Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 171 So Boeing is Wrong! (Please subscribe!)

At the rear of the cabin of flight 9951N, Yang Tian sat silently in the last row.When he came in just now, everyone in the cabin cast curious glances at him, which made Yang Tian feel a little uncomfortable.

This time, the Luoluo headquarters specially sent him, a "native", to lobby Xu Cang, which was regarded as an important task.Although Xu Cang is an insignificant person, he is really indispensable at certain special moments.

Now there are rumors in the aviation circle that Boeing has released a complete set of 737NG drawings to hire Xu Cang to participate in the 777 flight test.However, from a rational point of view, this news is really outrageous, but the three became tigers, and it seems to be true until now.

Of course, even now Rolls-Royce is extremely anxious to compete with Engine Alliance's GP2700 aero engine for the A380 market, but the situation with the 777 that is a matter of Boeing's life and death is still different.

Some time ago, a batch of CFM9451 engines on flight 56 had problems with short fuel supply pipes, which caused the stock price of CFM to plummet, and even GM was also affected.

Rolls-Royce is undoubtedly willing to see if it can give GM another head-on blow in the A380 market.It's just that in the development of the GP2700 aero engine, the progress will most likely not be slower than that of the Trent900 engine. If you want to seize the market, you must use extraordinary means.

Generally speaking, a new type of aero engine can only be tested on an actual aircraft after a long period of ground testing.Moreover, even if you try your best to simulate it on the ground, once you go to the sky, many unexpected situations may occur.Therefore, the actual machine test in the sky is a very important part of the development process.

What Xu Cang said before is true. This kind of real machine test is not only a test that is close to or even beyond the limit, but also faces many unexpected failures. The risk factor is too high, especially Rolls-Royce obviously intends to save money. Some necessary ground testing to grab more time.

This kind of test flight work is simply a gamble with your life!
Previously, Yang Tian believed that Xu Cang was a complete gambler, as long as the interests were sufficient, everything could be discussed.But the conversation with him just now made Yang Tian feel a little worried, and the lobbying work this time might not be very easy to handle.

Maybe he thought too much, and Yang Tian fell into a drowsy sleep not long after the plane launched.I don't know how long it took, but Yang Tian gradually regained consciousness amidst a violent shaking for unknown reasons, and his mouth felt parched in an instant.

I fumbled forward and found that the cap of the mineral water bottle in the back pocket of the seat in front of me was not covered, probably because I forgot to drink it when I was on the ground just now.

Yang Tian reached out and grabbed the mineral water bottle with half a bottle of water left in his hand.Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed something strange on the blanket on the ground.

The field of vision seems to be a wet place, which may be wet from the water spilled from the mineral water bottle.However, when Yang Tian observed for a while, he bent down, stretched out his right hand, and stretched out his fingers on the wet carpet.

When his fingers touched the wet carpet, Yang Tian frowned all of a sudden.Because what his skin felt was not wet wool, but a very obvious cold and sharp touch.

"Ice slag?" Yang Tian was taken aback: "Is it frozen?"

The carpet was actually covered with a thin layer of ice slag!
To be fair, there is an air-conditioning system in the aircraft cabin, so it shouldn't let the splashed water freeze to the point of freezing.

He spread his five fingers and pressed them against the carpet, and found that there was indeed a continuous, extremely cold air penetrating upwards from under the floor.It was this cold air from below that was condensing the water on the carpet into ice.

This was not caused by the plane's air conditioning system, but more like gas gushing from the cargo hold below the passenger cabin.However, generally speaking, although there is a gap between the passenger compartment and the cargo compartment for mutual air circulation.However, due to the pressurization system, in most cases the air in the cabin permeates from the passenger compartment to the cargo compartment, not the other way around.

Just when Yang Tian was a little confused about the situation, he also felt that the temperature in the cabin was a little too low, so he pressed the call bell, but the flight attendant sitting at the front didn't come over, but yelled at him One sentence: "You do it first."

Because Yang Tian was still asleep just now, he didn't know that Mo Shangyun had signaled the cabin, telling the people in the cabin to sit in their seats and not move.

"It's too cold!" Yang Tian was so easy to talk, he really didn't ring the call bell, and shouted to the front: "The air conditioner is seeping up from under the floor, you can ask the cockpit if the plane is pressurized." question."

