Legendary Captain

Chapter 138 A Narrow Escape

The first officer of Blue Sky 9433 looked up and saw an aircraft blocking their ascent path right outside the cockpit windshield.

The two aircraft were so close that the first officer of Blue Sky 9433 could even see the aircraft logo on the vertical tail of the Star Traveler.

"Flying plane!" When had the first co-pilot of Blue Sky Airlines ever seen anything like this? Good heavens, the plane was practically flying right in their face. If the two people in the cockpit hadn't been professional pilots, they would have been terrified.

Even though the captain and first officer of Blue Sky Airlines were professionally trained, they were still terrified when faced with the Star Travel Airlines plane that was almost within arm's reach.

"WDNMD!" The captain of Blue Sky Airlines had already cursed the ancestors of the crew of the Star Travel Airlines plane above him in his mind.

This means that TCAS has started providing decision-making consultations this time!

LEVEL OFF!

TCAS automatically instructed Blue Sky Airlines' aircraft to enter level flight mode.

The TCAS system only has pitch indication, not roll indication; it only performs conflict avoidance by having the unit adjust the rate of climb.

The captain of Blue Sky Airlines immediately disengaged the autopilot and autothrottle, intending to maneuver and avoid the obstacle according to TCAS instructions. However, asking him to switch to level flight during the initial climb phase of takeoff was an extremely frightening thought, since the initial climb is mainly for obstacle clearance. Now, let alone reducing the rate of climb, asking him to switch to level flight directly would make anyone hesitate.

Perhaps due to the captain's momentary hesitation, the TACS system changed the instruction from LEVEL OFF to DESCEND. In an instant, the instruction changed from level flight to descent.

ADJUST VERTICAL SPEED! ADJUST!

This is the TCAS system reminding the unit to adjust the lift rate as soon as possible to meet the requirements for maneuvering and avoidance.

The TCAS system changed its instructions because the captain's response was slow, causing a slight delay. This time, the captain didn't hesitate and immediately began adjusting the aircraft's climb rate.

Perhaps due to his previous hesitation, the captain acted decisively this time, pushing the stick up extremely quickly. Perhaps the pressure of the aircraft overhead was too great, as the captain's stick-pushing action was a bit too forceful, resulting in a descent rate of a full 1,000 feet per minute. This pitched attitude far exceeded the pitch attitude required by TCAS, causing an unnecessary and excessive descent rate for the Blue Sky Airlines aircraft.

During the initial climb, instead of rising, there was a descent rate of 1,000 feet per minute, which was practically suicidal.

Before the Blue Sky Airlines captain could react, the terrain warning system began issuing "DON'T SINK, DON'T SINK" warnings.

The EGPWS terrain warning system detected an excessive rate of descent and issued a warning to the crew to stop descending. It was only then that the captain realized he had pushed the stick too far, and the aircraft was experiencing a significant rate of descent—a truly alarming situation.

At this point, the Blue Sky Airlines aircraft was already at a low altitude with very little margin for terrain clearance. The instant the aircraft began its descent, the initial warning was "DON'T SINK," which, within the captain's brief reaction time, immediately switched to a "WHOO! WHOO! PULL UP" warning. This indicated that the aircraft was at risk of crashing and required immediate terrain maneuvering.

The captain of Blue Sky Airlines is now completely blank. There are planes above and terrain below, and he's stuck in the middle, unable to go up or down. What should he do?

If the airport had good airspace, the Blue Sky Airlines captain could have simply turned left or right to avoid colliding with Star Travel Airlines' ascent path. Although it might not have followed proper procedures, the situation was urgent and there was no time to worry about that.

However, it's different at Yunnan Airport. There's a hill on the left side of runway 04 at Yunnan Airport, so all departure procedures for runway 04 must first keep to one side and wait until they reach sufficient height before turning left.

The captain of Blue Sky Airlines could clearly see out of the corner of his eye that the hill was on the left side of the plane, at roughly the same height. The plane was still descending, meaning it would definitely be below the hill's height when it turned left. Whether it could ascend to a sufficient height to safely clear the obstacle was very uncertain.

