Legendary Captain

Chapter 282 I Cannot Fly Again!

"What are they doing? What are they up to?!" Cheng Guangyu saw that the plane was already clearly visible on the fifth leg, but the runway inspection vehicle still hadn't left the runway. They clearly saw that the driver had already come out and picked up the beverage bottles. The job was done, so why was it still on the runway?

Want to enjoy the scenery from the track?

Cheng Guangyu glanced anxiously at his watch, muttering repeatedly, "It shouldn't be like this, it shouldn't be here so quickly!"

"You mean the plane arrived earlier than expected?" Xu Xian asked, frowning.

"That's right! We must have calculated the time from when the plane cuts into the fifth approach to when it lands, and we must have allowed time for special situations to react, but why is it different from what we expected?" Cheng Guangyu said speechlessly.

They had communicated with the crew beforehand, and after turning to the fifth approach, they immediately cut off the engines and set the flaps to approach speed of 15, making it easy to calculate the time of the entire fifth approach.

They compared the time spent inspecting and patrolling the runway and found that there was an additional four or five minutes of reaction time, even after dealing with any foreign objects found on the runway.

In other words, according to the planned procedure, even if the patrol vehicle finds foreign objects on the runway, the driver gets out to remove them, and after this operation, the plane should still have four or five minutes before landing.

Four or five minutes is more than enough for the five-sided interval.

In Cheng Guangyu's prediction, unless the runway is full of foreign objects, the runway inspection vehicle will absolutely be able to leave the runway before the plane lands.

But if the runway is full of foreign objects, then hundreds of security and maintenance personnel could basically gouge out their eyes as an apology.

What was initially thought to be a flawless plan turned out to have a huge flaw in reality.

But even now, Cheng Guangyu still can't figure out exactly where the problem lies.

After a moment's thought, Xu Xian seemed to have found some clues. Cheng Guangyu, being experienced, also considered a possibility at the same time.

"Approach speed! There's a problem with the approach speed!" Xu Xian and Cheng Guangyu exclaimed in unison.

Cheng Guangyu clapped his hands: "I should have thought of this problem when the crew reported the flap asymmetry! Oh dear!"

Cheng Guangyu was extremely remorseful, as this was one of his major oversights.

They had previously calculated the approach speed based on flap 15, but the approach speed caused by flap asymmetry is Vref40+30, which is a larger value than the approach speed of flap 15.

This is perhaps the most direct reason why the plane arrived early.

Actually, there's no point in dwelling on this issue now. They need to figure out how to move the runway inspection vehicle out as soon as possible, otherwise the plane will have to go back to flight.

Although if the planes were to resume flights as a result, we could simply try again, such a major problem during the event would make anyone or any organization involved feel ashamed.

Under the premise of ensuring safety, Cheng Guangyu still hoped that the plane could land.

At this moment, the cockpit monitoring footage began to appear on a large screen in the lounge. As expected, the video footage from the cockpit camera was quite blurry. Everyone could only roughly make out that the pilot in the right seat was wearing an eye patch; the rest of the visible facial features were not so easy to discern.

If Xu Qing had already replaced Xu Xian on the plane, then judging from the surveillance video, apart from a few people who were very familiar with Xu Xian and might be able to vaguely sense the difference from the blurry image quality, the rest of the people who weren't very familiar with Xu Xian would probably think that the person in the video was Xu Xian himself.

Everyone present was already accomplished, except for a handful of young people like Xu Xian and Wen Jingshu who hadn't experienced Xu Qing's era. Almost everyone else had lived through Xu Qing's time.

In that turbulent era, Xu Qing stood like a monument. Now, more than twenty years later, they can still see Xu Qing in the cockpit of the 737, which makes them feel extremely emotional.

Amidst the crowd, Mei Tingting pursed her red lips, but her inner self was definitely not as calm as she appeared.

In the video footage, Lu Xinyu suddenly stretched his head forward, as if he had noticed something unusual in front of him.

"There's a car on the runway?" Lu Xinyu rubbed his eyes, his brows furrowed deeply. "Really a car? Holy crap!"

"What? There's a vehicle on the runway?" Even Xu Qing was slightly taken aback, but he didn't pay too much attention to it. Instead, he casually asked, "What kind of vehicle? A runway patrol vehicle? How far are we from the runway?"

