Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 398 Infinite Loop!
In 2001, an extremely large-scale solar flare exploded in the northwest of the sun, forming a violent solar storm.

In the previous life, Xu Cang was still wasting his time in a mess, and he didn't care about the solar storm at all.

However, not caring is one thing, knowing it is another.

At this point in time in the previous life, the news of Xu Cang's social status was still very closed.But even so, Xu Cang can still vaguely remember the solar storm in 2001, because the solar storm caused casualties.

It is said that at a certain astronomical monitoring station in the polar region, under the action of the solar storm, the equipment there malfunctioned, which then caused a current leak and electrocuted one of the staff.

Generally speaking, the earth is protected by the ozone layer, and solar storms have little effect on the surface under the protection of ozone.However, in the polar regions because the ozone layer is relatively thin, the impact of solar storms is greater.

The so-called aurora is known because it is often seen in the polar regions.

However, this violent solar storm also formed auroras directly in the mid-latitudes because of its high intensity.This should be the "ionizing radiation area" mentioned by the controller just now.

After all, the ozone layer is not evenly distributed. Some places are thinner, and the solar storms that leak out there are stronger and have a greater impact on aircraft.

Solar storms are extremely ionizing and can damage electronic products in an instant.

Previously, Xu Cang's mobile phone suddenly emitted sparks and ignited spontaneously, which was the ionization effect of the solar storm.And the man with the gun suddenly fell to the ground, probably because he was equipped with a microelectronic device such as a pacemaker.

For example, the pacemaker itself has relatively strong anti-interference characteristics in its design because of its relatively large impact, but no matter how anti-interference it is, it cannot withstand the strength of the solar storm.

This solar storm is almost like a weapon-grade EMP, and all electronic equipment has to be shut down.

From the results, it seems that the solar storm saved Xu Cang's life, but in fact, it also destroyed the aircraft's electronic system.If this is a Boeing aircraft, anyway, it still has mechanical manual control, but this is an Airbus aircraft, which is controlled by fly-by-wire. If the electronic system is completely destroyed, isn't this aircraft a scrap iron?
Under the impact of the solar storm, the electronic system of flight WN3102 was completely cut off as if it had encountered an EMP attack.

After thinking everything through, Xu Cang was not so afraid.

Solar storms are extremely harmful to electronic equipment, but basically do no harm to the human body.If it's just a problem on the plane, at least it's easier to solve than that burly man in terms of difficulty.

Moreover, judging from the reactions of the captain and the flight attendant just now, there is a high probability that they really took the money as a cooperation, not the mastermind of the incident. This is undoubtedly good news.If the rest of the group rushed forward, it would be a lot of pressure for Xu Cang.

Even with the projection of the aurora from outside, things in the cabin can only be seen at a very short distance.

It stands to reason that after the power system is destroyed, the aircraft can still rely on the battery to maintain the basic operation of some key equipment.However, the emergency lights inside the airport were all off, which is definitely a bad sign.

"The battery is also broken." Xu Cang put down the pistol, and instead of caring about the captain and co-pilot, he turned to Xia Shuyue's direction: "Shuyue, help me treat the wound."

Xia Shuyue had received dressing training in flight attendant training, and to be precise, Xu Cang had also learned as a pilot.However, that kind of course is mainly for flight attendants, and Xu Cang has been doing soy sauce all the time, and none of the various messy bandaging methods can figure it out clearly.

Xia Shuyue is very close to Xu Cang, even if the light is not good, she can still roughly distinguish Xu Cang's location.

Approaching, Xu Cang handed the pistol to Xia Shuyue: "You take it."

Xia Shuyue took it, and without a word, she held the barrel of the gun, and the sharp corner of the handle was about to smash the white man's face directly.This directly startled Xu Cang, although Xia Shuyue looked gentle and quiet, she really didn't hold back at all when she was ruthless.

"Don't, don't, don't, keep him, it will be useful in the future, don't kill him all at once." Xu Cang hurriedly stopped him.

"What if he's dishonest later?" Xia Shuyue was obviously worried.

