Legendary Captain

Chapter 301 The Inexplicable Stick Twister

After finishing everything, Xu Xian began his refresher training. As expected, more than a third of the three days and twelve hours of simulator training were spent either repairing malfunctions or calling for support personnel. Even during the remaining two-thirds of the time, the simulator's control panel would frequently crash. Each crash took at least ten minutes to recover, and the frequency of these crashes was extremely high.

The reason is that after each training exercise, certain systems of the aircraft are inevitably malfunctioned. After each training exercise, the instructor has to restore the malfunction and start over. However, during this process of resetting the malfunction, the aircraft crashes three or four times out of ten.

Whether it's Xu Xian's co-pilot refresher course or Cheng Jingdong's captain refresher course, both courses cover essential content. These include things like engine restart failure, aborted takeoff, post-takeoff wind shear, five-way wind shear, detours around thunderstorms, conflict handling, system malfunctions, and precision and non-precision approaches and go-arounds under different malfunction conditions.

This is just a very general overview. If we were to break it down further, the training subjects would be numerous. Refresher training isn't about having pilots take off and land safely, just like most real flights. Refresher training is about flying malfunctions. If you don't fly malfunctions during refresher training, do you expect them to fly emergency malfunctions on actual flights?

However, if any malfunction occurs, resetting the fault on the simulator requires hoping the simulator control panel doesn't crash; otherwise, a single crash will waste at least ten minutes of training time.

This is why many pilots dislike coming to the Hanjing Flight Simulator Center. Training at this simulator center makes it impossible to conduct complete and systematic training; it's a pure waste of training time.

For a talented pilot like Xu Xian, one more training session or one less makes little difference. In Xu Xian's current situation, it's time for him to be promoted to captain, and nothing can stop him.

However, for ordinary pilots, each refresher training session is a process of identifying and filling in gaps in their knowledge, especially for those first officers in higher positions. This is because when they are transferred to the seventh-level first officer position, the official inspection is a simulator inspection, so they regard refresher training as a trial for the upcoming official inspection.

Refresher training only happens once every six months, so the opportunity is quite precious. If one of those opportunities were wasted at the Hanjing Simulation Center, wouldn't those high-ranking co-pilots be furious?

However, Xu Xian could no longer improve his skills through refresher training. The special circumstances he encountered were ones that even instructors wouldn't dare to present on a simulator.

The three emergency situations handled by Xu Xian—the Chimelong volcanic ash incident, the Kunyang River emergency landing incident, and the final hazardous materials leak incident—anyone who dares to handle any of these situations on a simulator would be committing a clear violation. The difficulty level genuinely exceeded the limits. Perhaps it would be acceptable for instructors to experience these situations during training flights, but which inspector would dare to use this as an inspection subject? They'd be in for a lawsuit and reported to the authorities.

Therefore, what Xu Xian needs now is to accumulate flying experience at various airports, rather than relying solely on his exceptional talent.

Cheng Jingdong was already a captain and had developed his own flying style, so refresher training wouldn't be very beneficial for him. For a seasoned captain, refresher training is more like a task, offering little in the way of personal growth.

Therefore, having Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong fly the simulator together in Hanjing minimized the waste. Moreover, although Xu Xian was looking forward to seeing how Lu Xinyu would deal with Cheng Jingdong, he felt physically uncomfortable the first day he saw Cheng Jingdong's face. Flying the simulator with him made Xu Xian feel uncomfortable all over. Sometimes, the handover of control between the two was quite awkward.

Because troubleshooting is a common occurrence in simulators, and during troubleshooting, there are frequent situations where control is transferred, such as when the display source malfunctions. If the display source on the captain's side malfunctions, then the MFD and DU on the captain's side will both display fault flags, making it impossible to acquire flight data. In that case, control must be transferred to the co-pilot's side.

On many occasions, when Cheng Jingdong said he would hand over control, Xu Xian was very reluctant to say he would take control, leading to several stalemates.

