CHAPTER 433: CHAPTER 431: 2 METHODS

Chen Xin originally wanted to take off with the plane to monitor its status throughout the flight.

But neither the ground crew nor the staff would allow an academician to participate in such a dangerous test flight, so they stopped Chen Xin before he could board the plane.

Although he was stopped, Chen Xin still wanted to follow along and see the plane’s status, after all, it was a plane he personally modified. Though the quality produced by systems is guaranteed, Chen Xin still wanted to see how the plane performs in flight.

Moreover, even if he didn’t board the plane, Chen Xin could still fly. Not being on the plane doesn’t mean he can’t monitor its status.

Releasing nanomolecules from the watch on his wrist, Chen Xin immediately donned his nano armor and switched it to flight mode.

Though the Iron Man suit in movies looks cool, Chen Xin actually doesn’t like the flight posture of joining hands at the waist while having the palms open.

In fact, Chen Xin doesn’t like any flight postures from American comics, whether it’s Iron Man’s hands on waist or Superman’s fist thrust forward. They look fine in movies, but in reality, they seem awkward and uncomfortable.

For Chen Xin, the flight posture doesn’t matter. The flight power comes from the plasma engine on the back of the Power Armor, and posture control relies mainly on the thrusters on the armor’s legs and the engine’s own vector thrusters, all operated by the armor’s flight control system.

Therefore, whichever posture Chen Xin adopts for flying is insignificant. He only needs to instruct the armor where to fly.

Indeed, Chen Xin took off from the ground in a posture tilted at 60%, relying on the strong thrust of the plasma engine to quickly fly towards the plane ahead.

In the air, the only thing he needed to pay attention to was keeping his legs still; his hands were unrestricted. Whether they stuck to his sides, raised in a fist, held a weapon, or simply took something out to eat, the only impact on flight would be the aerodynamic shape of the armor, creating drag.

And for Chen Xin’s nano armor, this could be resolved with a simple "fly strong as a brick."

The thrust from the plasma engine on the nano armor’s back wouldn’t be inferior to the four engines of the Y-9 flying before Chen Xin, while the nano armor’s engine only needs to propel Chen Xin’s less-than-200-pound body. The four engines of the Y-9 have to propel at least several dozen tons, even if the test-flying Y-9’s cabin is empty and flying unladen.

Comparatively, Chen Xin’s flight posture naturally doesn’t matter as long as he doesn’t break his arms.

Moreover, if Chen Xin wished, the flight speed of the nano armor could easily break the sound barrier, effortlessly reaching 5 Mach or 5 times the speed of sound without considering human endurance.

The maximum acceleration humans can endure is 8G, or 8 times gravitational acceleration, limiting supersonic aircraft’s maximum speed to around 2 Mach. Beyond this speed, pilots would endure more than 8G acceleration, posing significant load on their bodies.

Although equipment like anti-G suits can reduce the impact of acceleration on pilots, excessive momentary overload can still cause issues like vascular rupture or eye congestion.

Therefore, for safety considerations, although the nano armor could easily break the sound barrier, Chen Xin chose not to.

After all, the Y-9’s flight speed hasn’t reached supersonic, and conventional speed is enough for Chen Xin to catch up with the test aircraft; breaking the sound barrier wasn’t necessary.

Chen Xin quickly approached the flying Y-9 and through the multifunctional visual display on his nano armor helmet, he could clearly see the not-so-conspicuous aircraft in the dim sky aside from the navigation lights and the immense heat radiated from its engines while operating.

The advantage of nano armor over regular armor is the ability to temporarily modify tools or functions as needed, as long as there are nanomolecules and pre-stored blueprints, one can promptly create necessary modules.

Chen Xin naturally did the same, and after adjusting the lenses and cameras on his helmet, the images displayed before him changed instantly.

A multitude of data appeared around the Y-9’s entire shape, several still changing as the plane flew.

These are naturally the flight data of the Y-9, including the changes in the aircraft body and engine operating status monitoring.

Some of this data came from the monitoring equipment Chen Xin installed when modifying the plane. Modern aircraft have myriad instruments for monitoring flight status, ensuring pilots can always know the aircraft’s status during flight.

This data could be obtained by connecting with the plane’s flight computer, while other data was thanks to the multifunctional cameras on Chen Xin’s helmet.

Since the normal flight data of the Y-9 had been obtained in advance, comparing two sets allows determination of whether this modified plane flying before him was stable and normal.

As of now, the plane modified by Chen Xin hasn’t presented any issues.

Regarding this aircraft, Chen Xin adopted two different modification approaches for the four engines: For two engines, he added an additional intake and air filter below the original intake.

This modification doesn’t alter the engine itself, and the added intake and redesigned intake duct, despite having an air filter, can still provide adequate airflow, ensuring engine operating power.

As for the other two engines, they didn’t have added intakes, only air filters were installed, ensuring the air intake was particle and dust-free.

However, these two engines didn’t reduce power because Chen Xin installed a small motor on each, offering power compensation, allowing the engines to reach the needed output power despite inadequate intake airflow.

Which of the two modification plans was superior is yet inconclusive, as the test-used Y-9 still needs to continue ascending.

Normally, planes fly in the stratosphere, and the Y-9 is no exception, so both the plane and Chen Xin monitoring data at its side need to fly higher until reaching the stratosphere.