Legendary Captain

Chapter 338 The Perfect Deadlock!

"Xu Xian?" The middle-aged man narrowed his eyes. "That Xu Xian?"

"Is there another Xu Xian at Star Travel Airlines?" Xu Xian's gaze swept across the planes in the sky again, his heart filled with anxiety: "Whether it is or not, give me an answer!"

The middle-aged man scoffed, "What if I say no? What can you do then?"

"What exactly do you mean?" Xu Xian roared. "I'm just borrowing your control tower's communication equipment, what's wrong with that?"

The middle-aged man looked at the furious Xu Xian and shook his head helplessly: "Such a young man, yet he has quite the temper. Kid, put away your arrogance!"

As he spoke, the middle-aged man waved to the guard: "Have the security department send another person over. You're coming up with me. Kid, come on up!"

"Sir, are you sure this is okay? He doesn't have a work permit, does he?" The guard was still a little worried. "Wouldn't this violate regulations?"

"That's why I had you come with me." The middle-aged man waved his hand impatiently. "With you by my side, what problems could there be? Alright, that's settled then. Open your eyes wider."

Having said that, the guard said nothing more: "Then we'll do as Director Yuan says, but afterwards I'll have to report it to the security department according to regulations, and you'll also have to go to the security department to make a record."

Even if Yuan Fengjie, the director of the control tower, were willing to bring Xu Xian into the tower, Xu Xian would still be entering without a work permit, which violates the tower's entry and exit regulations. Therefore, any exception must be recorded in the security department's file.

"Sure, sure, you can remember it however you want, just let me go up first," Xu Xian urged.

Yuan Fengjie nodded and said, "That should be about right. Let's go, this kid's itching to get out of here."

As he spoke, he waved towards Xu Xian: "Let's go."

Xu Xian was unwilling to wait any longer and impatiently entered the control tower. However, it was his first time in the control tower, and he didn't know how to navigate it. As soon as he entered, he couldn't find his way around the entire group.

"What are you doing?" Yuan Fengjie came in and saw Xu Xian looking like a headless fly. He grabbed Xu Xian by the collar and said, "The stairs are this way."

The control tower at Huining Airport is too small to accommodate elevators, so there are only spiral staircases that you have to climb yourself.

Yuan Fengjie pointed to the stairwell, and Xu Xian's legs seemed to have a motor, rushing straight up. Compared to Xu Xian's frantic pace, Yuan Fengjie climbed up methodically, his speed in no way inferior to Xu Xian's.

Xu Xian, who had just arrived at the control tower, had no idea how to use the instruments, so he had to wait for Yuan Fengjie to come up as well.

"Speaking of which, you're really impatient. When are you going to slow down?" Yuan Fengjie ran to a piece of equipment: "What's the frequency of the Binjiang control tower again?"

They rarely have contact with civilian airports and are not very familiar with the various frequencies used by civilian airports.

"Turn to this? I'll do it!" Xu Xian quickly came to Yuan Fengjie's side. He had an excellent memory, knowing the frequencies of all the major provincial capital airports in the country by heart. After a little recall, he found the control tower frequency for Binjiang Airport. Fortunately, Binjiang Airport only operated on a single runway, so it didn't have many frequencies, making it relatively easy to recall.

Yuan Fengjie looked at the hurried Xu Xian and shook his head helplessly: "These young people nowadays..."

As he spoke, he glanced at the guards who had followed him up and pointed to Xu Xian's position: "Keep an eye on him. If he makes any unusual moves, take action immediately without hesitation."

The guard nodded, stood beside Xu Xian, and stared intently at him.

Yuan Fengjie lay back on the chair next to him, leisurely drinking tea and watching Xu Xian busy himself as if he were watching a play.

In the cockpit, Lian Shanxue and Tang Jian were still discussing the engine detachment issue, or rather, whether there were any other problems with the aircraft that they hadn't discovered. Various panels and indicator lights had been checked several times; however, with their limited knowledge, Lian Shanxue and Tang Jian couldn't find any malfunctions other than the engine detachment.

