Legendary Captain

Chapter 270 Showing Off Skills (Part Two)

Sheng Shilong's smug laughter abruptly stopped when the warning sound of the autopilot disengaging abruptly ceased. Not only Sheng Shilong, but even Lu Xinyu was startled. He had been focusing a lot of energy on dealing with Sheng Shilong, so he reacted slightly to the sudden warning sound.

The warning sound for autopilot disengaging is quite noticeable, and it rarely disengages at other times except during the fifth phase of the journey.

Of course, it's not that it's not allowed, but for most pilots, they only use manual control during takeoff and landing, and rely mainly on autopilot the rest of the time.

Generally, disengaging autopilot during non-takeoff and landing phases is mostly seen among senior first officers, as the requirements for manual control are quite strict during captain selection checks. Therefore, these senior first officers who are transitioning to captainships will deliberately hone their manual control skills. Since takeoff and landing only constitute a small portion of the entire flight, there isn't enough time for practice. So sometimes they will request to maintain manual control for a longer period after takeoff, or disengage autopilot earlier before landing for manual flight.

Therefore, it did seem quite abrupt for Xu Xian, a co-pilot with such a technical skill level, to disengage the autopilot while still some distance from entering the five-sided area. Precisely because they were not mentally prepared for this, Sheng Shilong and Lu Xinyu both felt that something was wrong when the autopilot disengaged.

"What's going on?" Sheng Shilong subconsciously scanned down from the back ceiling to see if any lights were on. As he asked, he pressed the signal sign. However, after this inspection, he couldn't find anything wrong.

Lu Xinyu was sitting in the observer's seat, which actually gave him a better view than the other two people present. While Sheng Shilong was still checking for problems, Lu Xinyu only needed to glance at him to confirm that no fault lights were on.

Having confirmed there were no problems, Sheng Shilong, with half his face contorted in a grimace, questioned Xu Xian, "What are you doing?"

Xu Xian gripped the steering wheel with one hand and the accelerator with the other. His left palm was facing upwards, outstretched towards Sheng Shilong: "Transportation."

Sheng Shilong, who was there to interrogate Xu Xian, was momentarily speechless at Xu Xian's answer. After realizing what he had said, he flew into a rage: "I'm asking you what you did! Why did the autopilot disconnect? And you're telling me it's communication?"

Xu Xian turned his head: "Are you asking me to manually fly the plane while also handling communications? If you think that meets the standards, I'm fine with it, since it doesn't affect my control anyway."

Given Xu Xian's abilities, even if he were to manually control the aircraft while also handling radio communications, it wouldn't have a significant impact on him. However, according to the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP), we're almost at the critical stage of flight, and having Xu Xian handle both control and communications is not in accordance with regulations, especially during inspections where strict adherence to regulations is crucial.

However, if Sheng Shilong feels that Xu Xian's simultaneous manipulation and communication are unrelated to him, Xu Xian wouldn't mind doing it together; the key is just Sheng Shilong's attitude.

"You're just being pretentious!" Sheng Shilong finally understood. Xu Xian just thought he had strong piloting skills, so he disconnected the autopilot early and switched to manual flight. This was blatant showing off.

However, the weather at Yunnan Airport is good today, and there is no strong convection yet. When flying overhead, the turbulence is not strong, so the so-called skill of disengaging autopilot to show off is of no value at all.

Is there any particular difficulty in manually flying in this kind of weather? Will it improve the flight path inspection score? That's naive!

To be honest, Xu Xian has been through a lot and is not some naive co-pilot. How could he do something so childish?

Moreover, even though the airflow at Dianyungang Airport is relatively stable most of the time, it's not impossible that a sudden, brief period of severe turbulence could occur. Dianyungang Airport seems to be cursed; it experiences strong winds and turbulence for two-thirds of the year. If the airflow suddenly jolts the plane and the pilot doesn't react in time, causing a deviation from the flight path or altitude, then something terrible could happen.

Of course, if something really goes wrong, Xu Xian will definitely take the lion's share of the blame, and Sheng Shilong will at most bear supervisory responsibility. If Xu Xian really messes things up, then he won't even need to find a reason to punish Xu Xian; the reason will come to him directly.

In fact, Sheng Shilong was too lazy to bother Xu Xian anymore, but he couldn't resist the fact that Xu Xian was offering himself up for free, and he would feel guilty if he didn't accept it.

