Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 314 Only God!
Xu Cang is so confident that he thinks he can handle almost all flying situations.

However, there are always areas beyond human power.

For example, Xu Cang can accept the flameout of both engines, can accept forced landing by sea and land, and can cross the culvert of the bridge with an accuracy of a millimetre.However, no pilot can accept a broken wing, especially a broken wing.

Most of the lift of the plane comes from the large wings. If the large wings break, it is a bird with broken wings, and there is no possibility of survival at all.

Xu Cang has seen many special situations, such as engine explosion, engine fire alarm, and even engine flying off.However, most of the damage can be confined to the engine case due to the existence of the case restraint test.

Every engine requires such tests.Although there are no absolutes, and there are occasional cases where there is a problem with the restrictiveness of the casing, but the outer wall of the engine of this PW4000-112 is so exaggerated, it is almost unheard of.

Almost all of the engine cowlings have fallen off, and most of the engine core has been exposed, wrapped in flames. Even under the impact of high-speed airflow, the flames still have no sign of extinguishing, like tenacious weeds, which cannot be removed. .

The Boeing 777 is still conservative in material selection, of course compared to the future Dreamliner Boeing 787.Compared with the old-fashioned 737 and other models, the Boeing 777 has a larger proportion of composite materials in the fuselage material.

However, in terms of the wing structure, the Boeing 777 has not changed much.Otherwise, in terms of high temperature resistance, some composite materials are still inferior to traditional metal materials.

This may be the only luck.

The flames spreading from the core of the engine have burned the engine's suspension frame red, and the situation has extended to the suspension frame and the large wing.If it is on a Boeing 787 with a larger proportion of composite materials, the wing components at the junction of the suspension frame and the large wing may be burned through and the structural strength will be reduced, resulting in a fracture there.

However, there is a high probability that the Boeing 777 will not. As long as there is no subsequent metal fragment inserted into the leading edge of the wing, everything will be controllable and there is no need to worry.

It's a pity that that is just a wish, and he has to face a terrible and desperate possibility, that is, the probability of the right wing breaking in the middle.

In fact, this probability does not depend on whether the large wing breaks, but on whether the personnel on the entire aircraft survive or not.

As long as the big wing is broken, the gods cannot be saved, and neither can Xu Cang!
Xu Cang took a deep breath, hoping to soothe his almost uncontrollable heartbeat.

"What if the big wing breaks?" Xu Cang asked himself, but after a short thought, he couldn't give his own answer.

Perhaps, only death!
At this moment, a dull loud noise was transmitted to the middle of the cabin, where Xu Cang was standing.He looked along the cabin passage and found that the originally closed cockpit door had been opened.

Looking from a distance, the captain David kept waving his hands at Xu Cang, looking very urgent.

It seems that there is not only a problem in the cabin, but also some bad news in the cockpit, the severity of which has made David, a somewhat staid ICAO flight commissioner, completely abandon the safety regulations for entering and exiting the cockpit.

At least the two captains seemed to have more to worry about than worrying about someone rushing into the cockpit during the door opening.

After clearing his mind for a while, Xu Cang left the cabin manager and rushed straight to the cockpit.The order of the cabin is no longer a concern, he already knows what is a sharp knife hanging over his head in the cabin.

Perhaps it was because the psychological impact of the complete detachment of the fairing was too great, so that the passengers who should have been infinitely panicked instead stayed in their seats in fear, curled up like a frightened hamster.

Xu Cang entered the cockpit unimpeded all the way, and closed the cockpit door.

As soon as he came in, he didn't even wait for Schneider and David to say anything, just seeing the weather radar display on the navigation page could understand everything.

On the weather radar, the huge cyclone whose edge is close to an ellipse appears on the DU display in a nearly full red posture, covering almost the entire DU display.

"Xu Cang, the top of the no-fly zone has risen to [-] feet." David said solemnly.