But if they turn right, they'll crash into one side of runway 03. If there are still planes taking off on runway 03 at this time, wouldn't they be endangering themselves and others? The key is that they've already been off the plane for a short while and can't see if there are any planes on runway 03 anymore!

That's not all! Just now, when the captain adjusted the elevator rate by pushing the stick, the aircraft was still operating at high thrust because the throttle hadn't been touched. With a sudden push of the stick, the aircraft's speed increased rapidly, almost like it was riding a rocket.

At this point, their aircraft had not yet retracted its flaps, and the maximum speed was affected by the speed indicator on the flaps, but the value was not significant. In about one or two seconds, the aircraft's airspeed exceeded the maximum speed and entered the speed red zone.

Then came the speeding warning! In the blink of an eye, Blue Sky 9433 received another warning!

Inside the cockpit of Star Travel 6777. The roll of the aircraft was not only violent but also completely unexpected. Qin Zongyang barely managed to stabilize the plane after it had deviated significantly from its course.

This change caused Xia Qing, who was sitting in the back, to lose all color in her already pale face, and her left hand instinctively grabbed Xu Xian's right hand.

With the soft hand in his hand, Xu Xian felt no joy whatsoever, because he saw an airplane icon that almost overlapped with theirs on the navigation page, and this icon had turned red!

At that moment, the Blue Sky Airlines plane was right behind them, and Xu Xian couldn't see it at all.

"We have planes below us!" Xu Xian roared, his voice echoing in the cockpit.

Just as Xu Xian finished speaking, the TCAS warning, which had lost its wind shear warning suppression, finally sounded.

"CLIMB!"

At this point, the TCAS system can finally inform the crew of their current status and also determine the location of other aircraft!

Wind shear warning is the highest priority among aircraft warnings; once a wind shear warning is issued, it will override other warnings.

Shortly after Star Travel 6777 veered off runway 03, it had moved out of the wind shear zone. The TCAS (Traffic Decision Support System) should have sounded when the aircraft approached runway 04 and the Blue Sky Airlines aircraft took off. However, the wind shear warning suppressed the decision advice. The warning only sounded after the wind shear warning had subsided, alerting the crew to immediately climb.

Qin Zongyang dared not delay and immediately corrected the aircraft's attitude, following TCAS instructions to begin climbing. At this moment, the aircraft was extremely stable, feeling as if it were in a completely different space from the turbulent area just now.

The difference between two airspaces separated by only one runway is so obvious.

Although Qin Zongyang reacted, the crew of Blue Sky Airlines below did not know, and TCAS was still prompting him to descend, even though the required descent rate was very small.

But now, the captains of Blue Sky Airlines dare not let the plane descend, because if they descend any further, it will crash into the terrain.

In that split second, the captain of Blue Sky Airlines made a decision! He decided to turn right and seek a glimmer of hope.

The mountain obstacle on the left was too much of a pressure for him, and he really dared not turn left. Although turning right might cause a conflict with the planes taking off on runway 03, the probability was much smaller, since planes need to take off at intervals and cannot take off one after another without interruption.

Moreover, he wouldn't stop on one side of runway 03 when he turned right; instead, he would cross one side of runway 03. As long as there wasn't a collision at the moment of crossing, it would be fine. He didn't believe that a plane would crash into him exactly as he crossed one side of runway 03—the probability of that was about the same as dying from overeating. If that really happened, then it was just God's will to come and take him away.

Actually, this idea is somewhat irresponsible. After all, the probability is small, but if it really happens, it would mean the lives of people on two planes! However, if there were any other choice, the captain of Blue Sky Airlines would not want to take the risk. He was in danger in all four directions, so he could only choose the option with the relatively smaller probability.

Fortunately, the captain of Blue Sky Airlines was still clear-headed. The instant the right pressure plate was pressed, he switched to the second transmitter and shouted over the emergency frequency, "Aircraft on runway 03, do not take off!"