Cheng Jingdong wanted to hand over the controls, but Xu Xian refused. Teacher He Changyuan could only laugh awkwardly from behind, unable to do anything about Xu Xian.

However, because the simulator kept malfunctioning and training was frequently interrupted, Xu Xian was finally able to catch his breath without having to work with Cheng Jingdong.

At this point, Xu Xian wished he had a superpower to adjust the flow of time and fast forward to the fourth day of the inspection.

However, although Xu Xian had a very difficult three days, having to suppress the urge to beat up Cheng Jingdong every day, there was still some good news. For example, he received a call from Xu Qing, who said that Ye Qing had brought a research team to the Qingyuan Group's research lab, and the two sides had begun collaborative development.

After reviewing Qingyuan Group's research achievements on small bypass turbofan engines in recent years, Ye Qing said that Qingyuan Group is actually quite close to success. They only need to give it a little push to get a self-developed small bypass turbofan engine. It seems that the time to overcome the final difficulty will not be long.

In Ye Qing's view, developing a small-bypass turbofan engine without vectoring nozzles, with less demanding thrust-to-weight ratio requirements, and with Qingyuan Group having already done a lot of preliminary work, wasn't a very difficult task. After all, the technical support he provided was less like support and more like breaking through the final barrier.

Ye Qing's plan is to overcome several core issues within six months, after which the remaining work can be handed over to the Qingyuan Group's research lab.

For a mature small bypass turbofan engine, overcoming the core challenges within six months is already considered quite fast.

Ever since Ye Qing's team moved into Qingyuan Group, Xu Qing has been calling Xu Xian almost every day to report on the research progress. Although Xu Qing doesn't know what he has to report to Xu Xian, he's happy to do so. Xu Qing knows that Ye Qing's willingness to come and help at Qingyuan Group for a period of time is definitely not because of Xu Qing's influence.

Xu Qing has been cheerful every day lately, so he had to share his joy with Xu Xian. Although Xu Xian couldn't understand Xu Qing's various engine theories over the phone, he could personally feel Xu Qing's excitement and was genuinely happy for him.

Of course, Xu Qing wasn't originally an engine expert, but he often visited the research lab and had some knowledge of engine theory. Compared to novices like Xu Xian, he was already considered a semi-expert.

According to Xu Qing, the SST-001 should be finalized within five years, followed by a long period of test flights. Xu Qing said that if he could see the supersonic SST-001 finalized in his lifetime, his life would be worthwhile.

Just like Xu Qing's overflowing excitement, the senior executives of Qingyuan Group are now all smiles every day. Originally, due to Xu Qing's public relations crisis, Qingyuan Group's stock price had been plummeting, and the group's market value had been dropping rapidly, causing the senior executives to be so worried that they were almost bald.

However, a single landing operation at Hamchi Airport and Xu Qing's farewell interview instantly reversed the public opinion surrounding Xu Qing.

In fact, within a short period of time, Qingyuan Group's sales in all aspects experienced an explosive rebound, even better than the sales performance before the public opinion crisis. The stock price, which had fallen, not only recovered but also exceeded the price before the decline. Qingyuan Group was making a fortune.

Kunlong Airlines has recently deviated from its usual high-profile style, becoming unusually low-key. This is because news of Han Qi's departure from Kunlong has recently surfaced, which is a devastating blow to the airline. At this time, Yunshang is busy dealing with the media's constant inquiries about Han Qi's whereabouts, so where would it find the time to expand externally?

Previously, Wen Changxing was worried that Wen Jingshu's help in replacing Xu Xian with Xu Qing would anger Yunshang and invite retaliation from Kunlong Airlines, but seeing that Yunshang is now preoccupied with its own problems, he breathed a sigh of relief.

At Hamchi Airport, during the ultra-low-altitude flattening performance originally prepared for Xu Xian, Wen Jingshu specifically informed the airport security department to turn a blind eye to Xu Qing boarding the plane. Otherwise, even if Xu Qing had won over Xu Xian and Lu Xinyu, he wouldn't have been able to get past the security check.

