Legendary Captain

Chapter 249 Chief Pilot's Announcement

"Who should stop flying?" Xu Xian asked, holding a form in his hand, as he entered the office with some confusion. He quickly spotted Manager Wang inside. Not recognizing Manager Wang, he politely greeted him before looking at Lu Xinyu.

Lu Xinyu caught Xu Xian's staring gaze and her face stiffened for a moment: "Xu Xian, what's up?"

Xu Xian thought for a moment and realized that the person who had just spoken didn't seem to be Lu Xinyu. Could it be the person next to Lu Xinyu, whose identity he didn't know?

However, Xu Xian only overheard half of the sentence when he arrived, which seemed incomplete. He glanced at Manager Wang and didn't dwell on it. Instead, he got to the point: "President Lu, would it be convenient for you to sign this meeting form?"

"A meeting form?" Lu Xinyu glanced at what Xu Xian was holding and then realized what it was: "This? No problem, no problem, I'll sign it for you right away."

The interview form is a mandatory procedure that pilots must go through after being grounded. Whether it's failing retraining or committing some offense during regular flights, during the grounding period, pilots are generally required to have a meeting with a leader at least at the squadron leader level. Pilots can contact this leader themselves or be assigned by the fleet.

Pilots are technically skilled workers, and these kinds of talks that involve ideological education are completely unsuitable for them. Moreover, a talk lasting at least two hours is utterly absurd. Unless it's a very rare case requiring two hours, most conversations are finished in half an hour. The rest of the time, even if it's all nonsense, is extremely tiring.

Finally, this initiative, which had clearly deviated from reality, became increasingly perfunctory, and Feibiao's oversight of these conversations became more and more lax, because even they felt that this kind of thing was a complete waste of time.

Of course, regardless of the actual significance of these perfunctory meetings, no one will object, as breaking a tacit agreement can come at a price. Everyone tacitly agrees to let these formalities fester and rot.

In any case, all that's needed for an interview is the signatures of the interviewing leader and the interviewee. So in most cases, the interviewee just goes to Feibiao to get an interview form, writes down their thoughts and such, and then gets a familiar leader to sign it.

Xu Xian had undoubtedly performed a crucial role in turning the tide, but according to regulations, he still needed to have a meeting. Xu Xian wasn't one to be stubborn; he had already said everything he needed to say to the authorities, so there was no need to return to Xingyou Airlines' leadership. Therefore, he naturally followed Xingyou Airlines' tradition of holding meetings, picked up a meeting form, found a random spot, filled the summary section with his notes, and then went to get the leader's signature.

He had originally intended to find his squadron leader. However, upon checking the schedule, he discovered that his squadron leader had a flight mission that day. He then contacted other squadron leaders, some of whom were flying, while others were not on duty at the company. In the end, Xu Xian even called Cao Jinwen. Cao Jinwen was the flight squadron commander, so signing a meeting form was more than enough for him.

Unfortunately, Cao Jinwen wasn't at the company either. But before hanging up, Cao Jinwen said that Lu Xinyu was on duty today, so he asked Xu Xian to go find Lu Xinyu.

Lu Xinyu is the deputy general manager of the flight department, so he can naturally sign. However, although there is no deep-seated hatred between him and Lu Xinyu, there is still some unpleasantness, so it is very awkward to ask him to sign.

However, when he still couldn't find anyone, Xu Xian reluctantly went to Lu Xinyu's office.

"Sign here, right? In block letters?" Lu Xinyu enthusiastically took the meeting form from Xu Xian. Before writing, he specifically asked Xu Xian if there were any special requirements regarding the signature. To be honest, this was the first time he had been asked to sign a contract.

Only someone like Xu Xian would get the deputy general manager of the flight department to sign a contract or negotiate such a thing.

"Mr. Lu, you can just sign this casually, it doesn't need to be formal." Xu Xian was extremely uncomfortable with Lu Xinyu's overly enthusiastic behavior. "Also, Mr. Lu, are you alright? Are you feeling unwell?"

"Not feeling well? No, not at all!" Lu Xinyu said warmly, "Don't call me President Lu, it's too formal! Just call me Xiao Lu."

"Little Lu?" Xu Xian was so shocked that he almost vomited on the spot.

Lu Xinyu signed the document readily, and after signing, she examined it carefully, afraid that her signature might look bad.

"Is this alright?" Lu Xinyu handed the meeting form back to Xu Xian and warmly put his arm around Xu Xian's shoulder: "If anything happens in the future, as long as it concerns flying, you can come to me. Don't be shy."

Xu Xian broke out in a cold sweat: "President Lu, are you sure you don't need to go to the hospital? The airport hospital is less than a five-minute drive away."

Lu Xinyu's smile stretched from ear to ear: "How come I never realized Xu Xian had such a good sense of humor before?"

"Mr. Lu, I'm not joking."

"Hahaha!" Lu Xinyu laughed heartily, "I still have some things to discuss. Xu Xian, is there anything else?"

"Oh, that's all, that's all! Mr. Lu, you're busy!" Xu Xian wisely prepared to leave first, but was stopped by Lu Xinyu at the door.

