Legendary Captain

Chapter 121 All the Heroes of the World Are in Yunnan

Ning Sheng is already considered a very democratic instructor. Generally speaking, except for some special circumstances, such as a master teaching an apprentice, the first co-pilot usually flies in the main seat, while the second co-pilot can only sit in the observer's seat at the back.

Of course, if they are lucky enough to encounter a first officer of a high enough rank, with enough experience and landing time to become a captain, they won't care, and the second officer can sit in the seat to practice and accumulate experience and landing time.

Xu Xian hadn't originally considered flying, because someone of his level shouldn't be able to record flight time, and it would be a waste for him to fly. In Xu Xian's mind, being able to do some cockpit preparation and practice radio communication would be quite good. To actually fly was simply a fantasy.

The current situation clearly shows that Ning Sheng admires Xu Xian and wants Xu Xian to get a chance to prove himself. If it were any other instructor, there would be no consultation with Wu Feng; the assignment would be made directly, and Wu Feng wouldn't dare to say anything.

Ning Sheng is considered to be of very good character among the young instructors, and many co-pilots are willing to fly with him, even if they are not his students.

Letting Xu Xian fly a bit wasn't a big deal, so Wu Feng naturally had no objections and readily agreed. Besides, he and Xu Xian were practically acquaintances, so he was happy to oblige. It was good that he could just sit back and relax a bit during the early morning flight.

Seeing Xu Xian's somewhat surprised expression, Ning Sheng smiled and said, "Haven't you taken a seat yet?"

"Uh, I've only just started as an apprentice, I haven't had a chance yet!" Xu Xian said.

"That's perfect!" Ning Sheng clapped his hands, clearly in high spirits. "This is your debut! We should celebrate! There's a good fried cake shop at the airport in Jinkou. I'll buy some after we land to celebrate, just so you don't mind."

If Ning Sheng knew that Xu Xian's debut was during the emergency handling at Chimelong 5677, I wonder what he would think.

"Teacher, you're too kind!" Xu Xian quickly said. How could a teacher possibly spend so much money?

Ning Sheng patted Xu Xian on the shoulder: "He's just a kid, no need to be so polite. If you fly well this time, and we go out for an overnight stay next time, I'll treat you to something delicious. Okay, you guys do your breathalyzer tests! I'm going to get the data!"

Ning Sheng was quite nonchalant. After finishing his sentence, he didn't give Xu Xian a chance to be polite and turned to walk towards the information desk.

Just as Xu Xian was still somewhat stunned, Wu Feng's voice rang in his ears: "Big difference, right!"

"Huh?" Xu Xian didn't react for a moment.

"Is there a big difference between Instructor Ning Sheng and Captain Fang Ying?" Wu Feng asked.

When Xu Xian first joined the crew, he encountered the eccentric Fang Ying. Wu Feng was there and witnessed Xu Xian being forced to buy breakfast. Compared to Ning Sheng, it just goes to show that the difference between people can sometimes be as vast as heaven and earth.

Xu Xian chuckled: "It's just that everyone is different, there are bound to be variations. There's no such thing as a huge difference."

Wu Feng was taken aback for a moment, then immediately became interested and said, "Your tongue is indeed impeccable."

After taking the breathalyzer test, the two went directly to meet up with Ning Sheng. Ning Sheng was already filling out his flight check-in form, and Wu Feng wanted to take it from him, but Ning Sheng said it wasn't necessary, showing a lot of enthusiasm.

Honestly, from the moment I met Ning Sheng, he didn't act like an instructor at all; he was more like a co-pilot. He not only chatted easily with the other co-pilots but also didn't put on airs. People like that are very comfortable to be around.

While filling out the preparation card, Ning Sheng said to Xu Xian, "You'll be in charge of takeoff and landing for this first leg of the flight. I'll only step in to correct it if there's a significant deviation. You should also take a look at the approach chart for Jinkou Airport and consider the descent plan. However, Jinkou Airport is a bit special; the approach area is guided by radar."