Since Wen Jingshu had helped before, Xu Qing naturally knew how to be grateful. He instructed Qingyuan Group to give up several high-quality routes to Chimelong Airlines and Xingyou Airlines as compensation. Everyone was happy, except for Yunshang, who was in a mess.

During this period, Xu Xian had already received information from Ye Qing regarding the approved C-16 test flight. He also searched online for some information about the C-16 fighter jet.

The C-16 fighter jet appears to be a lower-end version of the C-15 twin-engine heavy fighter. Its existence stems from the belief among some experts that bulky twin-engine heavy fighters represent a flawed design philosophy, while sleek, lightweight fighters are the correct approach. Therefore, the C-16 was designed from the outset with energy maneuverability in mind, boasting extremely high kinetic and potential energy conversion efficiency, resulting in exceptionally strong maneuverability.

Another important reason is that the C-15 is simply too expensive, so expensive that even the usually generous Air Force feels a strain on its budget. Of course, the high price isn't the C-15's problem; it's the purchasing party's financial situation.

However, a mix of high and low quality is normal; otherwise, too much blood loss would be unbearable.

Xu Xian himself prefers fighter jets with high maneuverability, such as the C-16. Since seeing information about the C-16, Xu Xian has been increasingly looking forward to experiencing its flight soon.

After three grueling days, Xu Xian finally finished his three-day training course and will begin a proficiency check at 2 PM tomorrow.

After the training ended, Xu Xian, Cheng Jingdong, and instructor He Changyuan did not leave the simulator center immediately, but instead filled out some necessary documents in the debriefing room.

The refresher training course involved filling out numerous paper documents, some of which required the instructor's signature. Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong hadn't filled them out for the first two days, leaving them all for the last day.

In the debriefing room, instructor He Changyuan was leisurely playing on his phone, while Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong were filling out their own information. As for the paper simulator training task sheet, it was still Xu Xian who completed it, even though he was actually very unwilling.

Instructor He Changyuan seemed quite relaxed, playing on his phone while occasionally accepting documents and materials from Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong that required his signature, or writing comments and recommendations for each lesson—all very short writing tasks.

After completing Cheng Jingdong's inspection and recommendation page, Cheng Jingdong suddenly mentioned something to He Changyuan: "Instructor, I'm planning to invite General Lu to lunch tomorrow. Are you joining the crew tomorrow morning or afternoon? If you're joining the afternoon, would you do me the honor of having lunch together?"

With his business finished today, He Changyuan, as a flight instructor, was done with his mission and was planning to join a flight crew to return to Yunnan tomorrow. However, He Changyuan had not yet decided which flight crew to join.

There are two daily flights between Hanjing and Yunnan, one departing at 7:00 AM and the other at 4:00 PM. If He Changyuan decides to add the crew for the 7:00 AM flight, then he definitely won't be able to attend the lunch gathering tomorrow. Therefore, Cheng Jingdong needs to ask He Changyuan in advance to make preparations.

Inviting the inspector to dinner before a routine inspection to build rapport is quite normal practice. Some more petty inspectors might even hold a grudge if you don't invite them to dinner, and then deliberately increase the difficulty of the inspection. Therefore, over time, inviting the inspector to dinner before an inspection has become an unspoken rule.

While Cheng Jingdong was asking He Changyuan questions, Xu Xian was engrossed in writing, showing absolutely no interest in Cheng Jingdong's so-called invitation to dinner. He figured Cheng Jingdong wouldn't invite him anyway, and of course, Xu Xian wasn't particularly interested in these kinds of dinners. Mainly, Cheng Jingdong's presence would directly affect his appetite.

The only thing Xu Xian is still somewhat interested in is what kind of trouble Lu Xinyu will cause him tomorrow to deal with.