"Could there be a mistake in the manual?" Tang Jian even took the opportunity to flip through the manual, but he didn't find any non-mandatory uncontrollable deflection in the description of engine detachment.

Lian Shanxue's expression was quite grim. While it was possible for the manual to be wrong, the probability was extremely small. This aircraft model was very old, having undergone decades of testing. Unlike a new model that hadn't been tested by time and might have various defects.

If the manual is correct, then where exactly is the error?

As the navigation system showed the approaching military restricted area, Lian Shanxue felt extremely anxious.

In the control tower, Gu Wei reported to Xu Jingzhong, "We've already communicated with the liaison office of the military region headquarters. If the technical support provided by Xingyou Aviation proves useless, for safety reasons, they will temporarily and secretly evacuate senior personnel from the headquarters. Director, regarding this matter..."

"This is a big deal!" Xu Jingzhong sighed. "Right now, we're only communicating with the liaison office; the evacuation isn't finalized yet. But if we can't rely on Xingyou Airlines later, and the plane is still out of control, once the evacuation becomes a certainty, well, then we can start thinking about finding another company."

"Is it that serious?" Gu Wei was shocked.

"Serious? Putting the entire military region command in danger, you tell me if that's serious or not. And this isn't even the worst outcome. If the punishment is severe, the Air Traffic Management Bureau might just blacklist us. Then we can forget about working in air traffic control." Xu Jingzhong propped his head up and glanced at the Star Trek aircraft on the radar screen. Now the airspace near the airport has been completely cleared for them, and ground support is on its way. They've done most of what air traffic control can do; now it's up to the flight crew.

Gu Wei's face was full of resentment. He had only been a full-time employee for a short time, and now he was about to be blacklisted by the industry. What kind of world is this?

"Has the Star Travel Control team still not found anyone?" Xu Jingzhong asked, frowning.

Gu Wei shook his head: "No!"

"Damn it, they've caused all this trouble, and they're still so carefree. It's infuriating!" Xu Jingzhong's anger flared up at the thought of his potential unemployment.

However, a different sound came from the speaker the next moment.

"6334, can you hear me? This is Ning Sheng."

Upon hearing this voice, Xu Jingzhong, who was initially somewhat angry, immediately perked up: "Coming, coming, our savior has arrived!"

In the cockpit, Lian Shanxue and Tang Jian also heard the voice. Tang Jian, in particular, grasped at it like a lifeline. He immediately recognized the voice as that of the new chief pilot, Ning Sheng, and excitedly pressed the speaking button: "Chief Ning, Chief Ning."

"Stop yelling, what the hell is going on?" Ning Sheng was also under a lot of pressure. After coming over to the operations control center, the safety manager quickly explained the situation facing flight 6334. Now, it wasn't just that the plane was experiencing an uncontrollable yaw, but also the major problem of about to illegally enter a military restricted area. Either one of these was extremely troublesome.

"Let me explain." Tang Jian hurriedly gave Ning Sheng a quick account of the plane's current condition.

Ning Sheng, who was in the operations control center, found it increasingly unbelievable. He asked doubtfully, "You said you've followed all the procedures and the rudder is engaged, but the plane is still deflecting? Are you sure you've followed the procedures correctly?"

"Isn't the procedure for engine detachment just disengaging the automatic throttle, retracting the first thrust lever to idle, disengaging the first start lever, and lifting the fire extinguisher lever? Just these few steps, are we blind? How could we make a mistake?" Tang Jian said anxiously, "President Ning, I just glanced at the manual, and there's no mention of non-command deflection in the section on engine detachment."

"No, there isn't." As the chief pilot, Ning Sheng was intimately familiar with the flight manual, so he was certain that there was no relevant content in it.

It was precisely because there was none that Ning Sheng felt it was a difficult problem; such clueless issues were the hardest to solve.

"President Ning, what should we do?" Tang Jian had now placed all his hopes on Ning Sheng, and he was truly at his wit's end.