During the flight, the noise in the cabin was relatively loud, and Yang Tian's words were a little more professional, so the flight attendants in front couldn't understand them at all.

"Don't move, I'll go find you."

Although the flight attendants didn't quite understand what Yang Tian was talking about, they instinctively felt that it was something worthy of attention, so they took off their seat belts and moved to the rear cabin.

Not long after, the flight attendant came to Yang Tian, ​​grabbed the seat with one hand to fix himself, and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Put your palm on the carpet, and you should be able to feel the faint cold air rushing upwards. According to my knowledge, this seems abnormal." Yang Tian explained: "It may be that there is a small problem with the pressurization of the plane. You can Report to the cockpit. Also, it’s too cold here, if possible, ask the cockpit to adjust the cabin temperature.”

So far, Yang Tian's mood is relatively calm, and he has the temper to explain to the flight attendant in detail.The main reason is that now he doesn't feel the obvious symptoms of a sharp increase in the cockpit altitude.

If the height of the cockpit rises sharply, the human body can perceive it in most cases. At least until now, Yang Tian still feels relatively comfortable, except that it is relatively cold.

Following Yang Tian's instructions, the flight attendant put his palms close to the carpet, and sure enough, he felt a burst of coolness hit his palms, and immediately let out a light sigh: "What's the reason?"

Yang Tian didn't know how to explain it to the flight attendant for a while, so he just said: "This... is more complicated, just communicate it to the cockpit."

Halfway through, Yang Tian's voice stopped abruptly, and the expression on his face seemed to freeze.Such a change made the steward's heart skip a beat, and he immediately asked, "What's wrong?"

"Listen. There is a sound of air flow!"

The flight attendant was startled: "What?"

Yang Tian could clearly hear a continuous hissing sound, like the sound of a balloon leaking, which seemed to be the sound of the outflow valve being pressurized in the adjustment cabin.

However, suddenly, Yang Tian's face changed suddenly, and he murmured: "Stop?"

At the same time as Yang Tian's voice fell, the sound of air flow stopped suddenly without warning.But at the next moment, Yang Tian felt the floor under his feet undulate very obviously, followed by a deafening explosion.

Then, the pressurized air in the entire cabin seemed to find a vent, and quickly gathered downward along the gap in the floor, so that an extremely strong wind was formed in the cabin.

Under such drastic changes, fortunately, the flight attendants were sufficiently vigilant at first.After a brief shock, I immediately found a seat nearby and sat down.

It was when the flight attendant sat down that all the oxygen masks in the cabin fell off.

Yang Tian tightly grasped the back of the seat in front of him with both hands, and shouted loudly: "What the hell is going on?"

At this moment in the cockpit, at the same time as the explosion sounded, Xu Cang began to fumble for the oxygen mask with his left hand.While grabbing the oxygen mask with his left hand, he took his right hand away from the thrust handle, removed the earphones, and put on the oxygen mask.

As the oxygen mask was put on, continuous oxygen was blown in from the mask, and Xu Cang took a deep breath, as if he had been rescued from drowning.Turning his head again, Tan Heling had already put on the oxygen mask, and Mo Shangyun behind him also put on the oxygen mask safely, and finally there was no problem.

Xu Cang dialed the switch on the communication panel to the MASK position to allow the communication to be transferred to the oxygen mask.That's right, the oxygen mask has a built-in communication device. Otherwise, after wearing the oxygen mask, the earphones cannot be worn, and communication cannot be established.

However, on older 737NG aircraft, switching of this communication device is done manually through a switch.However, on slightly newer NG-series aircraft, this process can be done automatically, without the need for a crew to operate.

Prior to this, there were often problems with the crew not being able to communicate because they forgot to switch the switch.In addition, when the pressure is released, the mental pressure of the person is relatively high, and it is easy to find that the communication cannot be realized and the reason for the switch not being switched is easily unknown, which causes more problems.

Of course, the three people in the cockpit of the plane at this moment are all veterans, and they will not make such low-level mistakes.Seeing that the other two had successfully put on their oxygen masks, Xu Cang used the intercom function to call: "Can you hear me?"

Tan Heling next to him quickly replied: "Listen to your signal five!"

"Okay, no problem then."

This back and forth voice test is to confirm that the crew communication has been established smoothly.After that, it is necessary to carry out the necessary program actions after decompression.

