The first time Lin Heng met Chen Yingmo was in the fifth grade classroom of primary school. The boy who was his deskmate was as talkative as a cicada on a tree in summer. He could secretly say twenty sentences to him during a self-study class. A year later, Lin Heng moved away from that small town with his parents. He only remembered the White Rabbit candy that his deskmate gave him at the end.
Ten years later, Lin Heng stood at the front of the queue as a freshman representative on the tarmac of the Civil Aviation Flight College of China. A voice exploded from behind: "Hey, comrade, the back of your head looks like my elementary school classmate!"
He turned around and saw Chen Yingmo grinning, the sunlight shining brightly on his shoulder straps.
From that day on, they became each other's most trusted partners. Beginning training aircraft, advanced training aircraft, simulators, night flights, special situation handling - in every assessment, Chen Yingmo was responsible for talking on the radio to relieve tension, and Lin Heng was responsible for holding the steering column firmly at the critical moment. Someone asked why they cooperated so well. Chen Yingmo responded quickly: "Because he handed me a small note since he was in elementary school!"
"I handed you the pencil during the exam." Lin Heng corrected.
On graduation day, they were accepted by the same airline.
Until one day, Chen Yingmo was sitting in the co-pilot position in the cockpit, reading the last item on the checklist, and suddenly said: "Lin Heng, I like you. It's not the kind of love where we go home after a flight, but the kind of love where I want to share a flight log with you."
Thirty thousand feet in the air, the autopilot hummed slightly. Lin Heng looked at the sea of clouds in front of him and spoke after a long time:
"Do you know the biggest difference between a captain and a first officer?"
"What?"
"The captain is responsible for the entire flight." Lin Heng paused, "Including the co-pilot."
Later, their story quietly spread among the crew. Some people said that they saw them sharing the same pair of headphones on the tarmac, and some said that after the night flight, their shadows overlapped into one person under the bridge. There are various versions circulating in the civil aviation circle, but the most reliable one comes from Chen Yingmo himself——
"We are two airplane pilots. We have been sitting at the same table in elementary school and flying in the same cockpit. He is responsible for stability, and I am responsible for waves. He is responsible for flying, and I am responsible for loving him."
"Tower, this is CA1973, please lower the altitude."
"CA1973, OK to descend, stay in touch."
"Keep in touch."
-----Also keep loving you, Mo Mo.
Purpose: Dedicated to young people who give their lives to the blue sky. Pilots are not born to be captains. They grit their teeth through aviation school and fly from co-pilot to 11,000 hours. I want to write about the passion, responsibility, and those unknown lonely moments behind this profession.