HLM -Chapter 1237 The Big Aircraft

The EC-145 is a light twin-engine, multi-purpose helicopter developed by Eurocopter to fill a gap in the market. At the time, in order to shorten the development cycle and get the product to market as early as possible, the company took a shortcut during the development of the EC-145 by combining the forward fuselage of the EC-135 with the rear fuselage of the BK-117, thus creating the EC-145.

Taking a shortcut did not mean cutting corners. In fact, this helicopter is an optimized combination of the two models—a hybrid that inherited the strengths of both parents.

The EC-145 has been around for fourteen or fifteen years now. It adopted cutting-edge technologies of its time, such as a full glass cockpit and an aerodynamically optimized fuselage shape, and made extensive use of composite materials and new manufacturing techniques. As a result, even today it still feels very advanced.

Cato introduced it to Wang Bo, explaining that the EC-145—integrating the advanced technologies of the EC-135 and BK-117—features a large payload, long range, low noise, a comfortable and spacious cockpit, reduced pilot workload, safe and reliable systems, and low operating costs.

Its design widely incorporates advanced technologies. Its high-performance rotor blades, aerodynamically optimized fuselage, modern human-machine-interface cockpit, large-field-of-view windshield, and spacious cabin are all outstanding features that many other helicopters have studied and emulated.

Coincidentally, their company’s exhibition hall had this very model on display. If he was interested, he could go and take a look.

What Cato recommended to Wang Bo was the luxury version of the EC-145. It made extensive use of products and design elements provided by Mercedes-Benz, and in the past it had been sold only to specially commissioned, elite clients—it wasn’t something you could buy just by having money.

Wang Bo and Eva followed him to the exhibition hall. Inside was a row of helicopters, with the EC-145 positioned in the center. The fuselage was thirteen meters long, with a maximum width of two meters. Its lines were smooth, its curves sleek, and it had a strong sense of aesthetic beauty.

Cato explained, “The cabin of this aircraft has been redesigned. What you’re seeing is the new cabin, inspired by Mercedes-Benz’s latest R-series models.”

As he spoke, he pulled open the door and pressed a button inside the cockpit. A folding staircase descended from the cabin door.

Wang Bo went inside to take a look. The interior was extremely luxurious—everything was wrapped in brown leather, thick carpeting covered the floor, and at the front there was a large LED high-definition television screen, along with a matching 3D surround-sound system.

The seating was a distinctive feature. It used a unique modular design: inside the seats were refrigerators, and the seats could be connected and rearranged, allowing the cargo space and personal space in the cabin to be flexibly adjusted.

When he lifted the carpet, what lay beneath wasn’t bare steel, but warm wooden flooring. The ceiling above used integrated lighting—in other words, the entire ceiling was a lighting fixture, with more than twenty different lighting modes available.

Wang Bo looked at Eva and asked, “What do you think?”

Eva sat down on the wide seat to try it out and smiled. “Its maximum takeoff weight is three and a half tons. That means our whole family can travel together, bring along Little Wang and the others, and still carry some good food. I think it’s pretty nice.”

The price of this helicopter was 6.8 million New Zealand dollars. For Wang Bo now, that was pocket change. Since Eva liked it, he nodded and agreed.

Cato laughed. “I guessed you’d like it. After all, who wouldn’t love a luxurious palace in the sky? Come on, you two—you can follow me to choose the interior decoration style.”

Helicopters are different from cars. Because of their high prices, helicopter branches don’t keep inventory. When there’s demand, they submit an order to the main factory, and there are also customization and interior-fitting issues involved.

After spending half an afternoon, Wang Bo and Eva finalized all the interior decoration details. The rest could be left to the helicopter company.

In addition to the helicopter, Wang Bo also wanted to buy a business jet—a fixed-wing aircraft.

New Zealand is a major aviation nation, with a well-developed domestic aviation industry and a wide variety of aircraft models.

The prices of fixed-wing aircraft range from hundreds of thousands to tens of millions of New Zealand dollars. The cheaper ones, costing only a few hundred thousand, are mainly functional aircraft, such as those used for agriculture, fisheries, or patrol missions, and are mostly single-engine planes.

As everyone knows, all the power an aircraft uses during flight comes from its engines. The strong thrust or pull provided by the engines propels the aircraft forward, increases the airflow speed over the wing surfaces, generates sufficient lift, and thus allows the aircraft to fly.

“Single-engine” generally refers to the number of engines an aircraft has—only one. Wang Bo didn’t want to buy this kind of plane. If the engine were to shut down midair, a single-engine aircraft would have no choice but to crash.

He was buying this plane for his family to use in the future, to enjoy life. He didn’t want one day to be flying along only to have his whole family end up on the ground.

What Wang Bo wanted was a multi-engine business jet, generally equipped with two engines. Even if only one engine were working in flight, the aircraft would still have enough power to maintain a certain altitude and speed, and then execute a safe landing.

Cato helped him get in touch with an aircraft agent. Although Cato specialized in helicopter sales, he was a well-known figure within the New Zealand Aviation Association and had extensive connections.

The prices of multi-engine business jets generally start at four to five million New Zealand dollars. Accompanied by Cato, Wang Bo and Eva went to meet the aircraft agent and began discussing the plane he wanted to buy.

The agent told him that if safety and comfort were the priorities, then the top choices were naturally the Boeing family, the Airbus family, and the Gulfstream family.

However, aircraft from these families were extremely expensive, often costing tens of millions of New Zealand dollars, such as the Gulfstream G600, Challenger 650, Global 7000, and Global 8000.

The business jet market was larger than that of helicopters, with a bigger market and more standardized operations overall.

When Wang Bo and Eva listened to the agent’s introduction to these aircraft, they were wearing VR video headsets and sitting in chairs, yet what they saw were lifelike scenes of the actual aircraft.

These video resources were extremely costly to produce. Watching them felt as if one were truly standing next to and inside the aircraft, with a very high level of realism.

Wang Bo had thought that choosing a large aircraft would be troublesome, but with these video resources, the selection process actually became much simpler.

The agent and Cato handled the explanations, while the couple focused on choosing. President Bartier also arranged for an experienced veteran pilot to assist them, and both sides stayed in constant contact by phone.

After comparing and analyzing the options, Wang Bo set his sights on the Learjet 40XR business jet. It was a member of the Bombardier family and is regarded as one of the finest light jets available today, outperforming its competitors in almost every respect.

The Learjet 40XR inherited Bombardier’s high standards and could provide passengers with an unexpectedly high level of comfort and luxury.

The aircraft is seventeen meters long, has a wingspan of fifteen meters, and a maximum range of 3,500 kilometers. With auxiliary fuel tanks installed, the range can be extended to 4,000 kilometers, delivering outstanding performance.