Legendary Captain

Chapter 188 It's smoking!

In an instant, an extremely bizarre scene appeared in the cockpit of Star Travel Flight 6554.

The only sounds in the cockpit, besides the constant roar of the engine, were the hissing of air coming out of the vents. The three adults in the cockpit all had solemn expressions, and each of them had their nostrils twitching occasionally.

"Does it? Or not?" Wang Lingkun stared at Xu Xian without blinking, hoping to get some feedback from him.

To be honest, if Wang Lingkun hadn't brought it up, Xu Xian wouldn't have noticed anything unusual in the air. Perhaps the source of the smoke was farther away from Xu Xian, or perhaps it was just Wang Lingkun's imagination.

Seeing that Xu Xian didn't respond to his questions, Wang Lingkun became a little anxious. He clearly smelled a faint burning odor.

Unable to rely on Xu Xian, Wang Lingkun had no choice but to turn to Lian Shanxue for help.

"You smelled it?" Wang Lingkun asked, both surprised and frightened. To be honest, he really hoped it was just his imagination. If even Shan Xue said she couldn't smell it, then it was very likely that it was just his imagination.

After all, as people get older, their sense of smell deteriorates, so it's understandable that they might experience some minor problems.

Not only Wang Lingkun, but even Xu Xian looked at Lian Shanxue, unintentionally becoming the focus of attention, which greatly increased the pressure on Lian Shanxue.

Lian Shanxue sniffed lightly with her small nose, and she seemed to smell a very faint odor. However, the smell was so faint that Lian Shanxue initially thought it was her imagination.

After confirming several times, Lian Shanxue still couldn't be completely sure that she agreed with Wang Lingkun's guess. In the end, even the faint, elusive smell she had initially sensed disappeared, as if it had never existed.

Lian Shanxue could only come to one conclusion in the end!

"Teacher, I don't think I can smell it either!"

*Clap!* Wang Lingkun clapped his hands, a smug look creeping onto his face. "I knew it! How could our luck be so bad? Oh dear, I'm getting old! My nose isn't as good as it used to be! I'm starting to scare myself!"

Wang Lingkun was all smiles, and took another sip of tea. The wrinkles on his face resembled blooming chrysanthemums, making him look rather comical.

Just then, the flight attendant in the front cabin signaled to open the door. Xu Xian checked the surveillance camera, and after confirming that everything was alright, he opened the cockpit door.

Although Lian Shanxue had wiped away most of the water stains with tissues, one pack wasn't enough. The towels the flight attendants had given them were all wet and unsuitable for wiping. So, Wang Lingkun called the flight crew and asked them to bring in some dry towels.

Flight attendant number three brought in a stack of dry towels. Wang Lingkun took them with a smile and waved his hand, saying, "I don't need anything else, go back to your work."

Flight attendant number three grunted in response and prepared to exit the cockpit. However, after leaning halfway out, she pulled her head back in at the last moment.

The third flight attendant also sniffed around in the cockpit, a look of confusion immediately appearing on her face, muttering to herself, "What's that smell?"

Wang Lingkun, who was humming a tune and fiddling with a dry towel, suddenly froze. Hearing the third flight attendant's words, his expression changed drastically, and a withered, wiry finger trembled as he pointed at the flight attendant: "Think carefully before you say what it tastes like."

"It smells like burning, but it's very faint, I'm not sure!" Flight attendant number three sniffed it a few times, but he wasn't sure himself, so he stopped worrying about it and left the cockpit.

However, the seemingly unintentional words of Flight Attendant Number Three completely froze Wang Lingkun, who had been feeling relieved just a moment before. Wang Lingkun remained pointing at Flight Attendant Number Three until the cockpit door was completely closed. He nearly jumped up as if he had been sprung from a spring.

"I'm going to die, I'm going to die, I'm going to die!" Wang Lingkun was frantic, pacing around in circles. He leaned almost on the central control panel, took a deep breath, then straightened up expressionlessly and looked at Xu Xian and Lian Shanxue.