Tan Heling quickly pressed the altitude alarm cut-off button to cancel the cockpit altitude alarm, otherwise the alarm would keep ringing, which would be really annoying.

With the cabin altitude alarm switched off, it would normally be necessary to adjust the pressurization mode selector to the manual position and then move the outflow valve to the fully closed position.

However, due to the sudden change in the height of the cockpit just now, Tan Heling directly surpassed the checklist, and has already turned the pressurization mode selector to the manual position in advance and completely closed the outflow valve.Not long ago, Yang Tian heard the sudden stop of the airflow because of this movement.

Since the corresponding action has been completed before, there is no need to do it again.

So Xu Cang directly ordered: "Do the memory project of emergency descent! Apply to return immediately and fly directly to the fifth side."

Tan Heling's left hand was already on the cover of the passenger's oxygen switch. Hearing Xu Cang's words, he hesitated for a moment, and looked at the display on the navigation DU: "Is it a little urgent to fly straight to the fifth side?"

If you fly directly to the fifth side from the current position, it is estimated that it will land in five or six minutes.However, there are still a series of checklists to be done, and the approach preparations and briefings have not been done. Tan Heling is afraid that it will be too late to finish.

"No rush! I'll skip some steps if necessary, now I need to land as soon as possible, the fuselage of the plane is damaged." Xu Cang made a decisive decision: "Do something!"

Tan Heling looked back at Mo Shangyun. Xu Cang said that he ignored some steps directly. Will this behavior be taken into account in the subsequent investigation? This is a big procedural loophole.

Xu Cang actually had something to do with making Tan Heling so restrained.Previously, the criticism of Xu Cang's personal heroism in a civil aviation newspaper, and the joint request of Xu Cang's title to be removed by all the meritorious pilots since then disappeared because of Xu Cang's feat of turning the tide in the special case of Flight 9451.

But this doesn't mean that the impact of all this is really like the wind blowing, leaving no trace.On the contrary, there is now a very obvious collision of ideas in the civil aviation industry.

In the past, there was a concept in civil aviation, that is, as long as there are no problems, as long as no outrageous things are done, both the airline company and the bureau often turn a blind eye to it.

But now the new idea is not only to be correct in results, but also to pursue correctness in procedures.That is to say, in a special situation, even if the crew landed the plane safely, if the crew's handling procedures are seriously flawed in the after-the-fact investigation, they may not only not be rewarded, but also have to be punished .

In the past, Tan Heling would not have hesitated at all.Anyway, the three people in the cockpit are trustworthy people, and omitting some unnecessary steps has no effect.But now under the influence of certain ideas in the industry, Tan Heling has become indecisive.

However, as the responsible captain of this flight, Mo Shangyun was still somewhat decisive.After discovering Tan Heling's inquiring gaze towards him, he shook his head slightly, signaling Tan Heling not to be entangled anymore, just follow Xu Cang's footsteps.

After a very brief eye contact, Tan Heling still chose to believe in Mo Shangyun.He immediately opened the passenger oxygen switch, turned on the passenger signal, turned on all exterior lights, and adjusted the engine start switch to continuous.Since the emergency code has been set before, there is no need to move it on the answering machine.

Xu Cang directly turned the altitude knob to the left a big turn, without adjusting the speed window, pressed the button for changing the altitude, turned off the thrust handle, and pulled the speed brake to the flight stop.

Under normal circumstances, Xu Cang should push the stick forward to allow the plane to obtain a greater descent rate.However, due to limited pitch control, he could only move the steering wheel a short distance forward, which resulted in a descent rate of only [-] feet after the speedbrake was raised.

With proper pitch control, this rate of descent can reach almost [-] feet per minute.

However, Xu Cang never worried about releasing pressure.There is an oxygen mask in the cabin that is enough to last for more than ten minutes. According to the plan, we can definitely land within 10 minutes.What really worried him was the damage to the body.

There is no doubt that the explosion just now was really caused by the damage to the body.

"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! MAYDAY! 9951N, the cabin is depressurized. It is suspected that the structure of the aircraft is damaged. Apply for an emergency descent. Fly directly to the fifth side and land as soon as possible."

Under Tan Heling's report, the control tower quickly gave an instruction: "9951N, lower the revised sea pressure to 2100, heading to 010, corrected to the sea pressure of 1011, and the No. 05 blind landing can be established."

