Wasteland Development Diary.

Chapter 275: Flying Cloth Bird

Every evening, Afeng goes for a walk along the coast.

There are many people on Emerald Avenue.

The outer coast is much quieter.

There he could watch the sunset and feel the breeze. Although the foggy Dead Sea was not far away, he was not afraid.

Because Afeng has absolute confidence in the company, no monster dares to poke its head out of the fog. In the area near the Emerald City, those who tried in the past were all blasted into pieces by Building No. 5. Now the Light Na species are very sensible.

He liked to stroll along this avenue. The magnificent and dangerous Dead Sea seemed to hide the secrets of all things in the world.

Walking along the shore will bring you closer to the answer.

Here, Afeng met Zhuama.

Zhuama is a 15-year-old young man with a full beard.

His reason is: "It makes me look more dignified. When I don't have a beard, people say I'm a kid from a different family and I'm easily looked down upon."

Zhuama works in a takeout group next to Emerald City, and is responsible for raising and training whistling birds.

Afeng is an insect keeper at a wasteland development company. He and Zhuama get along very well and they often exchange ideas with each other on how to feed the insects and how to judge the health status of the insects through their feces, smell and some subtle behaviors.

One day, Zhuama showed Afeng something.

It was a triangular object made of linen and thin wooden strips. The horse catching it pulled it with a string and used the wind to release it into the air, flying very high.

"What is this?" A Feng asked.

"Boo bird."

Zhuama said proudly: "I made this based on the bird cloth."

Ah Feng sincerely admired: "Strong."

"I'm kidding. This is not something I invented. It's a toy that existed during the Age of Gods. Legend has it that based on this cloth bird, the gods and humans of the Age of Gods created all kinds of flying things together. The prototype of the electromechanical airplane seems to be this thing."

"I just improved it a bit and made one imitating the appearance of the Thunder Beast."

He grabbed the horse and pulled the rope in his hand, and let out a little more line to make the cloth bird fly higher.

"Sometimes I think, if the cloth bird has real wings, maybe it can fly in the sky forever. Then I can release people into the sky, and fly everywhere. We don't have to be afraid of the Dead Sea or anything like that."

"I've made a large cloth bird, but the bigger it gets, the harder it is to fly. It's too heavy. I broke my leg and had to stay at home for two months."

He lifted up his trouser legs to show the old scars on his knees and calves.

This reminded Afeng of something.

However, internal company affairs cannot be disclosed to the outside.

So Afeng asked him: "Do you want to work with me?"

Zhuama was immediately excited: "Does the company still need an insect breeder? I can do it!"

In Shagang area, the identity of a company employee is a golden sign.

High salary, good benefits, and ample vacation time with five days off per week.

A Feng said: "I'll apply and see if it works."

"It's up to you, buddy!"

It was spring at that time, and the chairman was away on business, so Afeng found Gong Zheng, who was in charge of the company's internal affairs.

"You want a helper?"

Gong Zheng was surprised: "Okay. The chairman asked about you before, and was worried that you were too busy and it would be too hard for one person. How many people do you want?"

Afeng talked about the incident of arresting a horse.

"Let me check this person first."

A day later, Gong Zheng replied to him: "There is no problem with the person. Afeng, as long as Zhuama is willing, he will be your assistant."

"How much is the salary?"

"As for salary, it cannot be determined before the chairman comes back. But you can refer to the average salary of Guangqi workers. I will pay him monthly according to this standard. After the chairman confirms it, I will refund him if there is more or make up for the less. How do you think?"

Gong Zheng also said: "I can't decide on your part. You are a core veteran employee. When you come back, the chairman will decide with you."

A Feng nodded and said yes.

He himself doesn't care about salary, he goes to the company for food, clothing, housing and transportation, and if he needs to buy insect feed or equipment, he can get it as long as he asks. Insect breeding itself is a kind of pleasure for Afeng.

But he knows that for most people, salary is the most important thing.

So he wanted a clear number for catching horses.

That’s about 12000 mushrooms a month.

Upon hearing the news, Zhuama hugged Afeng excitedly: "Brother Feng, you are my big brother! I will follow you from now on!"

Then, Afeng dared to tell him about the silk-spinning.

"You mean, you want to use that flying silk to make a cloth bird that can carry people?"

The bearded Zhuama looked shocked.

"But...Brother Feng, I was just kidding. It's impossible no matter how you look at it. The thread is so thin and I'm so heavy. If I fall again, my legs will probably be gone."

He looked sad.

Ah Feng insisted, "I think your idea is good. Try it first. Don't give up before you try."

"Good..." After seeing the magical creature called the silkworm and the silk threads floating in the insect house, Zhuama was amazed.

He tried to wrap the flying silk around the cloth bird, and then the cloth bird floated directly into the air, leaving him stunned.

Zhuama began to draw the dimensions on the linen and make wooden strips that would serve as the skeleton.