"He should be equipped with a pacemaker. The solar storm destroyed the pacemaker just now, and the device damaged his heart muscle. He is lucky to be alive now. He is useless. Just pay attention to him." Xu Cang pointed to a luggage rack in the front cabin: "There is an emergency medical kit in there. Do you remember the bandaging techniques in the emergency survival training? Did you pay attention to the class?"

In emergency survival training, in addition to bandaging techniques for various parts, it also includes various common first aid methods such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation.With Xia Shuyue's temperament, she probably won't fish like Xu Cang in class.

"I remember." Xia Shuyue stepped forward and touched Xu Cang's left arm, and what she got was sticky blood. The shot just now directly pierced Xu Cang's left shoulder, causing a lot of bleeding, but the only good thing is that it didn't hurt the artery.

If this injured the main artery, Xu Cang might have gone into shock by now.

Xia Shuyue was very anxious. Although she had only flown Boeing planes, she had received training on the Airbus 320. She was able to locate the emergency medical box just from her memory.

Each aircraft will be equipped with an emergency medical kit. This is not a question of whether the airline wants to, but a regulatory requirement. Without it, it cannot be released.Xu Cang could only remember the approximate location, and Xia Shuyue finally found it in the dark.

"Fortunately, the location of the emergency medical kit in the Southwest of the United States is accessible, otherwise it would be really hard to find."

It stands to reason that there is a common way to put the emergency medical kit.However, airlines may have their own habits if they can’t stand it. Besides, the regulations of CAAC and FAA are slightly different. If the location of the emergency medical box in the Southwest is different, in such a dark environment, it will be impossible to find it for a while.

The emergency medical kit contains bandages, some other equipment and medicines.

Some flight attendants can use it, and some must have a doctor's license before they can use it.However, now Xu Cang only needs a bandage, and there are no other doubts.

"How do you feel now?"

Xia Shuyue treated the wound with a very standard spiral bandage method, and her movements were very standard and coherent. During the bandage, she kept talking to Xu Cang, for fear that Xu Cang would faint.

Although Xu Cang was dizzy from waves of pain in his left shoulder, and because of the huge amount of blood loss, he was cold physiologically rather than environmentally.At the same time, although the side effect of blood loss would not cause shock, it also made Xu Cang unresponsive irresistibly, which is undoubtedly not good news.

"Fortunately, the pistol bullet went right through my left shoulder."

Xu Cang was supported by Xia Shuyue and sat on the seat. The dizziness that hit him made Xu Cang feel quite uncomfortable. He didn't know if he could hold on.

However, among all the misfortunes, the only good news is that the bullet directly penetrated the left shoulder instead of staying in the body.Sometimes, it is not a good thing that bullets are too penetrating, because it can only form a small hole in the body, and unless it hits a key organ, the killing effect is limited.

What is really scary is that the bullet flips over after being injected into the body, thereby multiplying the killing area, which is the most difficult thing.

Although Xu Cang is bleeding a lot now, as long as he handles it well, the impact in the future will not be too great.

"Speak less." Xia Shuyue bandaged her very carefully, for fear of hurting Xu Cang, but also had to fix the bandage tightly enough, otherwise it would not be able to stop the bleeding: "The cockpit door is closed."

Xu Cang raised his heavy eyelids. Just now, without Xu Cang's threat, the captain had slipped back into the cockpit and closed the hatch.

"It's okay, they will come out." Xu Cang's voice was a little weak: "Shuyue, can you smell some strange smell? Like something is burnt?"

"The smell of burning?" Xia Shuyue's nose moved, but what filled her nose was only the smell of blood and some residual smell of gunpowder.

"I can smell it!" At this time, Richard came over: "Xu Cang, just now you said there was a solar storm?"

"Yes, I saw the relevant news this morning." Xu Cang frowned, and beads of sweat kept dripping down. These were cold sweats.The intense pain made Xu Cang's muscles tense all the time, which would keep him in a state of high mental tension, and he would be extremely tired after a long time.

"If it's a solar storm, wouldn't the power system on the plane fail, and it is possible that under the impact of the solar storm, the power system will suddenly be overloaded, so there may be overheating of the lines?" Richard was worried. The current situation is very complicated. Although Richard is very worried about Xu Cang, it has already involved all the people on the plane.

Generally speaking, the electrical system of the aircraft will have a backup.

