Legendary Captain

Chapter 309 Caught in the act!

"Vice President of Operations, tsk tsk tsk, I never dared to dream of this before! Although I won't be in this position for many years, I will have no regrets in this life." Qin Zongyang knew that the only reason he was able to skip the general manager of the flight department and jump directly to the vice president of operations was Xu Xian.

However, Qin Zongyang is getting on in years, and even if he were to serve as Vice President of Operations, he wouldn't be able to hold the position for many more years. Star Travel Airlines probably took this into consideration, so they went along with it and gave Xu Xian face, allowing Qin Zongyang to enjoy his time as Vice President of Operations for a short while—it wouldn't be a long or significant role.

Qin Zongyang knew this, of course, but with his abilities, he had already achieved his life's goal of becoming the vice president of operations, so he didn't care whether the company truly recognized his abilities.

Seeing his master's beaming smile, Xu Xian was quite infected by it, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly as well. He then reminded him, "During this period of public announcement of your appointment, you must be careful with your words and actions. If you make a mistake, I won't be able to handle it."

"I know, I know." Although the appointment announcement period meant the matter was basically settled, there was no guarantee that Qin Zongyang wouldn't mess things up and get reported by someone who was jealous. That would be quite awkward.

The public announcement period for appointments is meant to be scrutinized by others. Even if the formality outweighs the practical significance, it's still best to be cautious and not let the cooked duck fly away.

Just then, the sound of high heels hitting the ground rang out. Xu Xian turned around and found that a group of flight attendants had come over to conduct pre-flight coordination.

The flight attendant first greeted Qin Zongyang with extreme respect. After all, Qin Zongyang was no longer the same person he used to be; the announcement of his appointment as Vice President of Operations was still posted on the company's intranet homepage, which was basically a done deal.

After the flight attendants verified that the name on the mission sheet was correct, they returned the mission sheet to Xu Xian.

At this point, Xu Xian's rank was seventh-level first officer, which is considered a senior first officer. His name was no longer listed under first officer, but rather after senior first officer (F/O). Xu Xian was then qualified to assume the duties of a cruise captain, temporarily exercising captain's authority during the cruise phase.

Every cabin crew member in the passenger department knew about Xu Xian's meteoric rise to power. Despite his young age, Xu Xian's words carried more weight than those of Qin Zongyang, the future vice president of operations.

However, Xu Xian has a gentle appearance and is very pleasant to be around, so the flight attendants don't feel any pressure.

"President Qin, the mission statement is fine. Now, could you give some instructions?" the flight attendant asked with a smile.

Qin Zongyang's fingers were on the pre-flight preparation card handed to him by the flight attendant. He was about to pull it away when he suddenly caught sight of Xu Xian organizing documents out of the corner of his eye. In an instant, he changed his mind and pushed the pre-flight preparation card in front of Xu Xian.

"Let our newly appointed Captain Xu Xian coordinate!" Qin Zongyang said with a kind smile. The thin pre-flight preparation card seemed to represent a kind of inheritance. At this moment, Xu Xian was truly capable of handling things on his own, both in terms of ability and skill level.

Xu Xian was packing up the flight's paper documents into his bag when a yellow card suddenly slipped into his field of vision, followed by Qin Zongyang's voice asking Xu Xian to do pre-flight coordination.

"Me?" Xu Xian was caught off guard. "Master, I haven't even hired a captain yet, how can you ask me to do pre-flight coordination?"

Xu Xian has been flying for several years now, and he knows the format, content, and precautions of pre-flight coordination very well. It wouldn't be impossible for Xu Xian to do the pre-flight coordination. However, in principle, pre-flight coordination should be done by the captain in charge, but although Xu Xian will be sitting in the captain's left seat this time, the captain in charge is still Qin Zongyang.

"You're already flying on the left seat. If you're not going to handle the pre-flight coordination, am I supposed to? We're letting you fly on the left seat so you can get used to the captain's role. Stop talking nonsense and hurry up," Qin Zongyang urged.

