Legendary Captain

Chapter 238 A Half-Second Difference: Life and Death

Cheng Guangyu's lips twitched slightly: "Junior brother? Who's that?"

Feng Guangrong was somewhat displeased: "Didn't you just watch my junior brother's landing video? You even watched it repeatedly, and now you're saying you don't know who it is?"

"No." Cheng Guangyu was stunned, staring directly at the computer screen: "Your junior brother opened it? Xu Xian? Are you dreaming? Or did you drink too much tonight?"

As Cheng Guangyu spoke, he sniffed at Feng Guangrong a few times to see if he smelled of alcohol.

Feng Guangrong pushed Cheng Guangyu away with obvious disgust, saying with displeasure, "Are you a dog? What's so good about it? Would I lie to you?"

"Do you know who Xu Xian's master is? He's an instructor named Qin Zongyang from Xingyou Airlines! Do you know Qin Zongyang? Is he also your master?" Cheng Guangyu snorted, strongly suspecting that Feng Guangrong was just trying to make fun of him.

Furthermore, Feng Guangrong was a maintenance engineer, which is completely unrelated to Xu Xian's major. How could they possibly be fellow students? It's pure nonsense.

"Qin Zongyang? How would I know who he is?" Feng Guangrong pulled up a chair and sat down. "You know nothing. You know who my master is, so don't play dumb with me."

Cheng Guangyu carefully examined Feng Guangrong's expression, which seemed genuinely genuine, and immediately became interested: "When did Elder Zeng take on a new apprentice? Wait a minute! Xu Xian is a pilot, why would Elder Zeng take a pilot as his apprentice?"

There are many connections between flying and aircraft maintenance, but no matter how close they are, they should not be confused! It just seems awkward that a senior aircraft maintenance worker with the highest qualifications and prestige in the country would take a pilot as his apprentice!

"How would I know?" Feng Guangrong almost beat his chest in frustration at the mention of this painful memory: "Back when this kid was learning to fly under Xu Qing's thumb at Xingfei Airlines, he often went to the aircraft maintenance area to hang out. Although my master had retired at that time, he would occasionally go back to the company for a stroll, and that's how we ran into each other."

"And then Elder Zeng took a liking to Xu Xian and accepted him as his apprentice?" Cheng Guangyu asked.

"No way! They never had that intention; learning to fly was just a passing fancy."

Cheng Guangyu was taken aback: "So, Elder Zeng wants to take on a disciple, but Xu Xian isn't willing? Hahahaha! What a strange story! Does Xu Xian even know Elder Zeng's identity?"

"How could I not know?" Feng Guangrong scoffed. "Xu Qing specifically told him! But he just wasn't interested at all!"

At the time, Xu Qing solemnly introduced Zeng Yu's identity to Xu Xian, intending for Xu Xian to become Zeng Yu's apprentice. If Xu Xian became Zeng Yu's apprentice, over 80% of the aircraft maintenance personnel in the country wouldn't have a higher seniority than him. Such a good opportunity—why not take it? Of course, he had to seize it.

But Xu Xian was too playful at the time and didn't care about such things. Even though Xu Qing gave him some pointers, Xu Xian didn't even consider becoming an apprentice.

Zeng Yu, despite greatly appreciating the spirituality Xu Xian displayed, couldn't very well force Xu Xian to become his disciple.

In the end, all of this could only be left unresolved.

"I've really learned something today. It's already rare for Master Zeng to take on a disciple, and Xu Xian isn't even willing. Tsk tsk tsk, impressive, impressive indeed." Cheng Guangyu laughed heartily. "I remember you served Master Zeng faithfully for half a year, and he only reluctantly accepted you as a disciple because he couldn't stand it anymore! How come the treatment is so different?"

Despite being the Director of the Aircraft Certification Department of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, Feng Guangrong isn't actually very talented; he's the hard-working type. Even becoming an apprentice required a lot of persistent pleading.

It's not that hard-working people are inferior to naturally gifted people. It's just that Zeng Yu prefers talented and insightful children, and doesn't really like people like Feng Guangrong who progress purely through sheer stubbornness.

Of course, even those he reluctantly accepted as disciples were all treated equally in terms of education. Feng Guangrong's achievements today are undoubtedly due to his own efforts, but Zeng Yu's guidance was also a crucial factor, for which Feng Guangrong is quite grateful to his master.

It was precisely because of Zeng Yu's bias that he took an instant liking to Xu Xian when he first saw him. Xu Xian was a man with an almost tangible talent; he could apply what he learned to other situations, perfectly matching Zeng Yu's requirements for choosing a disciple.

Unfortunately, Xu Xian was just a rich kid experiencing life and had absolutely no interest in aircraft maintenance. In the end, Zeng Yu could only feel quite sorry for him.