"Xu Xian!" Lu Xinyu grinned. "Didn't I already tell you? Just call him Xiao Lu, that's all!"

Xu Xian's body trembled slightly. He turned his head and said seriously, "President Lu, are you really not considering going to the hospital to get it checked out?"

"Did you get General Manager Lu to sign it?" When the staff of Feibiao received the interview form handed over by Xu Xian, they were surprised to find that the leader to be interviewed was actually Lu Xinyu.

"Hmm, is there a problem?"

"No, no. It was the first time I met President Lu who signed the interview form." The staff member found a folder to put the interview form in, and then gave Xu Xian another form to sign and confirm.

As Xu Xian was signing, the staff member seemed to remember something: "By the way, there should be a full-scale technical inquiry coming up soon. Keep an eye on the notifications in the squadron's group chat."

"Inquiry, a theoretical inquiry? Didn't we have a check on the front passenger seat not long ago? How long has it been?"

The co-pilot theoretical review that Xu Xian mentioned had just ended on the day of Xingyou 6333. Qin Zongyang, whom Xu Xian encountered during flight preparation that day, was someone who was forced to participate.

The co-pilot's theoretical review only ended a few days ago? Why is there another inquiry? Is this never going to end? From now on, Star Travel pilots should just stop flying and focus on dealing with these reviews.

"Ahem." Perhaps even the staff at Feidiao thought this was a bit outrageous. Glancing around, they whispered, "Haven't you heard the rumors lately? They say the insurance company is going to stop our group's insurance business. From now on, if anything happens, we'll have to bear the consequences ourselves. The pressure will be immense. President Lu is almost driven crazy with worry. When you went to him to sign the papers, didn't you notice he was in a very bad mood?"

"Uh!" Xu Xian rolled his eyes. "He seems pretty happy?"

"You don't understand. Leaders don't show their emotions; how are we employees supposed to know what they're thinking?"

"Emm," Xu Xian began to fall into deep self-doubt. Had Lu Xinyu really taken the art of hiding a knife behind a smile to this extent?

"This time is different. Not only the co-pilot, but also the captain, instructor, and even the inspectors will be questioned."

Xu Xian casually complained, "It's always the same theoretical questions. Can't you come up with something new?"

"This time we've really come up with something new," a staff member laughed. "Some people have complained before that if they encounter some inspectors who like to make things difficult and ask obscure questions, it would be very unfair. So, this time we've changed the way we conduct the inquiries, ensuring absolute fairness and impartiality."

Xu Xian's eyes lit up: "What brilliant idea do you have?"

"By drawing lots!" The staff member seemed quite proud, as if he had come up with the idea himself. "We created a question bank. During the questioning, the person being questioned draws a number, and that number becomes a question from the bank. They just ask the question they drew. It's fair and just, leaving no room for the inspectors to improvise. What questions they answer depends entirely on their luck, so they can't blame anyone else."

Xu Xian was shocked. He never imagined that such a rare genius could exist in the small flight department of Xingyou Airlines. Xingyou Airlines had really struck gold.

"What about the scope?" During routine theoretical reviews, a scope is usually given, since flight theory knowledge covers such a broad range that it would be inhumane not to provide one.

The staff member shrugged: "This time, there's no scope at all. I'm telling you, this is no joke; we're even asking the chief engineer about it."

"Ask about every single chief engineer's announcement? Ask about all of them?" Some of the chief engineer's announcements have been out for too long. You might remember the important parts, but how could you possibly recite them?

"Yes! The question bank contains chief engineer announcements from the past three years. Three years of announcements, well, that should cover a range, right?"

Xu Xian's eyes twitched uncontrollably: "Three years of endorsements, I freaking thank you!"

"No need to be so polite, I didn't just reveal everything to you for nothing." The staff member suddenly became shy: "Um... are you quite familiar with Lian Shanxue?"

"Hmm?" Xu Xian raised an eyebrow. "What do you want to do?"

"If it's alright, could I get your autograph?"

Xu Xian's eyes narrowed, his tone unfriendly: "Signature? No!"

After speaking, he walked away.

Not to mention that Xu Xian can't find Lian Shanxue now, even if he could, he would never ask for it for him.

A three-year chief engineer's notice is still considered within the scope? Is this something a human being could say?

"So, he wasn't lying to me, right?"

In the fleet conference room, Xu Xian's lips twitched as he looked at the question he had drawn.

General Regulations on the Use of Satellite Phones.

As the staff member from the dart company said, the chief designer's notice regarding satellite phones was three years old. And what's really strange is that this outdated chief designer's notice hasn't been repealed yet.

The standards for satellite phone usage are now very different from before. At least in terms of clearance, the usability of a satellite phone is a strict requirement. Previously, a satellite phone that was unusable could still be cleared; a "reservation" would suffice. However, according to current operational standards, if a satellite phone is found to be unusable during pre-flight checks, it cannot be cleared.

Even against such a backdrop of dramatic changes, Xu Xian found it incredible that a chief engineer's notice regarding satellite phones could remain unchanged for three years.

