Legendary Captain

Chapter 101 Masterful Aerial Maneuvering, Apprentice-like Landing Techniques (Please Subscribe!)

After handing over the controls to Han Qi, Xu Xian focused on his PM work. As he relaxed a little, the aftereffects of the muscle tension began to show; not only were his wrists sore, but his back and waist were also very uncomfortable.

It only took one DME arc and it's already like this. If I really encountered some serious emergency, would I collapse on the spot? Although the process and the result were not bad, I still need to change my tendency to get nervous easily.

Xu Xian has always been prone to nervousness, and he performed quite well today, only his body was a little stiff. He still remembers going to the toilet five or six times without fail before important exams when he was a child.

Fortunately, although Xu Xian was prone to nervousness, it didn't hinder his work. He would get nervous when necessary, but he still managed to get things done.

Han Qifei's manual VOR was effortless, and he even had the energy to glance at Xu Xian. However, seeing Xu Xian's restless and uncomfortable appearance, he couldn't help but smile knowingly.

So this kid knows what it means to be nervous!

"By the way, contact the cabin crew. After landing, the security personnel should guard the entrances to first class and business class, and have the medical staff come up and get the co-pilot off the plane first," Han Qi said.

I was so focused on talking to Xu Xian that I forgot to coordinate with the cabin crew about the arrangements after landing. But thankfully, it's not too late yet.

"Me? Me?" Xu Xian wasn't too afraid of piloting the plane, but he was a little unsure about communication.

He's a bit shy and afraid of saying something wrong and being laughed at.

Han Qi: "Then you take the lead, and I'll give the instructions?"

"Forget it, forget it!" Xu Xian felt very uncomfortable in his hand and was still very reluctant to operate it. He gritted his teeth and pressed the call button.

"Hello, Zhao Jingjing from the front cabin!" Zhao Jingjing is the name of the chief flight attendant on this flight.

"Um," Xu Xian paused for three seconds before continuing, "The captain said that after landing, the security personnel should guard the entrance to first class. Passengers will only begin disembarking after the medical staff have removed the co-pilot. Is that what you mean?"

Xu Xian himself lacked confidence and even asked Han Qi a question. Crucially, due to his nervousness, he didn't release the call button when he asked Han Qi, meaning his final question was heard by the entire flight crew.

The flight attendants who answered the phone all smirked. This co-pilot from Star Travel who came to help was so funny. He looked a bit silly and cute, and most importantly, he was quite good-looking.

Han Qi knew immediately that Xu Xian had also sent out his question. He heard two audio sources: one directly from Xu Xian's mouth, and the other from the earphone.

"I heard it all!" Han Qi tapped his earpiece, indicating that Xu Xian had accidentally pressed the call button.

"Ah!" Xu Xian then realized he hadn't released the call button. He released it as if it were burning his hand, and said somewhat embarrassedly, "Sorry!"

This is really embarrassing!

"It's alright!" Han Qi said with a smile.

Xu Xian coughed lightly twice, trying to change his mindset: "Three nautical miles, 2650 feet, good altitude!"

During the final phase of the VOR approach, each distance has a corresponding standard altitude. The crew must verify that the actual altitude does not differ too much from the standard altitude. If there is a deviation, the descent rate must be adjusted as soon as possible to avoid an embarrassing situation where the altitude deviation is too large and landing is not possible later.

"1,000 feet, landing configuration complete, stable approach!" Xu Xian confirmed that the flaps were in position 30, the landing gear was down, the three green lights indicated normal operation, and the landing configuration was correct.

"One hundred to DDA!"

"Continue the inspection!"

"DDA, straight ahead on the runway!"

"Continue the inspection!"

"500 feet tall!"

"Reset Guide!"

VOR approach guidance cannot lead to the runway, so if the pilot follows the guidance, deviation will occur. In this case, resetting the guidance will eliminate the flight guidance, allowing the pilot to focus on visual flight.

"Kunlong 9543, ground wind 260/3 meters, runway 19, cleared for landing." The control tower gave landing clearance just before landing.