"Honestly, I really can't see clearly, but it should be a runway inspection vehicle, parked near the rapid departure ramp. I wonder what it's up to?" It's normal for a runway inspection vehicle to check the runway, but the fact that it's parked on the runway is very puzzling. He glanced down at the DME distance display on the DU and replied, "Mr. Xu, we're less than eight nautical miles from the runway."

"Eight nautical miles, right? No rush. If it's within three nautical miles, and that patrol vehicle is still on the runway, then ask the control tower," Xu Qing instructed.

At airports where the five-way boundary is relatively close, it's not uncommon for a plane to be three or four nautical miles from the runway when it has just taken off. The plane is currently eight nautical miles from the runway, which isn't far, but it's not at the point where we need to contact the control tower.

However, if the runway is still not cleared at the three-nautical-mile mark, landing clearance needs to be reconfirmed. Following a normal glide path, the altitude at three nautical miles should be around 1,000 feet. At the current descent rate of Xu Qing's aircraft, they'll touch down in about a minute, so it's necessary to confirm the runway status so the crew can make a decision.

To be honest, not only was Lu Xinyu confused about what the runway inspection vehicle was doing, but Xu Qing was equally baffled. He then added, "You mean that vehicle was parked on the runway? It didn't move?"

Xu Qing was wearing a blindfold, so he could only vaguely see the runway lights. How could he possibly spot the runway inspection vehicle?

"Yeah, that car is parked right next to an exit lane, not moving at all. I don't know what that means," Lu Xinyu muttered. Suddenly, a thought struck him, and a strange look appeared on his face: "Could the car be broken down?"

Xu Qing's face froze. If the car really broke down, they would definitely have to take off again. What was the point of landing?

"Tower, patrol vehicle number one seems to have a problem starting up and can't move. How long until the plane arrives?" Seeing no hope of starting, the driver quickly contacted the tower personnel via the internal channel. He could already see the plane as a small dot in his field of vision. However, judging solely by visual observation, he couldn't know how much time was left.

"Patrol vehicle number one, the plane is expected to land in three minutes. Can you evacuate as soon as possible?" the control tower asked.

To be honest, if the runway inspection vehicle were in any other location, the control tower wouldn't even bother checking with the driver anymore; they would have just directed the aircraft to go around. Unfortunately, the runway inspection vehicle happened to be near the rapid departure ramp, meaning a slight movement would have allowed it to leave the runway and avoid runway incursion.

Actually, there's nothing wrong with the control tower having this idea. After all, it would be quite ridiculous if the event had to be rescheduled due to airport issues, and Hamchi Airport would lose face.

Even if we wait a little longer, if it turns out we really can't move the car off the runway, the crew can just go around the plane. Anyway, the crew just said that going around the plane shouldn't be a problem.

The air traffic controller did not have the mistaken idea of ​​forcing the crew to land; he simply wanted to wait and see if things would turn around.

"Three minutes!" the driver muttered to himself. Turning his head, he saw a line of security personnel maintaining order not far away and an idea immediately popped into his head: "Control tower, I'll find someone to help push the car and see if we can get it out!"

The driver knew that if the plane had to go back to flight because of his fault, it probably wouldn't be a good thing. So, unless it was absolutely necessary, he still hoped to move the vehicle off the runway.

The control tower glanced at the aircraft's identification on the radar, hesitated slightly, and then said, "You only have two and a half minutes. After that, no matter what happens, get off the runway immediately. Take your walkie-talkies, stay in contact at all times, and obey my orders."

Two and a half minutes is the maximum time the control tower can give the driver. In other words, if the vehicle has not moved off the runway 30 seconds before the plane lands, there is no need to put in any more effort, and the tower will directly instruct the plane to go around.

Thirty seconds before the plane landed, at an altitude of about 500 feet, there was still a considerable margin for a go-around. It wasn't very urgent, not as critical as a go-around at decision altitude, much less a go-around at zero altitude.

The air traffic control tower felt it had left itself considerable room for maneuver. And indeed, a go-around at 500 feet was hardly an emergency maneuver.

Finally, to prevent any unexpected situations, the control tower also requires drivers to carry walkie-talkies so they can contact them at any time if the situation changes and react as quickly as possible.

It must be said that, so far, the control tower's response has been both swift and reliable.