This time, the Star Travel 6887 flight is from Yunnan to Jinkou and back, each segment is about three hours, which is considered a relatively long flight.

Although Tsukochi Airport is a large airport, it doesn't have its own RNAV approach procedure, which is very rare among large airports. Few large airports still use traditional approach procedures. Even more strangely, even when traditional approach procedures are available, most of the time aircraft don't follow them. Instead, air traffic control uses radar guidance when they approach within about 20 nautical miles of the airport. This is the unique characteristic of Tsukochi Airport!

As for why this strange situation exists, one explanation is that Jinkou Airport is adjacent to a no-fly zone, and that area must be carefully avoided.

Every airport has its own unique characteristics, and if it wants to grow, it needs to carefully summarize and analyze them.

Xu Xian, like a good student, was looking at the approach chart of Jinkou Airport and listening to Ning Sheng explain some points to note.

"It's cold today, and it rained yesterday. When you're inspecting the aircraft later, pay attention to any ice buildup on the fuselage," Ning Sheng instructed. "Hey, what kind of ice is the hardest to spot?"

Xu Xian hadn't expected Ning Sheng to suddenly ask him a question, but Xu Xian wasn't afraid and answered without hesitation, "Ming Bing!"

"Then what's the best way to distinguish Mingbing?" Ning Sheng asked.

Xu Xian answered fluently: "Touch!"

Ning Sheng's eyes lit up: "Excellent! Excellent!"

Wu Feng chimed in from the side, "Looks like you have a solid theoretical foundation!"

Xu Xian didn't seem particularly surprised by Ning Sheng and Wu Feng's praise; to him, it was just standard procedure. When it came to endorsements, Xu Xian was quite adept.

Xu Xian had just finished speaking when a large group of people entered from outside; they were the flight crew for this flight.

Xu Xian subconsciously turned his gaze over and found that the chief flight attendant in charge looked quite old, probably around forty, but her aura was unparalleled.

Xu Xian was looking at the flight attendant, and the flight attendant also saw Xu Xian. There was no way around it; Xu Xian's appearance stood out among the three of them.

The flight attendant, holding the collaboration card, approached and handed it to Ning Sheng. However, her beautiful eyes kept scrutinizing Xu Xian, causing Xu Xian to involuntarily avoid her gaze.

"Ning Sheng, is he with us?" the flight attendant asked Instructor Ning Sheng, but was pointing at Xu Xian.

Ning Sheng showed no dissatisfaction with the flight attendant's attitude, and instead smiled and said, "That's right, he is Xu Xian, the second first officer on this flight."

"Xu Xian?" The flight attendant's interest grew even stronger. She picked up the mission sheet on the table and found Xu Xian's name. On the mission sheet, each name in the flight crew was marked with their respective rank. After Xu Xian, the label simply read "Trainee."

"A trainee! That's a new recruit, no wonder." The flight attendant put the mission sheet back and suddenly exclaimed, "Finally, we have a decent-looking one in our pilot team."

"Forehead"

Xu Xian, Ning Sheng, and Wu Feng were speechless for a moment; this sweeping generalization had indeed hit a very broad target.

The flight attendant didn't seem to care, and looked at Xu Xian with a smile: "Do you have a girlfriend? If not, I'll introduce you to one."

"Sister Yue, this isn't a good idea. We still have important business to attend to!" Ning Sheng said, somewhat troubled.

The flight attendant in front of me is extremely senior; she came from Chimelong Airlines. Even at Chimelong Airlines, she was among the earliest flight attendants. Now she holds a position in the Flight Standards Department's Flight Attendant Office of the Southwest Regional Administration of Civil Aviation, and even many captains and instructors dare not show her any disrespect.

This flight attendant mostly focuses on ground work and rarely flies anymore; I never expected to run into her today.