At this moment, according to the aircraft altimeter, the aircraft will level off in less than 2 minutes.This is the rate of descent produced under the premise that Captain Schneider increased the thrust of the No. 777 engine to almost the maximum. Under the condition of a single engine, this Boeing 1000 has reached its ceiling. In any case, it will produce a rate close to [-] to [-] feet. rate of drop per minute.

"It is a cyclone produced by a snowstorm in the Alps. The [-] feet should be calculated by EASA, and it will directly affect the limit altitude of flight safety."

Xu Cang's face was quite ugly, and the height change at the top of the no-fly zone showed that both EASA and the European Union's Directorate General of Transport were paying attention to this unprecedented huge cyclone.

Since they finally decided to expand the height of the no-fly zone, it means that they are continuously measuring the intensity of the weather.It would be best for any sane person not to challenge the authority of EASA and DGT.

Because the following is really dangerous.

"Now that we are directly above the core area of ​​the cyclone, we must not go below [-] feet. When we are far away from the core area, we may be able to break through the [-]-foot limit in an emergency."

The height limit of [-] feet is definitely not arbitrarily issued. At least in the core area, that is, the area with the highest cyclone intensity, the height of [-] feet is an obvious threat to flight safety.

In fact, based on Xu Cang's experience, it is not impossible for Xu Cang to fly straight through a thunderstorm when the windshield glass burst, and fly over the top of the cyclone at an altitude of [-] feet.

Breaking down to the top of this no-fly zone represents a huge security threat, but not instant death.The reason why Xu Cang was so afraid was because of the fragile wing on the right.

Now Xu Cang was extremely worried about whether the large wing with structural damage would be able to support the plane until it landed.

Going down to break through the top of the no-fly zone, as long as you don't go too deep, you should be able to control the danger to a barely acceptable level.However, this premise is based on the condition that the strength of the aircraft fuselage is sufficient.

Once you enter the no-fly zone, it means entering the airspace that the cyclone can directly affect.There, Xu Cang was almost certain that the airflow would be extremely turbulent.

As we all know, excessive turbulence will cause a great burden on the fuselage of the aircraft.

If the fuselage is intact as a whole, maybe you can bear it for a while. At this moment, the right wing has been ablated by the flames of the engine, and a metal fragment has been inserted into the leading edge. The structural integrity of itself has been damaged. Under the circumstances, the breakage of the large wing is inevitable.

Still the same sentence, as long as the big wing is broken, no one can survive.

Judging from the weather radar now, the cyclone area has extended to approach Munich.However, the airflow in the peripheral area is definitely much more stable than that in the core area, and the injured wing may be able to withstand such an impact.As long as you keep the altitude, you can try the next altitude when you are far enough from the most violent core area.

But the problem now is that the altitude above [-] feet is not what Xu Cang can maintain if he wants to. This involves the limit of the aircraft's performance and cannot be diverted by subjective imagination.

"No, the plane can't maintain an altitude of 1000 feet." As the operator, Captain Schneider knew best.If the plane is close to a certain altitude that can be maintained, the rate of descent will gradually decrease, but at this moment the altitude of the plane is close to [-] feet, and the rate of descent of the plane still maintains more than [-] or [-] feet per minute without any decrease. small trend.

This shows that the ceiling of the aircraft is far below [-] feet.

"The plane is too heavy!" Xu Cang looked far away. Suddenly, he stepped forward and pressed his right hand finger on the air fuel release switch. At this moment, the fuel discharge system entered the pre-position state.

"What are you going to do!" David's face changed suddenly when he saw Xu Cang's actions: "This is not an oil release area, there is precipitation below, and the fuel cannot be vaporized if you do this. If there are people or land below, we will face a huge amount of water." claim for compensation."

David is so smart, he immediately understood Xu Cang's thoughts when he saw Xu Cang's actions.

Yes, airplanes are too heavy now.A huge amount of fuel was carried on the ultra-long-distance intercontinental route of more than ten hours.Under such circumstances, it is absolutely impossible to maintain such a huge monster at an altitude of [-] feet by relying on the power of a single engine.