Actually, what Qin Zongyang did wasn't exactly uncommon. Many captains, when training their apprentices to fly in the left seat, would have their apprentices handle the pre-flight coordination, even though they were theoretically the captain in charge.

This is a tacit rule, and it also means that the instructor no longer treats him as a co-pilot, but as a captain.

In reality, as long as you pass the left-hand drive simulator test conducted by the authorities, at least in their eyes, you are a captain. Whether the company actually grants you the title of captain is none of their concern.

In other words, Xu Xian is now only missing the title of captain from the company; in reality, he is already a captain because he already has an airline transport license.

The license used by the co-pilot is a commercial transport license, also known as a business license.

The difference in licenses represents the most fundamental change; this is the most essential distinction!

Xu Xian glanced at the flight attendants surrounding him, put down the documents he was tidying up, and his fingers traced imperceptibly across the table. After a brief internal struggle, Xu Xian's fingers touched the pre-flight preparation card and gently pressed it down.

There is a line of small print on the right side of the heading of the pre-flight preparation card: This preparation card is for the reference of the captain in charge only!

At this moment, Xu Xian felt the intellectual boost brought about by his change in status. He let out a long breath, shaking off the slight confusion he had just felt, grabbed the pre-flight preparation card, turned slightly to his left, and smiled at the chief flight attendant: "Chief flight attendant, shall I handle the pre-flight coordination then?"

The flight attendant, feeling honored, nodded slightly: "Yes, Captain!"

In the cockpit, Xu Xian was preparing for the cockpit. In fact, according to the rules, this kind of work should be done by the co-pilot. During cockpit preparation, the captain's preparation work is much less than that of the co-pilot.

However, Qin Zongyang started playing on his phone as soon as he boarded the plane, completely lacking any awareness of his right-hand seat. There was no other way but for Xu Xian to handle the seating arrangement.

At Star Travel, the requirement for co-pilots has always been that, except for takeoff, landing, and taxiing where the captain needs to intervene, the co-pilot must be able to complete all other phases independently.

Only a co-pilot like this can be considered a qualified co-pilot.

Therefore, it's perfectly normal for a co-pilot at Star Travel Airlines to do the work of two people. At least, that's how Xu Xian got to where he is, and he didn't see anything wrong with it.

From the moment Xu Xian boarded the plane, he handled everything himself: refueling, filling out forms, preparing the cockpit, requesting electronic release and electronic manifest. It seemed that apart from changing his seat, nothing else had changed for him.

Because the flight time was so convenient, it wasn't even dawn by the time Xu Xian had almost finished preparing the cockpit. Qin Zongyang, who had been playing on his phone for ages, glanced at Xu Xian, who had finally calmed down, and gritted his teeth, "All done? Pretty quick!"

"Master, I'm not asking you to prepare the cockpit for me, at least help me get the fuel order. I'm running up and down here, and now I have to prepare the cockpit too, it's too much trouble," Xu Xian complained. The little bit of captain's feeling that had just ignited in the preparation room was completely extinguished once he got on the plane. He was hardly a captain, he was just a first officer running around doing chores.

Of course, Xu Xian didn't expect Qin Zongyang to help him like the co-pilot in the right seat. Getting a fuel slip from the tarmac wasn't a big deal; it was just a few steps, not like it would kill Qin Zongyang.

"Okay, okay, stop nagging, I'll get it next time." Qin Zongyang glanced at the clock out of the corner of his eye: "It's not time to pick up guests yet, is it?"

"No? What's wrong?" This time they arrived early, and the parking position was close to the security checkpoint, so by the time they got on the plane, they were twenty minutes earlier than the original latest arrival time for Star Travel Airlines. Xu Xian busied himself getting everything done, and there was still less than an hour before takeoff, which was even earlier than the standard boarding time.

Qin Zongyang pulled out a thin cigarette from somewhere, put it in his mouth, and moved his lips, making the cigarette sway up and down: "It's so early in the morning, everyone's still groggy, let's light a cigarette to wake ourselves up."