Perhaps it's due to her age, but this flight attendant has become increasingly enthusiastic about playing matchmaker, connecting young pilots and flight attendants in various ways. And sure enough, upon seeing the "beautiful" Xu Xian, her matchmaker's mind started working again.

"Alright, alright! Let's coordinate first!" The flight attendant didn't want to offend Ning Sheng in public, so she obediently shut her mouth. However, she was still looking Xu Xian up and down, as if she was thinking about who to introduce Xu Xian to.

Xu Xian felt very uncomfortable being stared at by the flight attendant, which caused him to miss a few details of the coordination process. He would have to ask Wu Feng about it privately later.

"Sister Yue, something happened at Chimelong recently. You should review the emergency procedures yourself, as the authorities might come to check them out," Ning Sheng instructed.

The recent accident involving Chimelong 5677 has prompted another round of safety overhauls in the civil aviation industry. Why "another round"? Because a certain trend exists within the domestic civil aviation sector.

Safety inspections are never scheduled on a fixed schedule; rather, they occur sporadically, like a gust of wind, only after an incident. Accompanying these inspections are frequent surprise checks by local safety regulatory bureaus. The scope of these inspections is wide-ranging, but they generally focus on emergency response.

However, Ning Sheng felt that the people from the Yunnan Regulatory Bureau probably wouldn't arrive when they entered, since it was too early. He didn't believe the regulatory bureau's staff would be that motivated.

"I know that! I checked it during the preparatory meeting," the flight attendant nodded in response.

Unlike pilots, flight attendants not only sign in much earlier, but also attend a dedicated pre-flight briefing, while pilots don't. During these briefings, the purser often raises professional questions about the flight to assess the crew members. In the briefing just now, the purser, drawing on real-world examples, focused the assessment on emergency procedures.

Although she also felt that the possibility of the regulatory authorities coming to conduct an on-board inspection so early was very small.

After the coordination was completed, the flight attendants prepared to leave, leaving one of them, Flight Attendant Number Four, to ask the pilots and crew about breakfast.

Some pilots like to eat breakfast before taxiing, while others feel that this makes time too tight and they prefer to eat slowly after takeoff.

Because of these differing opinions, for flights that include breakfast, flight attendants usually ask the flight crew in advance when they want to eat breakfast. If they want to eat before taxiing, they'll heat it up as soon as the in-flight catering arrives. If they want to eat after takeoff, they'll have to wait.

Xu Xian was originally indifferent, but seeing that the instructor and the first co-pilot were eating on the ground, he followed suit.

Everything was almost done, although it was still a little early to get on the plane. But rather than freezing in the icebox-like preparation room, it was better to enjoy the warmth on the plane.

The flight crew of three arrived about ten minutes earlier than the normal arrival time.

Xu Xian asked for the license plate number of the vehicle entering the site, and the three of them dragged their suitcases toward the main gate. At this time, their own flight crew was already waiting outside. As soon as the flight crew came out, they immediately met up.

The crew's arrival and subsequent transportation involved passing through the base gate. Xu Xian had just bent down to put on his hat when he looked up and saw Xia Qing entering. Xia Qing was dressed neatly in her uniform, seemingly there for a flight. However, perhaps because she was wearing a hat, Xia Qing didn't notice Xu Xian approaching.

When Xu Xian saw Xia Qing, his heart tightened uncontrollably. Before he could even greet her, Xia Qing had already walked past him and headed straight for the flight attendant preparation room.

For some reason, Xia Qing didn't look at him once throughout the whole thing, which made Xu Xian feel a little disappointed, even though he knew that Xia Qing probably really didn't see him.

Because of Xia Qing's appearance, Xu Xian only paused for a moment, but he quickly composed himself and caught up with the group.

When Xu Xian got into the vehicle, he found that the driver had already turned on the heater. The sudden transition from the damp and chilly outside to the warm interior made Xu Xian feel as if every pore on his body had opened up.

After everyone sat down according to the default rules, they counted the number of people present. Once everyone was confirmed to be present, the driver set off.