Compared to Sheng Shilong's speechless and surprised expression, Lu Xinyu really wanted to slap Xu Xian. What kind of time is this? Can't he be a little more reserved? He knew Xu Xian was capable, but he could let him show off in special situations. Now it was a flight path inspection; couldn't he rein in that desire to perform?

Before this, Lu Xinyu felt that Sheng Shilong had deliberately come to cause trouble. But on the return flight, although he didn't know if Sheng Shilong had taken the wrong medicine, his mood inexplicably became very good, and he seemed unwilling to "fight" with them. Wouldn't that mean they could fly smoothly and there was still a good chance they could pass this cross-regional inspection?

Even though Lu Xinyu was mentally prepared for the cross-regional inspection results to be unsatisfactory, he wouldn't be so shameless as to refuse if he could pass.

Good heavens, Sheng Shilong is now willing to let them go, but Xu Xian has actually gotten carried away. He really knows how to rub salt in the wound. What kind of situation is this?

It's not that Lu Xinyu didn't trust Xu Xian's ability to control things, but there was absolutely no need to do it this way. They clearly had a solution, and Yunnan Airport was not a good place to go. Who knew if Xu Xian would make a mistake?

In fact, even if Xu Xian did not deviate from the course or altitude, as long as he did not fly the plane steadily, Sheng Shilong could still say that the flight quality was poor. Wouldn't that be handing someone a handle to use against him?

What is Xu Xian thinking?

However, despite harboring many grievances against Xu Xian, they were still on the same side, and Xu Xian's status was no longer what it used to be, so they still had to be polite. Therefore, Lu Xinyu thoughtfully suggested, "Xu Xian, we're still far from the point where we need to forcibly disconnect autopilot, there's no need to disconnect it, is there? Why don't we reconnect it?"

Lu Xinyu has almost explicitly instructed Xu Xian to connect to autonomous driving.

Sheng Shilong smiled knowingly, as if watching a play. So Lu Xinyu was in a hurry after all. Young people are often arrogant and eager to prove themselves; it would be interesting if they shot themselves in the foot.

Sheng Shilong was definitely happy to see the drama between Lu Xinyu and Xu Xian. In any case, it was an internal problem of Xingyou Airlines, and he, as an outsider, could just watch from the sidelines.

Despite Lu Xinyu's almost explicit statement, Xu Xian's response was still a nonchalant "It's okay."

I rub!

Xu Xian's words sounded so nonchalant, but that only made Lu Xinyu find it harder to accept. However, things had already come to this point; verbal persuasion seemed less important, unless he could simply snatch the steering wheel from Xu Xian. But even if Lu Xinyu had a thousand lives, he wouldn't dare to do that!

"I'm so fed up!" Lu Xinyu said indignantly.

Seeing that Xu Xian wouldn't listen to reason, Sheng Shilong almost burst out laughing. He said earnestly, "Xu Xian, I'm going to connect the communication now. If you want to fly manually, we won't stop you. But if you can't fly it well, let's be clear first, don't expect me to go easy on you!"

Xu Xian didn't even blink, simply saying, "What good would it do for me to beg you to show mercy?"

Sheng Shilong was taken aback, then laughed: "That's true. If you mess up yourself, begging me won't help. Good luck to you."

Lu Xinyu, who was listening from behind, felt like he wanted to die.

"Grandpa, you said you want to increase investment in Star Travel Airlines? Is it necessary? Star Travel Airlines has indeed been developing well recently, but it will soon encounter a bottleneck. The majority of the market is not on our side. No matter how much we invest, it may not be useful." In the Wen family ancestral home, Wen Jingshu expressed great incomprehension when she heard her grandfather, Wen Changxing, say that he wanted to shift the group's funds towards Star Travel Airlines.

Indeed, Xingyou Airlines has been developing well recently due to the relationship between Xu Xian and Lian Shanxie. However, in the foreseeable future, Xingyou Airlines will encounter a ceiling, which is Kunlong Airlines and Qingyuan Group. These are two formidable obstacles that no airline can ignore.

Xingyou Aviation has achieved phased development based solely on its reputation. However, breaking through the encirclement of Kunlong Aviation and Qingyuan Group will likely require more than just throwing money at it.

It's not that Wen Jingshu is unwilling to give up those extra budget funds, but meaningless things are meaningless no matter how much you invest. Money doesn't grow on trees, so you can't just throw money away like that.