He Changyuan was still playing on his phone when Cheng Jingdong asked him this question. He was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what Cheng Jingdong meant: "Oh, that? Let's just forget about that. It's a waste of money."

"Teacher, how is this a waste of money?" Cheng Jingdong smiled and said, "These are all the rules."

He Changyuan clearly knew some inside information: "Forget it, whatever you want. I reckon President Lu won't agree to it anyway."

"And what about you, instructor?"

He Changyuan laughed and said, "I'll just eat at the simulator center's cafeteria. I'll go back and get a good night's sleep, and leave tomorrow afternoon."

"Teacher, since you're not going back until the afternoon, why don't we have lunch together?"

"You child, I've explained it so clearly, and you still don't understand?" He Changyuan was speechless. Cheng Jingdong looked good, but it turned out he had traded his intelligence for his looks.

Cheng Jingdong, unsure what He Changyuan was referring to, asked, somewhat bewildered, "Teacher, is there a problem?"

"Never mind, never mind, no problem." He Changyuan was also exasperated with Cheng Jingdong. He tapped on the table in front of Xu Xian to get Xu Xian's attention and then asked, "Is it finished?"

"It'll be soon, what's wrong?" Xu Xian asked, puzzled.

"Take the rest back and write them down. I'm leaving, I can't take it anymore." He Changyuan waved his hand, put away his phone, and signaled to leave work. Xu Xian followed closely behind, leaving Cheng Jingdong, who was unaware of what had happened, behind.

He Changyuan left the debriefing room and saw that Xu Xian had followed, but Cheng Jingdong hadn't. He beckoned Xu Xian to come to his side and said, "Doesn't that silly kid know that President Lu is coming with a knife tomorrow?"

"Teacher, does he look like he knows?" Xu Xian sneered.

"Cheng Jingdong's character isn't great, but he's a decent pilot. I don't know how he offended President Lu. If he fails tomorrow's inspection, it'll be at least six months before he can regain his captain rank. Tsk tsk tsk!" He Changyuan said as they walked. "And did you know that President Lu is getting promoted soon?"

"Promoted to a permanent position? The general manager of the flight department has already been chosen, and it's Lu Xinyu?" Xu Xian asked in surprise, as he really didn't know about this.

"Lin Bo's retirement procedures have been processed and should be completed soon. I estimate that the new appointment of the general manager of the flight department should be announced in about half a month. The candidate has been decided, and it will be General Manager Lu." Compared to Xu Xian, who usually doesn't care about company affairs at all, He Changyuan's inside information is still very accurate.

"The general manager of the flight department is Lu Xinyu, so who's my mentor?"

"Your master has been promoted!" He Changyuan said, "It seems that President Luo Qing is going to be transferred to Chimelong, which will leave the position of Vice President of Operations vacant. Your master may be able to skip a level and be promoted directly to Vice President of Operations."

"Is this even possible? Shouldn't one normally need to serve as a general manager of the flight department as a stepping stone before being promoted to vice president of operations? Is it possible to skip a level like this?"

Take Luo Qing, the current Vice President of Operations at Xingyou Airlines, as an example. His career path was as follows: first, he became the captain of the Boeing fleet; then, he became the chief pilot; next, he became the deputy general manager of the flight department; then, he became the general manager of the flight department; and finally, he became the vice president of operations.

While the promotion path may not be strictly defined, all former vice presidents of operations who started as pilots have had to first become general managers of the flight department. The rumored precedent of Qin Zongyang skipping directly from deputy general manager of the flight department to vice president of operations is false.

He Changyuan gave Xu Xian a meaningful look: "Who told Old Qin to have such a good apprentice?"

The following day at noon, Lu Xinyu did not go to the lunch party that Cheng Jingdong had mentioned, because Lu Xinyu had lunch with Xu Xian and He Changyuan in the cafeteria of the simulator center, while Cheng Jingdong was nowhere to be found.

In any case, Cheng Jingdong was an insignificant figure to Xu Xian or Lu Xinyu; whether he was there or not made no difference.