It was exactly the satellite phone usage rules under the old operating standards. Xu Xian would be crazy to know that. Just looking at this topic, he couldn't say a word for a long time, and his face turned red.

It's hard to accept that Xu Xian, who handled so many extreme situations, was stopped by a mere notice from a senior engineer.

"Don't know?" an inspector asked coldly.

Xu Xian swallowed hard. Things under the old standards were very different from those now, and he couldn't even make something up. How was he supposed to answer that?

There's a type of question in the question bank that clearly wasn't created by flight professionals, but by ground staff. They just look for chief engineer notices that haven't been repealed and cram them into the question bank, completely ignoring the fact that some of those notices are no longer applicable in the current environment.

Seeing Xu Xian remain silent for a long time, the inspector twirled his pen a few times and scribbled something on a form.

Since Xu Xian was sitting right across from the inspector, he could see the form in the inspector's hand. He seemed to see that the inspector had put an X in the notice section.

Xu Xian's mentality completely collapsed. He had studied the implementation plan for this inquiry.

The questioning consists of five questions; if even one question is answered incorrectly, the candidate fails. The inspector records the category of the incorrect answer.

For example, if Xu Xian stumbled on the chief engineer's notice, then an X would be marked in the notice column.

If there's a problem with the aircraft data, then put an X in the aircraft data column, and so on. There are also operating regulations, memory items, abnormal maneuvers, deviation announcements, standard announcements, etc., which cover an extremely detailed range.

If he fails this time, he will have another chance to retake the exam. However, the retake is more difficult, requiring him to answer all ten randomly selected questions correctly, without missing a single one. Moreover, since Xu Xian's problem stemmed from the announcement, an additional question about the chief engineer's announcement will be added.

Given the hellish difficulty of the make-up exam, even Xu Xian, who has a photographic memory, felt immense pressure.

If you fail the first time, you'll most likely fail the retake too.

Perhaps out of concern for Xu Xian's growing reputation, the inspector added, "You drew this question yourself; it has nothing to do with us. We weren't deliberately trying to make things difficult for you."

The implication is that you have no one to blame but yourself for your misfortune, so don't take it out on us.

Lu Xinyu, standing next to the inspector, had a simple, honest smile on his face, and it was unclear what he was thinking.

That's right, Lu Xinyu participated in the entire theoretical questioning process. Since this theoretical questioning involved captains, instructors, and even inspectors, some of whom were of very high rank, ordinary people really couldn't control them. Without Lu Xinyu keeping things under control, who knows if those senior instructors and inspectors would have flipped the table on the spot.

After all, those veteran instructors and inspectors could handle the operations without any problems, but the theory behind it was another matter entirely.

If you ask those veteran instructors and inspectors what the definition of a stable approach is, they'll probably only know that the deviation between the course and glide path is kept within one point within 1,000 feet. As for the rest? Being able to name one or two would be considered good.

Therefore, participating in these theoretical inquiries is simply torture for older pilots. Some with bad tempers can even turn on the inspectors on the spot. After all, some of the inspectors are juniors of these veteran pilots, and when the older ones get angry, they can't really talk back.

Based on these concerns, Lu Xinyu supervises all theoretical inquiries throughout the process to prevent anyone from violating the rules.

Upon hearing the inspector's words, Xu Xian objected: "There's a problem with this notice. Should I change it?"

"Didn't I already say you drew this yourself? If you can't answer this one, you call it a change of question. What if you can't answer the next one either? Do you want another one?"

"Next one, Ken," Xu Xiangang was about to say he was sure he could answer, he was confident in his memory. But then he thought about what if he drew some weird questions again, he wouldn't be able to handle it, so he decided not to be so sure.

"This question is really problematic."

Given Xu Xian's current reputation, the inspector, though quite displeased, patiently explained, "Xu Xian, there are rules and regulations. We didn't make exceptions for those veteran instructors, so we can't make an exception for you!"

Xu Xian frowned: "Have the veteran instructors also drawn this question?"

The inspector shook his head: "This seems to be the first time you've drawn this question. Oh well, you drew it yourself, so just accept it."

The cloud inspector is practically accusing you of having bad hands and blaming others.

The inspector was right; once a loophole is opened, it's hard to close it again.

However, Xu Xian was still unhappy. If he had drawn a normal question, even an obscure one, he would have accepted it if he couldn't answer it. But this question was "beyond the syllabus," and how could he accept failing it?

While feeling secretly frustrated, Xu Xian glanced at Lu Xinyu across from him and noticed that Lu Xinyu remained calm and composed, not saying a word from beginning to end.

Could it be that Lu Xinyu is behind this?

Suddenly, Xu Xian waved the notice in front of Lu Xinyu: "Could you please tell me about this announcement, Chief Engineer Lu?"

Lu Xinyu, who had been watching the excitement, was still figuring out how to get a favor for Xu Xian when Xu Xian asked her this question. Her face darkened, and she stared at the announcement title on the notice for a long time without being able to say a word.

(End of this chapter)