Wen Changxing said with a smile, "Haven't you heard about Xu Qing's news? Soon, Qingyuan Group will become the target of everyone's criticism. Kunlong Airlines will naturally take the lion's share of the market share it leaves behind, but Kunlong Airlines doesn't have that big an appetite. They'll always let us have some soup. This time, we'll be full just from the soup."

"Xu Qing? What news?" Since Wen Changxing temporarily took over the group's affairs, all intelligence and such matters have been directly communicated to Wen Changxing. Wen Jingshu has not dealt with the group's affairs for a long time.

Wen Changxing's wrinkles deepened with a smile: "Things are a bit complicated. Simply put, Kunlong Airlines has launched an attack on Qingyuan Group, publicly reopening Xu Qing's wounds, and reopening them quite badly. Xu Qing probably won't be able to recover."

No airline can compete with Kunlong Airlines and Qingyuan Group. The only way to break the deadlock is for the two tigers to fight each other. Now it seems that Qingyuan Group, the tiger, has already withdrawn its claws and no longer has the prestige of the king of the mountain. Its decline is inevitable.

In fact, Qingyuan Group's market share is slightly larger than Kunlong Airlines'. Faced with the enormous market vacuum that is about to emerge, Kunlong Airlines cannot absorb it all, even if it tries its best; a significant portion will ultimately be taken by other airlines.

At this juncture, if Wen Changxing doesn't increase investment in Xingyou Aviation within the group and prepare to seize the market at any time, is he going to resort to last-minute preparations?

The reason he didn't increase investment in Chimelong Airlines is that Chimelong Airlines doesn't match the low-to-mid-end market vacated by the Qingyuan Group. He couldn't very well force Chimelong Airlines to change its operating strategy because of this, could he?

In comparison, Star Travel focuses on the mid-to-low-end market, which it can perfectly fill. Moreover, Star Travel has been developing very well recently, and it's in a prime position to further expand its business.

Wen Jingshu noticed a document on the tea table in front of Wen Changxing. Sensing something, she bent down, picked up the document, and examined it carefully.

As expected, the information contained details about what Xu Qing encountered at the X10 routine promotion meeting.

Wen Changxing is getting old and doesn't like using electronic products, so he often submits documents in paper form, even though paper documents are often not as convenient as electronic ones.

This document is very brief and was clearly rushed, but it gives you a general idea of ​​what's going on.

When Wen Jingshu saw the part about the so-called illegitimate child, her pretty face completely darkened.

"Grandpa, Kunlong Aviation has completely offended Xu Qing. If we try to seize the market vacated by Qingyuan Group now, wouldn't that be kicking him when he's down?"

Wen Changxing, however, didn't seem to care: "Girl, Kunlong Airlines did act ruthlessly, but the results were excellent! Do you really think Xu Qing has a chance to turn things around? With Xu Qing gone, Qingyuan Group is just an ordinary airline, with no profits to speak of. It's only natural that their market share is shrinking. If we don't take it, someone else will. Are we going to let such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity slip by?"

As he spoke, Wen Changxing looked Wen Jingshu up and down: "You're not worried about that kid Xu Xian, are you?"

Xu Qing and Xu Xian had a personal relationship, similar to that between an elder and a junior, and he never believed the absurd claim of an illegitimate child.

If they take over the market share vacated by Qingyuan Group, it would be, in a sense, an act of kicking someone when they're down for Qingyuan Group and for Xu Qing.

Clearly, this behavior would anger Xu Qing, which in turn would affect Xu Xian. It's obvious that Wen Jingshu doesn't want to jeopardize her relationship with Xu Xian.

"Grandpa, what if I said yes?" Wen Jingshu did not evade her thoughts.

"Girl, Qingyuan Group has built up a huge market share over the past twenty years. Do you know how much of a piece of the pie you're asking the group to give up just because of your personal feelings? Do you think that's appropriate?"

Wen Jingshu: "But Grandpa, Xu Qing helped us secure the Kunyang Airport investment deal, and now we're going to take over his territory? Isn't that going too far?"

Prior to this, Xu Qing had already acted as an intermediary to secure the investment deal for Kunyang Airport for Wen Jingshu. Logically, the Wen Group owed Xu Qing a huge favor. However, seeing Xu Qing's declining fortunes, the Wen Group couldn't wait to tear apart the Qingyuan Group's flesh and blood. How is this any different from that of beasts?