Xu Xian and Lu Xinyu had lunch, sat in their room for a while, and then went to the simulator training center to meet up. When they arrived at the debriefing room, they found that Cheng Jingdong had already arrived.

Cheng Jingdong was quite reserved in front of Lu Xinyu. When he saw Lu Xinyu come in, he quickly got up to greet her.

Lu Xinyu ignored him completely, tossed his bag onto the table, plopped down in a chair, and before Xu Xian could even sit down, said directly to Cheng Jingdong, "You're a captain, you should know my inspection style. My requirements are strict, but they will never exceed the bounds. All standards will be followed according to the rules. If you have any objections, feel free to complain about me, okay?"

Cheng Jingdong nodded repeatedly: "President Lu, I know, I know!"

Before this refresher training, Cheng Jingdong had inquired about Lu Xinyu's style of doing things. It seemed that Lu Xinyu was always like this during inspections, nothing particularly special. The only thing that worried Cheng Jingdong was that when he called Lu Xinyu to arrange a dinner party before, Lu Xinyu directly refused. However, he had heard that Lu Xinyu rarely accepted dinner parties, so perhaps it was just that Lu Xinyu personally didn't like dinner parties, and there was no special meaning behind it.

After finishing his business with Cheng Jingdong, Lu Xinyu ignored Xu Xian, stretched, and slumped in his chair, yawning. He had gotten up very early today to join the flight crew, and after landing, he went to lunch shortly after checking into his room. He had barely rested and was extremely tired.

"Just fill in whatever you think is best for the oral exam." Lu Xinyu yawned several times, ignoring Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong, and slumped in his chair, closing his eyes to rest.

In theory, proficiency checks include both oral and practical examinations. However, inspectors rarely conduct a deliberate oral exam; they usually just let the examinee choose a few questions to fill in, or ask a few simple, symbolic questions. If an inspector deliberately asks difficult questions during the oral exam, it's a strong indication that the inspector dislikes you.

Seeing that Lu Xinyu hadn't tried to sabotage the oral exam, Cheng Jingdong felt much relieved. In his opinion, this was a very good sign, and it was highly likely that Lu Xinyu wouldn't deliberately make things difficult for him.

However, Xu Xian, who had already seen through everything, remained completely unfazed. In truth, Xu Xian didn't know why Lu Xinyu hadn't failed Cheng Jingdong directly in the oral exam. To be honest, there are just too many things to know about flying; many obscure points are probably unknown even to Lu Xinyu, the chief pilot. Could it be that Cheng Jingdong was just passing by?

According to company regulations, if you fail the oral exam during the proficiency test, you don't need to go through the simulator afterwards; the test can be deemed unqualified.

However, while the regulations are stated, they are rarely actually implemented. As far as Xu Xian knows, it's extremely rare for an inspector to fail the entire inspection simply because they failed the oral exam.

Of course, if Lu Xinyu did it that way, it would indeed be quite convenient, and there wouldn't be any faults to be found. However, Lu Xinyu didn't use this clever method, and Xu Xian didn't know what Lu Xinyu meant.

Actually, it's just that Xu Xian hasn't reached the level of an inspector yet, so he doesn't know their mindset. From an inspector's perspective, rejecting someone through an oral exam is rather low-level. If an inspector rejects someone solely because they failed the oral exam, it only shows that the inspector lacks competence.

Clearly, although Lu Xinyu came armed with a knife, intending to fail Cheng Jingdong, he still needed to maintain his dignity as an inspector. He didn't want to fail Cheng Jingdong's oral exam by relying on obscure, uncommon knowledge points, and then deem his practical skills unqualified. He wanted to fail Cheng Jingdong in the practical exam in a way that Cheng Jingdong would accept without question, leaving him with no grounds for objection. Only then could he demonstrate his technical prowess!

The pre-class review session was supposed to last one hour. Apart from the first five minutes to explain things, Lu Xinyu spent the remaining fifty-five minutes sleeping.

