conditions that our plane fills their expectations, I was contacted yesterday by government representatives from Australia, Malaysia and Singapore, who appear very interested in our A-24.’
‘’That is very good news indeed for us, Jeff. On the other hand, I am not surprised by this surge of interest for our SHARK coming from Pacific region countries.
The present lineup of American and European-produced combat aircraft, while highly performant on the most part, are simply not adapted to the conditions of the Pacific theatre, with its huge surface and often very long distances between existing airbases.
Also, our Air Force planes are mostly designed for beyond visual range combat against top tier opponents, using long-range...and expensive guided missiles, and tend to be too expensive to buy and operate, too sensitive to damage from ground fire, too short-legged and are also ill-suited to counter-insurgency work against jungle-based rebels,
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smugglers and pirates. With its huge operational range, economy of operation, especially in terms of fuel expenditures, and its armament mostly geared to the use of low-cost, unguided air-to-ground weapons and ordnance, our A-24 fits the needs of Pacific area countries to a ‘T’. It also helps that we at Hiller can design and produce new aircraft in the fraction of the time period which typical American and European design teams take to do the same.’
‘’Aah, but that’s where your quasi-dictatorial aircraft design management style comes to truly shine, Ingrid.’
Ingrid giggled at that description on how she led aircraft design work at Hiller.
‘’Well, ‘dictatorial’ may be a bit of a strong word but I do firmly believe that design by committee is probably the worst way to create a new plane, especially if you let politicians and company lobbyists add their grains of salt to a given project. As I say often, too many cooks tend to spoil the sauce.’
‘’You are right, Ingrid, and I will be the first to say that you are always ready to listen to others’ ideas if they prove worthy of attention. So, what is the program for this first test flight of our A-24?’
‘’It will be a mostly subdued first flight, geared to verifying its basic handling and stability in flight. However, I would like to test its short takeoff and landing capabilities this morning. After all, one of the selling points I gave to those Asian representatives was the STOL4 capabilities I planned to incorporate into my aircraft design. To be able to use existing runways or even rudimentary dirt strips, without the need to build large bases with long runways, was a very attractive argument for them. With that in mind, I arranged for a small team to film my takeoff and subsequent landing this morning and to measure how much of the runway’s length I will take. That will supplement the data recording package installed in the second seat of the A-24.’
‘’A good idea, Ingrid. Well, time for me to let you board your new baby. I will go join your runway-side team in order to watch you take off. Have a good flight, Ingrid.’
‘’Thanks, Jeff!’
Putting on her flight helmet as she walked towards her waiting aircraft, Ingrid then used the telescopic ladder lowered down from the belly of the A-24’s cockpit. With the low sill of the cockpit being over five meters above the ground, such an integrated 4 STOL: Short Takeoff and Landing.
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ladder was a necessity, unless the crew decided to have a mobile ladder unit rolled next to their aircraft. In turn, that ladder gave access to a small and rather tight space behind the two crew ejection seats, a space which accommodated a chemical toilet, a small refrigerator, a microwave oven, a potable water tank and a folding sleeping bunk. A Hiller technician climbing up behind her entered the cockpit area through its floor access trap, then helped her by taking the safety pins off her ejection seat. The technician then went back down the ladder, pushing the ‘retract’ button situated below the big engines air intake once on the ground and making the ladder telescope back in its compartment.
All the while, other technicians connected the front wheel carriage of the A-24 to an aircraft tractor, using an ‘A’-bar. As soon as the large double doors of the workshop were opened, the tractor started pulling out the A-24, making it emerge in the open air for the first time. As Jeff Hiller went to join the filming team near the main runway of the Fairchild International Airport, Ingrid lit up in succession the two big Pratt & Whitney PW
3500 geared high-bypass turbofan engines propelling the A-24 as soon as the aircraft tractor had disconnected its ‘A’-bar and had rolled out to a safe distance. Using only a small fraction of the maximum combined thrust of 36,000 kilogram-force of her engines, Ingrid then started rolling her aircraft towards the eastern extremity of the main runway.
09:52 (Seattle Time)
Main passenger terminal building
William R. Fairchild International Airport