Qin Zongyang only smokes thin cigars; he never touches the normal-sized ones, let alone thicker, stronger ones.

"Keep an eye on things for me. If customers arrive, pull the curtain up," Qin Zongyang instructed. He was afraid that he might get carried away and not even realize when customers arrived, making the same mistake as He Changyuan.

"Two puffs are enough. If you smoke for too long, the smoke will leak out, and it won't be good if guests smell it later."

Qin Zongyang couldn't stand Xu Xian's nagging and kept nodding, "I know, I know, please stop talking. I'll just have a couple of puffs to perk myself up, it won't last long."

As he spoke, he took a paper cup and handed it to Xu Xian.

Xu Xian, being a shrewd man, smiled helplessly and poured some of his purified water into a paper cup. The water in the cup would be used to extinguish the cigarette. After finishing, he would toss the cigarette butt into the water, eliminating any possibility of a fire. Experienced individuals like Qin Zongyang were well-versed in these small details.

"By the way, you're still single? When are you going to find someone to keep you company?" Qin Zongyang was quite concerned about his apprentice's marriage prospects and would ask about it every few days. He had always thought that Xu Xian would be with Wen Jingshu, but more than a year had passed and there didn't seem to be any substantial progress.

The views on marriage and love held by young people today are very different from those of his generation. He asked casually, and if Xu Xian didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't ask further to avoid bothering him.

Clearly, Qin Zongyang's question was quite annoying. Xu Xian merely glanced at him, and Qin Zongyang immediately shut his mouth.

Qin Zongyang pulled out a lighter and was about to light it when a head popped out of the cockpit door—it was the ground crew.

The ground crew looked into the cockpit and were instantly bewildered. Why were the three-bar passengers on the left and the four-bar passengers on the right? Were they seated backwards?

As for the cigarette dangling from Qin Zongyang's mouth, the ground service staff were already used to it.

Finally, the ground staff asked Qin Zongyang, who was in a tough spot, "Captain, are we going to start class on time?"

Qin Zongyang didn't answer, but pointed at Xu Xian and mumbled indistinctly, "Ask him!"

Having no other option, Xu Xian could only ask the ground service staff, "Have you received any notification of the delay?"

If there's a delay, ground staff will usually be aware. Actually, the operations control department is usually aware too, but these people in the company are incredibly lazy; unless it's a serious delay, they sometimes don't even communicate with the flight crew. As a result, after all the passengers have boarded and clearance is issued, they go directly through flow control and can't leave, leaving a whole plane of people stuck in the enclosed cabin, which could potentially lead to passenger disturbances.

Xu Xian didn't trust the people in the company, so he figured it was better to ask the ground service himself.

"We have not received any delay notifications," the ground service representative said.

"Then shall we proceed according to the schedule?" Xu Xian deliberately raised his voice and asked Qin Zongyang.

Qin Zongyang said impatiently, "It's your decision!"

"Then let's proceed as scheduled," Xu Xian said directly to the ground service staff this time.

"Okay." Upon receiving Xu Xian's final decision, the ground service staff withdrew their heads and dashed off onto the covered bridge.

"Stop acting like a co-pilot, think about what the captain is supposed to do, stop asking me." Qin Zongyang muttered, then raised an eyebrow as he watched the ground crew walk away, finally lighting up his own cigarette.

It was clear that Qin Zongyang was in a good mood; he had a cigarette dangling from his lips and was humming a tune, almost ready to dance with joy.

Xu Xian had intended to take a nap, but the faint smell of smoke wafting from Qin Zongyang's side was choking him. He prepared to open a small crack in his side window to let the smoke drift out.

Xu Xiangang had his left hand on the side window handle when his eyes unconsciously glanced at the cabin door. Suddenly, he saw the door next to the cabin door on the corridor open, and two people came in.

Xu Xian felt as if he had been electrocuted, and he hissed, "Safety inspectors! The safety inspectors are here!"