Xu Xian watched Lu Xinyu sleeping so soundly from across the room, and it made him want to fall asleep too. However, considering the potential impact, he realized he was there to inspect, not to sleep. Openly sleeping in the review room would be too much, so he quickly dismissed the idea.

Not daring to disturb Lu Xinyu's sleep, Cheng Jingdong barely dared to breathe, while Xu Xian was staring blankly with his face propped up, his mind already wandering to the C16 fighter jet experience flight in a couple of days. This created an eerie silence throughout the entire debriefing room.

Finally, after an agonizing hour for Cheng Jingdong, Lu Xinyu seemed to know that the time was up. She woke up a few minutes before the time was up, and after catching her breath, she signaled to Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong that they could go to the simulator to prepare.

Xu Xian, whose mind had been wandering off somewhere else, suddenly snapped out of his daze and quickly grabbed his suitcase and ran into the simulator. Cheng Jingdong led the way, Xu Xian was in the middle, and Lu Xinyu followed behind, yawning all the way.

The three entered the simulator one after another. After Xu Xian and Cheng Jingdong were seated, Lu Xinyu sat in the control chair and asked listlessly, "Xu Xian, you fly first."

"Oh!" Since the inspector had spoken, there was no reason not to comply. It didn't matter whether the flight was first or later. However, what happened next was something Cheng Jingdong never expected.

While Xu Xian was inspecting the aircraft, Lu Xinyu only experienced a malfunction. Xu Xian didn't pay any attention to what happened afterward or how the flight went; he simply crossed his arms and closed his eyes to rest. Cheng Jingdong subtly glanced back several times and noticed each time that Lu Xinyu's eyes were closed. This meant that as long as Xu Xian didn't crash the plane, it could basically fly however he wanted; Lu Xinyu clearly didn't care at all.

It's true that some inspectors have very low standards for proficient inspections; as long as the procedure isn't seriously flawed and the plane hasn't crashed, they'll basically let it pass. But this time, the inspector is Lu Xinyu. Isn't he known for his strict inspections? How come he's started acting like a lazy inspector?

However, Cheng Jingdong didn't need to understand the reason for Lu Xinyu's carefree attitude. He only needed to understand that as long as Lu Xinyu maintained this carefree attitude, it would be a great thing for him. After all, in Cheng Jingdong's eyes, the only purpose of the refresher training was to pass it. If the inspectors were lenient, wouldn't that be a great thing?

He didn't care whether Lu Xinyu was really tired or had changed his personality; as long as he could get through, that was a great thing!

Under Lu Xinyu's almost unreserved "supervision," Xu Xian completed a few very routine emergency malfunctions before concluding his two-hour inspection. In fact, even though Lu Xinyu had been watching Xu Xian's flight closely, he couldn't find any flaws. The only thing that could cause trouble for Xu Xian was the simulator itself.

Just now during the check, the auto throttle failed to engage. Xu Xian had to manually control the throttle for the entire two-hour flight, which was quite tiring.

However, unsurprisingly, the simulator, which had lasted for two hours, malfunctioned after a crew change. This time, the entire simulator was hydraulically unloaded, rendering it unable to fly. Support personnel had to be called in to resolve the issue, and they took the opportunity to use the restroom.

When they returned, the support staff were still fiddling with the simulator, so they had to wait inside the simulator cabin. It took them almost half an hour to figure out the hydraulic unloading problem, and that half hour was wasted.

Cheng Jingdong was probably the happiest person in the entire simulator cabin. Now there was only an hour and a half left to check, and less time meant fewer faults, which reduced the difficulty. Cheng Jingdong felt like God was on his side.

Lu Xinyu didn't say anything about the half hour that had been wasted, and casually said, "If you're done, start preparing again."

After saying that, he continued to squint, just like before.

