High Flyer By Karen Blayne.

Oh by the way red tape first.

©Karen Blayne 2018.

Be warned these short stories contain mature content or naughty bits and as such may corrupt you if you’re under 12, 16, 18, 21 or 25 depending where you live thus they are not suitable for you so put them back on the shelf and let them age for a year or two.

They were sort of scribbled for fun. They were first posted on asstr.org. If you’ve paid money for this book just be aware the author has not received any payment. In fact no one has permission to charge money for this book and copyright is retained by the author.

Farida concentrated hard this time. She’d win. There was a cry of triumph from her brother as he shot her down in flames. Elder brothers she decided were the pits. She’d read the manual about the game. It talked about how statistics were used to decide what happened when someone was shot.

After class she asked her teacher about statistics he found her a book that explained the subject. If she used only 85% of the available firepower when she fired her phasers she zapped the opposition most of the time but more importantly she still had power left over to tackle another battleship without having to return to base to recharge them.

Farida was the quiet one in class. She rarely put herself forward unlike Kacie who was the queen of the classroom and knew it. Kacie was bright but her gift was for languages, well French and Italian at least. Her ambition was to travel. She hadn’t decided how this was going to happen but travel she would by hook or by crook. Kacie liked the contrast that showed her to her best advantage in the latest fashions when next to the conservatively dressed Farida. They were an odd pair but over time Kacie found she could talk to Farida without fear that her remarks would be mentioned to anyone else. Farida decided being around Kacie was where the boys were and even if they didn’t pay her quite the same attention at least she was spoken to occasionally. Kacie’s mother promoted the friendship, she thought that Farida was a good influence and at least she was unlikely to lead Kacie astray.

Farida grinned as she beat her brother’s score. That was worth every minute she’d put into studying statistics. He moved on to Flight Simulator and she followed his lead. Farhad looked through his final marks. Enough to get him to college, the first in the family.

At the end of high school Farida results arrived. It was accepted by the family that she would get married and stay at home. She had no need of college. Still it might have been nice to have the choice she thought.

Kacie printed off the online application form for an airline hostess and decided that she’d make a better impression in person but she felt nervous about going by herself so asked Farida to go with her.

The receptionist glanced at the completed application form as Kacie handed it to her then tuned to Farida. “Have you filled one in?” “Me? Kacie is much better at foreign languages than I am.” Just then a bicycle courier arrived with a package and greeted Farida by name. They chatted for a moment or two in Punjabi before he hurried away. “I thought you didn’t speak any languages?” “Oh you mean Punjabi? That’s not foreign. We speak that at home.” “Urdu perhaps as well?” “It helps at the mosque but I haven’t studied them at school or anything.” “And I suppose you don’t have any qualifications in first aid either?” “Just the St John Ambulance courses for AED, CPR and so forth. Father thought at least they were religious.” Urdu and Punjabi were the two most wanted languages for airline staff these days. French was two a penny and Italian well there wasn’t quite the demand these days. She pulled out another form. “Fill it in.” Farida started to fill the form up then paused “It’s a change of buses to the airport I don’t think my family would approve of me taking a job that involved a change of buses.” “But you came today didn’t you?” “Yes but that was with Kacie.” “So if you travelled together that would be acceptable?” “Well yes I suppose so.” The receptionist stapled the two application forms together and made a note on the front. Kacie was bewildered surely she hadn’t got the job because Farida wasn’t trusted to change buses to get to work by herself?

They went through their training together. Farida was permitted to be more modestly dressed than Kacie but they got on well. They started on short haul flights to give them experience. Then Farida was asked to meet Mr. Rajput from one delayed flight and guide him to his next transatlantic flight. She waited and as soon as the plane door opened he was there. She guided him across the airport carrying one of his carry-on bags telling the next plane that was already boarding he was on his way as she sped him through the high priority security line.

The next day she was offered a transfer to long haul. Mr. Rajput’s English wasn’t very good and he preferred a stewardess who spoke Punjabi. Since he spent two weeks on one side of the Atlantic then two weeks on the other and always flew First Class his wishes were taken into account. Kacie was offered a transfer as well so that Farida could still catch the same bus as she did. It didn’t make much sense to her that Farida’s family would make such a fuss about a bus journey when they were travelling so much anyway. Farida wasn’t sure what to say or if it would be acceptable to her family.

With Kacie with her for support she spoke with her family about the offer. She didn’t think they would be happy about it and they weren’t. “I thought you said your job was at the airport?” “Well that’s where I start from each day.” “So you aren’t counter staff or something then?” “No.” “I’m not happy about you travelling like this.” Kacie could see her transfer disappearing fast. “Did she mention the free travel for relatives?” “You mean I could visit my sister?” Somehow the atmosphere lightened and there was a reluctant approval from her father.

“I never thought they would approve.” Kacie smiled “Mum’s have power sometimes.”

On their first flight they had nearly 400 passengers. They were both in the rear section. Kacie was determined that she would get into the first class section where all the important people travelled. Farida wasn’t so bothered. She found once they had got the passengers settled down it was fun to talk to them and ask them where they were going and why. She managed to calm down an elegantly dressed lady who wanted to change her seat to one with an empty seat either side by pointing out there weren’t any available. Farida tucked into her lunch that had been made by her mother who had heard poor reports of airline food. She wanted her daughter to eat well.