“Even without us, someone else would have played the same role. This is his destined fate, and no one can change it,” Wen Changxing said. “You and your father are really different. If it were him, he wouldn’t have had any such concerns.”

His son, Wen Mingyuan, who is also Wen Jingshu's father, can even dig a pit for his future in-laws. This man never hesitates when choosing between personal feelings and family interests. This is the difference between the father and daughter.

"But Grandpa, the group will ultimately be handed over to me. You need to understand that." Wen Jingshu's attitude was firmer than ever before: "Grandpa, are you really going to sacrifice principles for petty gains?

At that moment, Wen Changxing was stunned: "Yes, in the end, the group will still be handed over to you. I'm just guarding it for you, guarding it for you."

"Grandpa, I think you underestimate Xu Qing. The situation seems clear now, but it's not as certain as it seems. Let's wait and see."

Wen Changxing could understand Wen Jingshu's attempt to stop him from kicking someone when they were down, but he did not agree with her statement that Xu Qing was not completely dead yet.

However, Wen Changxing felt there was no need to argue with his granddaughter about whether Xu Qing had truly died; time would tell.

Wen Jingshu's generation idolizes Xu Qing too much, thinking he is too powerful. In fact, he is just an ordinary person. How could he possibly defy the heavens?

"After thinking about it, I realized that my grandson is more important, and it's really inconvenient to strain my relationship with Xu Xian too much." Wen Changxing changed his mind.

His granddaughter is very stubborn; she's probably set her sights on Xu Xian. If he wants to have a grandson soon, he really shouldn't let his relationship with Xu Xian deteriorate.

Although the market share vacated by Qingyuan Group is very tempting, the smaller player is more important. Even though it's a bit of a pity, let's put an end to the attempt to seize market share from Qingyuan Group.

"Star Travel 6372, turn right, heading 050, descend to altitude 3000, ready to establish ILS on runway 03, route report."

"Turn right to heading 050, descend to 3000 meters, ILS can be established on runway 03, airway report, Star Travel 6372." Sheng Shilong chuckled as he adjusted the altitude to 9800 feet, selected heading 050, verified the ILS code was correct, and pre-positioned the heading, saying, "VOR/LOC pre-positioned, fly well."

Xu Xian was so focused on piloting the plane that he didn't even acknowledge Sheng Shilong.

"By the way, does your company recommend using balance this frequently? I've seen you use it almost constantly," Sheng Shilong teased, then asked Lu Xinyu, "Do you think he's using balance too much?"

Lu Xinyu was annoyed by Sheng Shilong's amused expression at this moment, but after watching Xu Xian operate the system from behind, he did indeed find that Xu Xian's frequency of using the main electric balance was truly astonishing.

It's not that there are regulations requiring the use of main electric balance, but balance is ultimately just an auxiliary means of operation. However, in Xu Xian's case, it seems that using main electric balance is the primary means of operation, which is a bit of putting the cart before the horse.

Moreover, there was one thing that Lu Xinyu was particularly concerned about: Xu Xian's manipulation seemed to be somewhat different from what Lu Xinyu had expected.

It's not that Xu Xian's control was bad; it was just average. He didn't have the experience one might expect, and there were even some minor flaws in maintaining pitch.

However, even so, it certainly cannot be said that Xu Xian has a problem. No regulation restricts the use of the main electric balancer. At most, Sheng Shilong can say that Xu Xian's operating habits are bad, but that cannot be used as a reason to hang him.

"Xu Xian, you don't seem to be quite the same as the legends say! If your performance continues like this, it will be truly disappointing." Indeed, Xu Xian's performance was a little rough, but that was by no means a reason to call him out. Sheng Shilong was just making a comment, and he found it quite pleasant to be able to criticize a recent legendary figure like this.

Even judging from Xu Xian's piloting performance, he felt that Xu Xian might be undeserving of his reputation, having a huge name but not actually being that strong. Just a simple manual flight, and he flew it so crudely, which really didn't match his reputation.

While teasing Xu Xian, Sheng Shilong kept an eye on the instrument readings: "The course has shifted."

"Check!" Xu Xian also noticed that the navigation stick was starting to move, which meant that the aircraft was about to intercept the navigation.

At this moment, Xu Xian suddenly said, "You'd better look carefully; it seems your eyesight isn't very good!"

(End of this chapter)