Legendary Captain

Chapter 257 Dispatch Error

"It flew off course? That's impossible!" Xu Xian checked the CDU flight segment page again, but there was no problem no matter how he looked at it. It was consistent with the paper flight chart. How could it have flown off course?

"Did you see our location wrong?" Xu Xian still felt he hadn't flown to the wrong place. Not only Xu Xian, but even Gu Kangrong seemed to agree; he remained silent, which was taken as tacit consent.

"So where are you now? Tell me the distance between the radial line and the DME." Seeing Xu Xian's certainty up close made him wonder if he was seeing things, but he decided to confirm it anyway.

The intersection of a radial line with a reference point and the DME distance can determine a unique point.

"Wait a moment." Xu Xian entered the local VOR code of Hongdu Airport into the FIX page. After the input was completed, the radial line and DME distance were displayed.

"We are now 43 nautical miles from the radial line of Hongdutai 230, is that right?"

Approach control compared the position on the radar with the position reported by Xu Xian, and frowned: "No problem, the position data matches."

Upon hearing this, the three people in the cockpit were stunned. They didn't understand why there was any talk of flying the wrong approach procedure, but now it seemed that approach control hadn't made a mistake.

Approach control was right, so that means they were wrong, right? But where did they go wrong? They couldn't figure it out. Even though they didn't understand where they went wrong, the three people in the cockpit still leaned towards control, perhaps because they made some mistakes they weren't even aware of.

Even though the problem is most likely on our side, we should still argue our points.

"Approach, we just checked again, and it was indeed flying according to procedure. The next point is HD343, then HD345, followed by the IAF point, right?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the radio, followed by a puzzled voice: "Is there something wrong with your programming? We should be flying HD344 now, so why is the next stop 343? Did you misread the chart?"

"Did you misread the chart?" The paper chart was clipped to the steering wheel, and Xu Xian glanced at it almost every ten seconds. If he could still misread it, he might as well gouge his own eyes out.

"Let me check again!" Gu Kangrong was getting a little anxious at this point. Flying into the wrong entry procedure is at least a serious safety incident. Even if he is a Class C instructor, he cannot withstand the punishment for a serious safety incident.

Gu Kangrong grabbed the paper aeronautical chart and compared it with the flight paths on the ND chart one by one. The approach procedures at Hongdu Airport were not complicated; the runways they used only had three approach directions, making it difficult to make a mistake.

In less than half a minute, Gu Kangrong had quickly scanned the paper chart, his face contorted in disbelief: "That's right!"

In fact, Gu Kangrong had already checked it once during the approach preparation, and there was still no problem after checking it again this time. Either he was blind, or he was so old that he couldn't even distinguish the aeronautical charts anymore.

Suddenly, Xu Xian seemed to realize something and quickly asked Jin Jin, "You mean the next point should be 344, not 343?"

"yes!"

"Wow!" Upon hearing this, Xu Xian immediately went to look up the electronic aeronautical chart.

Upon seeing Xu Xian's actions, Gu Kangrong immediately asked suspiciously, "Xu Xian, what have you figured out?"

Using an electronic aeronautical chart would be much faster; in just a few seconds, Xu Xian had retrieved the electronic aeronautical chart for Hongdu Airport. Comparing the approach procedure for the Ansia-1A on the electronic chart, the next point was precisely HD344, as indicated by approach control.

At this moment, Gu Kangrong had already craned his neck to look at the electronic approach chart that Xu Xian had flipped through. He immediately spotted the point HD344, and when he thought about approach control, Gu Kangrong's expression changed instantly.

"Hongdu Airport didn't change the procedure?" Gu Kangrong exclaimed in surprise.

The pre-flight notice specifically pointed out that Hongdu Airport would be implementing new arrival and departure procedures, and the electronic aeronautical charts had not yet been updated, with the data still being the old version. Therefore, the crew was instructed not to refer to the electronic charts, but rather to refer to the issued paper charts.

At the same time, the navigation database in the CDU has been updated with information about Hongdu Airport, and the approach procedure in the navigation database is now the new procedure.

However, they were flying according to the new procedures, but approach control said they were flying the wrong way, and the approach procedures referred to by approach control seemed to conform to the approach direction of the old procedures.

What exactly happened?

Xu Xian and Gu Kangrong, realizing the problem, exchanged a glance, both feeling a chill run down their spines. Xu Xian quickly asked approach control, "Is the airport still using the old procedures?"

