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The Bell UH-1D, commonly referred to as the Huey, was old. Like real old. Like older than you, Marshall, Paige Grayson had told him. Nolan, Hail, Renner, and Grayson made a slow and methodical walk around the first of the two Huey helicopters they had rented from Askari Aviation Services. The Huey and the C-5 Galaxy were designed within a decade of each other. The Huey was of a 1960s vintage and looked every year of it.
“Do you think these things really fly?” Grayson asked Hail.
“Define fly,” Hail responded.
“Like whoop... whoop... whoop... you know it goes up into the air and stays there for a little while.”
“Define a little while,” Hail said grimly, inspecting the bird for visual defects.
The seats, which even new had been little more than bars supporting stretched canvas, had been skeletonized. There was no padding to speak of, just a zigzag pattern of wire with fragments of cloth that clung to the metal like dying leeches.
“I would trade those seats for a lawn chair,” Renner said, looking in from the co-pilot’s door.
“I think these seats at one time were lawn chairs,” Nolan said.
Foster had the pilot’s door open, testing the collective lever, moving the stick this way and that, verifying that it moved the blades.
“It’s definitely not like being on the Gulfstream,” Paige said. “Why does it smell so bad?” she added, pinching her nose.
Renner suggested, “I think it’s a subliminal message to warn pilots that they will die if they take this thing up.”
Hail said, “OK, it can’t be that bad. You know as well as I that the airworthiness has nothing to do with creature comforts. It’s all about the power plant and the maintenance.
“Did you check the maintenance log?” Renner asked.
“It doesn’t have one,” Hail said. “It burned in the fire.”
“This thing has been in a fire?” Paige asked. “I would absolutely believe it.”
“No,” Hail said. “The company’s hangar caught on fire and their office was destroyed. These two choppers were their only surviving aircrafts.”
“I bet they were pissed these birds weren’t in the hangar at the time. At least they could have collected insurance on them.”
Hail huffed and said, “All right, that’s enough. Let’s get the guns off the Gulfstream and take a little fly over Kara’s location. Paige, you get the honor of flying so Gage, Foster, and I can concentrate on what’s going on down below.
“Nothing like flying a piece of moldy Swiss cheese into a hot zone,” Paige said in a somber tone. “There isn’t any padding in the pilot seat for protection.”
Renner joked with her, “Don’t worry, your ass will protect you from the first bullet.”
Paige shot back, “What, are you volunteering to throw your body across my pilot seat?”
Nolan and Hail laughed.
Hail said, “Let’s get the doors off this thing and get it in the air.”