Legendary Captain

Chapter 280 An Ominous Premonition (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

"Brother Wang, do you really think this is okay? What if we get caught?" One of the two, who was relatively timid, was still worried about this behavior that was breaking the rules.

"Why are you so timid?" the man called Brother Wang said nonchalantly. "We'll just move a little bit to the middle of the runway. It's just our plane, inconspicuous, who will see it? After that brief touchdown, we'll bring it back. What's the problem?"

Brother Wang continued, "If we can get a video of the plane landing face-first, we'll have a lot more confidence when we talk in the group chat from now on."

Flying enthusiasts have their own circles of like-minded people. If they can capture a clear grounding video this time, they can be proud of themselves within their own small circle.

Another, less timid person, thinking they might have a chance to show off, suddenly became interested, especially since what Brother Wang said seemed to make some sense. Just a tiny drone slightly moving towards the middle of the runway—in the noisy airport area, surely no one would notice, right?

Moreover, if anything goes wrong, they can simply leave the drone at the airport and make a run for it. The only loss is the drone; at least they don't have to worry about being caught.

Although drones are worth a lot of money, it's worth the risk if it's just to capture a video of a drone landing at extremely low altitude.

Sometimes the power of encouragement is truly unimaginable, and coupled with a little bit of wishful thinking, any remaining persistence vanishes instantly.

"Then...then let's hurry up, it should...be alright, right?" The timid person had already started to convince himself.

Brother Wang patted him on the shoulder: "It's okay, don't worry, everything's fine!"

"Alright, I'll listen to Brother Wang."

Seeing that the other party had dispelled their last worries, Brother Wang was immediately satisfied: "Just wait and see, you can brag about it with the video..."

Inside the lounge, Cheng Guangyu, upon hearing that Xu Qing and the others intended to continue their advance, could only accept this outcome.

"You runway inspection vehicles, please wait a moment before heading out. The aircraft has a problem right now. Wait until it has completed five turns before you begin your inspection," Cheng Guangyu contacted the airport maintenance personnel.

Because a lot of people were gathered on both sides of the runway, there was no chance that someone might carelessly or with ill intentions throw something onto the runway, which would have a significant impact on the safety of the aircraft's landing.

Prior to this, the organizers had considered this issue, so there was a certain distance between the spectators on both sides of the track and the track edge line. At the same time, there were dedicated personnel monitoring between the spectators and the track to ensure that spectators could not throw things onto the track at will.

However, with so many spectators, there are bound to be some blind spots. If someone were to throw something onto the track with all their might, and the security personnel happened not to see it, wouldn't that cause a big problem?

Therefore, for safety reasons, the airport will send patrol vehicles to walk along the runway just before the plane lands to ensure that there is no debris on the runway.

Prior to this, they had conducted thorough contingency planning. After the aircraft turned into the long five-sided approach, the inspection vehicle entered the runway for inspection. Because the five-sided approach was very long, there was enough time for the inspection vehicle to leave the runway.

However, due to the current aircraft malfunction, the aircraft will not be able to proceed to the fifth leg of the inspection for the time being. To ensure the timeliness of the inspection, the arrival time of the patrol vehicle needs to be slightly postponed.

"Director Cheng, let me check with the control tower. After I confirm, I'll tell the driver," the airport's runway maintenance personnel replied to Cheng Guangyu over the phone.

Cheng Guangyu immediately agreed: "Okay, you can go and confirm it."

The timing of runway inspections is still very important. Even if the other party is the Director of the Aviation Safety Department, Cheng Guangyu is not in the control tower. The control tower is the one that knows the aircraft situation best. Airport maintenance personnel still need to confirm with the control tower to get the most accurate information.

After communicating with the airport about the runway inspection, Cheng Guangyu turned to Xu Xian: "Xu Xian, how technically difficult do you think ultra-low-altitude leveling is? Are you sure Xu Qing is okay with it?"

Personally, Cheng Guangyu still hoped Xu Qing would succeed. However, given that even Han Qi hadn't succeeded, would Xu Qing suffer the same fate?

If Xu Qing can pull this off, it will greatly help repair his reputation. But if he fails, wouldn't he just be making a fool of himself in front of others? At that point, it won't just be a case of everyone kicking someone when they're down; he'll be the one who kicks down his own wall.