Cheng Jingdong, who was preparing while glancing at Lu Xinyu, was overjoyed. It seemed that Lu Xinyu was also preparing to "go easy" on him during the examination. Today's examination should be extremely pleasant.

After the cockpit was ready, Cheng Jingdong whispered to Lu Xinyu, "President Lu, it's done."

Lu Xinyu didn't even open his eyes, but mumbled something indistinctly: "Okay, let's go then."

This is equivalent to giving a takeoff order.

Having received permission, Cheng Jingdong roused himself, began to push the throttle, and prepared for takeoff, while his mind raced through the possible malfunctions that might occur during takeoff.

For example, aborting takeoff, or takeoff wind shear.

However, to Cheng Jingdong's surprise, everything went smoothly from takeoff to landing without any malfunctions. Once the aircraft began to climb and the autopilot was engaged, everything seemed to be working perfectly.

"Could it be that President Lu forgot to give me the test?" Cheng Jingdong muttered to himself, glancing at the drowsy Lu Xinyu. He felt that this was indeed a possibility.

Lu Xinyu is so sleepy right now that her mind isn't clear, she might actually forget to give him the exam questions. That's fine, she can just waste time like this and make it to two hours.

Cheng Jingdong was secretly delighted that his inspection today had been so effortless. He had been a little worried when he heard that Lu Xinyu would be conducting the inspection, since Lu Xinyu was known for his high standards. However, he never expected that the actual inspection would be so smooth.

Just as Cheng Jingdong was feeling pleased, the automatic driving disconnection warning suddenly sounded. Startled, Cheng Jingdong naturally switched to manual control mode.

"Verify the fault!" In this situation, there must be a problem that caused the autopilot to disconnect. However, Cheng Jingdong is currently busy with manual control, so he can only let Xu Xian, the PM, verify the fault first.

However, as Cheng Jingdong switched to manual control mode, he found that the control force was getting stronger and stronger, and he had to exert a lot of force to operate it.

Is the AB hydraulic system malfunctioning?

Cheng Jingdong was already a captain and had flown the simulator countless times. He quickly realized that this phenomenon was likely caused by a failure of the AB hydraulic system, requiring manual recovery.

Sure enough, Xu Xian, who was checking the panel, provided the answer: the low-pressure indicator lights for the hydraulic pumps in the AB system were all on.

Just as Cheng Jingdong guessed!

"Open the system page and check the hydraulic pressure." Although it was now basically confirmed that the problem was with the AB hydraulic system, Cheng Jingdong still followed the procedure and asked Xu Xian to open the DU system page, where the pressure values ​​of the AB hydraulic system could be seen intuitively.

Xu Xian pressed the SYM button as instructed, and the lower DU immediately displayed the pressure value of the AB hydraulic system.

"The pressure in the AB hydraulic system has dropped to zero," Xu Xian said, looking at the displayed hydraulic values. It was clear that the hydraulic oil had leaked out for some reason.

"That means the AB hydraulic system is malfunctioning." During this process, Cheng Jingdong glanced at the DU display while operating the machine, confirming Xu Xian's statement: "Then execute the manual recovery or the checklist for the loss of pressure in systems A and B."

It must be said that Cheng Jingdong's pronunciation of the checklist names was quite accurate. If it were some other pilot, they would probably have said "Manual Recovery" or "System A and System B Failure Checklist." Although everyone would know which checklist it was, it would still feel a little unprofessional.

Of course, these are all minor details. However, as the saying goes, details determine success or failure, and regardless of Cheng Jingdong's character, he at least performed well in certain details.

"Manual recovery or loss of pressure in System A and System B checklist!" Xu Xian shouted, finding the electronic quick checklist on his tablet and starting to read: "Manual recovery or loss of pressure in System A and System B checklist! Step 1, System A and System B flight control switches (both), confirm, standby rudder position."

"Flight control switch, standby rudder position, confirmed!" Cheng Jingdong glanced at Xu Xian's movements while manually controlling the flight, afraid that Xu Xian might have switched the wrong switch.

