Chapter 32

Meg was getting the things together that she thought she and Bob would need for the trip and was mapping out where they would need to stop. Meg’s phone rang and it was Mark and he asked if she was sitting down?... ‘I am at the subsidiary closing it down for now. I have a C-5 on its way here to pick up the 2 partially built planes. The wings fold so they will fit right inside the plane. They don’t have power, but all the lines are run. Two people that are here work for XTI Aero, so they were aware of this.’

‘Tom told me to tell you that Boeing forfeited on the note! Also, that the guy that Bob got is on his way there to take over. This plant basically is making the 5 passenger plane bodies so for right now we can leave it running. There is only a small staff here, but I don’t think we are getting all of the information! I will talk to the employees tomorrow! Could you make a quick stop here when you pick up the finished plane it might loosen these people up? I don’t think they had anything to do with either company. They were just stuck in the middle. If anything changes I’ll call, if not call me in the morning’ and he hung up.

Bob said, “Did I hear him say we have 2 more plane bodies?”

“Yes you did! Well, we own Boeing now and your guy will be running it.”

Bob asked, “Are we going to try and make these completely Electric like the 10 passengers are going to be?” I would like to because it would be nice not having to stop every 700 miles. If we could change the tail, we could lose the center fan and gain space and weight which would increase the speed and cabin size, 7 passenger with a toilet.

“Don’t worry we can figure that out later. Go see your girl and meet me at 5:30 A.M,” Meg said.

Meg called Ellen and she said, ‘I already have set up 2 pilots to take back the Lear or we could take the ERJ135 and bring back everyone in that plane.’ Meg... “said not a bad idea! See you at 5:30.” Meg called Marie and asked her, “Could you have a set up for the ERJ135 plane in the morning for 6 people and sandwiches for 30 as it will be coming back in the afternoon.” ... Marie said, ‘We have you covered.’

Ron and Fry walked in, and Meg said, “What are you 2 up to?”

“Well, a while ago we built a step-down transformer to separate power on the Hydro plant in plates.” Handing Meg a case, Fry said, “This is a new one that can be hooked to the small fans and it’s a step-up transformer and should supply enough power to operate them and recharge the batteries. We know it works.

“I will have Bob hook it up when we get there. Did you hear that Mark found two more bodies already made and is shipping them tomorrow?

“That’s perfect,” replied Ron, “we can set one up with the new system!”

“Also, Tom took back Boeing.”

Fry said, “We figured he was going to do that!”

“What are you going to need to do this and how long is it going to take,” Meg asked.

“It will take two days to get the parts and we have 25 of the small fan units coming in. We have enough cable and wire at the boat plant if needed. With the new case, we can reduce the number of batteries that we now have.” Fry said, “The only thing the batteries will be doing is starting the generators for the fans, once that is done the case will take over.”

“That is a game changer” said Meg.

Meg asked Ron and Fry, “How am I next week going to be able to concentrate on business when I have 4 new toys to play with?”

Ron replied, “Do you remember when I was working in N.Y. harbor and trying to build boats! It’s not easy but you need to trust the people that’s with you and let them do their jobs. Meg you can’t do it all yourself, start managing your business.”

Meg said, “Thanks guy’s I needed a smack of reality.”

“Ron, how did we do with the planes from Arizona?”

“I got the 7500 I told you about and all the planes that Collen wanted, and they will be delivered here next week. I have a large passenger helicopter and another CJ4! Oh, and we had to buy the C-5 to move the planes, I figured it won’t go to waste. I told Linda you said we needed it. I didn’t want her to yell at me!”

Meg said, “Hopefully she will be too busy this week to catch up to me! Hey guys, is it possible for us to connect the suitcase to the existing system to add flying range to the Trifan 600 that we are bringing back?”

“Bob should have no problem doing that. I will tell him where it needs to be attached and we will leave the case with you!”

“Thanks Guys.”

Fry called Bob and explained what the case did and how to connect it to the existing system. Bob said, ‘It should supply enough electricity to by-pass the batteries. You guys are amazing! If it works, the only thing the batteries will be used for is to start the Generator.’ ... Fry said, “That’s what we thought also!” ... Bob said, ‘When we started this project Honeywell and GE made us a small generator with transmission attached but we never were able to get the right amount of power to the system.’ ... Fry said, “We can make that box power a city. If you get a chance call Honeywell and see if they still have any or can make us some.”... ‘Will do,’ and they hung up.

Meg called Amy and asked if she could find Betty and asked her if she could fly with us tomorrow morning? “The ERJ 135 will have 6 going but 25 coming back. Tell her she will be working. Thank you!”

