Legendary Captain

Chapter 108 The Fire of St. Elmore (Please Subscribe!)

Xu Xian slowly extended his right hand, holding it horizontally in mid-air. After a short while, a very fine layer of dust appeared on his fingertips.

"What is this?" Xu Xian muttered to himself. He had never seen anything like it before, especially on an airplane at an altitude of 10,000 meters. However, his sixth sense told him that something big was about to happen!

At this point, after the initial outburst, the passengers' discontent, like boiling steam that could not be suppressed, began to erupt. The crew's prolonged inaction finally caused the passengers' long-accumulated anger to explode.

Xu Xian did not vent his emotions like the other passengers. Such behavior and pressure on the crew would be meaningless and would only add unnecessary pressure to the crew.

Of course, Xu Xian didn't think the other passengers were stupid. It was just normal behavior for ordinary people, and a reasonable response based on the crew's actions.

The plane is now shrouded in smoke, like a palace in the clouds, making it difficult to even breathe. Yet, not a single crew member can provide a convincing explanation or a solution. They just keep flying as if nothing's wrong. Anyone in that situation would be furious! This is a disrespect for life.

Perhaps due to excessive excitement, many passengers inhaled more smoke, resulting in a series of coughs. In an instant, the entire cabin resembled a hospital respiratory ward, filled with incessant coughing and wheezing.

At this moment, a terrifying thought came to Xu Xian's mind: the smell of sulfur was a very distinctive and indicative feature.

He slowly turned his head to look out the window, where the outside world was as black as if he had fallen into an inky sea. In that almost all-consuming darkness, there was a faint red dot, like the bloodthirsty eyes of a giant beast watching the plane, seemingly ready to swallow it whole at any moment.

That faintly visible red dot is the aircraft's navigation light!

Navigation lights are signal lights mounted on aircraft to help other aircraft determine their direction of flight and to facilitate mutual detection among air traffic. Regulations stipulate that aircraft should have navigation lights on both wingtips, with the left wingtip designated as red and the right wingtip as green. Of course, conventionally, there is also a white light above the wingtip of the aircraft's vertical tail.

Flight crews can visually determine the relative position of another aircraft to themselves by observing the combination of lights.

Aircraft navigation lights are different from strobe lights; navigation lights are constantly lit, not flashing. However, when Xu Xian looked out the window, the lights were not only very dim, but also flickering irregularly!

This is one of the signs of an airplane entering the clouds! Due to the obstruction of clouds and fog, the lights become dimmer, and at the same time, due to the unevenness of the clouds and fog, the lights exhibit irregular changes in brightness.

No! If Xu Xian's guess is correct, what's outside shouldn't be considered clouds and fog, but something far more terrifying, the culprit behind everything.

Xu Xian suddenly stood up. He needed to verify one last thing to confirm his conjecture!

He walked through first class and business class, heading straight for the front cabin crew area.

In the front cabin crew compartment, the purser and flight attendant number two were wetting small towels, preparing to distribute them to the passengers. Wet towels are much better at filtering smoke than dry ones.

Xu Xian went to the cabin crew area and pulled back the curtain separating the two areas from the first-class cabin.

The flight attendant was startled by Xu Xian's sudden appearance, but she didn't recognize him at first and thought he was just an ordinary passenger. So she said, "Sir, this is the work area. Please return to your seat immediately." As soon as the flight attendant finished speaking, the curtain was lifted, and the security officer followed and grabbed Xu Xian's wrist to prevent him from having any dangerous behavior such as rushing into the cockpit.

Just now, when he was monitoring the male passenger who had been brought from the lavatory in first class, he was focusing most of his attention on that passenger. In addition, the choking air outside made it difficult for him to concentrate. So he didn't react when Xu Xian passed through first class.

He only felt a figure flash past him, creating a slight ripple in the air. By the time he realized what was happening, Xu Xian had already pulled back the curtain.

The security officer couldn't sit still any longer. He quickly lifted the curtain and went into the cabin to see what was going on.

Xu Xian, despite being grabbed by the wrist by the security officer, remained calm and stared intently at the flight attendant: "Do you know what altitude we are at right now?"

"Altitude?" The flight attendant hadn't expected Xu Xian to ask such a question. "What do you mean? No, aren't you that..."

Before the flight attendant could finish speaking, the curtain was lifted again, revealing a person dressed as an ordinary passenger. It was the plainclothes security officer sitting in seat 43B.

The plainclothes security guard had been quietly monitoring Xu Xian from behind. However, as time went on, Xu Xian showed no unusual behavior and seemed perfectly normal. Eventually, the plainclothes security guard relaxed his guard a little.