"So you finally got a chance to make fun of me today?" Feng Guangrong glanced at Cheng Guangyu. "It's infuriating how people compare! I went through so much trouble to become my master's disciple, but if it were him, he wouldn't even accept me! Isn't that infuriating?"

"No way. You already said Xu Xian didn't become Master Zeng's disciple, so how did he become your junior brother? It's not even a formality yet, why are you making up these unfounded claims of kinship?"

At this point, Feng Guangrong's expression gradually turned serious: "I had always thought that this matter was over. But not long ago, I received a message from my master, saying that we brothers should discuss a time to go to Yunnan for a meal together. He said we needed to introduce someone, and when I asked who it was, my master immediately said it was Xu Xian. Doesn't that clearly mean Xu Xian has already joined the sect, and that we're going there to cultivate our relationship?"

"What do you mean? Is Xu Xian changing careers?" Cheng Guangyu was taken aback. Since Elder Zeng had taken Xu Xian as his apprentice, Xu Xian couldn't possibly stay in aviation!

"Does he seem like he's considering a career change?" Feng Guangrong sighed. "Later, I realized that when my master took on apprentices, he never specifically introduced them to us. This time, it just felt a bit too formal."

"You mean Elder Zeng is going to pass on his mantle to Xu Xian? You're having this gathering so you'll help Xu Xian in the future? Goodness, with Elder Zeng's temperament, even his own son wouldn't pave the way for him like this." Zeng Yu's character is well-known throughout the civil aviation industry. His apprentices have all worked their way up through genuine talent and hard work, without a single instance of opportunism. Otherwise, there would be many who envy Elder Zeng and would have already seized on his weaknesses to attack him.

But now Zeng Yu is acting out of character by asking his apprentices to help Xu Xian in the future, which seems quite out of character for Zeng Lao!

Indeed, although Zeng Lao did not explicitly say that Feng Guangrong and others should help Xu Xian in the future, his actions spoke volumes. Sometimes actions are more convincing than words.

"Something's definitely fishy here! I have a bad feeling about this." Feng Guangrong frowned and said, "You guys are going to Xianchi tomorrow, right? Could you give me a ride?"

"You? What are you doing in Xianchi? This is our Aviation Safety Department's job, what are you Aircraft Airworthiness Certification Department meddling in?"

Feng Guangrong chuckled: "It's not work-related, it's personal! I wanted to check on my junior apprentice in my personal capacity. By the way, how's his skill level? I'm not a professional, could you give me a detailed assessment?"

Cheng Guangyu smiled meaningfully: "Old Feng, to be honest, I can tell you seem a little unwilling. But I'll say it here: in the future, it's really hard to say who will benefit from whom."

"Oh?" Feng Guangrong immediately became somewhat interested. Indeed, he was somewhat unwilling, after all, he was the most successful of Zeng Yu's disciples, and in principle, he should have inherited Zeng Lao's mantle. But unexpectedly, in the end, some greenhorn who appeared out of nowhere snatched the prize.

Feng Guangrong was human, not a saint unmoved by praise or blame. Even if he harbored a tiny bit of resentment, it couldn't compare to the kindness and guidance Zeng Yu had shown him. If Zeng Yu truly designated Xu Xian as his successor, Feng Guangrong would naturally do his utmost to assist him.

These are two different things and do not conflict.

"It seems that Xu Xian and Xu Qing have a close relationship. You saw how Xu Qing protected him during the forced landing incident on the Kunyang River. Even without Elder Zeng's help, Xu Xian is destined for great things. Once he achieves success, you might still need to rely on this junior brother of his!" Cheng Guangyu said with a smile.

With Xu Qing's help, as long as he's not a complete idiot, he can always be lifted up. Most importantly, Xu Xian is not a stupid pig, but a hidden dragon.

Feng Guangrong was quite surprised: "Such a high evaluation? Usually, how many people can catch your eye? What's gotten into you today?"

"That depends on the person!" Cheng Guangyu turned the computer screen towards Feng Guangrong, slowing down the final landing video of Star Travel 6333 at sixteen times speed. Just as the plane was about to touch down, Cheng Guangyu pressed the pause button, then pointed his pen at the plane's main landing gear: "Do you know how high the main landing gear is off the ground right now?"

Feng Guangrong narrowed his eyes: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"Five feet! At most five feet before the plane touches down, but it still hasn't reached the correct landing attitude!" Cheng Guangyu gritted his teeth, his breathing becoming heavy. "Do you know what five feet means? In the final touchdown phase, the plane's descent rate is usually around 500 feet per minute. Any higher and the descent is too fast. So even at a descent rate of 500 feet per minute, from this moment until the plane touches down, it's only a little over half a second. But this plane is clearly descenting faster than normal. I don't know what the crew was thinking. Maybe if they leveled off too early, they wouldn't be able to clearly feel the balloon phenomenon? Anyway, its final descent is faster than normal, so at most half a second, the plane will touch down."