In the calculation of the ceiling of a single engine by the flight computer, the total weight of the aircraft is an extremely important reference factor.

Therefore, if you want to increase the ceiling of a single engine, you must reduce the load on the aircraft.

There are not many ways to adjust the total weight of the aircraft in the air. No matter from any angle, at least the total weight cannot be corrected by adjusting the number of passengers. Throwing passengers out of the aircraft does not seem to be a good choice.

Then you can only make adjustments on the fuel, and the fuel dump in the air is a system developed for this function.

Not all aircraft will be equipped with an air-drain system. E190, A319, A320, A321, B737, and B757 do not have an air-drain system.Models like A300, A310, A330, A340, and B767-200/300 can be equipped with an optional air-drain system.For A380, B767-400, B777, B747, MD11, IL78 aircraft, the air fuel dump system is standard configuration.

It can be found that there is a strong positive correlation between the necessity to upgrade the aerial refueling system and the size of the aircraft.

Regional airliners such as the E190 or single-aisle narrow-body airliners such as the B737 are generally not equipped with an in-air refueling system.However, for heavy-duty wide-body aircraft such as 747, 767-400, and 777, refueling in the air is a relatively necessary function.

Because this type of aircraft usually undertakes long routes, the amount of refueling at one time is extremely large.If there is an unexpected situation, I would like to achieve the purpose of adjusting the total weight of the aircraft by circling to consume fuel, and it is estimated that it can be turned from day to night.

Even for the mainstream single-aisle narrow-body aircraft, there have been more than one occasions where they have been spinning in the sky for several hours in order to consume fuel while circling.If this is replaced by a heavy-duty machine, the duration would be unimaginable.

The Boeing 777 has three fuel tanks, the left fuel tank, the right fuel tank and the center fuel tank, which is very similar to the fuel distribution of the 737.The fuel drain system of the Boeing 777 allows all fuel tanks to be drained, and the drain ports are respectively located on the drain nozzle valves inside the ailerons.

The reason why David stopped Xu Cang's behavior was not that he disagreed with Xu Cang's ideas.I have to say that this is an excellent method, but the place where it is implemented is not very coincidental.

Aviation kerosene will cause harm to people and the soil, so under normal circumstances, if you want to discharge fuel, you must be in an approved special oil discharge area.In case of emergency, oil discharge outside the area can be carried out at certain specific heights.

Under normal circumstances, if the altitude of the aircraft is higher than [-] feet, the released fuel will be completely vaporized in the air, and will be decomposed into water and carbon dioxide by itself during the process of descending, which will minimize the degree of damage and pollution.

Therefore, if you want to drain oil, no matter what, the height must not be lowered.

In this context, it is clear that the BA 531 is perfectly adequate.But very, very unfortunately, this situation does not apply when encountering precipitation.

Precipitation is not just rain, but also snow.

In a precipitation environment, the gasified aviation fuel that should have been decomposed by itself will not be decomposed under the wrapping of snow crystals or raindrops, but will fall to the ground along with the precipitation.

In this case, the precipitation containing aviation fuel is a huge pollution and damage to the ground.

If this is a densely populated area below, with Europe's dedication to environmental protection, just this one, it would be an unimaginably sky-high compensation.The amount of this compensation may not be able to support the size of British Airways.

Now the area below is full of cyclones, that is, the huge amount of fuel in this Boeing 777 will be spilled on the ground without a drop. The area below is full of people gathering except for some uninhabited mountains in the Alps. David He couldn't even imagine the consequences of Xu Cang's actions.

Even if he survived, he would have to face endless lawsuits for compensation for the rest of his life. This kind of life is worse than death.

However, Xu Cang just paused: "This is our only way to survive, we will talk about the future."

After finishing speaking, Xu Cang directly started the function of draining oil.