"If you want me to be honest, I think this maneuver isn't difficult. The key is finding the point where the ground effect is strongest. Once you catch that moment, the difficulty of the entire leveling maneuver will decrease dramatically. However, it seems that many people can't find that point," Xu Xian said.

It sounds simple, but in practice, there are many problems.

This operation involves not only the pilot's perception but is also influenced by psychological factors.

The term "ultra-low altitude" leveling means that if the pilot doesn't time the leveling point correctly, the aircraft will touch down in a five-sided approach attitude. The ground load for such a low-altitude touchdown starts at two Gs. Regardless of the era, ground loads exceeding two Gs are extremely dangerous because they involve potential structural damage to the airframe.

Pilots under immense psychological pressure will have more distracting thoughts. Once their minds are in turmoil, how can they possibly succeed?

In other words, only a few people, such as Xu Xian, can maintain a calm and composed state of mind under critical and high-pressure conditions. This requirement of mental stability alone filters out a large number of people.

From Xu Xian's personal perspective, the technical difficulty of ultra-low-altitude leveling is not top-notch, but it does require extremely high psychological qualities and perception.

In fact, Xu Xian felt that this ultra-low altitude leveling was very suitable for Xu Qing. No matter how unwilling Xu Qing was to admit it, his right hand was indeed injured, which would definitely have an adverse effect on his operation.

Therefore, the kind of low-altitude leveling that requires a strong mindset but relatively light operation is very suitable for Xu Qing. After all, Xu Qing has been through thick and thin, and his mindset is almost always stable, especially in emergency situations, where he is extremely steady.

"This operation isn't difficult, is it?" Cheng Guangyu was helpless against Xu Xian's extremely Versailles-like behavior: "After Xu Qing lands, don't go out, to avoid another bunch of trouble."

When the plane lands, if Xu Qing comes out, it will definitely attract a lot of attention. If Xu Xian goes out too, things will get chaotic. So Cheng Guangyu had to talk to Xu Xian first and ask him to hide.

Xu Xian knew what Cheng Guangyu was worried about, and he didn't like being surrounded and stared at like a monkey, so he immediately agreed.

On the plane, Lu Xinyu began working on the checklist for flap asymmetry.

"Trailing edge flap asymmetry checklist, condition: Uninstructed roll occurs when the flap changes position, flap indication is inconsistent." This is a description of the flap asymmetry condition.

When the flaps were deployed, the aircraft did indeed experience an uninstructed roll, to the point that the autopilot lost control and disengaged automatically. Furthermore, the flap position indicators on the control panel were inconsistent; one indicated flap 1, and the other flap 40.

The malfunction exhibited by the aircraft is consistent with the checklist description of flap asymmetry.

"Purpose: Adjust the aircraft's landing configuration." This is to let the pilot know what the purpose of this checklist is. Obviously, the checklist for flap asymmetry is not intended for the pilot to fix the flap asymmetry fault, but rather to complete the adjustment of the landing configuration according to the checklist requirements, and then hand the matter over to maintenance personnel after the aircraft lands.

"Received, continue with the checklist." Xu Qing said as he piloted the aircraft, listening to Lu Xinyu read the checklist.

"Step one: Position the flap handle closest to or less than the minimum flap indicator position," Lu Xinyu said. "Right now, one flap is at flap level one and the other is at flap level forty, so the flap handle should be in flap level one. Now that the flap handle is in flap level one, we'll leave it there."

The flap asymmetry they encountered was actually a bit special; most flap asymmetry is a different story.

For example, they start by deploying the flaps from a clean state, placing them in position one. The flap position indicator shows one flap in position one and the other in the retracted position. At this point, according to the checklist, the minimum indicated flap position is the retracted position, so the flap handle should be retracted to the retracted position, not left stationary.

Xu Qing hummed in agreement.

Lu Xinyu then added, "Since there is no asymmetric protection, do not attempt to use the backup flap switch to over-control the trailing edge flap."

The backup overdrive flaps are mostly used when flap misalignment occurs, or when the B system fails or requires manual recovery. However, the backup flap function does not provide asymmetric protection, and using it may exacerbate the asymmetric situation.