Xu Xian: "Runway 19, cleared for landing! Kunlong 9543!"

"Kunlong 9543, medical personnel are in place, and personnel from the Qianyang Regulatory Bureau will arrive shortly. After landing, the crew should not leave the airport immediately," the control tower specifically reminded.

It's understandable that medical staff are in place, but what Xu Xian didn't expect was that the Qianyang Regulatory Bureau was already almost at the airport. That's incredibly fast!

The control tower likely received instructions from the regulatory authority, specifically reminding the flight crew to prevent them from leaving the site too quickly, which would require the regulatory authority to locate them elsewhere. Furthermore, the regulatory authorities didn't want the flight crew to have time to collude on their statements.

Of course, the crew members are not criminals, and collusion might be a bit of an exaggeration, but there is some truth to it. After all, cockpit surveillance is far less sophisticated than it used to be.

Although numerous major emergencies have occurred in China over the past two decades, no air crashes have taken place. Furthermore, pilots are extremely dissatisfied with the intensive monitoring by airlines and the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). Ultimately, after negotiation, the CAAC and airlines agreed to retain only the most basic 30 minutes of audio recording. Therefore, for certain emergencies lasting longer than 30 minutes, many details need to be verbally recounted by the crew, which creates some gray areas.

"Received!" Xu Xian replied.

Xu Xian wasn't too worried about being questioned by the authorities. He was just helping out, so it wouldn't implicate him. He focused on shouting again, "Two reds, two whites, descent rate 800, right-side wind 2 meters!"

Two reds and two whites, a decline rate of 800%, this is a pretty good approach posture.

Xu Xian yawned. He had gotten up early today and hadn't slept much. Then this incident left him extremely tired. Just as he was about to land and the event was about to end, he suddenly felt sleepy for some reason.

"Do you want to try landing?" Just as Xu Xian was yawning and tears were about to stream down his face, a voice suddenly rang in his ears.

"Um?"

Seeing that Xu Xian was still lost in thought, Han Qi repeated, "I said, how about we try putting some weight on him? Your wrist should have rested enough by now!"

"If you feel there's nothing wrong with your body, then give it a try!" Han Qi said.

Xu Xian discovered that Han Qi was quite adept at piloting the aircraft. While piloting the aircraft, he also had the energy to talk to Xu Xian. However, the aircraft was very stable and did not experience any major fluctuations.

He felt that Han Qi wasn't flying a plane, but playing with a toy, doing whatever he wanted with it.

Xu Xian's right hand had rested enough and was indeed fine. However, he was still a little worried: "Captain, I haven't landed on the plane yet!"

Previously, when the aircraft landed at this location, the company didn't worry about the landing load, so Xu Xian didn't feel much pressure, and a heavier landing wasn't a problem. But now it's different; a heavy landing could lead to a major incident.

During this training session, he felt that his landing technique was really not good, and whether he could land well or not depended entirely on luck. At least, during this training session, he made a heavy landing of 1.9G, at which point Xu Xian was afraid that the landing gear would fall apart.

It was a rather embarrassing experience that made Xu Xian extremely insecure about his landing skills.

If Han Qi were told about his "glorious" history of landing with a 1.9G payload, I wonder if the captain would still dare to let him land.

During the touchdown phase, as Xu Xian watched the runway surface approaching him, he constantly felt the plane was about to crash, putting immense psychological pressure on himself. Under this pressure, he couldn't effectively control the timing and force of his pull-up maneuvers, as well as the speed of throttle reduction. This was a major reason for his inconsistent landing results.

This situation cannot be overcome in a short time. Only by conducting large-scale training flights and gaining a clear understanding of the situation can this fear be alleviated.

This can't be rushed!

"Let's open for business today! Don't worry, I've got your back, there won't be any problems." Han Qi said without taking his hands off the steering wheel, meaning that even when Xu Xian was in control, he would maintain control of the aircraft at all times.