He was currently on the control tower frequency for runway 04. If he didn't change the frequency, even if he shouted himself hoarse, the planes on runway 03 wouldn't hear him. Now that there was no time to change frequencies, he simply broadcast on the second VHF emergency frequency. Since all planes listen for emergency frequencies, they would definitely hear his message. He didn't have time to explain in detail; he could only hope that even if there were planes on runway 03, they would stop taking off after hearing his message.

The entire emergency frequency was echoing with the voice of the Blue Sky Airlines captain, but most people did not understand what this seemingly random sentence meant, including a Kunlong Airlines plane that had already taken off and was taxiing on runway 03.

After the Blue Sky Airlines plane turned right, the crew gained visibility of runway 03. Just one glance, and the captain's heart sank.

He saw a plane accelerating on runway 03 in the distance. They say what you fear most is what happens, and fate played a cruel joke on him. Moreover, it was clear his earlier comment hadn't had any effect. After all, expecting an unknown person to interrupt takeoff with a random, unrelated comment seemed overly optimistic.

At this critical moment, the air traffic controllers on runway 03 reacted quickly. The controllers, who are constantly monitoring emergency frequencies, heard the Blue Sky Airlines captain's announcement and, combined with the radar screen showing the Blue Sky Airlines plane turning right, immediately determined what the Blue Sky Airlines aircraft was trying to do.

In the blink of an eye, the air traffic controller on runway 03 shouted over their tower frequency: "Kunlong 9887, abort takeoff! Abort takeoff immediately!"

The instructions coming from the emergency frequency are completely different from the explicit instructions from the control tower. After receiving the explicit instructions from the control tower, the captain of Kunlong Airlines glanced at the aircraft and saw that the speed was below V1. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he still decisively reduced the throttle, raised the speed brakes, and pulled up the twin-engine reverse thrust.

The moment the throttle was released, the RTO activated, and the automatic brakes began to decelerate the aircraft at an extremely high rate.

After receiving instructions from the captain, the first officer of Kunlong 9887 contacted the control tower: "Kunlong 9887, abort!"

"Kunlong 9887, disengage at the nearest location, and wait in place after disengagement!" the control tower commanded.

Air traffic control doesn't have time to focus too much on Kunlong Airlines' planes right now; they're more worried about Lantian Airlines' planes.

As expected, the Blue Sky Airlines plane flew directly across one side of runway 03. During the crossing, the Blue Sky Airlines captain finally breathed a long sigh of relief after seeing the planes on runway 03 slow down and come to a stop.

With no longer any concerns about causing a conflict by crossing one side of runway 03, Blue Sky Airlines' aircraft began its ascent with maximum thrust after confirming that its ascent would not be affected by Star Travel Airlines' aircraft, and the danger was finally averted.

At that moment, the controllers on runways 03 and 04 were almost completely soaked. Those mere ten seconds had nearly scared them to death. Anyone with a weak heart would probably have been unable to withstand it.

Just as the two tower controllers breathed a sigh of relief, the angry roar of the Blue Sky Airlines captain came through the emergency frequency they were monitoring, as if no amount of water from the four seas could extinguish it.

"You son of a bitch, Xingyou, I curse your whole family!"

The chairman's office of Chimelong Airlines.

Having just received a phone call, Wen Mingyuan was now radiating intense anger.

"I just heard that Xu Xian is also with Xingyou Airlines!" Wen Mingyuan stared at Wen Jingshu opposite him and said in a cold voice, his tone full of chilling coldness.

He had unexpectedly encountered Xu Jingyang in Yunnan and realized that his precious daughter probably still harbored feelings for Xu Xian. So he ordered his men to investigate Xu Xian's whereabouts.

What Wen Mingyuan discovered almost killed him with anger. Xu Xian actually worked at Xingyou Airlines, where Wen Jingshu was the president. Considering Wen Jingshu's earlier insistence on gaining experience at Xingyou Airlines, everything seemed to fall into place.

Originally, it seemed rather unbecoming for Wen Jingshu, as the princess of the Wen Group, to take a position in a second-tier subsidiary within the group. Wen Mingyuan had assumed that Wen Jingshu wanted to start from the bottom of the group, so he hadn't thought much of it. But now it was clear that Wen Jingshu had gone there with Xu Xian.