Farida thought that travel was much overrated. All the hotel rooms seemed much the same to her. Still, some seemed to enjoy it. It was about a week later that she was summoned to the first class to deal with an unhappy client. Apparently Mr. Rajput’s standing request for halal food had been overlooked and Mr. Rajput was unhappy. He was even more unhappy that his perfectly reasonable request had been overlooked. Farida gently calmed him down and served him the food that her mother had sent off with her which he seemed to enjoy much to the horror of the chief steward who daren’t even think if it met all the proper hygiene regulations. Still Mr. Rajput was a frequent flyer and if Farida could keep him happy then Farida would be in the first class section every time he flew.

Farida was quiet and a favourite with the pilots. When she was in the first class section, the head steward would have her take the meals and coffee into the cockpit. She watched as the pilots landed even though it was foggy and the visibility was poor. “We used to have Microwave Landing System that required special equipment at the airport and in the plane but these days we just use an enhanced GPS system that works at any airport.” Would she like to try driving the plane from the gate to the runway? Farida carefully pulled away using the electric powered front wheel and drove to the end of the runway where she handed control over to the pilot. “Easy isn’t it. Much easier than the old system of running the engines and blowing our way to the end of the runway.”

She noticed over time that the pilots seemed to get younger and have less experience. After buying new jumbo jets other airlines were paying extraordinary sums to attract new pilots to fly them. Occasionally there would be delays from pilot shortages and flight cancellations but these were rare on the long haul flights. Well until one of the crew managed to fall on his way to work. The second pilot was reassigned to cover another flight. The flight had been delayed by an hour and Mr. Rajput was growing very anxious. His only daughter was getting married tomorrow and he wanted to be there for the wedding. The chief stewardess was growing anxious as well. Including the stand-bys they had a full load. If the flight didn’t take off soon some of the stewards and stewardesses would be exhausted by the flight end and that meant grumpy passengers. If they didn’t manage to take off every hotel near the airport would be full tonight.

Farida skimmed through the passenger lists before having a little think then came to a decision. She spoke to the chief stewardess “I heard there are a pair of pilots on their way. If you get the plane loaded, we could catch up on the lost time.” The Chief stewardess nodded and knowing how long it took to get the passengers boarded arranged for the passengers to be boarded immediately. Once everyone was on board Farida slipped into the cockpit and engaged the electric motor to take them to the end of the runway.

They were cleared for take off. She carefully selected the automated takeoff pattern that minimised noise and they took off. Once airborne she engaged the auto pilot. There all done for the next six and a half hours. She slipped out and helped settle the First Class passengers down. From time to time she’d slip into the cockpit and glance over the dials. They seemed fine to her. She noticed a patch of turbulence coming up so turned on the seat belt sign to warn the passengers and crew. She turned it off after it passed.

At the European end she was lucky and was told she had a direct flight into the landing strip. Thank heavens she didn’t have to circle in the stack. She pressed the button for an automated landing and down she came. Electric motor to the gate and they were done. She slipped out and stood by the aircraft door to assist any passengers who needed assistance. “Nudge the pilots to come out and take their bow.” The Chief Stewardess whispered to her then for a second an almost horrified expression came over her face before she plastered on her professional smile once again. “Yes it was a smooth flight wasn’t it. I’ll be sure to pass your complements to the pilots.”

After the last passenger had left she turned to Farida. “Who flew the plane?” “Well I suppose I did.” “Copilot?” “We didn’t have one.” “I think we’d better see the regional manager.”

“So let’s get this straight you flew a jumbo jet across the Atlantic with a full load.” “Yes sir.” “Why?” “It’s Mr. Rajput’s only daughter’s wedding later on today and he didn’t want to miss it.” “In mitigation he is a frequent flyer and if we hadn’t flown last night it would have been expensive in hotel bills plus the plane would have been in the wrong place for its next flight.” There was a sigh. “We can’t have stewardesses flying jumbo jets. What would have happened if an engine had failed?” “You just fly a little lower and ease back the two engines on the other side.” He looked puzzled for a moment. “My brother is into flight simulator so losing a engine is sort of routine.” “And if you’d been taken ill?” “I checked there was another airline pilot from a different airline flying in the cabin.” He turned to his assistant. “Take her away. She’s to be taken off the stewardess’s rota and she’s not to fly again as crew without the appropriate piece of paper.” Farida was led away. Still Mr. Rajput had managed to get to his daughter’s wedding so life wasn’t so bad. “Sit down whilst I make some arrangements.” “About getting me home?” “That and getting you a proper pilot’s license.” Farida looked puzzled. “I don’t have a degree.” “You don’t need one. I’ve already checked your grades they’re fine. At the moment we are desperate for pilots and the CEO has suggested that 25% of our new pilot intake be female. You know how difficult it is to find females who want to be pilots?” Farida flopped in her chair and smiled happily to herself.