"Well... Captain, you'll have to keep a close eye on things." The opportunity to land the plane himself was still quite appealing to Xu Xian.

Han Qi: "Then it's up to you!"

Xu Xian swung his arm, gripped the steering wheel with his right hand, and began to move his left hand to the accelerator: "Take control!"

Han Qi's right hand did not completely leave the throttle lever, but instead gripped the bottom of the throttle, while his left hand also held the steering wheel. This is a common posture used by instructors when guiding flight.

In the air, Xu Xian's piloting skills were far beyond what one would expect from a trainee. Han Qi wondered if Xu Xian was being overly modest. With such solid hand skills, how could his landing technique be lacking?

However, Han Qi miscalculated!

When the radio altimeter reported an altitude of one hundred feet, the runway surface was already clearly visible from the cockpit, and Xu Xian gripped the steering wheel even tighter with his right hand.

At an altitude of fifty feet, the plane entered the airspace above the runway precisely, which was actually a rather beautiful trajectory.

However, in the next moment, Han Qi felt Xu Xian start to pull the lever.

This wouldn't normally be a problem; pulling back on the stick at the touchdown point reduces descent and releases some of the aircraft's excess energy. However, Xu Xian didn't simultaneously reduce the throttle when pulling back. Furthermore, his pull-back was too abrupt, and in an instant, the aircraft not only failed to descend but began to glide. A short while later, it directly crossed the standard touchdown area.

Xu Xian instantly felt himself drifting, but he dared not push the stick to force the plane to sink. This maneuver is extremely dangerous for beginners; if not handled properly, the front wheel could touch down first, leading to disastrous consequences.

However, Xu Xian pulled the stick too hard and didn't reduce the throttle, accumulating too much energy. If he wanted the plane to dissipate slowly and touch down smoothly, it would probably drift to the middle of the runway.

Faced with such an awkward situation, Han Qi had no choice but to take action. If the plane really touched down in the middle of the runway, it would be truly embarrassing.

Han Qi felt less psychological pressure when doing things that Xu Xian wasn't confident about.

A precise push of the stick, precisely controlling the aircraft's leveling attitude, is crucial. Too little force is useless; too much will cause the nose wheel to touch down first, resulting in a hard landing. Many beginners struggle to master this input, and given the pressure of leveling, their minds are often clouded, making the push-to-stick maneuver extremely dangerous.

However, Han Qi's control of the stick was extremely precise. At the instant he brought the aircraft into a level drift, he reduced the throttle to zero and then slightly pulled back on the stick to achieve a touchdown position, allowing the main wheels to touch down first.

Releasing the throttle while simultaneously pulling back on the stick allows for a quick release of the aircraft's energy. However, too much energy had accumulated, causing the main landing gear to touch down almost immediately after the aircraft began to maintain a slight attitude. The undissipated energy made the touchdown feel slightly heavy, but fortunately, it was within acceptable limits.

After landing, Xu Xian pulled up the engine to generate backfire, but his face showed some embarrassment. The landing he had just made was really not presentable.

"Take control!" Han Qi said. "You leveled off way too early, and with such force. Are you afraid the plane will crash?"

Xu Xian's actions just now clearly occurred in an ultra-low altitude environment. As he got closer to the ground, he pulled up too early due to fear, and the pulling up force was too heavy. He didn't dare to reduce the throttle, which almost certainly caused him to drift.

This problem is actually quite common during the co-pilot phase, but compared to Xu Xian's impressive aerial maneuvers, Han Qi still couldn't believe that such a basic co-pilot flaw would occur in Xu Xian.

At least in Han Qi's memory, Xu Xian could no longer be simply categorized as a trainee.

"I couldn't help it, I was too afraid of dying!" Xu Xian sighed softly. He should have known better than to take the plunge; he had already embarrassed himself in front of another company's captain.

"Kunlong 9543, A7 has disengaged, disengagement report!" the control tower announced.

"Communication in progress!" Xu Xian handed over control, took over the communications task, and replied to the tower: "A7 has disengaged, disengagement report!"