Wen Jingshu decided to go to Xingyou Airlines not long after Xu Xian applied for the job, which was too coincidental.

The thought of his daughter, on whom he had placed so much hope, being completely dominated by that brat Xu Xian made Wen Mingyuan's blood boil and he couldn't control himself.

"What's so great about Xu Xian? He's not bad looking, but there are plenty of guys who are better looking than him. As for family background, his Xu family used to have Tianyu Construction, which was barely a match for our Wen family. But do you know what's going on with the Xu family now? As for ability, he's already in his twenties. In the past, when the Xu family was at its peak, he didn't achieve anything. Now that the Xu family has fallen, what can he possibly accomplish? Why would such a good-for-nothing be with you? How did you even fall for him?" Wen Mingyuan complained to his daughter, criticizing Xu Xian as utterly worthless.

However, to be honest, Xu Xian is not a good match for Wen Jingshu now. The gap between them is too big, so it's no wonder that Wen Mingyuan is against it.

Wen Mingyuan's words had no effect on Wen Jingshu. She simply drank her tea quietly, offering no rebuttal.

Wen Mingyuan was even more furious at his daughter's behavior, but he dared not say anything harsh. In the Wen family, if you were to ask who was at the top of the food chain, it wouldn't be Wen Mingyuan, nor would it be Wen Yiren, but rather Wen Jingshu.

"Jing Shu! It was the Xu family who came to our door demanding the annulment of the engagement. If you go to that Xu boy now, our Wen family will lose all face," Wen Mingyuan said again.

Wen Jingshu said calmly, "Uncle Xu told me that he has no problem with our family, there must be some misunderstanding."

Wen Jingshu had always thought that Xu Jingyang was dissatisfied with the Wen family's failure to help the Xu family during their crisis. However, during her previous visit to the hospital, Xu Jingyang clearly stated that there was no such thing, which gave Wen Jingshu hope. Perhaps there really was some misunderstanding between the two families, and as long as the misunderstanding was cleared up, it was not impossible to return to the way things were before.

It must be said that Wen Jingshu appeared extremely naive when it came to matters involving Xu Xian, completely lacking the thinking ability of a strong woman as she usually is.

"What else did Xu Jingyang say to you?" Wen Mingyuan's eyelids twitched wildly. He was afraid that Xu Jingyang would tell Wen Jingshu about how he betrayed the Xu family back then. You should know that Wen Jingshu knew nothing about this. In Wen Jingshu's mind, he was still an upright father, and he was extremely unwilling to have any stain on that image.

Despite his ruthlessness towards others, Wen Mingyuan truly dotes on his daughter.

"It's nothing!" Wen Jingshu said, "You came in later, so we didn't get to talk about it!"

Wen Mingyuan finally breathed a sigh of relief and casually said, "Even if his father has no objections, what about his mother? Marriage isn't a decision his father can make alone!"

The previously harmonious atmosphere of the conversation instantly turned icy after Wen Mingyuan mentioned Xu Xian's mother, Huang Ying. Wen Jingshu immediately thought of the conversation she overheard outside Xu Xian's parents' door when she visited Xu Jingyang for the second time.

During that conversation, Xu Xian's mother made her opposition to her relationship with Xu Xian very clearly, which became a knot in Wen Jingshu's heart.

Wen Jingshu lost interest, placed the teacup on the table, stood up, and said, "I have something to do, I'll be leaving now!"

As Wen Jingshu descended the stairs, Xu Xian's mother's evaluation of her kept replaying in her mind. Huang Ying seemed extremely determined about Wen Jingshu becoming her daughter-in-law.

Even though Xu Xian's parents are divorced and she lives with her father, if Huang Ying takes a hard line, it seems she still doesn't have much of a chance.

Thinking of this, Wen Jingshu felt her agitation intensify.

Arriving at the lobby of Chimelong Airlines, Wen Jingshu sighed as she looked at the bustling hall. She wondered if this building would still belong to the Wen family in the near future.

Sweeping away her inner turmoil, Wen Jingshu walked towards the door, her gaze casually sweeping over the notice board where a lost and found photo was displayed!

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(End of this chapter)