Xu Xian and Lian Shanxue both felt that Wang Lingkun, having experienced such extreme highs and lows, might be mentally unstable, and neither of them wanted to talk to him. However, seeing Wang Lingkun's lifeless eyes and dull complexion was truly unsettling.

Just as the three stared at each other, locked in a stalemate, Wang Lingkun suddenly slapped himself across the face. Xu Xian, startled, flinched; when Wang Lingkun raised his hand, Xu Xian thought he was going to hit him!

After all, it seems that Xu Xian was flattering Wang Lingkun so much that Wang Lingkun was so oblivious to the fact that he didn't even notice that the water in the cup was still hot.

If we trace it back to its source, it seems that Xu Xian's actions were not entirely clean!

Knowing this, Xu Xian was extra wary of Wang Lingkun's actions. If Wang Lingkun dared to attack, he wouldn't necessarily retaliate, but he would at least have to dodge. Xu Xian was not one to be beaten and scolded passively.

However, things really did not go as Xu Xian expected.

Just as Xu Xian and Lian Shanxue were shocked by the first slap Wang Lingkun gave them, a second slap followed in less than half a second!

"It's all because of my foul mouth, I've been showing off all day long!" Wang Lingkun cried out to the sky, his voice so pitiful that it rivaled even the tragic beauty of Dou E, whose voice was as mournful as snow falling in June.

It turned out that Wang Lingkun realized deep down that he had been too smug earlier. He'd barely finished showing off when the consequences struck.

Compared to Wang Lingkun's frustration, Xu Xian was trembling all over, his bright eyes suddenly flashing with a dazzling light. In his heart, Xu Xian was roaring, "This guy is a complete idiot!"

Xu Xian, who was still in awe of Wang Lingkun's peculiar thought process, saw Wang Lingkun about to slap himself again and quickly grabbed Wang Lingkun's wrist: "Teacher! No, no! If you slap yourself again, you'll become stupid."

Actually, being stupid isn't a big problem, since you've already hit the bottom of your intelligence level, and going any lower is just a rebound.

Xu Xian still didn't know much about Wang Lingkun. If Qin Zongyang were here, he might even be applauding him. Wang Lingkun wasn't stupid, but his thought process was indeed unconventional at times. Otherwise, what normal person would offend all their superiors?

After Xu Xian's persuasion, Wang Lingkun's mind cleared up, but he was still muttering, "It's okay, it's okay, it's just a short circuit, it's nothing serious!"

"A short circuit?" Xu Xian frowned, pressing the backs of two fingers against the spot where the water had just stained. He noticed a significant amount of heat emanating from the panel.

"Hot?"

Lian Shanxue noticed Xu Xian's actions and interjected, "Could it be from the sun?"

The sun high in the sky is extremely scorching, and prolonged exposure to the same spot can cause localized overheating. This time, they only used a few newspapers for simple shade, which didn't block all the sunlight. It's possible that the area Xu Xian touched was recently exposed to intense sunlight.

"No!" Xu Xian directly refuted Lian Shanxue's guess. Following the example of what Wang Lingkun had just mentioned, he bent down and sniffed it closely. Sure enough, the burnt smell became clearer as he got closer.

"It's short-circuited!" Xu Xian grabbed Lian Shanxue's left hand and pressed her fingers against a panel area. "The communication panel is overheating!"

Lian Shanxue felt the heat emanating from her skin, and her delicate brows finally furrowed. She didn't recall any procedure for dealing with an overheated communication panel. If it really was an overheating communication panel, how should she handle it?

After racking her brains to no avail, Lian Shanxue instinctively looked at Xu Xian, who stood as steady as a mountain behind her.

"Aren't you afraid?" Even though it was most likely that the communication panel was overheating, Xu Xian's expression remained normal, and he even seemed somewhat interested.

He never imagined that such a small amount of water seepage could cause a short circuit in the panel; he's really seen something new today.

"What am I afraid of? It's not like the plane is about to break apart. It's just that the panel is overheating. We'll either make an emergency landing or return to base. What's the big deal?" Xu Xian didn't show the slightest emotional reaction. He could even handle a dual-engine shutdown, so why would he be afraid of a small panel overheating? In comparison, Xu Xian was more worried about the company's subsequent investigation into him.