The modification of the bird was much more complicated than Afeng had imagined.

Zhuama explained to the elder brother: "If you want to carry people, the size must be large. Even if it can fly, you have to consider the problem of flight direction control, and you have to rely on the rudder and vertical tail at the back to manually control it."

"Then there's the problem of landing. We need to install a drag plate and make a parachute out of linen... But the characteristics of flying silk make this method very difficult. We have to find another way."

"In theory, this flying silk and sail can solve the problem of flight, but we still have to consider how to fix it to ensure uniform flight force."

Although Zhuama said it was impossible, his hands were not idle at all. He was busy drawing pictures, cutting cloth, and making frames every day, paying great attention to every detail.

A Feng saw all of this and thought to himself, Zhuama is indeed a genius.

I was not seeing things.

While Zhuama was busy making an artificial bird, Afeng was testing the performance of the flying silk over and over again.

In the previous year, he mainly observed and raised the silkworms, confirming the various habits of this ancient creature.

Now the size and load ratio of the flying silk needs to be accurate, and the flying buoyancy also needs to be accurately quantified, because every centimeter of the flying silk is precious.

Throughout the spring, Afeng and Zhuama were busy with the preliminary preparations.

The cloth bird's individual test flights were all successful.

But there are always various obstacles when carrying people and goods.

Each method of winding the flying wire has its own drawbacks. It is difficult to control the direction of the cloth bird after loading. It is fine for ultra-low-altitude flight, but once it is slightly higher from the ground, it will shake and lose balance.

Afeng and Zhuama are busy solving new problems that keep popping up every day.

In the summer, a team of company programmers led by Institute 703 was formed, and they quickly solved this series of difficult problems through program simulation.

After tens of thousands of simulations, electromechanical programmer Walker gave the optimal size and solution.

"The flying wire is fixed, and the plain weave method is stable enough."

"Based on the weight of the test pilot's horse, the effective weaving area of the wing cloth was determined to be 20.352 square meters. This size can be further reduced if the altitude needs to be reduced."

“The following are the specific parameters…”

With the help of programmers, the first manned fabric bird - or fabric glider - was finally born.

On the day of the test flight, Afeng was supposed to fly, but Zhuama said, "Brother Feng, of course I have to do this. After all, I have flown before and know how to get hurt less. For things like this, you have to trust your experience."

He fixed himself on the glider and took a deep breath: "Brother, I'm going."

Zhuama untied the weight-bearing device and controlled the cloth glider to jump down from the hill.

When Afeng saw it, he flew up immediately.

Although the triangular glider was only ten meters above the ground, it was indeed soaring like a bird. At first, the glider was a little staggering, but soon became smooth and skillful.

Just like in the program simulation, the aircraft floats at a stable altitude, and its forward direction is controlled by a sail-like structure and hovering.

There is also a long safety rope at the bottom of the glider, and the other end is tied to a large rock.

By retrieving the safety rope, Afeng pulled the horse back to the hillside little by little.

The bearded young man's hair was messed up after he landed on the ground, but his eyes were as bright as diamond-shaped stones: "Brother Feng, I'm flying, I'm flying, I'm really flying! It feels so good!!"

He laughed with joy.

"One more time, one more time."

"..."

Afeng and Zhuama continued to conduct flight tests repeatedly and correct various problems during the flight.

Due to the flying levitation ability of the flying silk, the glider only needs to consider the direction and speed. In theory, within a certain altitude range, the higher the flight altitude, the smaller the resistance.

But the higher the altitude, another problem will arise, that is, the maneuverability and controllability will become weaker, and it will be more difficult to control.

The advice given by Walker, an electromechanical programmer, is: "The height should be within 100 to 500 meters, which can take into account both obstacle avoidance and maneuverability. Because the strength of the linen material is not enough, do not exceed 800 meters."

Another issue that Afeng cares about the most is safety.

Walker said not to worry.

"Flying silk, a flying material, is a natural levitation tool. All it takes is a slight modification to the weaving structure... like this."

A special weaving design appeared on the mechatronics programmer's screen.

"Even if the glider loses balance, the flying thread itself is connected to the pilot and can keep it suspended until rescue."

Zhuama was amazed: "Programmers are really amazing... If we were to think of something like this, we might have to test it for many years before it is correct."

“The improvement of applied technology can be achieved with the accumulation of time and computing power. Your creativity is the core competitiveness.”

"Cloth gliders are cheap to make, and as long as there are enough flying silk, you can make a lot of cheap flying machines. Once it becomes popular, the technology will develop rapidly," Walker said.

In subsequent test flights, Afeng and Zhuama became more and more adept at operating the aircraft, and even circled over the Dead Sea several times.

The latest flight even completed a full glide around the Shagang area.

A Feng then ran all the way to 3101 to report the good news to Chairman Zhou Yi.

(End of this chapter)