Little did he know that not long after he relaxed, Xu Xian suddenly stood up and rushed straight to the front cabin, startling the plainclothes security officer who thought Xu Xian was about to storm the cockpit.

At this point, he couldn't stay seated any longer and prepared to chase after Xu Xian immediately. However, the middle seat was a bit inconvenient, causing a slight delay and preventing him from catching up with Xu Xian.

Suddenly, five people were crammed into the small cabin, and the atmosphere became somewhat awkward.

The appearance of the plainclothes security officer finally confirmed Xu Xian's identity for the flight attendant. Wasn't he the passenger in 40C who had suggested the flight attendants check the lavatory? She had even instructed the plainclothes security officer to keep a close eye on Xu Xian.

According to the flight attendant, this passenger also seems to be a flight crew member.

"You just asked me about the plane's altitude? Is there a problem?" The flight attendant was quick-witted; Xu Xian's hurried rush to the front cabin crew compartment wasn't just to ask about the altitude, he must have discovered something. Perhaps, this passenger had even found the source of the unexplained smoke.

Xu Xian shook off the security guard's grip on his wrist. Judging from the flight attendant's demeanor, the security guard didn't seem to be a dangerous person, so he released his grip as Xu Xian shook off his hand.

Xu Xian didn't answer the flight attendant's question directly, but instead said with utmost seriousness, "Do you even know? This is very important!"

The flight attendant gazed into Xu Xian's eyes, which were crystal clear, without a trace of impurity, and possessed a magical quality that made people want to believe in him.

"I don't know!" the flight attendant sighed. "The cockpit didn't mention anything about altitude."

Xu Xian's eyes flashed with a sharp light, and he breathed in increasingly thick smoke. He suddenly looked up and stared directly at the chief flight attendant: "I need to speak to the cockpit!"

The flight attendant pursed her lips slightly: "Are you a pilot?" At this point, there was no need to hide it any longer, and Xu Xian immediately nodded.

The flight attendant breathed a sigh of relief: "Did you bring your identification?"

Xu Xian: "No! I traveled for personal reasons and did not bring any identification documents."

The flight attendant frowned; she was also unsure about the situation regarding the lack of identification. "Let me consult the cockpit," she said.

Under normal circumstances, the flight attendant would never allow someone without identification to communicate with the cockpit. However, this passenger seemed to know something, and she felt it necessary to let him communicate with the cockpit.

Moreover, her previous phone call with Chen Qi made her feel that the two people in the cockpit weren't entirely reliable. In the cabin, many passengers were causing a disturbance, and the flight attendants were doing their best to calm them down. However, that didn't mean the flight attendants didn't want to know what was going on. So far, even their crew knew nothing about the details of the situation. In their few communications with the cockpit, they hadn't provided her with a reasonable explanation.

If it weren't for her duty, she really would have wanted to give the two people in the cockpit a stern talking-to.

"I need permission just to talk to the cockpit? It's not like I'm going in!" Xu Xian said speechlessly. He didn't have any credentials right now, so he could understand needing permission to enter the cockpit. But now, he needed permission even to say a few words to the cockpit? Wasn't that being overly cautious?

Could it be that I can kill someone with an electrical wire?

"Excuse me, it's company policy." Before the purser could finish speaking, a jarring commotion suddenly erupted in the back cabin.

The attention of everyone in the cabin was instantly drawn to it. The security officer reacted the fastest, lifting the curtain and rushing towards economy class. He determined that the commotion was coming from there.

Xu Xian's gaze suddenly swept to the window at the hatch, and through the window, he saw a faint blue light. At an altitude of ten thousand meters, this eerie blue light seemed particularly chilling.

As if guided, Xu Xian turned his gaze to the cabin corridor. At this moment, the curtains between first class and business class had been drawn back, providing an unobstructed view, and he could see directly into the economy class.

Xu Xian initially thought the sudden commotion was due to another disturbance by economy class passengers, but things turned out differently. A large number of passengers lined both sides, pressing their faces against the cabin windows, peering outside.

Faintly, Xu Xian could make out that the most frequently occurring word in the noise was "fire"!

Xu Xian felt every hair on his body stand on end. He temporarily put aside his conversation with the cockpit and quickly ran towards economy class, a bad feeling creeping over him.

Inside the cockpit, Chen Qi panicked the moment the old instructor fell unconscious. He pushed the old instructor a few more times, but when he received no response, his mind went blank and he lost his composure.

His eyes were filled with panic; there was not a trace of the composure of a professional pilot. He always carried the title of pilot, but when had he ever truly done the work of a pilot? It was all just flattery from the captains and instructors.

Now that the problem has arisen, the instructor has lost consciousness, and he begins to realize that he is truly powerless. Or rather, his limited knowledge is rendered useless in such a panicked state of mind; he has lost the thinking ability expected of a pilot.