"Half a second! Half a second is the blink of an eye! But in that half a second, he almost flawlessly adjusted the aircraft's touchdown attitude and throttle, with absolutely no error, not even a fraction of a second! Any later, even half a blink of an eye, and the plane would have at least landed hard! The touchdown load would definitely be over two Gs." Cheng Guangyu continued, still unable to contain his amazement, "According to the Chengdu air traffic control, the crew's vision was severely impaired due to the leaked hazardous materials. Plus, it was a night flight, so I reckon he couldn't even see the runway surface; he relied entirely on his instantaneous reaction to the balloon phenomenon. I can only say your master's judgment is incredibly sharp. If it were me, with such a promising talent, wouldn't I immediately take him in and make him inherit my mantle?"

In the end, Cheng Guangyu couldn't help but sigh, "Even geniuses are nothing special!"

"Balloon? You mean the ground effect?" Feng Guangrong asked, frowning. "You mean he uses the extra lift from the ground effect to sense the leveling mechanism?"

Feng Guangrong's expertise lies in aircraft assessment, and he was naturally familiar with ground effect, a phenomenon that aircraft frequently encounter. However, this was the first time he had ever heard of landing based on ground effect; it was completely unheard of.

"What else could they do? They said all six display components were completely black, and you couldn't see them with your eyes. Besides relying on your senses, what else could you rely on? Your ears, right?" Cheng Guangyu exclaimed in amazement. "I checked the ground wind at Xianchi Airport at the time, and the gusts were nine meters! Although it's not particularly strong, it's definitely not negligible. But Xu Xian actually found the extra lift generated by the ground effect from such turbulent airflow. Just that level of perception is terrifying!"

It's important to know that in gusty winds, aircraft can often be lifted up by turbulence. In such situations, pilots need to rely on their intuition to determine whether the aircraft's pitching up is due to gusty winds or ground effect.

Moreover, you only get one chance to make this judgment. If you make a mistake, it's not like a game where you can start over.

Whether forced by circumstances or driven by absolute self-confidence, Xu Xian's willingness to do this was already incredibly alarming.

Cheng Guangyu knew that if he were in Xu Xian's situation, he wouldn't dare to do such a thing; it was incredibly audacious.

Although Feng Guangrong possessed some knowledge of flight techniques, his main focus was on aircraft. While he knew that Xu Xian's landing was very difficult, Cheng Guangyu's explanation made it seem like it represented the absolute limit of his skill.

Cheng Guangyu clicked his tongue. Xu Xian had unparalleled backing; both Xu Qing and Old Zeng were prominent figures in the civil aviation circle, and his own skills were also quite solid. With such a combination of internal and external support, it would be an injustice if he didn't soar to great heights.

Moreover, in Cheng Guangyu's opinion, given the potential Xu Xian has shown so far, it's not impossible for him to become someone like Xu Qing or Han Qi.

"Look at you praising it to the skies, you're even better than me!" Feng Guangrong laughed. In the end, he wasn't a pilot, and although he roughly knew that Xu Xian's landing was impressive, he didn't have a clear concept of just how impressive it was.

Feng Guangrong was just saying it casually, teasing Cheng Guangyu. He mainly felt it was interesting because he rarely heard Cheng Guangyu praise someone like that.

Little did they know that Cheng Guangyu was actually seriously considering this question.

Seeing that Cheng Guangyu remained silent, Feng Guangrong had a thought: "I was just joking. You don't need to think about this so seriously. It's giving me bad ideas."

Cheng Guangyu sighed: "Who says it's just wishful thinking?"

Office of the Deputy General Manager of the Flight Department, Xingyou Aviation.

"All passengers and crew on flight 6333 have been taken to the hospital, and no deaths have been reported yet. The Aviation Safety Department of the General Administration just called, asking us to report the incident within two hours. I heard that the investigation team will be led by Director Cheng of the Aviation Safety Department, which makes it seem like a very serious matter," Cao Jinwen reported to Lu Xinyu.

"Feel? Does this even need to be felt? Anyone would know it's serious!" Lu Xinyu said irritably, standing on tiptoe. The only good news right now was that no one had died. Of course, that was only so far; whether there would be more deaths later was anyone's guess.

The situation changes once someone dies. Human life is always the most important thing, no matter the circumstances. If no one dies, public opinion will be much easier to manage, and the authorities won't be too demanding.

However, at this point, it was beyond his control; he could only leave it to fate.

