The Noble Helijet

Fourteen girls from the 23rd Chapel Explorer’s Club and two of their supervisors have been airlifted to safety after heavy rains overran the banks of the Rumoisen rivulet. The girls, aged between 10 and 16, found themselves stranded on the southern face of Mt Resner for three nights after the single bridge to the area’s trails was washed away in Thursday’s storm.

Clear skies Saturday allowed air rescue services from Montre to reinforce the tiny Rumoisen Village fire brigade, and by Sunday morning a mammoth rescue operation involving two 45th Brigade helijets and several rescue teams brought Rumoisen’s girls home to safety.

“Unfortunately, the risk of flash storms in early June is quite high, and are difficult to plan around,” Rumoisen Brigade Chief Toumisian de Angelo told press. “Always consult forecasts before embarking. We’re very relieved to have got everyone out safely.”

The Chief of the 23rd Chapel Explorer’s Club announced Sunday that a wreath would be presented to their heroes.

Helijets are the backbone of Vekllei’s domestic air fleet. Not only are they employed in broad capacities for work, but also form a fleet of ‘air busses’ for public transport in Vekllei’s three largest districts: the Capital, Montre, and Copette. They depart from the roofs of large buildings, usually offices or department stores, and shuttle passengers to express destinations like airports or cosmodromes.

They come in many forms and are manufactured by several companies in Vekllei, including the famous Ramoin-Dupont Aircraft Company and Vekllei National Aerocraft Factories, but most usually maintain flight through multiple turbojets attached to their sides and are propulsed by horizontal turbojets atop the stabilisers. By 2070, almost all are nuclear and use similar sunburst-style direct-air-cooled reactors found in Vekllei’s nuclear fighters.

The ones pictured here are Fire Jets, used usually for personnel transport and rescue operations, but can also be fitted with large water tanks for fighting bush and chemical fires.

Although rotors are still used on some aircraft, most of the world has decided helijets are the future, and Vekllei, hardly coy around glamorous technologies, has followed suit.