"Raise the speed bumps, unleash the jets!" Xu Xian shouted in standard commands while simultaneously checking the airport's taxiway map.

When the plane slowed down to sixty knots, Xu Xian reminded him, "Sixty!"

As the plane slowed to a sufficiently low speed, Han Qi withdrew the thrusters, manually applied the brakes, and disengaged the automatic brakes. His gaze was fixed ahead, and his expression was indeed extremely strange!

That's a huge difference!

In the air, Xu Xian acted like a master with complete ease. How come he instantly reverted to an apprentice's level the moment it came to landing?

That shouldn't be happening!

The difference is too obvious!

"Automatic brake disengagement!" Xu Xian glanced at the airport map, turned around to see the automatic brake disengagement warning light illuminated, and diligently delivered the standard announcement. Then, somewhat annoyed, he pointed at the airport map and said, "This A7 is almost at the runway end, why is the control tower directing it so far? Does it think our A6 won't stop before then?"

"Heh!" Han Qi sneered, "If we flew with you, we could break off at the runway tip! Touching down in the middle of the runway and breaking off at the tip—how ​​embarrassing!"

While there's no rule specifying which lane you must exit from, a drift that's too long is quite unsightly.

If other crews on the taxiway saw us, wouldn't they laugh their heads off?

"They all say I'm out of practice!" Xu Xian said speechlessly.

I've made everything clear, but I insisted on letting him handle the landing. In the end, he even complained about how badly he ended up. He's really hard to please.

"But this is too different. I even doubt if it's the same person!" That makes sense, but Han Qi just can't accept it!

Xu Xian said unhappily, "When I see the road coming towards me, I can't move freely. It's probably not a technical problem, it's just that I can't get over the mental hurdle. Once I fly more, I'll probably be able to overcome it."

Xu Xian never took his clumsy landing skills to heart. He always felt that he had no technical problems.

That's right, Xu Xian is just that arrogant!

Because of the limited number of landings, a sense of apprehension inevitably arises as the landing approaches. Whether it's fear of a hard landing or something else, this fear makes one hesitant and timid, which inevitably leads to a poor outcome.

However, once you've flown more and overcome your psychological barriers, everything will be fine.

"It shouldn't be a technical problem!" Han Qi was both amused and exasperated. This Xu Xian was incredibly arrogant; a student was saying "it shouldn't be a technical problem" right in front of him. He didn't know whether to call Xu Xian confident or arrogant!

Han Qi: "If I'd known, I wouldn't have shown off in the air! The higher my expectations were, the greater my disappointment became!"

Xu Xian was displeased and retorted, "Captain Han, why don't I just go back and apply for captain instead of promotion to first rank co-pilot?"

"What do you mean?" Han Qi asked, puzzled. "Aren't you a trainee? Shouldn't you be promoted to co-pilot later?"

"Oh! So you know I'm a trainee! Can't a trainee land a little worse?" Xu Xian complained bitterly. "Anyone who didn't know better would think I'm trying to become a captain. So many demands, humph."

Han Qi was ignited by Xu Xian's mockery. This kid's landing technique wasn't great, but his tongue was certainly sharp.

Just as he was about to retort, Xu Xian didn't even glance at him. Instead, seeing that they had broken away from the runway, he immediately contacted the control tower: "Kunlong 9543, it has broken away!"

"Kunlong 9543, turn left onto B, wait at B6, contact ground station 121.15, goodbye!"

"Turn left to B, wait for B6, ground 121.15, goodbye!" Xu Xian really had no intention of arguing with this crazy captain anymore, he just wanted to get it over with as soon as possible.

Han Qi was furious, seeing that Xu Xian completely ignored him; he was so angry he felt like his head was about to explode. However, with nowhere to vent his anger, he could only suppress it!

At the same time, a Xingyou Airlines plane had just taken off from Dianyun Airport, bound for Qianyang, and Qin Zongyang was on board.

He felt that his chance to turn the tables had come!

(End of this chapter)