In any case, the electrical system is an extremely important part of the aircraft system.In almost all environments, complete failure of the power system rarely exists, although many extreme conditions are considered.

Not to mention that the power system has its own backup, even if the main power system is out of power, in theory there is still battery power to ensure the operation of key equipment.

However, the power of the solar storm is so strong that it seems to have destroyed the battery system, which is to fundamentally destroy the power system.Such a thorough situation, even Richard has never encountered it.

In terms of dependence on the power system, Airbus is far better than Boeing, so under the same special circumstances of power outages, the impact of Airbus aircraft is much greater.

Moreover, it seems that today is far from being as simple as a power outage.

At the moment when the solar storm hit, under the intense ionization, the electrical system in the plane might experience severe overload first, and then disconnect due to excessive overload, just like Xu Cang's mobile phone was suddenly overloaded and sparks appeared before.

Under overload, the most immediate possible result is a fire on the line.

But unlike engine fires and cargo hold fires, the worst thing about electronic circuit fires is that there is no fire extinguishing method.That's right, once the electronic circuit catches fire, there is absolutely nothing you can do about it.

"I don't know, the overload of the power system may not necessarily cause the circuit to catch fire, but if it causes the current components to be unable to automatically adjust, the automatic boost is not correct, the engine bleed air itself is driven by direct current, there is no electricity, and even the air source cannot be guaranteed." Xu Cang glanced around. The light projected from the outside does not have the Tyndall effect, that is, it is impossible to visually see tiny particles floating in the air. This is good news, and it means that at least there is no obvious smoke in the cabin.

Perhaps the burnt smell is just the gelatinization of the circuit skin under overload, rather than real burning.

"If the APU can still be used now, it may be able to provide additional power and bleed air, but at the current height it may not be possible to carry out power and air loads at the same time." Xu Cang's mind was running as fast as possible. The current situation is a bit complicated. Richard may not be able to handle it. It seems that he can only rely on himself: "I don't know what the height is now?"

Richard looked at the closed cockpit: "I'm afraid they won't come out."

"No..." Xu Cang sat up a little bit, but any movement would affect the wound, causing Xu Cang to bark his teeth and say, "They're coming out soon."

Almost in response to Xu Cang’s words, the cabin door that had not been closed for a long time showed a sound of springs opening, and then the captain pushed open the cabin door, ran over in a panic, and came to Xu Cang with the help of a faint red light: “Mr. Xu, Mr. Xu, save us, save us, we don’t want to die.”

Xu Cang shifted his gaze and looked into the cockpit. Except for the red aurora projected from the outside, there was no other light source in the cockpit. He turned his head and looked at the captain: "Have you started the APU?"

"It started, but it didn't work, the APU component was broken, and an error was reported."

"So, the APU can't be used, so there is nothing you can do?" Xu Cang waved to Xia Shuyue: "Help me up."

"Xu Cang!" Xia Shuyue called softly.

"It's okay." Xu Cang comforted.

Xia Shuyue frowned, said nothing more, helped Xu Cang up, then went to Xu Cang's right hand, and let Xu Cang wrap his right arm around her shoulder.

Xu Cang leaned on Xia Shuyue and walked forward slowly. Just after taking two steps, Xu Cang turned his head slightly and put his lips close to Xia Shuyue's ear: "Shuyue, have you seen those black bags on the luggage rack? They are the parachutes they prepared for themselves. If I can't deal with the problem of the plane, I will let the plane decompress completely, and you jump out of the emergency exit with a parachute. These people obviously have not been trained. Since they dare to use it, it means that the use of this parachute is not complicated. Maybe there is a pull rope. Waiting to die with me on the plane, you must still have a chance of surviving. If you can, let Richard know when you leave."

Xu Cang's voice was very soft, he didn't want others to hear it.

Xia Shuyue turned her head sideways: "Is there any problem on the plane that you can't handle?"

Xu Cang looked up at Xia Shuyue's face, and squeezed out a smile: "Thank you for trusting me so much, but please remember my words!"

Xia Shuyue didn't speak, didn't refuse, and didn't accept.

At this moment, the two had already reached the cabin door.

Even the relatively spacious Airbus aisle cannot allow two people to enter side by side, so Xu Cang broke away from Xia Shuyue's support, supported the aisle wall with one hand, and walked in slowly.