"Okay, I understand!" Seeing that the control tower had agreed, the driver quickly grabbed the walkie-talkie from the car, jumped out, and shouted to the security personnel maintaining order nearby, "Hey guys, come help!!!"

"Holy crap! They're pushing the car!" Lu Xinyu, who had been watching the patrol car that was lying still, saw a lot of people gathered around the back of the car and pushing it. He was both amused and exasperated: "It seems like the car really has a problem. What bad luck."

The plane is having problems, and now even the runway inspection vehicle is having problems. Could it be that I didn't check the almanac before going out today, and it's an extreme case of Mercury retrograde?

Xu Qing's expression also darkened, feeling a great sense of regret, but he remained relatively calm, saying, "Forget it, let's see how it goes. If it doesn't work, we'll take off again and do one more lap."

If flights resume because of this, then it's not their problem; they'll definitely have to try again.

At that moment, from the lounge's view, several security personnel were seen being called over by the driver and gathered around the rear of the patrol car, actually starting to push the car.

Cheng Guangyu's face turned green. The plane was almost landing, and there was a group of people pushing a cart on the runway. However, he still trusted the control tower; they wouldn't force the crew to land. They must have already left room for a go-around.

"Ahem, ahem," he coughed, glancing at the large number of media reporters on both sides of the runway, his expression darkening further. After a moment's thought, he turned to face the media representatives: "Distinguished media representatives, as you've all seen, there's been a minor problem at the airport. There's nothing we can do; anything can happen, and I believe you can all understand."

Many media representatives smiled knowingly. One of them said, "Director Cheng, the vehicle probably broke down. There's nothing we can do about it, we understand. I'll give my staff a special talk later. We don't need to dwell on mistakes caused by objective reasons."

"Oh, Editor Chen is so understanding!" Cheng Guangyu was overjoyed. He was really worried that some media outlets would seize on the runway patrol vehicle breaking down and make a big deal out of it.

Once one person expressed their opinion, the other media representatives echoed them, saying they would restrain their subordinates.

This vehicle breakdown wasn't a big deal, nothing to brag about. It would be unwise to disrespect the bureau chief over such a trivial matter.

Xu Xianmei didn't appreciate Cheng Guangyu's "deal" with the media representatives; instead, his gaze kept shifting between the runway and the five-sided track. This runway inspection vehicle wasn't a large vehicle; several strong men could probably push it. Due to inertia, pushing it initially required the most effort, but once it started moving, it became much easier.

Judging from visual observation alone, he couldn't tell how long it would take for the plane to land, or whether he could move the car out before the plane touched down; it was all uncertain.

Suddenly, Xu Xian's gaze froze, his pupils contracted, and he slowly focused his attention on the area directly above the runway. There, something that looked like a black dot seemed to be floating, but it was too far away for him to see clearly. He couldn't tell what it was, and he even wondered if he was seeing things.

"What is this?" Xu Xian murmured softly.

Meanwhile, outside the airport, the two aviation enthusiasts were beaming with excitement. The one with Brother Wang was especially proud: "I told you, nobody would even notice us. It's just a little drone. We'll take the pictures and leave, hehe."

Seeing that no one had noticed the change in their drone's position, the other person was overjoyed to have captured a direct video of the drone landing: "Brother Wang is really bold; we'll have something to brag about when we get back."

"That's... hahaha!" Brother Wang laughed loudly.

Just as the two aviation enthusiasts had predicted, most people did not notice the small drone's change in position. They were more attracted to a group of people pushing carts on the runway, and could not see that a drone had flown over the runway.

However, due to the large number of people present, a very small number of people noticed the unruly drone, including reporters.

One of the reporters who spotted the drone frowned, patted his colleague on the shoulder, pointed to the drone hovering directly above the runway, and asked, "What's the meaning of that drone? Aren't they saying it's not allowed to fly over the runway?"

Those reporters knew perfectly well that the airspace above the runway was the best spot for taking pictures, far better than the side of the runway. It's just that the airport has a strict rule against drones flying over the runway, so they had no choice.

However, seeing that a drone was blatantly violating airport regulations and had not yet been detected, the reporter immediately started to have ulterior motives.

"Huh? There really is?" a reporter colleague asked, puzzled. "Has the airspace above the runway been opened? We didn't receive any notification."