"Don't talk." Ning Sheng was already annoyed by the question Tang Jian asked, and Tang Jian's shouting only made his thoughts more chaotic.

Lian Shanxue, standing beside her, looked unwell. She could tell that even the chief pilot wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation. It wasn't that their skills were lacking; rather, the situation was indeed extremely rare.

In the control tower, Xu Jingzhong frowned deeply after only overhearing a few words between Ning Sheng and Tang Jian. Even Gu Wei beside him became worried.

"Director, this guy from Xingyou seems unreliable. It seems there's nothing we can do." Gu Wei said helplessly, "Who are the people at Xingyou? They're all unreliable, utterly useless!"

When it came to his own livelihood, Gu Wei stopped holding back when he started cursing, since the people at Xingyou Airlines couldn't hear him anyway.

"You can eat anything, but you can't say anything." Xu Jingzhong waved his hand: "They're not all useless."

Gu Wei paused for a moment, then suddenly realized: "That's true."

Before long, Ning Sheng still couldn't come up with any reasonable explanation, so he asked again, "How's the pressure in your hydraulic system?"

"System A is no longer working, but System B is still doing great," Tang Jian said.

Because the No. 1 engine detached, all the hydraulic oil in hydraulic system A leaked out, resulting in no hydraulic pressure in system A. However, system B is still functioning normally.

"What about the sideslip indicator? The plane isn't sideslipping, is it?" Ning Sheng asked again. "And there's no jamming in the controls, is there?"

Upon hearing Ning Sheng's two questions, Tang roughly understood Ning Sheng's meaning: "Mr. Ning, do you suspect there's a problem with the aircraft's leading-edge or trailing-edge mechanisms?"

"Since the aircraft didn't sideslip and your handling was fine, the problem must be with the leading-edge or trailing-edge control system, causing a difference in lift on both sides," Ning Sheng said suspiciously.

"But our System B is working perfectly!" Tang Jian retorted. "The trailing edge flaps rely on System B, and the leading edge mechanism is linked to the position of the trailing edge flaps. Everything is based on System B. But our hydraulic system B is working perfectly! And our flap position indicators aren't skewed or inconsistent!"

It must be said that Ning Sheng's mind works very quickly. In principle, even if the aircraft is sideslipping, it should only affect the aircraft's yaw. However, due to some complex airflow interactions, in certain situations, sideslipping can indeed cause a slight yaw. Therefore, Ning Sheng instructed the crew to check the sideslip meter to see if the aircraft was experiencing sideslipping.

Additionally, if the aircraft were experiencing roll jamming, the difference in lift between the two wings would naturally lead to uncontrollable yaw. However, according to the crew, the aircraft did not have a roll jamming malfunction.

So the problem lies with the leading-edge and trailing-edge devices. Both the leading-edge and trailing-edge devices can generate additional lift. If there is an inconsistency between the flaps or slats on both sides, it means a difference in lift, which will cause additional yaw moment for the aircraft. This is the same principle as the common flap asymmetry failure.

"Are there any abnormalities in your leading edge device indicator lights and leading edge device transition lights?" Ning Sheng asked.

The leading edge device indicator light is located on the rear top plate and indicates the position of each leading edge device, while the leading edge device transition light is located above the flap position indicator.

Tang Jian glanced at the rear roof panel, then at the transition lights on the front edge, and replied, "Nothing's wrong, Mr. Ning. Are you sure you're not going in the wrong direction?"

"How is this possible?" Ning Sheng leaned on the table, his mind racing as he tried to recall his reasoning. He had already asked all the possible scenarios he could think of, and according to the crew's answers, there was no asymmetry between the leading and trailing edge devices. So his deduction was wrong. But he really couldn't think of any other possibilities.

The entrance to the chairman's office of Star Travel Airlines.

Lu Xinyu, who was working, suddenly received news that Xingyou 6334 flight was in distress. He was originally going to the operations control center, but after learning that Ning Sheng had already gone there to take charge, he did not go to join the commotion immediately.