Meg then called out to the airfield and asked Bill, “Could you get the 135 ready for tomorrow morning at 5:30, thanks Bill.” Meg then called Connie and asked, “Are you and Sally on the island?”... ‘Yes Ma’am!’... “Could you fly with Ellen and I to bring back the ERJ 135 from Utah. You will have 25 people coming back and I will have someone on board to take care of them?” ... Connie said, ‘We can do that!’... “It’s 5:30 am flight out.” Connie said, ‘No problem!’... “Thank you.”

Bill called and asked Meg, ‘What am I supposed to do with this 10 passenger Bell helicopter that one of the C-5’s just brought in?’ ... Meg asked, “Does it have South Carolina marks on it?”

Bill said, ‘Yes!’ “Fix the blades, that wasn’t supposed to come,” Meg said, “Oh Well it’s here now! The bird is Marge’s, and she was going to leave it.” ... Bill said, ‘Not anymore, and it’s a nice one.’... “It will work out as I need to get some people to the north field in the morning! Thanks Bill,” and she hung up.

Meg went over to get some food and Renee and Marge were talking. Meg sat down and said, “We have a slight problem. Bill just called me and asked me what he was to do with the Bell helicopter they just took out of the C-5. They thought it was coming so they collapsed the blades and put it in the plane.”

Renee laughed and said, “Efficient aren’t they!”

Meg asked, “Since it’s here can you take some people to the north field in the morning?”

“Sure, it will keep me busy and let me see what’s here!”

Meg said, “You will love the area.”

After Meg ate she went looking for Tracy. While she was eating she told Tracy that she was going to relax as tomorrow will start early and be crazy. She asked Tracy if she was going to be alright tomorrow and she said yes! “Do you need Amy with you?”

Tracy said, “No, Carrie is going to work for now.”

Meg and Tracy talked for a while and Meg said, “I’m going to rest if you need me call and I’ll send out the troupes.” She gave her a hug and left.

The night went by fast and after a shower Meg dressed and went for coffee. People started to show up and Meg had the bus waiting for them. Once they had the proper head count they left for the airfield. Betty was already there with the kitchen crew and they were loading food and drinks. Connie and Sally did the check and the guys on the ground loaded the cases. At 6 o’clock they took off for their first stop in Orlando Florida. The second stop was Wichita Kansas, then they flew to Tooele Utah. Bob was going over the case that Ron and Fry gave them. Once Betty set everyone up, she thanked Meg and said that 25 would be no problem.

After the second stop Meg got a call from Tom ... He told her, ‘I have the approval from the President and the okay to take the 2 planes from XTI AERO.’ He then asked Meg, ‘Find out from Bob if a certain small generator was used in the Trifans as there were 4 crated units at Boeing.’ ... Meg asked Tom, “Did you fire all of the officers,” and he replied... ‘Yes!’ Tom said, ‘Bob’s guy seems to be good! He worked the night shift on the line to find out how things were done, then came upstairs after. He did say to thank Bob for him.’ ... Meg said, “I’ll call you later,” and hung up. They finally reached XTI and landed.

Security then met them at the plane and they were cleared.

Meg walked over to the Trifan and opened it up. Bob went in and opened a panel and started to hook the case to it. All the people came out and started to load and enter ERJ 135.

Meg talked to one of the head engineers with instructions and then got into the plane. She called Connie and said they needed to go to the other site and for her to follow her. They both used the runway and Bob gave them directions. When they landed, the C-5 had just started to load the other plane.

Bob went to the hangar and got a wire that he needed and finished hooking up the case. Bob said to Meg, “We will find out soon if it is going to work.”

Meg told the C-5 pilot, “We are leaving now, and we will see them in Grenada.” They rolled over to the runway, and they took off. Major changes occurred in the Trifan. No loss of power, the plane seemed faster, the batteries were completely charged, and it looked like they were running off the power from the case.

Sally called over to Meg and said, ‘Do you know you are clocking at almost 500 MPH?” And you are 100% stable.’ ... Meg thanked her. Sally then asked, ‘When are you going to need to stop to charge?’... “We may not have to! The case that the boy’s made is a step-up transformer and now we are running on it at 100% power.” ... Sally said, ‘We are going to do either Gainesville or Tampa for fuel and by the way your stewardess is great. Don’t know where you got her, but she is really great. Okay, will talk in a little bit about where we are stopping.’

Meg told Bob, “Sally said that they were clocking us at 500 MPH and the plane appears completely very stable. They are going to stop in Florida for fuel, how about we do a vertical landing and takeoff and see what kind of drain in power we get.”