On the way, Xu Xian's mind kept replaying Xia Qing's image, an image that wouldn't leave him, causing him considerable unease. The more he tried to control it, the less he could restrain himself. Xu Xian sighed, realizing his mind was indeed wandering.

I'm no longer a naive young man, so why am I like this?

The radios on the vehicles coming to the site broadcast various news from Yunnan, including the upcoming topping-out of the Xinfeng Building, which would surpass the Luoshuang Building as the new tallest building in Yunnan, and the completion of the Kunyang River, an artificial river that runs through the entire Yunnan province.

Xu Xian listened to the news for a while, but could no longer suppress his inner turmoil. He stopped closing his eyes to rest, gently nudged a flight attendant in the next seat, and whispered, "Can I ask you something? How do you flight attendants check shifts? Can we pilots check too?"

The flight attendant was quite enthusiastic: "Sure! You can add the cabin schedule query to the toolbar of the flight assistant software. To find out whose flight you want, just enter her name. However, this system is used by both Star Cruises and Chimelong, so there might be cases of people with the same name. You need to make sure there are numbers after her name first."

Flight Assistant is the software used by Star Travel's flight crew to view flight schedules. Xu Xian had always thought it could only check pilots' schedules, but he didn't expect it could also check flight attendants' schedules. If he could check these on Flight Assistant, it would indeed be quite convenient.

"If you don't mind, could you teach me how?" Xu Xian took out his phone, opened the flight assistant app, and leaned closer to the flight attendant next to him, hoping that the flight attendant could teach him how to add tools.

"No problem!" The flight attendant readily took the phone, ready to demonstrate to Xu Xian how to use it.

Just then, a mocking voice rang out from inside the car: "So, you've taken a fancy to one of our flight attendants?"

Xu Xian turned his head and found that the speaker was the flight attendant. At this moment, she was looking at Xu Xian with great interest, her eyes burning with gossip.

Once the chief flight attendant started, the other flight attendants also loosened up and began to "tease" Xu Xian.

"Which of our girls have you taken a fancy to, young man? I can pass on your message!"

"Yes! Yes! I can help too."

As the atmosphere inside the car gradually became more lively and Xu Xian was surrounded by admirers, Ning Sheng and Wu Feng, who were sitting in front of them, felt a pang of sadness for some reason and sighed deeply in unison.

Just as Ning Sheng was filled with envy, jealousy, and resentment, his phone rang. He saw that the number was from the company's dispatch center.

"What's up?" Ning Sheng asked as he answered the phone.

As soon as Ning Sheng spoke, the flight attendants who were making a big fuss behind him consciously lowered their voices to avoid disturbing the captain's phone call, which showed their high level of civility.

"Captain, we have a time limit for going to Jinkou. If we need to de-ice later, please notify us on the frequency as soon as possible. If we are delayed, it will cause further delays later," the dispatcher said.

Perhaps due to its proximity to the capital, Tianjin Airport has adopted all of Beijing Capital International Airport's bad habit of frequent delays. If a flight cannot take off within the scheduled time, the subsequent waiting period will absolutely be agonizing.

When faced with companies pressuring employees, Ning Sheng's attitude has always been: "Within the normal range, I will try my best to be as fast as possible!"

Often, flight crews face external pressure that forces them to increase speed. However, if a crew becomes overly focused on speed, it can easily become the start of mistakes. Ning Sheng's stance is clear: he will not make any unconventional decisions due to company pressure; safety is paramount.

After hanging up the phone, Ning Sheng turned to Xu Xian and said, "Xu Xian, we're under time pressure. Let Wu Feng handle the initial phase. Let's get the clearance report ready as soon as possible, and then you can switch seats. Is that alright?"

"Teacher, no problem." Xu Xian nodded repeatedly.

Although I didn't hear what was said on the other end of the phone, I could basically guess from Ning Sheng's words that the company must have asked them to hurry up.