"Note that you should not use FMC fuel prediction with any flaps or slats deployed," Lu Xinyu said. "Choose one: if the flap handle is at 30..."

"No!" Xu Qing immediately rejected this option.

"If the flap handle is positioned at 15 or 25."

"no!"

"If the flap handle position is greater than or equal to one, but less than fifteen."

"Yes!" Xu Qing said. The flap handles on the plane are currently in position one, which matches this option perfectly.

「调定Vref40+30的速度。」这个速度就是一会儿进近的参考速度。这个速度输入是在CDU的进近页面。陆心宇计算了下：「Vref40+30那就是166的速度」

Lu Xinyu entered the calculated reference speed, then checked the form: "Proceed to step four, and check the abnormal landing distance table in the Performance - In-flight - Consultation Information section."

In case of malfunctions, aircraft often land in abnormal configurations, resulting in landing distances different from normal landing distances. Therefore, pilots need to consult performance tables and estimate the required landing distance based on the specific circumstances. If the calculated landing distance exceeds the runway distance, the aircraft may not be able to stop at the runway threshold, risking runway overrun.

Under normal circumstances, Hamchi Airport's runway of over 4,000 meters is more than enough. If Hamchi Airport's runway isn't enough, then at least 90% of the airports in Taiwan wouldn't be.

Even though she knew that the runway length at Hamchi Airport was definitely sufficient, Lu Xinyu still checked the table as required and concluded that the landing distance was about 1,500 meters, which was more than enough.

"The runway length is more than enough. After that, there's the additional delay section, the descent checklist, the approach checklist, and so on," Lu Xinyu said. "There's also the ground flap suppression switch and flap suppression in a little while, but that's about it."

Since the aircraft is not in a normal landing configuration at this time, if the flap suppression switch is not turned off, a landing configuration warning will sound, which is very annoying.

"Okay, wait a moment. Apply for a transfer to the fifth wing!" Xu Qing saw that there weren't many check sheets left, so he instructed Lu Xinyu to apply for a transfer to the fifth wing.

"Okay." Lu Xinyu then contacted the control tower: "Control tower, Star Travel 6333, it's on the fifth side."

"Star Cruises 6333 can turn left onto runway 5 and land on runway 02." The control tower gave them landing permission directly. Anyway, the entire airport is prepared for them now, and there are no restrictions.

"Runway 02, ready to land, Star Travel 6333," Lu Xinyu replied.

Immediately, Lu Xinyu used the heading selection to set an entry angle so that Xu Qing could intercept the blind landing.

"Once we intercept the flight path, start shutting down the right-side No. 2 engine," Xu Qing reminded. They were still in the process of intercepting the instrument landing system. It wasn't that they couldn't shut down the engine now, but rather that they should wait until the aircraft was stable on the flight path before shutting down the engine, which would reduce the amount of maneuvering required.

The difficulty in shutting down the engine isn't that great; it's just that Xu Qing finds it troublesome.

Upon learning that the aircraft had turned onto the fifth leg of the runway, the airport immediately contacted the runway inspection vehicle to prepare for a final runway inspection.

In the rest and observation room, Xu Xian saw a car enter the runway and asked curiously, "Is it for a runway inspection?"

"Yes, there are too many people down there. There's no chance that some irresponsible person might throw things onto the runway. We need to check before the plane lands," Cheng Guangyu explained.

Xu Xian glanced around and vaguely saw a black dot in the sky: "Can we get off the runway before the plane lands?"

"Of course! It's all been calculated, there's plenty of time, and it definitely won't affect the aircraft's landing."

Xu Xian frowned: "What if something goes wrong? I just can't rest easy."

"How could things go wrong?" Cheng Guangyu seemed very dissatisfied. "If this all goes wrong, I'll eat this entire event proposal!"

In my previous chapter, I only mentioned that we were starting to wrap things up, not that it would end immediately. There's still a major secret involving Xu Xian to come, which will allow for a more complete conclusion.

If I were to write about Han Qi, I would start from his time as a captain; I no longer want to start from his time as a co-pilot.

Also, it seems there's double monthly tickets now, everyone please help cast your votes, that would be much better. If we can reach 1000 monthly tickets by the end of the month, I'll work hard and add an extra chapter. Not just a regular extra chapter, but a genuinely extra one!

(End of this chapter)