The signal for short-distance transport aircraft is not very good. Shangluo kept holding Han Xingzhi's hand over so that the signal would be better.
"Let's take the Hercules back." After typing, he sent a flying message to Zhu Xianfen.
He didn't know what the Hercules was, but according to the requirements, it was the "most expensive". Titus himself said he highly recommended it, as it provided a good rest along the way - and, of course, a good bath.
The Hercules departed from Constantinople on time at 12 noon, but it was not too late to get there now. Because there is a general aviation airport next to Lake Nemi that the Roman senators used for vacation, they took a ten-minute ride to get there. Now they are taking a medium-sized transport plane to Constantinople. When they arrive, they still have about two hours before departure, so it is not in a hurry. This kind of military aircraft does not need to line up at Constantinia Airport. It will be cleared by air traffic control as soon as it enters the airspace.
But what is the Hercules? He asked Titus before, but he said he would keep it secret, and it would be more worthwhile if it was kept secret. As for Lu Huaiyang, the middle-aged old man couldn't stay up late. He slept without closing his eyes all night and is still asleep in front of him.
But Zhu Xianfen, who was opposite, seemed to know. After more than ten seconds, he wrote back:
"Then you won't be back until Tuesday afternoon probably. See you later."
"See you later." Shangluo also typed "See you later."
"How's it going? What did Mr. Danshou say?" Han Xingzhi didn't know who the chief Danshou was yet, but he knew that Shangluo had been in contact with him.
"He said it wouldn't arrive until Tuesday afternoon."
"That's good. It skips the classes on Monday and Tuesday. But what on earth is that? It opens at noon on Sunday and arrives at noon on Tuesday. There is no such fast boat, but there is no such slow plane."
"Is it an airship?" Shangluo asked.
Han Xingzhi thought for a while: "A compromise between airplane and ship, maybe it's an airship? No, an airship isn't that fast. I understand, it's a seaplane."
"Eh???" Lu Liang, who was sitting in the front row, suddenly sat up, "Ah! I remembered. It's the Hercules number!"
Shangluo asked: "Have you seen it?"
"I've seen the commercial. That's it! The Hercules where you can take a shower!"
The Pengzi Type 4 heavy-duty airship is parked in the seaplane berth of the Constantinia Airport. This type of heavy-duty seaplane was named after the codename "Pontianak Express" during the Java War. It was intended to undertake long-distance high-speed transportation tasks from Kinai to Southeast Asia, and to deliver heavy-duty vehicles supported by Kinei.
However, the war ended quickly due to the intervention of heavenly beings, and the Pontianak Aeronautical Engineering Institute turned to this type of military transport aircraft for civilian use. The huge double-decker fuselage was found to have great potential for modification, so Lanfang Airlines put it into passenger transport business under the name "Hercules" to operate luxury long-distance routes from Rome to Kinai or Rome to Nanyang.
This is a decision made by Lanfang Airlines after careful consideration. In the 4th year of Shaoping, when the aviation industry is "not that far away", the kingdom of aircraft research and development still echoes the surge of the simple aircraft of the aviation pioneers. Although the aviation industry has developed at a rapid pace under the leadership of a series of advanced research and development, the construction of airports still lags behind the progress of aircraft design itself.
In this case, seaplanes have become a convenient choice for major airlines. Because seaplanes only need to land in flat waters, there is no need to plan a large airport.
The Hercules 1 in the berth has a terrifying wingspan of 97.82 meters and a terrifying mass of 113 tons. Its wings are large enough for a flight engineer to walk directly inside. There is obviously no way for such a behemoth to stop at any conventional airport - mainly due to the problem of the aircraft itself, because so far no landing gear can withstand the impact of a huge aircraft of more than one hundred tons hitting the concrete ground. The Hercules was originally a product used to recover R&D costs, so it could only be designed as it was, without any breakthroughs in the landing gear.
When taking off on water, the requirements for the strength of the aircraft are much lower than on the ground, and it is easier to make the aircraft larger - at least the exaggerated wingspan of 97.82 meters cannot be seen on land aircraft.
Shangluo stood on the tarmac of the airport, and the Hercules was parked there like a big ship in the distance. She was so big that she couldn't even get close to the shore and had to be boarded by ferry.
"Ah" Wen Yuan looked into the distance, "It turns out there really is such a big plane, and this plane actually has two floors!"
"Do you know how much the ticket costs?" Shangluo asked. After arriving at the airport, the tickets were already issued to them. Lanfang Airlines' hibiscus flower logo is printed on the upper left corner of the ticket. The logo is gilded like the edge of the ticket, and the face of the ticket is also light gold. It's very expensive just from the face value. It's really expensive, very expensive. And their seats are not configured like first class or second class, but are marked in red letters from "Tianzi Seat 1" to "Tianzi Seat 6". It was not printed, but handwritten in Guange style.
"I don't know, it seems very expensive, right? Lu Liang, how expensive is it? Haven't you seen the advertisement?"
"I remember it was .259 taels."
"259 taels?" Wen Yuan said, "That's 259,000 taels. A bottle of Coke costs 3 taels, which can buy 80,000 or 90,000 bottles of Coke! Do they have such sufficient funds for entertainment?"
【Jie Jie Jie. ] Apollonia sneered and said, [The Oracle is one of the three highest institutions in parallel with the Senate. Putting aside everything else, there is still enough money to entertain students like you. Although the funds of the Oracle are not generous enough to burn money, as long as it is valuable, it is not expensive for the Oracle. 】
"Speaking of which." Shangluo thought for a while, "Why is this air ticket so expensive?"
"I don't know." Lu Liang shook his head, "Maybe people who can afford a plane ticket don't care too much about throwing out 259 taels at a time. And didn't you notice that it runs for a day and a half? Other tickets arrive in a few hours. You can spend 259 taels here for a day and a half. The food and accommodation for the day and a half are all top-notch, and it also comes with an intercontinental trip. Thinking about it this way, is it a profit?"
"Yes, yes, we have all made a profit, even the country has to take the subway."
"But, you can take a shower up there! There is a suite and shower room up there!"
“That’s not bad”
It has to be said that the business of showering in the sky also makes him want to try it. If Rome hadn't entertained him this time, he would never have bought the ticket. A three-foot bed is enough for sleeping. Spending so much money to expand your bed in the sky is really too luxurious.
The Hercules still has to make a lot of preparations before it can take off. There are many traffic boats coming and going from the pier and the shore to transport luggage and supplies. There is also a Lanfang aviation tanker with a hibiscus logo parked nearby to replenish fuel for the Hercules.
These preparations will continue for some time, so they have to board the plane within an hour before departure. During this time, they first came to the tarmac. Ninghe is still waiting here.
"Oh~~~" Captain Lin shook his head and sighed, "It's too cruel. I came here specially to pick you up, but you didn't even sit down. It's really sad. I said, Lu Qianhu, is this how you treat your old friends? Isn't it? We also need to sell the tickets so that you can appreciate the cost-effectiveness of flying for free. If we really want to sell it, it might be even more expensive than the Hercules."
(End of chapter)