Ning Sheng's idea was to quickly complete the preparations, get the passengers on board, and prepare for departure. Whether they could leave after that would be up to fate. At that point, it wouldn't matter who was present. It would be most appropriate for Xu Xian to take the seat then.

At Xu Qing's home in the suburbs of Tianning City.

Mei Tingting opened her eyes groggily and found that Xu Qing was already awake, sitting up, seemingly lost in thought.

"What's wrong? It's only this late! Go back to sleep." Mei Tingting tugged at Xu Qing's wrist, trying to get him to sleep a little longer.

Xu Qing stretched out his right hand and rubbed it against Mei Tingting's cheek a few times, then suddenly said, "Did Xingyou contact me, asking me to attend an airline exchange meeting?"

Mei Tingting instantly woke up from most of her sleepiness, snuggled into Xu Qing's arms, and yawned: "How did you know?"

She threw all the invitations from Xingyou Airlines into the trash without missing a single one, and strictly forbade Xu Qing from telling her. Xu Qing should not know about it.

"They contacted my friends and colleagues from when I was with Blue Sky Airlines. You can tell they went to great lengths to invite me," Xu Qing said with a smile.

This is the result of Lu Xinyu and Qin Zongyang frantically mobilizing their connections, seeking a breakthrough through Xu Qing's old acquaintances. They both approached Xu Qing's colleagues and friends at Blue Sky Airlines.

"It seems quite a few people went to great lengths to invite you before!" Mei Tingting said.

"But this time is different!" Xu Qing shook his head: "I thought about it all night, and I think it's still necessary to go to that airline exchange meeting."

"Why!" Mei Tingting suddenly stood up. "You want to fly away again?"

"How is that possible? How can my body fly?" Xu Qing patted Mei Tingting on the back to calm her down and continued, "You asked me to attend the founding ceremony of our commercial aircraft company, wasn't it just to attract some investment? But how many of those investors really know anything about civil aviation? Besides, given the failure of the X10 project, why would those investors still put money into it?"

"We will naturally come up with a solution that will convince them!" Mei Tingting said.

"It's useless! Even if they invest a huge amount of money and develop a new type of large aircraft, it will take them a long time to recoup their investment. They don't have that much patience. Think about how many of the investors in the X10 project back then didn't have a civil aviation background?" Xu Qing said. "Only people in the civil aviation industry can understand the long-term significance of the new type of large aircraft, and only they will tolerate a longer return period."

"But several major capital players in the civil aviation industry lost a lot of money back then, are they still willing to invest again?" Mei Tingting asked worriedly.

The most representative example is Kunlong Group, which almost went bankrupt when it invested in X10.

"That's why I need to go there myself," Xu Qing said with a smile. "Besides, I have another matter to discuss with Yunnan!"

"What?" Mei Tingting didn't understand what Xu Qing meant.

Xu Qing didn't answer directly, but instead changed the subject: "Are you aware of what's been happening with Chimelong Airlines lately?"

"I know a little, what's wrong?" Mei Tingting said.

Xu Qing turned to Mei Tingting and asked, "How is it?"

"What do you mean, 'how'?" Mei Tingting asked, somewhat annoyed. "You know I'm not good at this!"

Although Mei Tingting is the owner of the entire Qingyuan Group, which is a behemoth in the civil aviation industry, she herself has little interest in civil aviation matters.

She only had a basic understanding of what had happened with Chimelong Airlines recently, and had no interest in finding out the details.

Xu Qingming knew that she was not good at professional matters, yet he still asked her to comment on Chimelong's affairs. Wasn't that asking someone to do something unreasonable?

"As you should know, even after a new aircraft enters commercial service, it still needs a highly capable and influential crew to complete its maiden flight. Only in this way can the new aircraft get off to a good start!" Xu Qing said. "I've already decided on the captain; only the co-pilot is still undecided. Originally, I thought it would take a long time, but now it seems it won't be that long!"

(End of this chapter)