For a moment, a large amount of aviation fuel was released from the nozzles inside the two ailerons and sprayed into the sky at an altitude of [-] meters.

After the Boeing 777's air-draining system is armed, it defaults to the standard of the maximum landing weight.But even just to meet the maximum landing weight requirements, there is still a lot of aviation fuel that needs to be released.

David was actually quite entangled in his heart. He knew that refueling in the air was the only option for them to stabilize at an altitude of [-] feet, but he felt a pang in his heart when he thought that he might face a lawsuit that could not be cut off for the rest of his life.

Taking the A330 as an example, its air-draining system can pump out one ton of fuel in one minute.The Boeing 1's air fuel discharge system is more advanced than that of the Airbus 777. Under the premise of ensuring fuel vaporization, the Boeing 330's pumping efficiency is higher.

Compared with the flight computer of the Boeing 737, the FMC of the Boeing 777 is more advanced and more responsive.

As a large amount of fuel is discharged, the flight computer will correct the total weight of the aircraft by itself, so as to calibrate the ceiling value in real time on the single engine page.

David wiped the stubble from his chin, and his eyes were fixed on the single issue page on the ever-changing MCDU.As the total weight of the aircraft decreases, the value of the single-engine ceiling on the MCDU screen begins to rise slowly.

David kept his lips pursed and his eyes looked straight, even Schneider, who was mainly in charge of manipulating, kept casting his eyes on MCDU.

Just when the altitude of the aircraft was about to exceed 300 feet, the ceiling value of the single-engine page of MCDU finally rose to FL[-].At this moment, David gritted his teeth and secretly celebrated fiercely.

"It's enough, it's enough, it's enough, it's enough! Schneider, adjust the thrust attitude and maintain a level flight." David turned his head: "Turn off the fuel discharge system, and the aircraft is fully weighted."

Although Xu Cang started to release oil in the air, David actually had a bit of a mentality of breaking the tank.However, if less oil can be released, it will directly mean less possible compensation in the future and less environmental pollution.

Although the Boeing 777's air refueling system is highly automated, the crew can manually terminate the refueling process at any time during the refueling process.

However, Xu Cang did not stop the act of dumping fuel in the air at all.

The journey of refueling in the air is still going on.

David was startled: "Xu Cang?"

At first, David was just a little strange, he thought that Xu Cang didn't know how to manually terminate the refueling in the air.Indeed, this air-dumping function is rarely used, and of course, the crew does not want to use it.

There are very few opportunities to use fuel in the air, and manual intervention is even rarer. In many cases, it is to reduce the total weight of the aircraft to below the maximum landing weight. Basically, it is completed automatically without manual intervention.

"You don't know how, haven't you operated it before?" David didn't think much, and started to unbuckle his seat belt, and he planned to do it himself.

As a result, just as David unbuttoned his belt and stood up slightly, Xu Cang's right hand pressed on his shoulder and pushed him back on the seat.

David was taken aback for a moment, and suddenly felt something was wrong: "Xu Cang, what are you going to do?"

"David, I can operate it." After speaking, Xu Cang supported the MCP board with one hand, leaned forward with his upper body, and tapped the MCDU with the other hand.

David was directly confused by Xu Cang's behavior, but soon, he realized that Xu Cang was not trying to terminate the fuel dump in the air, but was resetting the fuel drain.

The default initial oil discharge amount of the oil discharge system is to reduce the total weight to below the maximum landing weight, but this oil discharge amount is not constant and can be manually modified on the MCDU.

Perhaps, David still didn't realize the seriousness of the problem.But when he saw Xu Cang set the final fuel to one ton, he froze.

It takes nearly 777 tons of fuel for takeoff, but Xu Cang only wants to keep one ton, which is only enough for the Boeing 10 to fly for [-] to [-] minutes.

Xu Cang is cutting off his own way out!

