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“Right Now back to second notch”

With infinite caution he cajoled the ASI needle until it rested steadily at 140

“Tell him, Janet”

“Hullo, Vancouver Our flaps are down 15 degrees and the air speed is 140”

“714 Are you still ht?”

Spencer nodded to her “Tell him, yes — well, more or less, anyway”

“Hullo, Vancouver More or less”

“Okay, 714 Now the next thing is to put the wheels down Then you’ll get the feel of the airplane as it will be when you’re landing Try to keep your altitude steady and your speed at 140 When you are ready — and ear and let the speed come back to 120 You will probably have to advance your throttle setting to maintain that air speed, and also adjust the trim Is that understood? TellOver”

“Ask him,” said Spencer, “what about propeller controls and mixture?”

At Janet’s question, Treleaven said in an aside to Burdick, “Well, this guy’s thinking, anyway For the ti,” he said into thethat air speed steady with the wheels and flaps down Later on I’ll give you a full cockpit check for landing Over”

“Tell hi down the wheels now” He looked apprehensively at the selector lever by his leg It seemed a much better idea to keep both hands on the column “Look, Janet, I think you’d better work the undercart lever and call off the air speed as the wheels come down”

Janet coht was so pronounced that it was like applying a brake, jerking them in their seats

“130, 125, 120, 115… It’s too low”

“Keep calling!”

“115, 120, 120… Steady on 120”

“I’ll get this thing yet,” Spencer panted “She’s like the Queen Mary”

Treleaven’s voice cae? Your wheels should be down by now”

“Wheels down, Vancouver”

“Look for three green lights to show you that they’re locked Also there’s a pressure gauge on the extrereen range Check”

“Are they on?” asked Spencer Janet looked and nodded “Better tell him, then”

“Yes, Vancouver All correct”

“And say she still handles like a wet sponge, only more so”

“Hullo, Vancouver The pilot says she still handles like a sponge, only more so”

“Don’t worry about that Noe’ll put on full flaps, shall we, and then you’ll have the proper feel of the aircraft on landing You’ll soon get the hang of it Now followyour air speed back to 110 knots and trim to hold you steady Adjust the throttle to ive you instructions for holding your height and air speed while you raise the landing gear and flaps Over”

“Did you say 110, Captain?” Janet queried nervously

“110 is correct, Janet Followto worry about Are you quite clear, George?”

“Tell hi on full flap now”

Once more her hand pushed hard on the flap lever and the air speed started to fall

“120, 115, 115, 110, 110…”

Spencer’s voice was tight with the effort of will he was iht, Janet Let hiht”

“Hullo, Vancouver Flaps are full on and the air speed is 110 Mr Spencer says she is heavier than ever”

“Nice going, George We’ll et you back to where you were and then run through the procedure again, with certain variations regarding props, mixture, boosters, and so on Okay? Over”

“Again!” Spencer groaned “I don’t know if I can take it All right, Janet”

“Okay, Vancouver We’re ready”

“Right, 714 Using the reverse procedure, adjust your flaps to read 15 degrees and speed 120 knots You will have to throttle back slightly to keep that speed Go ahead”

Reaching down, Janet grasped the flap lever and gave it a tug It failed to ain

“What is it?” asked Spencer

“Sort of stiff I can’t seem to move it this time”