Legendary Captain

"Could it be that I didn't press it, or is there something wrong with the control panel?" After the plane landed, He Changyuan wondered if his hand had shaken and he hadn't selected the second engine shutdown option on the control panel, or if there was simply a problem with the control panel.

However, the engine indicator clearly showed that engine number two was indeed shut down.

He Changyuan set the No. 2 engine to shut down 100 feet off the ground. He deliberately chose such a low altitude for a single engine to reduce Xu Xian's reaction time and correction time.

Typically, single shots are fired from above 1,000 feet and below 1,000 feet, and the handling methods for these two situations are completely different.

For single-engine aircraft below 1,000 feet, inspectors will usually shut down the engine at 800 feet, or at most 500 feet. This is because at this altitude, there is still some time for the pilot to react and make corrections; otherwise, the aircraft is very likely to deviate from the runway centerline, and for those who are not skilled enough, it is common for them to go off the runway.

Simulator training cannot cover all faults; it can only focus more effort on relatively more likely fault scenarios within the limited and precious training time.

Simulator training commonly covers single-engine scenarios, but rarely covers scenarios involving dual-engine failure. This is because Boeing believes that a single engine failure is already extremely rare, and both engines failing is practically impossible.

Wasting excessive training time on something that is almost impossible is clearly not worthwhile. Therefore, double failure is rarely used as a regular training exercise.

Similarly, a single engine failure below 1,000 feet is quite rare, let alone near touchdown. Simulator training or checks are not about focusing on obscure faults, but about rehearsing special flight situations in advance. Such bizarre faults do not actually fit the spirit of simulator training and checks.

However, this doesn't mean you can't fire it at all; there's no rule against firing a single shot when the aircraft is 200 feet off the ground. It's just that doing so is somewhat unprofessional, and a bit... unethical!

What does 100 feet mean? It means we'll be grounded in seven to eight seconds!

This doesn't mean the pilot has seven to eight seconds to react and correct. A normal trajectory enters runway airspace at 50 feet. If there's a significant deviation upon entering runway airspace, a go-around must be considered; the pilot won't continue landing.

Therefore, the time to correct the huge deviation caused by a single shot is only three or four seconds, which is extremely demanding.

He Changyuan had been an instructor for over twenty years and had led countless simulator sessions. He knew the limits of the co-pilot's abilities, which was why he was certain that the malfunction was something Xu Xian couldn't solve.

Even if Xu Xian hadn't panicked due to a single engine failure in the low-altitude environment, He Changyuan was certain that he wouldn't have been able to quickly correct the deviation, and the only option at that time would have been to go around the aircraft.

Single-engine go-around is inherently difficult to control the aircraft's state, and with only Xu Xian as a crew member, it's impossible to maintain the high-pressure state of single-engine go-around. He has a million ways to find out Xu Xian's problem during the go-around process.

Even if it might not be a big problem!

Even now, looking back, He Changyuan still feels lingering fear! Yes, lingering fear!

He had never imagined that someone could remain so calm when facing a single enemy. A single enemy wasn't a particularly difficult problem to handle, but it was extremely rare to see someone as nonchalant as Xu Xian.

He can still recall that the instant the number two engine shut down, Xu Xian reflexively pushed the throttle up, and the extra throttle just made up for the loss of aircraft performance when one engine shut down, no more, no less, perfectly!

Xu Xian seemed to know exactly how much thrust the other engine should provide when one engine shut down. He didn't figure it out through trial and error; rather, Xu Xian knew the correct throttle input from the beginning, and he applied it directly without hesitation.

Moreover, this is different from the usual single-launch! Since it is below 1,000 feet, it can land without changing the configuration depending on the situation.

For a normal single-engine landing configuration, the flaps are set to 15, which means they can be retracted to 30 depending on the situation. However, at an altitude of 200 feet, there may not be enough time to retract the flaps to 15, so Xu Xian's approach was to maintain the configuration for landing.

Because it's a single-engine landing with flaps at 30, this configuration requires more thrust than with flaps at 15. While some might know the throttle value of a single engine in a normal single-engine landing configuration, few would likely care about the throttle value of a single engine during the fifth approach phase with flaps at 30 at a low-altitude airport.

However, the truth is that Xu Xian knew all along!

Because of the distance, He Changyuan could not see Xu Xian's leg movements, but he could clearly see the sideslip device! The sideslip device only moved slightly for a moment when the No. 2 engine was turned off, and then quickly returned to center. This was the only slightly larger sway that the trainee felt.

Xu Xian's control inputs were as precise as his throttle inputs, as precise as a machine instrument. His operation was so meticulous that even the student in the left seat didn't realize the plane was missing a single engine until they landed and discovered that one of the reverse thrusters was missing.

The maneuvering just below 100 feet is enough to make most co-pilots blush with shame!

Is he really a trainee who hasn't even disembarked from the squadron?

As the plane gradually came to a stop, the trainee, still in a daze, stared blankly at Xu Xian beside him: "Brother, when did the number two engine shut down?"

Xu Xian lowered his gaze slightly, his eyes betraying his weariness: "Really? Who knows?"

Seeing that they couldn't get an answer from Xu Xian, the students turned to look at He Changyuan, who immediately became annoyed: "What are you looking at? Get on your mobile device and wait for me in the study room!"

After saying that, he glanced at Xu Xian, and after the ladder was lowered, he left the simulator directly.

......

"Old Cao, it seems that kid you told me about isn't going to fail today." He Changyuan found a secluded corner and called Captain Cao to tell him about today's inspection, since Cao Jinwen had specifically instructed him to conduct this inspection.

Cao Jinwen paused only briefly on the other end of the phone before replying, "Have you grasped the difficulty level?"

"If we add any more, it will be beyond the scope of the curriculum!" He Changyuan said frankly.

Cao Jinwen's silence was noticeably longer this time, but he finally said, "Then let's just leave it at that! The higher-ups just said to increase the difficulty, there are no hard and fast rules. Let's leave it at that, and go with the normal conclusion!"

After hanging up the phone, He Changyuan muttered, "Why does it feel like Lao Cao is having some trouble?"

Then, on a second thought, he muttered to himself, "Should I call Lao Qin again?"