Xu Xian certainly wouldn't mistake the switches. These two flight control switches are located to the left of the spare flap switch, covered by a black cover. To switch to the spare rudder position, you need to open the cover first, which shows that these switches are quite important and cannot be touched carelessly.

"Yaw damper switch, turn on!" After the two hydraulic systems lose pressure, the yaw damper switch will automatically jump to the off position. At this time, according to the checklist, the yaw damper switch needs to be turned on again.

"Turn off all hydraulic pump switches for both System A and System B!" System A and System B are both divided into engine-driven pumps and electric pumps. There are a total of four switches for the two systems, all of which need to be turned off.

The following section contains information on what equipment will be unusable if the two hydraulic systems are not working.

For example, if the autopilot's A and B channels are unavailable, all flight spoilers will not function, and the trailing edge flaps will not retract or extend properly (requiring the use of the backup flap extension function). The normal hydraulic systems for the leading edge flaps and slats will not function, although they can be extended using the backup hydraulic system, but once extended, they cannot be retracted. Additionally, the normal retraction and extension of the landing gear may not function, which involves the hydraulic system of the A system. In this case, manual landing gear extension will be required, as demonstrated by Xu Qing at Hamchi Airport.

In addition, the automatic brakes, ground spoilers, normal and reserve brakes are unavailable, front wheel turning is unavailable, and dual-engine reverse thrust can only use reserve pressure release because the release rate will be slower than usual.

Although the aircraft has three hydraulic systems, namely System A, System B and a backup hydraulic system, most functions are still implemented through System A and System B. Even though the backup hydraulic system can provide some backup functions, it certainly cannot completely replace them, which results in a large number of functions not being able to be used normally.

"The plan is to land at the nearest suitable airport, with a flaperon flap of 15!"

That's right, the artificially restored landing configuration is also flap 15.

"The plan is to deploy the flaps up to level 15, and to manually deploy the landing gear. Do not pre-position the brakes, do not use the speed brakes, apply the brakes steadily after landing, do not step on them repeatedly, and do not attempt to taxi after the aircraft has come to a stop."

Although the normal and backup brakes are unavailable, the aircraft's accumulator tanks still contain pressure, allowing the pilot to continue using the brakes. However, the pilot must not repeatedly pump the brakes, as this will quickly deplete the pressure in the accumulator tanks. Once the pressure in the accumulator tanks is completely depleted, the brakes will become unusable.

These things seem complicated, but Cheng Jingdong knows them by heart. After all, artificial recovery is not a particularly obscure subject. He has flown it many times before and has some experience with it.

"Next up are the delayed items and the checklist," Xu Xian said.

Cheng Jingdong struggled to control the plane, saying, "Contact the airport and request a return to land. We need a landing condition."

The so-called landing conditions usually refer to the approach method. Subjects like manual recovery usually involve blind landing.

Just as Xu Xiangan was about to speak, the control panel of the plane suddenly began to vibrate at a high frequency and low amplitude without warning, much like the stick jerking when the plane stalls.

Even Xu Xian was baffled. He had manually recovered the stick several times before, so when did the stick jerking start happening? The Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) didn't mention anything about manual recovery causing stick jerking!

I glanced at the speed again, and it hadn't entered the red zone at all. The pitch limit indicator hadn't appeared either, so it wasn't stick jerking at all!

What exactly happened?

Not to mention Xu Xian, the PM, was unaware of the situation, even Cheng Jingdong, the experienced captain, was clueless about what was happening. He instinctively assumed that Lu Xinyu was causing another malfunction, so he forcibly took control of the aircraft and shouted, "Verify the malfunction!"

Xu Xian paused for a moment, then quickly scanned the panel, but apart from the fault light caused by the hydraulic system malfunction earlier, no new fault lights were lit!

"No new malfunctions!" Xu Xian was speechless; this was the first time he had ever encountered such a situation!

Here comes a long chapter of 10,000 words!

(End of this chapter)