Ultimately, if the plane did make an emergency landing or return to its origin, the company would definitely investigate the cause thoroughly. If it turns out the investigation revealed the crew had accidentally spilled water on the central control panel, that's clearly human error. Wouldn't that mean I'd be in serious trouble again?

However, the real culprit was Teacher Wang Lingkun; I only slightly fueled the flames.

"Where are the alternate landing sites for the air routes?" Wang Lingkun suddenly asked Lian Shanxue.

Lian Shanxue answered almost without hesitation, "Qianyang!"

"Qianyang?" Wang Lingkun typed two points, Qianyang and Nanyong, on the FIX page. After comparing the distances between the two, he decided to return to Nanyong after careful consideration.

On flight 6731, Qin Zongyang was curled up in his seat like a large maggot, occasionally twisting his body, making for an extremely unsightly sight.

"This crappy plane doesn't even have a proper seat. How can I sit here? It's so uncomfortable." Qin Zongyang kept changing his sitting position, hoping to find a relatively comfortable one.

At this point, the co-pilot on the right was in control of the aircraft. As they approached leveling off, the co-pilot next to him cautiously asked, "Instructor, shall we fly at economical speed?"

Some captains prefer to fly faster, while others prefer slower. Qin Zongyang has a bad temper, so the co-pilot wanted to clarify things to avoid being yelled at later, even though he had already been scolded to the point of exhaustion during today's short two-segment flight.

Don't be fooled by Qin Zongyang's cheerful old man demeanor in front of Xu Xian; he's a completely different person when he's with other co-pilots. At least among the many co-pilots who least want to fly with captains and instructors, Qin Zongyang is definitely on the list.

Already irritated by the seat, Qin Zongyang replied impatiently to the co-pilot's question, "Fly however you want! You're a fourth-level co-pilot now, why are you asking me what speed to fly at? Did you bribe the inspector during your promotion check? Otherwise, how could someone like you be a first co-pilot? It's only because I'm in charge of administration now that I don't care, otherwise the fleet would have grounded you long ago."

The co-pilot was thoroughly berated by Qin Zongyang. Shrinking back, he quickly activated the vertical navigation system and instructed the aircraft to fly at economic cruising speed.

"Star Travel 6731, five nautical miles to the right!" At that moment, air traffic control suddenly issued an order.

The co-pilot immediately replied, "Five nautical miles to the right, Star Travel 6731!"

"Five nautical miles to the right," the co-pilot muttered, typing "five nautical miles to the right" on the CDU's OFFSET page, and then directly switching the aircraft's horizontal navigation to the five nautical miles to the right.

If the aircraft is horizontally oriented with an offset, the angle of entry will be very steep, and the aircraft will immediately form a large bank angle.

This infuriated Qin Zongyang, who suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder. He immediately changed the aircraft's roll mode from horizontal navigation to heading selection, and then manually adjusted it to a relatively gentle angle of entry.

"How many times have I told you, don't just use horizontal navigation to establish the offset. Can't you use flight select to establish an angle of entry first?" Qin Zongyang launched into another tirade at the co-pilot, leaving him dizzy and disoriented.

In the aviation industry, the scenario described above is all too common when encountering difficult captains or instructors. Is it a mistake for the co-pilot to establish an offset using horizontal navigation directly? Definitely not! At most, it might slightly inconvenience the passengers in the back due to the steeper angle of the aircraft. However, some captains and instructors prefer to first establish a gentle angle of attack using heading selection before engaging horizontal navigation.

At least in the standard operating procedures, there is no explicit specification on how to establish offset, so the co-pilot was not wrong in principle, and many other captains and instructors also did it this way. This is because it's simpler, avoiding changes in method and eliminating a step. Based on the principle of minimizing errors, using horizontal navigation to establish offset throughout the entire process seems to have its own merits.