Regardless of the circumstances, an emergency landing is inevitable. Even without the smoke incident, the mere fact that the instructor lost consciousness does not meet the minimum crew requirements, necessitating an emergency landing.

After having some ideas, Chen Qi felt a little more at ease and contacted the shopping mall area control: "MAYDAY, MAYDAY, MAYDAY, shopping mall control, Chimelong 5677, unexplained smoke in the cabin, captain incapacitated, requesting the nearest landing site."

The plane was filled with smoke of unknown origin, and the captain was unconscious. The situation was unclear, so the highest priority landing order was required. Therefore, Chen Qi directly declared a state of emergency in order to land as quickly as possible.

This shouldn't have been a problem, however, Chen Qi was met with a crackling electrical noise. Faintly, he could make out a human voice, but Chen Qi couldn't hear it at all.

Chen Qi, thinking that Shangdu Air Traffic Control hadn't heard him, repeated: "Shangdu Air Traffic Control, Chimelong 5677, unexplained smoke in the cabin, captain incapacitated, requesting emergency landing at the nearest airport!"

In the Shangdu area control room, the controller yawned. It was around seven or eight o'clock, right after dinner, and he was most prone to drowsiness. Moreover, there were only two planes in his area of ​​control, and nothing important to do, so he was incredibly bored.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of an aircraft flashing on the radar screen—a signal from the flight crew. At the same time, he heard intermittent calls in his headset: "MAY56, land."

The call was not only extremely noisy, but also very discontinuous, making it impossible to hear clearly.

The controller glanced at the radar screen, which displayed the aircraft's flight number, and proactively asked, "Um, Chimelong 5677, please repeat that, there's interference."

Radio communications between air traffic control and aircraft are frequently interfered with by various factors, resulting in unstable signals. This interference is not uncommon, but controllers haven't paid much attention to it.

The signal is being interfered with; just ask again, it's not a big deal.

However, when the controller asked Chimelong 5677 about the aircraft, Chen Qi heard it as almost meaningless electrical noise.

Chen Qi repeated the message again, but when it reached the controller, it was still a sporadic and unstable signal.

"Chimelong 5677, the signal is still having problems. Try a different transmitter," the controller said.

If there are persistent communication signal problems, air traffic controllers will usually have the flight crew try switching transmitters. There are usually three different transmitters on an aircraft, and it's rare for all three to have poor signals.

However, to Chen Qi, the controller's words sounded like continuous electrical noise. This time, though, it was slightly better; he could hear one or two faint Chinese characters.

However, even so, it is still meaningless.

"What the hell?" Chen Qi wondered if he had forgotten to check the almanac before going out today. The captain was unreliable, the flight attendant was useless, and now even contacting the airline to request priority landing rights was impossible. It seemed like the whole world was against him.

This is where Chen Qi's lack of professional skills became apparent. Regardless of whether the purser was useful, there are established procedures for handling situations where the captain is incapacitated, unable to contact air traffic control, or other emergencies. Chen Qi's current self-pity only demonstrates his own weak foundation.

Moreover, the cause of this unexplained smoke remains a complete mystery. There have been no warnings from the engine fire alarm, APU fire alarm, cargo hold fire alarm, or wheel well fire alarm. Yet, without any fire alarm warnings, the entire cabin is filled with almost visible smoke, and he has no idea where it's coming from.

The funniest thing is that the captain was actually choked by the smoke and passed out, which is absolutely ridiculous.

"Shangdu control, Chimelong 5677, how many numbers do you need to hear my signal?" Chen Qi was not giving up and continued to call Shangdu area control.

Once again, poor communication on a Chimelong flight annoyed the air traffic controller: "Chimelong 5677, this transmitter is also faulty, replace it with another one."

Not long after, Chimelong Airlines' communication signal remained extremely poor. At this point, the controller could no longer bear it and contacted another flight to ask them to relay the message: "Blue Sky 9883, please tell Chimelong 5677 that there's a problem with their transmitter, and tell them to replace it as soon as possible."

In situations involving persistent poor communication signals, using other aircraft as relay stations is a fairly common practice.

The crew of Blue Sky 9883 was very cooperative and immediately relayed Shangdu's request: "Chimelong 5677, Shangdu wants you to change your transmitter because the signal from your current transmitter is not good."

As a result, the crew of Blue Sky 9883 waited for a long time, but there was still no response.

"Shangdu, do you think there's a problem with Chimelong 5677's communication system?" At this point, even someone who's slow to notice can sense that Chimelong 5677 seems to be having some issues.

