The Return of Joe Froggs!

 

Do you remember Joe Froggs? Those little stories I started a while ago? Well I've made another, episode 4. You might want to catch up on the others here:

 

BY THE WAY...

 

These posts are not so much for the screenshots, more for the stories. I reccomend you read the others first!

 

Episode 5: The Exam

 

It was a cold and rainy day at Sheffield airport. For most people it would be a grim day and would stay at home, but for Joe Froggs it was the most exciting day of his life. It was time for him to fly his examination flight. He would be flying a Cessna 172 to Heathrow with his instructors in the back. He couln't wait- he was so eager to get there on time he drove at almost 90 miles per hour, landing him with a speeding ticket.

   20 minutes late, Joe ran into the office of Jack Fordson, and ex-USAF pilot who now worked for the General Aviation Training Division, or the GATD.

   "Joe!" said Jack, standing up as Joe entered, "where have you been?"

   "Don't ask." He replied, sitting himself down in a small chair that looked like it was about to collapse any moment. "I've read the flight plan and I'm ready to go."

   "Good." Said Jack chearily, "I guess if your ready to go you might as well go! The instructors are in the plane already, the engines are warming up."

   "Cheers." Said Joe enthusiasticly, grabbing his charts from the table and making for the door. He made his was across the tarmac and saw a learjet parked up. The windows were small but he could make out a few people inside. That must have been his plane, but that was funny, he was expecting a Cessna. He thought for a moment and then decided that an instructor would have told him if there was much more to learn. The door was open, so he walked into the aircraft and made himself comfy in the spacious cabin. He looked out of the window and was suprised to see a few people looking at cameras, as if looking at the pictures they had just taken. Joe thought this was odd, but decided to concentrate on the flight. He looked around at all the buttons. He was glad the engines were already started.

Another thing he had noticed was the strange registration number on the engine...

 

As he taxied he took another look around the cockpit. He was overwelmed with the number of buttons and switches.

He taxied onto the runway, feeling a little nervous.

At around the take off speed of a Cessna he began to pull up, but it came as a suprise when it didn't take off! He yanked on the control stick frantically but it didn't pull up. And then, suddenly it jumped into the air. Joe was so amazed and scared he kept pulling on the stick.

He managed to put the plane level and he turned towards his first waypoint. However while turning he didn't realise he was loosing height. At the last second he pulled up, throwing him back into his seat.

During the flight he had a look at the autopilot deck, and he decided he might get good marks for using it. He entered 6000 into the altitude hold and 306 into the speed.

But as he climbed above the clouds he realised he had never flown this high before, and for some reason the plane was turning. He looked at the autopilot and saw that the heading hold was set to 340 by default and he hadn't changed it. He hit the master switch and turned frantically back on course. He hoped the instructors wouldn't notice this too much, although he would have thought differently if the door hadn't been sound proof.

He looked at the heading and realised he was way off course. He made a rather drastic turn to get back on course.

Once he had made the turn he decided to loose height.

 

A WHILE LATER

 

Joe looked out of the windows. He was in cloud. He hadn't prepared for this and was terrified. His hands were trembling, making the aircraft turn left and right.

Then, all of a sudden, he broke out of the cloud and found himself over heathrow!

He was about to turn and land, but then he decided to take a little tour of London. He'd never been to London before, and decided he had the perfect oppotunity to look at all the sights.

   "Ladies and gentlemen this is your captain speaking," he was proud to be calling himself captain. "Before landing I thought I'd take you on a tour of London. We'll fly by some of the sights before landing back at Heathrow. Enjoy!" And so he headed towards the city.

He flew past the London Eye...

...and many other London landmarks.

He decided he was going to land. He turned towards Heathrow and lined himself up with the runway. He made sure he was ready to land and he lowered the landing gear. He lifted the lever upwards, which was strange since on most aircraft you'd put the gear lever down. But then, just as he was about to land, he saw red lights just above the landing gear leaver, and he realised the gear was up. He thought for a moment, confused, but then realised he didn't have time to think and pulled.

While pulling up he wondered why the landing gear was down on approach, and then he realised. At take off he hadn't raised the gear, and so he had the gear down all flight.

Second time round he managed to land the plane...

...and parked up... somewhere.

 

MEANWHILE...

 

Captain Robin Steven was a professional pilot who flew celebraties all around the globe. Today he was flying the heavy metal band Metallica from Sheffield down to London, after playing a gig at the Sheffield Arena. He didn't recognise them since he was into classical music, but he assumed he would be flying the aircraft infront of him in the hanger, since it was the only aircraft there. The aircraft was a small Cessna. That was odd- rich people usually flew in Learjets or something of the sort when flying small hops. He looked inside the plane, and was suprised to the three rockers dressed in suits and holding clipboards. He decided not to think anything of it, and flew a perfect flight to heathrow.

Joe Froggs reported to the training office at Heathrow and awaited the new of weather he had passed or not. A man in his late fourties walked out smiling.

   "Congratulations! You've passed. The examiners said you flew a perfect flight, the standard of a professional pilot. Well done, you're now a fully qualified pilot."

   "Thankyou very much!" Said Joe, almost jumping for joy. He was handed his licence card and he headed towards the tarmac to fly back home.

 

Meanwhile, the professional pilot's phone rang.

   "Hello?" he asked.

   "Hey, it's David."

   "Oh, hey boss." replied Robin, wondering what his boss had to say.

   "I'm ringing to say you're fired. I got complains from the band you transported here and from the airport authorities. Apparantly you landed without permission, taxied without permission and made a mess of the flight. You've let down the company and ruined our reputation. You're fired!" Robin was about to talk back but his boss hung up on him. What had he done? He had flown a perfect flight, and he had requested permission from atc before landing. He stormed off, almost walking into Joe Froggs, who was happy about his amazing pass...

 

THE END!

 

Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed it. All comments welcome!

 

Dom

 

 

 

 

But we all have to remember poor Joe Froggs!

 

Kieran