He knew Ning Sheng's abilities; aside from being a bit inexperienced, he had almost no flaws. In terms of skill alone, if Ning Sheng couldn't solve the problem, then Lu Xinyu figured he'd be helpless too. Even though Lu Xinyu was arrogant, he still highly regarded Ning Sheng's abilities.

Since Ning Sheng was temporarily in charge of operations, he decided to go to the chairman's office first to report this important matter to the chairman. Xingyou Airlines really couldn't afford any more disruptions right now.

Upon entering the chairman's office, Yang Ning was the only person present; Wen Jingshu was nowhere to be seen.

"Where is the chairman?" Lu Xinyu asked Yang Ning. "I have something important to discuss with the chairman."

Yang Ning glared at Lu Xinyu: "Keep your voice down. The chairman is resting in the inner room. If you have something to say, wait until she's rested before you talk to her."

Lu Xinyu glanced at the tightly closed inner room and said with some difficulty, "Miss Yang, is it really something urgent?"

"Wasn't I clear enough? Even the most important matters should wait until Miss wakes up before we talk about them. Get out!" Yang Ning scolded in a low voice.

Wen Jingshu's pregnancy reaction was very severe, and she was only able to feel better when she was resting. How could Yang Ning possibly let Lu Xinyu disturb Wen Jingshu's rest?

"Miss Yang," Lu Xinyu originally wanted to say something more, but sensing Yang Ning's increasingly impatient expression, she became somewhat afraid and finally said, "Then I'll come over later."

Just as Lu Xinyu was about to leave, the inner door suddenly opened, and Wen Jingshu slowly emerged. She glanced at Lu Xinyu indifferently and asked, "What is it?"

In the cockpit, all the possibilities listed by Ning Sheng were ruled out, causing Tang Jian to panic. He had initially thought it was due to limitations in his own abilities, and that as long as Chief Pilot Ning Sheng intervened, the problem would be easily solved. However, the reality was that even the Chief Pilot couldn't solve the problem, leaving Tang Jian almost in despair.

"President Ning, President Ning, please think about it again. We're counting on you," Tang Jian said anxiously.

Ning Sheng's face was also extremely anxious: "Tang Jian, the only possibility I can think of is that the enhancement device is malfunctioning. I can't think of anything else."

"But the damn booster device is working fine!" Tang Jian felt that all was lost and his mentality collapsed. He even swore.

In the control tower, Xu Jingzhong closed his eyes slightly and sighed, "The matter is settled. Notify the military region headquarters to evacuate."

At this point, the technical support provided by Xingyou Aviation is completely useless. Not only has a solution not been found, but the cause hasn't even been identified, so there's no hope whatsoever. For safety reasons, the personnel from the military region command have to recuse themselves for now.

"Director!" Gu Wei's heart pounded. Once this call was made to the liaison office of the military region headquarters, regardless of the outcome, their working careers at Binjiang Airport would be over. More seriously, their air traffic control careers would also be over.

Xu Jingzhong roared angrily, "What can we do then?"

His roar echoed throughout the control tower, filled with resentment and anger.

"How can you be so sure there's no problem?" Just then, a third voice interrupted, "How can you be so certain that the enhancement device is working properly?"

The sudden interruption sounded incredibly abrupt. Xu Jingzhong's eyes widened abruptly, and he grabbed the microphone, shouting, "Emergency! All other crew members, please remain silent!"

After saying that, he pointed at Gu Wei and said, "Investigate and find out which company's crew is breaking the rules!"

Xu Jingzhong was already seething with frustration, and now he finally had an outlet. Previously, because of an emergency involving a Xingyou Airlines plane, Xu Jingzhong had ordered all other aircraft on the frequency to remain silent. But now, someone had dared to interrupt, practically provokeing Xu Jingzhong. He was determined to find this unruly crew, report them to his company, and punish them severely.