Xu Xian only recognized one of the two people who came up, Zhang Qingyu from the Safety Supervision Department. But knowing only one was enough; the other one should also be from the Safety Supervision Department.

"What?" Qin Zongyang was so startled he almost dropped his cigarette, his old face turning pale instantly. He stood up, his left hand bracing against the back of Xu Xian's chair, his right hand pressing against the sunshade, leaning over Xu Xian's side, and glancing towards the cabin door. Cold sweat immediately broke out on his back.

"It really is the safety inspection team! That old bastard Zhang Qingyu!" Qin Zongyang was so frightened he almost had a heart attack. "Don't they sleep? Coming to inspect so early in the morning!"

At this moment, Zhang Qingyu and another security guard were verifying their credentials with the security personnel on the jet bridge. Only after their credentials were verified could they be allowed to board the plane.

However, the document verification process is short, probably only about half a minute.

Qin Zongyang returned to his seat, frantically jumping around. It was too late to go to the restroom to flush the cigarette butt away; if he went out now, he'd likely bump into the safety inspectors. But where could he hide the cigarette? The tiny cockpit simply didn't have anywhere to hide it!

Seeing that the security personnel had confirmed the safety supervision department's credentials and were ready to let them pass, Xu Xian quickly stood up: "I'll go out and hold them off! Master, you quickly find a place to hide."

After saying that, Xu Xian quickly stood up, pulled out a chair, and prepared to go to the door to block the security guards and buy Qin Zongyang some time. However, in a short while, Xu Xian couldn't think of a good place to hide the cigarette butts. In any case, he couldn't throw them outside. If they were discovered, it wouldn't just be a matter within the company.

As Xu Xian rose from his seat, he glanced at Qin Zongyang out of the corner of his eye and noticed that Qin Zongyang's eyes were vacant, clearly showing his helplessness. The cockpit was too small; there was no way to hide anything. Besides, the safety inspectors were here specifically for this purpose, and they would definitely search thoroughly later. How could anything be hidden?

Thinking of this, Xu Xian's heart sank; he feared he was about to suffer a great calamity.

However, things have come to this point, and there's no time to worry about anything else. First, we need to go out and hold off Qin Zongyang to buy some time. As for whether Qin Zongyang can escape danger, that depends on his own fate.

As soon as Xu Xian stepped out of the cockpit, he bumped into Zhang Qingyu and another safety inspector entering. Xu Xian blocked the cockpit, pretending to greet Zhang Qingyu, "What's the matter?"

Zhang Qingyu, unsuspecting, was very polite to Xu Xian: "It's nothing serious! Isn't there a smoking ban going on lately? We're just doing a routine check, we'll be gone soon, it won't bother us for long."

"Didn't we already go through all that at yesterday's security meeting? What's the point of checking? Who would dare to break the rules? It's pointless. We might as well just go to the duty building, get a room, and sleep. It's only this early, isn't it?" Xu Xian said with a smile.

"That's right! Instructor He just got into trouble, and things are hot right now. Who would be foolish enough to commit a crime against the wind? But there's nothing we can do. The higher-ups ordered us to investigate, so we have to do it. We need to check at least five departing flights this morning. Let us take a look so we can finish quickly and go back to catch up on our sleep." Zhang Qingyu said, "Also, I heard you passed the left-hand simulator test not long ago. Congratulations! You should be able to get a captain's license soon."

Zhang Qingyu found Xu Xian, a promising young talent, quite agreeable. At least Xu Xian hadn't been led astray by Qin Zongyang, that power-hungry old man.

"Thank you, Uncle Zhang!" Xu Xian shamelessly tried to curry favor with Zhang Qingyu, then pointed to the cockpit and said, "My master just went to the terminal to get some hot water, so there's no one in the cockpit now. Your investigation is pointless!"

Zhang Qingyu laughed and said, "It's okay, whether there are people inside or not, we'll just take a look around."

Suddenly, Zhang Qingyu's nose twitched, and his gaze sharpened as he looked towards the cockpit behind Xu Xian: "What's that smell? Smoke?"

(End of this chapter)