"What old procedure? The new procedure isn't working, is it?" The approach control officer immediately understood the implication behind Xu Xian's question: "You're not using the new procedure right now, are you?"

Having grasped the situation, Xu Xian finally understood the problem. He paused for a moment and then said, "That's right, we're currently implementing a new procedure."

"Star Travel 6121, radar guidance, now heading 080." Startled by Xu Xian's answer, the controller quickly adjusted Xu Xian and his team's flight path. If they followed the new procedure, it would affect aircraft approaching from the other direction in two minutes.

"Heading 080 received, Star Travel 6121." Xu Xian gritted his teeth and selected the heading selection method, adjusting the aircraft's heading to 080.

"Wait a minute, the notice didn't say that the new procedures at Hongdu Airport were temporarily suspended. Why are they not working here?" Just as Xu Xian was adjusting the course, Gu Kangrong couldn't sit still any longer and quickly went to check the pre-flight notice. He was afraid he might have missed something.

If the pre-flight notification states that new airport procedures are temporarily suspended, then the responsibility lies entirely with the flight crew, and he cannot bear that responsibility.

In a short time, he nervously scanned the pre-flight documents, but after looking at them two or three times, he still couldn't find anything wrong. It clearly stated that Hongdu Airport was using new procedures, without mentioning anything about suspending operations.

Moreover, even the navigation database in the flight computer has been updated, so how could it not be running?

But the fact is that they definitely didn't run the new program.

Xu Xian was also very upset about this. Flying into the wrong place was a serious matter. Given the current tense atmosphere in the company, if he made a mistake, he would be severely punished.

Judging from Gu Kangrong's expression just now, he probably didn't notice the problem with the pre-flight notification.

"Approaching, our company's announcement said that your airport is now implementing a new procedure, so why are you still using the old procedure?" Xu Xian asked.

Approach control immediately responded: "Our airport did indeed issue a notice three months ago announcing that the new procedures would be implemented starting today. However, due to technical reasons, the new procedures cannot be implemented temporarily. We should have issued a notice yesterday postponing the implementation date of the new procedures. No other companies before you have experienced this issue. Did your company not provide notification of the temporary suspension of the new procedures?"

Xu Xian and Gu Kangrong gasped in shock; it seemed something truly serious had happened this time.

"Yes! Our company's announcement mentioned the temporary suspension of operations due to the new procedures at Hongdu Airport. Did your dispatch center miss it?" On the same frequency, a pilot from an unknown airline chimed in on the radio, "Why don't you contact your families?"

"Star Travel 6121, do you need to circle nearby?" It was clear that approach control was also thinking that Star Travel's crew would probably have to discuss it with their home and clarify things.

At this moment, Xu Xian still turned his attention to Gu Kangrong. Although he was now a PF, Gu Kangrong was the captain, and his opinion still had to be taken into account.

Gu Kangrong remained silent for a long time before finally waving his hand: "Request radar guidance to land first. We'll discuss the rest after we arrive at port."

The most likely explanation is a problem with the flight dispatch system at Xingyou Airport. It's possible that dispatch failed to publish the notice regarding the delayed implementation of the new procedures at Hongdu Airport. There are precedents of dispatch omitting important information, which is why Gu Kangrong believes the problem is highly probable.

Yunnan Yunfei Chengdu once had a precedent of dispatching personnel missing important information.

Because of the existence of the company's routes, except for the arrival and departure routes which may change depending on the actual situation, the other routes will not change most of the time, that is, they are pre-set, unless some special circumstances occur, such as the opening of temporary routes.

Coincidentally, there is a temporary air route between Yunnan and Chengdu. This temporary air route may not be used even once a year. However, when the temporary air route was used last time, the dispatch did not detect this change and the flight plan was made as usual, which resulted in the pilot flying the wrong route.

That incident caused quite a stir and was used as a typical negative example by the Southwest Regional Administration. The dispatcher who bore primary responsibility was dismissed, and although the crew involved was relatively innocent, the situation was tense at the time, and the company had no choice but to deal with it severely, grounding the entire crew for two weeks and fining them, which was truly unreasonable.

Therefore, dispatchers are not machines; they can make mistakes. And judging from all the current signs, the dispatcher is likely to be blamed for this misoperation of the entry procedure.

They could indeed hover nearby, make a satellite phone call home, and then hold a confrontation with the party. But there's no point in doing that; it's better to land as soon as possible.