As soon as you enter, you can see the red aurora like a streamer covering the sky from the windshield.And this streamer is not fixed, but as if it is alive, and it seems to be floating with the wind, full of suffocating beauty.

It's no wonder that many people go to the Nordic countries just to see the extremely beautiful scene of the aurora.

However, at this moment Xu Cang not only saw the aurora, but was even in it.

Not in northern Europe or Canada at high latitudes, but in Japan at mid-latitudes.

"Where's RAT?" Xu Cang didn't care to pay attention to the unbelievably beautiful Aurora Curtain, so he started to ask.

RAT, or Ram Air Turbine, is Airbus's rammed small turbine, nicknamed "little mouse".

At this time, the captain followed up: "The RAT is broken, I think the CSM/G has not started. The current situation obviously meets the automatic triggering conditions of the RAT."

The CSM/G mentioned by the captain is the constant speed motor/generator, which is an integrated unit consisting of a hydraulic motor and a generator.

RAT is a device that provides emergency power and hydraulic power to the aircraft under extreme conditions. It mainly supplies pressure to the blue system. It can be released automatically or manually.It will be released automatically when AC BUS1 and AC BUS2 are powered off and the airspeed is greater than [-] knots.

Although the DU of the aircraft is now showing an off screen due to a power outage, but from a common sense, the aircraft does not even have an airspeed of [-] knots, and it should meet the conditions for the automatic release of the RAT.

However, the CSM/G did not work, so the captain naturally assumed that the RAT unit was also faulty.

"The control components of the CSM/G are normally provided by the generator's PMG, but during the release of the RAT, when the power supply fails, the CSM/G is powered by the battery 2, and now the battery is burnt out, and the RAT is not broken, but it has not been released." Xu Cang looked at the co-pilot who was still seated: "Have you tried to release it manually?"

"I tried it." The co-pilot said: "I pressed it, it didn't work!"

Xu Cang narrowed his eyes: "Are you sure you pressed the switch on the 21VU emergency power panel, not the MAN ON switch on the 40VU hydraulic panel?"

The release of the RAT is controlled by two electromagnetic coils, and any one of the coils is energized to release the ram turbine RAT.

However, the effects produced by these two switches are not the same.If only the switch on the 40VU hydraulic panel is pressed, only emergency hydraulic pressure will be provided.Only by pressing the switch on the 21VU emergency power panel will the control components of the CSM/G open the servo valve to allow the CSM/G to work.

Now, Xu Cang not only needs hydraulic pressure, but also electricity.

Perhaps, the crew pressed the wrong switch in desperation?
However, the co-pilot shook his head and accurately pointed to the switch on the 21VU emergency power panel: "This is what I pressed, it can't be wrong."

"This..." Xu Cang couldn't help frowning: "Could it be that the RAT is really broken?"

"Mr. Xu Cang, we can't make a mistake in the way we manually turned on the RAT. The RAT must be broken. What should we do now?" the captain panicked.

The RAT is almost the last barrier to ensure the aircraft's power supply and hydraulic pressure. Now this barrier can no longer hold up, how can the captain not panic?

Xu Cang only felt that thoughts were flying in his head, and the situation was much trickier than he imagined.

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Xu Cang's mind, and he suddenly realized.

"It's the problem with battery 2." Xu Cang muttered to himself.

The RAT MAN ON switch on the hydraulic panel of the 40VU energizes the electromagnetic coil 1, using the power of the No. 21 thermal battery bus bar.The MAN ON switch on the 2VU emergency power panel supplies power to the electromagnetic coil [-], and the power comes from the No. [-] storage battery.

Now, the automatic release function of the RAT is suppressed. During this period, the No. [-] battery originally used to attack the CSM/G is damaged and cannot supply power, which keeps the aircraft in a power-off state.

But even if you want to manually release the RAT and get power at the same time, you first need the power supply from the second battery to activate the electromagnetic coil 2, but the second battery is broken and cannot supply power.

Xu Cang's face was extremely ugly. A problem with the No. [-] battery directly caused the plane to fall into a situation that was difficult to solve.

"Caught in an endless loop!"

(End of this chapter)