The reporter glanced at the plane about to land, then his eyes lit up: "Who cares? If others dare to fly like this, we'll follow suit. Let's grab a good spot while not many people are paying attention."

As he spoke, he even piloted the drone to fly over the runway.

"No, that's not a good idea. What if the airport holds us accountable?" The colleague was still worried.

The reporter said nonchalantly, "Why bother blaming them? Look, they're still flying over the runway. Don't say anything, let's keep quiet, it'll be fine."

That's human nature. Many people might not be willing to be the first to do something wrong, but if they see that others have already done it, they become bolder.

Based on the hard-core logic of "If others can do it, why can't I?", the reporter started breaking the rules without any psychological burden.

Actually, he suspected that the drone already over the runway was likely breaking the law, as the airport hadn't even opened the airspace above the runway. He knew what he was doing was wrong, but he still harbored a bit of wishful thinking. "Look, others haven't gotten caught, have they? I can too!"

This set a very bad precedent, and soon a second person followed suit. It's worth noting that while there weren't many reporters who saw the drone over the runway, there was more than one.

The other reporters who saw it were still a little hesitant, but soon after, they saw the second drone arrive over the runway, and their psychological burden was immediately relieved.

This is no longer the logic of "if others can do it, I can't," but rather the shameless idea that "the law doesn't punish everyone."

As a result, the third and fourth drones followed. What was originally a stealthy operation became quite a commotion with the addition of so many drones.

The other reporters, once they came to their senses, saw that a number of drones had gathered above the runway. They assumed the airport had lifted the airspace restrictions on the runway, but they hadn't received the notification yet. Immediately, without any hesitation, they all followed, worried that if they were too slow, they wouldn't be able to find a suitable filming location.

In this way, the airport's restrictions on the airspace above the runway have become virtually ineffective.

At this moment, among the three locations—the control tower, the rest area, and the cockpit—only Xu Xian vaguely sensed that something was amiss. The others were focused on whether the patrol vehicle had been pushed out, and had no idea that more and more drones had gathered over the runway.

In the control tower, the controller kept his eyes glued to the radar screen. As the plane drew closer and closer, the final moment arrived, but the patrol vehicle on the runway remained motionless.

He immediately asked, "The cart still won't move?"

Soon, the driver's frustrated voice rang out: "I still can't push it!"

At that moment, the driver looked up and saw the aircraft, which was now quite clear in the distance. He knew it was too late.

The air traffic controller slammed his fist on the table and exclaimed in regret, "Oh well, it's too late. Get off the runway immediately. I've given the plane a go-around."

In the cockpit, Lu Xinyu kept a close eye on the progress of the pushcart. With the plane less than three nautical miles from the runway and the cart still not moving, he grew increasingly impatient: "Still not working, we need to go around it!"

The plane is very close to landing now, and the air traffic controller can't be too precise with the timing, otherwise it would affect flight safety. He will definitely leave some room to instruct them to go around the gate in advance. Judging from the current situation, the vehicle can't be pushed out. At the current altitude and distance of the plane, it's probably close to the air traffic control's limit.

"Let me check with the control tower first." Just as Lu Xinyu was about to ask for the tower's decision, the control tower issued an order the instant his finger touched the speak button: "Star Travel 6333, landing clearance cancelled, go-around!"

Upon receiving the order, Xu Qing sighed heavily, ripped off his blindfold, and prepared to take off again.

But the moment he pulled off the blindfold, his gaze froze.

In the lounge, a media representative suddenly received a call from his subordinate: "Boss, has the airspace ban over the airport runways been lifted?"

"What does this mean? I didn't receive any notification," the media representative asked, puzzled.

His subordinates were also stunned: "Then why do I see so many drones already flying over the runway?"

It turns out that some reporters do follow the rules. Even though quite a few drones had already flown over the runway, they still decided to ask their superiors for permission first, which led to this phone call.

"You said there are many drones over the runway?" The media representative was taken aback, and his gaze immediately shifted to the runway, which had been overlooked earlier.

At the same time, the air traffic control's voice came through the lounge's speakers: "Star Trek 6333, landing clearance canceled, go-around!"

The media representative's heart skipped a beat; as expected, the landing was canceled. His gaze then fell back on the runway, but before he could discern the details, he heard the sound coming from the speakers again.

"Star Travel 6333, I cannot resume flight!"

That's Xu Qing's voice!

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(End of this chapter)