Captain Schneider was also shocked by Xu Cang's terrifying amount of fuel, but he did not stop Xu Cang, but directly contacted the control: "British Airways 531, 47 degrees 22 minutes north latitude, 32 degrees 29 minutes east longitude The aerial oil discharge operation is being carried out at an altitude of [-] feet, and the estimated oil discharge volume is [-] tons."

David was really shocked by Xu Cang's wild oil release in the non-oil release area.Moreover, even if you don't care about putting fuel in the air, what does it mean to only leave the remaining fuel for less than half an hour, and you won't leave yourself a way out at all, right?

"British Airways 531, your location is a non-refueling area, please," the controller said halfway, as if interrupted by someone, and then changed to a slightly old voice: "British Airways 531, air refueling operations are allowed If you can, keep working at [-] feet, good luck."

Obviously, there is old regulatory intervention.He could tell that a Boeing 777 that had been flying for more than three hours had drained 29 tons of fuel, so basically there would not be much fuel left. This was a desperate move.

Human beings' efforts to save themselves should be respected.

Unfortunately, there is a hopeless sense of suffocation in the Milan area control room.They felt that the situation of British Airways 531 was more serious than they expected, and the crew reported that it was more serious.

They really dare not imagine, because not far below the plane is Zurich, the largest city in Switzerland.

David took a deep breath, he did not stop Xu Cang, but was silent for a moment: "Xu Cang, there is something you didn't tell me."

"Yes!" Xu Cang sighed softly, and there was infinite nostalgia and unwillingness in that sigh: "The No. The fire in the number two engine has not been stopped. The flames are ablating the engine hanger and the wing"

"Big Wing." David gasped.

The large wings of the Boeing 777 are doped with some composite materials, making them lighter than traditional metal wings and more durable.However, the only thing that is weaker than traditional materials is high temperature resistance.

If the flames of the No. [-] engine continued to scorch the wings, there would be a small possibility that an unacceptable ending would happen.

"No, no, no!" David kept shaking his head: "Although there is a possibility that the wings may break, this possibility is not so great that you need to make a desperate move, which is unreasonable."

"Also." Xu Cang's heart was also tense: "A metal fragment of the engine fairing was inserted into the leading edge of the right wing under the impact of the explosion. David, the overall structure of the right wing has been broken. It is no longer enough to keep us safe, we need to make a choice."

"The top priority." Xu Cang narrowed his eyes slightly: "Extinguish the fire!"

"However, our fire extinguisher bottles have all been used up." Schneider was puzzled.

"What about the wheel well fire? Are there any fire extinguishers? No!"

David naturally knew how to deal with a wheel well fire.In fact, it is also extremely simple, that is, put down the landing gear and let the fire blow out.

"However, it has been flying for a while. If the fire of No. [-] engine can be blown out, then this one should have been extinguished." As he said, David pointed to the fire warning light of No. [-] engine. At this moment, the warning light is still on. It is on, which means that the fire alarm of the No. [-] engine has not disappeared.

Xu Cang took a deep breath: "At this altitude, the oxygen content is still too high."

Schneider's reaction was also quick: "Don't you want to maintain an altitude of [-] feet, you want to ascend, rise to a higher altitude, and blow out the fire of the No. [-] engine in an area with lower oxygen content?"

This statement seems reasonable, but David keenly captured some problems from this statement.

"The ceiling of the Boeing 777 is about 4 feet. Even with a single engine, you don't need to discharge almost all the fuel to reach this altitude." David stared at Xu Cang: "Your approach is too Taken to the extreme, pumping so much fuel for ascent is not just to get the plane to a higher altitude."

In fact, although Schneider is the oldest among the three, he is the lowest in terms of technical level.However, some things do not depend on technical level, but on experience, experience and insight into people's hearts.

When he saw Xu Cang's expression, he suddenly thought of a terrifying possibility: "Are you afraid? Are you...preparing for a crash!?"

David was shocked: "What?"

"You have to know that no one can survive when the big wing is broken, if there is one." Xu Cang let out a long breath: "Then only...God!"

(End of this chapter)