"Has the company ever hosted a director-level official from the General Administration of Customs before?" Lu Xinyu was a bit of a headache. At least during his tenure, no official of that level had ever visited. He didn't know if Xingyou Airlines had any experience with this before him. Although Cao Jinwen's rank was lower than his, he had been with the company much longer, so perhaps Cao Jinwen would know.

The position of Director-General of the Civil Aviation Administration's Aviation Safety Department already exerted some pressure on Lu Xinyu. A slight misstep in receiving him could land him in serious trouble.

Cao Jinwen replied without hesitation, "No, the General Administration rarely communicates directly with our airline. Most of the communication is handled by the Southwest Regional Administration. Even the leaders from the Southwest Regional Administration don't come often, let alone those from the General Administration."

"Never mind, I'll find out myself." This kind of situation with no precedent is the most annoying. The key is that he doesn't know what kind of temperament Director Cheng has. He doesn't want to break any taboos.

"Oh right, did the police contact you?" Lu Xinyu suddenly remembered this.

They rushed back to the company without leaving anyone to control the general manager of Tongtai Chemical. Only after the matter was over did they remember to call the police to have the person in charge of Tongtai Chemical detained, lest he flee to avoid punishment.

"We've called the police! But to actually arrest them, we need to get a clear test result for toluene diisocyanate at Hamchi Airport, so we'll have to wait a bit."

Police can't just arrest people on a whim. If they could arrest someone based solely on a report from someone who called the police, it would be chaos. Therefore, at least some evidence is required.

Lu Xinyu knew this was a procedural issue and couldn't be rushed; rushing wouldn't help. Anyway, once it was established that Tongtai Chemical had concealed hazardous materials, they would be brought back no matter where they were.

"Let's not talk about that for now. Does the group have any news about 6333?" Compared to that, Lu Xinyu was more concerned about the group's attitude.

"Yes!" Cao Jinwen said, "Just now, the group's confidentiality committee issued a gag order to President Wei, requiring him to block all news about the 6333 incident. President Wei is currently speaking with everyone who was present at the time!"

The "General Manager" that Cao Jinwen mentioned is Wei Zhibin, the director of AOC. He is in charge of everything that happens in the operations control center, so naturally, he is also responsible for blocking information.

"The group's confidentiality committee must have given a strict order this time. President Wei even spoke one-on-one with the cleaning lady who happened to be there. I guess they'll talk to us about it later too."

Lu Xinyu sneered: "If word gets out, he'll probably lose his job. How could he not care? But this time the commotion is a bit big. I wonder if we can keep it a secret."

Hiding things after they happen is standard practice. If it turns out to be bad, they continue to hide it. If it turns out to be good, they gather all the details and use the opportunity to promote it.

The procedure was indeed the normal procedure, but with so many eyes watching in the operations control center, it was impossible for anyone to keep quiet and let it leak out privately. It was impossible to prevent.

We live in the internet age now, and communication is very convenient. Unless the company dares to restrict the personal freedom of employees present, nobody knows what the outcome will be.

As for restricting personal freedom, Wei Zhibin wouldn't dare to do that even if he had a hundred lives.

"I heard that the group's public relations department is almost frantic right now, suppressing news everywhere," Cao Jinwen said.

"Suppress the news? Suppress what news?" Lu Xinyu was taken aback.

"There were videos of the rescue scene at Hamchi Airport online before, but they seem to be gone now. It's probably because the group has stepped in. But that video had very limited reach to begin with, so it wouldn't be difficult for the group to handle it. The key is another video."

"What?"

Cao Jinwen took out his phone, tapped a few times, and then turned the screen to show Lu Xinyu, saying, "There are many versions of this video online now, all from different angles, but the subject is the same. What you're seeing now is the clearest one; it was taken by a professional photographer who originally intended to film lightning."

Lu Xinyu took the phone with a puzzled look and began to examine the video carefully.

The video feed was pointed at the sky, and in the center of the screen was a band of fire stretching across the night sky, a truly spectacular sight.

Given the backdrop of a night sky filled with rolling black clouds, the flames appeared even more striking, resembling a blazing dragon from the heavens.

"What is this?" Lu Xinyu stared at it for a long time but still couldn't figure it out.

Cao Jinwen tapped two fingers on the phone screen to pause the video, then swiped to zoom in on the area in front of the fire: "President Lu, take a closer look."

Lu Xinyu frowned and looked in the direction Cao Jinwen pointed. At first, Lu Xinyu didn't understand what Cao Jinwen was trying to show him, but after a moment, he gasped.

In front of the fire, there appears to be an airplane!

Last night, after becoming a patron, I remarked that I wondered when there would be another patron. Then a big shot commented that they would make me a patron in the future, which delighted me! Then this evening, while I was writing, I discovered another big shot told me to write until I reached ten million words, so that if everyone subscribed, I would become a patron! What a great idea!

(End of this chapter)