When the traffic controllers at Shangdu speak, they communicate across the entire channel. Therefore, when Shangdu repeatedly asked Changlong 5677 to replace its transmitter, the crew at Lantian 9883 heard it. Despite these repeated requests, Changlong's crew maintained the same communication quality; either they couldn't hear the controllers, or all three transmitters on Changlong's aircraft were malfunctioning. Regardless of the reason, it didn't seem like a good thing.

Moreover, not only could the control team not reach him, but even when I called him myself, there was no response from Chimelong. It was really strange.

The traffic controllers in the shopping mall seemed to sense a problem, but didn't pay much attention to it. It was possible that in areas with very strong electromagnetic interference, radio communication signals were simply unreliable, but would be fine once they left those areas.

If there really is a communication problem, he should be able to see the special code that the crew is hanging.

"Blue Sky 9883, contact Changfeng 134.65," the Shangdu traffic controller said.

"Changfeng 164.65, Lantian 9883," the Lantian Airlines crew replied. Suddenly, they added, "The air quality over there isn't good today. We smelled some strange odor in the cabin when we were flying at low altitude."

The flight altitude of Blue Sky 9883 this time was not high, only 6,000 meters, which is indeed not high compared to the altitude of long-distance cruise.

However, while cruising at an altitude of 6,000 meters, a faint odor was detected in both the cockpit and the passenger cabin. The crew suspected it was due to outside air. Engine bleed air was drawing in outside air, which then passed through components and entered the cockpit and passenger cabin, causing the unpredictable odor.

"Or is there some kind of big fire nearby? We smell something like smoke," the crew of Blue Sky 9883 added.

To be honest, the Blue Sky Airlines crew was quite startled at the time, as smelling smoke on a plane is dangerous. After a thorough inspection by the entire crew, they finally determined that the problem wasn't with the aircraft itself. That meant it must be related to the outside air.

"No, I don't have any relevant information on my end," said the business manager.

The Blue Sky Airlines crew only made a few casual remarks and did not intend to accuse them.

"That Chimelong plane is also in this area. If they can smell the smoke, they might be scared and have to make an emergency landing," the Blue Sky Airlines crew joked.

The meaning is simple: they took the lead and figured out that the smoke was coming from outside. However, they were indeed quite frightened at the time; a less daring captain might have made a mistake and made an emergency landing. The Blue Sky Airlines crew provided this information for other crews to reference.

After all, the information provided by the flight crew is also very valuable.

The air traffic controller immediately understood what the Blue Sky Airlines crew meant and said, "If we can make contact with the Chimelong Airlines plane, I will pass this information on to the Chimelong crew."

"Thank you!" The traffic controller added one last word of thanks before leaving.

After the Blue Sky Airlines crew switched frequencies, only the Chimelong Airlines plane remained in his area of ​​responsibility. There were no other planes near the Chimelong Airlines plane, so there was no significant impact. Furthermore, the Chimelong Airlines plane wasn't flying an emergency code and maintained a stable altitude and speed, seemingly without any major issues.

Try contacting the Chimelong operators again after a while. Perhaps once we leave the area with strong electromagnetic interference, everything will return to normal.

While the air traffic controller remained calm and unhurried, the cockpit of Chimelong 5677 was filled with immense anxiety.

The situation is urgent, but they can't contact air traffic control. Without permission, Chen Qi dares not land without authorization. What if there are planes below? What if it causes a traffic accident? That's a matter of life and death; they can't afford to be careless!

"I wonder if there will be any problems if I directly issue an emergency code and then descend further?" Chen Qi felt extremely annoyed. Suddenly, a series of noises came from behind him.

Chen Qi was already extremely agitated, and the noise from the cabin instantly pushed his already fragile mental state beyond its breaking point.

"What the hell is going on?" Chen Qi pressed the monitor in the front cabin crew compartment and saw that there were five people gathered there. Among them were two people who looked like passengers in plain clothes.

Shortly after, the security officer rushed out of the cabin first, seemingly heading towards the rear cabin. A young man in civilian clothes followed closely behind and ran out as well.

"What's going on?" Chen Qi wondered, as nothing seemed to make sense to him.

Suddenly, Chen Qi sensed something, slowly raised his head, and began to look out the windshield. At the same time, Xu Xian had also arrived in economy class and was also looking out the window.

One passenger cabin, one cockpit. One Xu Xian, one Chen Qi!

Their movements were remarkably synchronized, their expressions remarkably identical, all of them filled with terror and shock.

The pale blue firelight reflected in their pupils, making them appear as if a dreamlike flower was blooming!

Wherever their eyes fell, blue flames, as if burning through the void, danced with eerie light on the machine!

Why is there a reward of two book coins?

(End of this chapter)