Even in this situation where there was little point in arguing and neither party was at fault, the passenger still got a scolding. The worst part was that the passenger didn't dare to argue back; otherwise, there would have been endless similar situations afterward.

Personal habits play a significant role in flight. While there is nothing inherently wrong with different personal habits, if someone deliberately finds fault with them, they can become a weapon that is not actually a weapon.

Of course, Qin Zongyang wasn't deliberately picking a fight. He just thought that pilots who used horizontal navigation were incredibly lazy, unwilling to put in the effort to press an extra button, so what was the point of flying?

As for why Qin Zongyang was so impolite even though he clearly didn't intend to make things difficult for the co-pilot, it can only be attributed to his naturally foul mouth.

The passenger in the other seat really looked like a pitiful little animal, mechanically admitting his mistake, even though he didn't seem to have done anything wrong in this matter.

Qin Zongyang, being a soldier, couldn't stand the co-pilot's unprincipled admission of fault, so he didn't bother arguing with him anymore. He simply said, "I'm going to take a nap. Call me if you have any questions."

The co-pilot was overjoyed, as long as Qin Zongyang stopped interfering with how he flew, he was truly thankful. He was now a level four co-pilot, capable of getting the plane to its final landing configuration by himself, and then handing over the landing phase to Qin Zongyang.

Just as the co-pilot was about to close his eyes to rest, a voice came through the radio: "Nanyong Air Traffic Control, Star Travel 6554, requesting to return to Nanyong Airport!"

Qin Zongyang, who had just closed his eyes, suddenly opened them: "Whose voice is that? No! Why does it sound like that old guy Wang Lingkun's voice? What does it mean that the plane is returning to its origin? What went wrong?"

A series of questions left the passenger in the next seat completely bewildered.

Qin Zongyang had no interest in whether Wang Lingkun lived or died! He knew that it was Lian Shanxue's turn to conduct the inspection today, and Xu Xian was on the plane.

He didn't care about Wang Lingkun; he cared about his precious apprentice.

Just as Qin Zongyang landed, Nan Yong's control replied: "Star Travel 6554, do you have any questions?"

"Star Travel 6554, our communication panel is overheating and we need to return to Nanyong immediately. Could you give me a heading first?" This time it was Xu Xian's voice that answered, which Qin Zongyang recognized immediately.

"The communication panel is overheating? Could it be that water was spilled on it?" Qin Zongyang was an old hand, and he basically guessed the reason for the problem right away.

Although the 737 was quite rough around the edges, it was rather rare for the communications panel to overheat for no apparent reason. Most of the time, it was due to pilots accidentally spilling water on it, causing a short circuit.

After Xu Xian explained the aircraft's situation, a short wait was required before Nanyong Air Traffic Control responded: "Star Travel 6554, could you please provide more details about your situation?"

The voice used for traffic control this time was different from before, indicating a change in personnel. It's likely that the initial controller for the Nanyong area was a novice, and upon realizing there was a problem, they quickly called in a veteran to take over.

Xu Xian patiently repeated, "Our control panel is overheating, and we request to return to Nanyong immediately! Also, if it's convenient for you, we request to descend to a lower altitude immediately!"

"Star Travel 6554, we are coordinating with Nanyong Airport. Besides returning to base and descending, do you need any other assistance?" Nanyong Air Traffic Control asked.

If Star Cruises 6554 returns to its origin, it would be completely outside the planned schedule, which would require the controller to coordinate with Nanyong Airport first!

Part of the reason for this is to find out whether the current situation warrants declaring an emergency.

"No need!" Xu Xian replied decisively, "Just coordinate things for us as soon as possible; we don't need any additional help for now!"

"Okay! What's the current status of the communication panel? Is it just overheating?" This is a routine procedure for controllers. On the one hand, they need to combine the information provided by the crew to determine the urgency of the malfunction. On the other hand, they also need to record the information for future investigation.

At this moment, Qin Zongyang was also listening intently.

Xu Xian's voice came through the radio again: "Right now, it's just the panel overheating, nothing else. Wait! The panel is starting to smoke!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Zongyang's face turned pale with shock.

(End of this chapter)