Legendary Captain

What Xu Xian fears most about rookies? Their neurotic, boisterous nature; the slightest disturbance makes them jump and panic. At that moment, their decisions are entirely based on instinct, and decisions made solely on instinct are often inaccurate.

The moment he received clearance to take off, Xu Xian began to contemplate certain scenarios, such as trainees making decisions under unbearable pressure.

He Changyuan, the instructor who had been playing on his phone at the control panel, was waiting for this moment.

"It's such a good trap to have students fly to the left!" Instructor He Changyuan couldn't help but sigh to himself.

The trainees are clueless; if things get a little complicated, these clueless trainees can easily lead the passengers astray. If the result is a failing grade, the responsibility will fall solely on the clueless trainee who cooperated, and will have nothing to do with the trainee.

After the 80th knot, the rear cargo door becomes loose, which triggers the rear cargo light to turn on. This light then activates the main warning light a few seconds later, which is the final straw that breaks the trainee's normal judgment.

There are two crucial decision points during the takeoff roll phase: 80 knots and V1 speed.

Theoretically, any unsafe situation can be aborted before the aircraft accelerates to 80 knots, since aborting at low speeds is much safer than aborting at high speeds. The only exception is on a wet runway. A low-speed abort on a wet runway is extremely difficult to control and can easily cause a huge, uncorrectable directional deviation, the only result of which is running off the runway.

He certainly wouldn't encounter a situation on a wet runway; such a situation wouldn't even trigger a routine check by the captain because it's far too difficult to control—it's the same as a landing gear breakage. Of course, a landing gear breakage is even more difficult to handle.

These two situations make it extremely difficult to stabilize the aircraft's state. Even experienced captains and instructors can still cause a crash if they are not careful.

If he were to use the slippery track interruption to deal with the two trainees, regardless of whether it was an advanced subject, just if other inspectors found out, he would lose all face in the inspector circle.

At speeds of 80 knots to V1, the aircraft is not allowed to fly safely if the engine fails, there is a fire alarm, wind shear, or any other situation that the captain deems unsafe.

The first three cases are very clear and easy to judge. The reason for adding the last one is that the SOP cannot cover all cases and the conditions cannot be fixed.

For example, if the wing suddenly breaks off after 80 knots, can the aircraft still take off? Wouldn't taking off again be suicidal? In such a situation, even if it's not one of the three situations listed above, the crew should immediately abort takeoff.

The reason this situation is not listed is simply because it is extremely rare, even rarer than being struck by lightning. In the history of domestic civil aviation, there are only reports of wing damage caused by a collision with a mountain in the early MAX outage incident.

Under normal circumstances, without external force intervention, there has never been a case of a wing breaking off. If we were to list all possible scenarios, it would take more than half a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).

Although the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) does not explicitly define the conditions for aborted takeoff from 80 knots to V1, it does not mean that the captain has any loopholes to exploit. At least the rear cargo hold lights being on is not considered a "loophole".

After V1, there's little objection. It's quite clear that if you don't take off after V1, you risk running off the runway.

Although the SOP clearly outlines the various restrictions on aborting takeoff, knowing this is one thing, but being able to make the right decision on the spot is another.

The human brain is not a machine; it cannot simply produce the corresponding operation by inputting a command. Moreover, the trainee assisting is a novice who hasn't even understood the operation manual.

The decision to abort takeoff can only be made by the captain and the action must be taken by the pilot in the left seat, even when the pilot is in the right seat and flying. Therefore, the trainee, acting as the captain, could bypass Xu Xian to make the decision, but the consequences would ultimately fall on Xu Xian.

This approach, which disregards Xu Xian's will and completely shifts the decision-making power onto a still-unaware trainee, induces him to make a wrong decision, and this wrong decision becomes an important reason for Xu Xian's unqualified conclusion.

"Perfect! Absolutely perfect!" He Changyuan couldn't help but praise his own cleverness; he hadn't gotten a single drop of dirty water on himself. It was truly fortunate that Feibiao had found such an "excellent" partner. A trainee who had only completed three initial modification lessons was barely any better than an ordinary person with an empty mind; with a little trickery, he obediently fell into the trap.

He Changyuan had set the cargo hold lights to illuminate after 85 knots, and after a few seconds, around 100 knots, the main warning light would then illuminate. He Changyuan was watching this moment closely, and when he noticed the main warning light illuminate, the trainee's hand on the throttle lever visibly tightened—a sign of inner panic!

"Let go of the throttle! If we let go of the throttle, this takeoff will be over!" He Changyuan had been shouting in his mind for a long time.

Takeoff is no child's play. It's not something you can just do by accidentally releasing the throttle, realizing your misjudgment, and then adding the throttle back on. If you touch the throttle at all, the takeoff is a failure. And Xu Xian will have to bear the consequences of that failure.

Most importantly, the student panicked so much that he didn't even give the command to abort takeoff before preparing to reduce the throttle on his own, giving Xu Xian no time to react at all.

By the time Xu Xian realized it, the throttle had already been reduced to a slow speed, and it was too late; the deed was done.

Just as the student was about to mistakenly start to release the accelerator, at this critical moment, Xu Xian, who had been holding the steering wheel with both hands, reached out his left hand in a flash and directly pressed against the middle of the accelerator lever, firmly locking it in place so that it could not move at all.

Xu Xian's movements were incredibly fast, almost as if he had foreseen it. The instant the student was about to ease off the accelerator, his left hand blocked the accelerator, preventing the student from having any thought of moving the accelerator lever.

He Changyuan thought his plan was perfect; however, everything was under Xu Xian's control!

It's not that Xu Xian's skill level is much higher, although he is certainly much better than the trainees he was working with, but rather that Xu Xian knows the tricks of simulator inspection!

It's impossible for an inspector to actually abort takeoff with two co-pilots in the seat. Aborting takeoff is a training exercise for captains. If an abort is truly necessary, then the inspector has exceeded their training.

Therefore, no matter what the circumstances, takeoff will not be interrupted. Xu Xian had thought this through from the very beginning.

The moment the main warning light came on, the trainees were debating whether to stop, but Xu Xian already knew the outcome. He didn't even know where the problem was; his job was to stop the trainees from acting recklessly.

"Let's continue, V1, let go!" Xu Xian raised his left hand and pushed away the student's right hand that was holding the accelerator.