Xu Xian understood and immediately said, "Star Travel 6121, request radar-guided approach."

"Star Travel 6121, wait a moment." Approach control waited for less than half a minute before replying: "Star Travel 6121, heading 090, radar-guided approach."

"Heading 090, Star Travel 6121," Xu Xian replied with a gloomy expression.

It's truly speechless that such a thing happened to a perfectly good flight route inspection result.

With radar guidance provided by approach control, there's no need to worry about any approach procedures; the approach directly guides the aircraft to the fifth approach for intercepting the instrument landing system.

Although it seems highly likely that it has nothing to do with Xu Xian and his group, the three people in the cockpit are still on tenterhooks until it is confirmed.

However, even in a bad mood, Xu Xian's handling was still quite steady. Of course, the weather at Hongdu Airport was also very cooperative, with no bumps whatsoever. After adjusting the balance at the fifth approach, he could take both hands off the steering wheel.

With the weather so kind to them, landing was naturally no problem. Xu Xian landed with a gentle ground load of less than 1.2G, and when the wheels touched the runway surface, he barely felt anything.

Even after such a successful landing, Xu Xian still showed no signs of relaxation, waiting for the situation in Hong Kong.

To Xu Xian's surprise, after the plane arrived at the port and the engines were shut down, they didn't call the dispatcher before the dispatcher called them.

Perhaps realizing the enormity of their mistake, the dispatcher did not call the captain in charge of the flight, Gu Kangrong, but instead called Xu Xian.

Xu Xian recognized the phone number as belonging to the dispatcher and glanced at Gu Kangrong: "Instructor, dispatch!"

Gu Kangrong was already on the verge of exploding at any moment. When he saw that the dispatcher dared to bypass him and call Xu Xian, he was furious. He snatched Xu Xian's phone and pressed the call button.

The voice of the dispatcher came from the other end of the phone: "Xu Xian? Did anything happen when you entered the venue?"

Even now, dispatchers still harbor a sliver of hope. Sometimes, approach control won't arrange the approach procedure, but will directly use radar guidance. If radar guidance is used directly, the fact that the new procedure wasn't executed might be concealed.

But the dispatcher had no idea that Gu Kangrong was the one answering the phone. Gu Kangrong was already seething with anger, and when he heard the dispatcher's words, he knew what the dispatcher was thinking, which made him even angrier.

Gu Kangrong laughed angrily: "So, if nothing had gone wrong, the matter of you missing the announcement about the temporary suspension of the new program would have been swept under the rug?"

"Instructor." The dispatcher immediately recognized Gu Kangrong's voice. Upon hearing this, he was terrified. Did Gu Kangrong's words mean his mistake had been exposed? Instantly, he felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him: "Instructor, this was an accident, a real accident! Even the navigation database was updated, who knew there would be another problem?"

Indeed, Star Travel has already updated the navigation databases for all its aircraft, which means the new program's implementation is practically a done deal. After all, if the new program doesn't run, can the airline simply revert to the old version of the navigation database?

It's possible, but extremely troublesome!

However, things that should have been a sure thing based on past experience often go wrong. It is indeed very rare for a airport like Hongdu Airport to announce the implementation of new procedures in advance, only to cancel them the day before.

"You think we fly based on experience?" Gu Kangrong roared. "Flying is based on rules, do you understand rules? Experience can sometimes be wrong, but rules don't. If we make a mistake while following the rules, then it's not our problem, do you understand?"

The situation was now very clear, and Gu Kangrong didn't want to say another word to the dispatcher, so he hung up the phone directly. When he returned the phone to Xu Xian, Gu Kangrong realized a serious problem: what to do about the flight path inspection?

In fact, according to past practice, if someone flies onto the wrong approach route, the flight path inspection would definitely fail without a doubt. However, this situation was somewhat special, as the primary responsibility lay with the dispatcher, not the flight crew. Even so, in most similar cases, the inspector would choose not to sign off, even if they told the person being inspected that they would sign off next time.

After all, if someone with ulterior motives questions you after you sign off on an inspection of a flight route that has run into serious problems, it could cause a lot of trouble.

The problem is, he's already signed it, and you can't erase or change that!

After finishing his work, the worker immediately returned to writing, and he actually made it in time. It's really not easy.

However, this means I might have to take the day off tomorrow. I'll see how it goes and try my best not to.

(End of this chapter)