"Correct the sea pressure to 2100, correct the sea pressure to 1011, and the course to 010. You can establish the No. 05 blind landing."

Sure enough, as Xu Cang expected, the control tower gave the approach instructions very happily.Fortunately, the plane is now approaching from south to north, and the areas it passes through are all plains, so it can descend to 2100 meters in one breath. If it is changed from north to south, it will definitely not be able to descend to such a low altitude.

After Tan Heling finished replying, Director Liu's voice sounded from the control side: "Xu Cang, a piece of iron plate fell from the sky just now. I visually observed that it seemed to be an elevator part of the plane. Is it related to the damage to the structure of the plane?"

When Xu Cang heard this, he cursed secretly, and sure enough, the tail part of the plane suffered serious damage as soon as it took off and wiped the tail.

"No, that's a problem caused by takeoff." Xu Cang said: "Director Liu, I will apply to occupy the runway after landing, so I won't leave on my own."

Xu Cang himself doesn't know what the condition of the plane is now. To be on the safe side, let the tow truck to tow the plane back.

"Okay, I'll arrange this matter!" Director Liu said: "You can control the altitude by yourself, and report it blindly."

In this way, Xu Cang has been given great autonomy, mainly because the airspace of the field is now vacated, and it is all for Xu Cang to play.

"Understood!" After Xu Cang finished speaking, he directly instructed Tan Heling: "Verified speed, less than 270 knots, release the wheel!"

According to this rate of descent, the altitude of the aircraft is too high when it establishes a blind landing, and the glideslope cannot be intercepted, so the wheels must be released first in order to obtain a greater rate of descent.

Unlike flaps, which require altitude and speed, there is no height limit for landing gear, only a speed limit, which is 270 knots.

However, in normal emergency descents, the speed must be adjusted to Vmo or Mmo, and at the last time it must be over 270 knots.But now the plane's speed can't even reach [-] knots, so it can be seen how much the limited pitch control has affected Xu Cang.

Of course, this also has an advantage invisibly.That is, in the case of damage to the fuselage, Boeing recommends limiting the speed in order to reduce the load on the aircraft and prevent the damage to the fuselage from deteriorating.

In this way, it coincides with Boeing's proposal.

After mental calculations, Tan Heling also found that the current height is too high, and it is impossible to get down if the landing gear is not placed to increase the resistance.So, he glanced at the speed, and after confirming that he was not overspeeding, he directly lowered the handle of the landing gear.

He has no objection to lowering the landing gear, but has a lot of doubts about the damage to the fuselage.It was just after he closed the outflow valve that the plane exploded. Now that he had experienced the initial panic of decompression, he had the energy to think about a question, that is, whether the damage to the plane's fuselage was caused by his manual manipulation of the outflow valve? There is a direct relationship.

This is not an afterthought, but a very serious issue related to the division of responsibilities.

However, before Tan Heling could speak first, Mo Shangyun behind him started first: "The parts of the elevator were seen from the tower, so you mean that the tail of the aircraft has been damaged by rubbing it just now. So, the separation of the elevator parts is caused by this? Then the subsequent pitching jam is also an extended problem?"

"I think it should be." Even looking back now, Xu Cang felt that the force of rubbing the tail of the plane before was really too great. It is strange that the tail of the plane was not damaged, but even he didn't think about the part of the elevator. Actually separated directly.

Mo Shangyun's face froze. If it can't be proved to be a problem with the plane afterwards, then he will have to bear a huge responsibility.

And just like Mo Shangyun was worried, Tan Heling also said: "Then, is it related to the explosion of the plane that I closed the outflow valve just now?"

As soon as this was mentioned, Xu Cang became angry: "Of course it has something to do! The derivative problem of rubbing the tail of the aircraft is structural damage. You should take the initiative to release the pressure. Even if you don't do anything, you can't actively increase the pressure difference!"

"Active pressure release?" Now Tan Heling was stunned: "There is no active pressure release clause in the standard operating procedure for dealing with the tail rubbing. I just watched the aircraft pressurization suddenly change, and I did manual intervention. According to the SOP."

Xu Cang's face darkened in an instant, and he snorted coldly: "So, Boeing is wrong!"

(End of this chapter)