Gu Wei glanced at the screen a few times and asked in confusion, "Director, it's not the planes on our frequency that are talking."

The monitoring methods used by air traffic control are now very advanced; it's possible to identify which flight is speaking.

"What did you say?" Xu Jingzhong was taken aback. "Not a plane on our frequency? Then who is it? Could it be our control tower speaking?"

On this frequency, only the controllers and flight crews can talk, and there's also a space travel control unit, not a flight crew member. If it's the space travel control unit, their voice doesn't sound like it either. So, did they talk to themselves? And then they had a mental breakdown and thought they didn't say anything?

"No, Director! I don't know where this sound is coming from either." Gu Wei was speechless.

However, the next moment, Lian Shanxue's voice, filled with utter surprise, rang out on the radio: "Xu Xian, Xu Xian, is that you?"

Lian Shanxue was very familiar with Xu Xian's voice; she could recognize it the moment it rang out. She just didn't know why Xu Xian's voice was here.

"That's right, it's me. I'm talking to you from the control tower at Huining Airport." Xu Xian said, "We don't have much time, let's get down to business. I heard your conversation with Ning Sheng just now. If what you said earlier didn't involve sideslip or jamming, then it can only be a problem with the lift-enhancing device, causing asymmetrical lift."

This statement immediately drew a rebuttal from Tang Jian: "Our leading edge device indicator lights and flap position indicators all show no problems. We are not blind; we can see."

The next second, Lian Shanxue continued, "I had an idea just now. If the engine detached, at the moment of impact, the flap that extended from the left side would hit the engine, causing damage to the left flap surface. This would affect the lift of the left wing, causing the lift of the right wing to be greater than that of the left wing, thus causing the aircraft to make an uncontrollable left turn. Is that right?"

In fact, Lian Shanxue had considered this possibility earlier. However, she was not very confident, and only after Xu Xian confirmed that the problem was definitely with the booster device did she muster up the courage to say it.

When Lian Shanxue revealed her idea, Tang Jian, the Star Travel Control Center, and the control tower all gasped in astonishment. Lian Shanxue's idea could indeed perfectly explain everything.

The left flap struck the falling engine, damaging the wing structure. This significantly reduced the lift provided by the flap, causing a mismatch in lift between the two wings. However, because the wing structure was damaged, the flap position was not affected, so it was not reflected in the flap position indicator.

From this perspective, this explanation makes perfect sense!

"Could it really be a problem with the flaps?" Tang Jian seemed to have grasped a glimmer of hope at this moment. Even the staff at the Star Travel Control Center were whispering among themselves, largely agreeing with Lian Shanxue's explanation.

Only Chief Pilot Ning Sheng showed a hint of hesitation on his face.

"No!" However, this seemingly reasonable explanation was rejected by Xu Xian: "Your assumption is based on the wrong premise!"

"Wrong!" Lian Shanxue was taken aback; this was the most reasonable explanation she could come up with. Not only her, but many others who heard this idea on the frequency also felt it was the most realistic explanation. However, Xu Xian immediately rejected it.

Xu Xian explained, "If the engine were to detach, it wouldn't fall downwards; rather, by design, it would flip backwards and fall off the wing. Therefore, the drooping flaps wouldn't hit the engine."

"Is that so?" This was the first time Lian Shanxue and Tang Jian had ever heard of this kind of knowledge.

In most people's intuitive understanding, if an engine detaches, it will definitely fall straight down, which aligns with most people's perception. However, this is not the case. In reality, the engine nacelle protrudes forward from the wing. If the engine detaches, it will flip backward, rather than falling directly.

In the operations control center, Ning Sheng suddenly realized something was amiss. When Lian Shanxue suggested the possibility that the flaps had struck the engine, he felt something was off. He couldn't remember where he'd read that an engine detaching from its fin doesn't fall straight down, just like Xu Xian had said. However, it had been so long that he couldn't quite recall the details, which was why he'd been somewhat unsteady on his feet earlier.

Now that Xu Xianyi has said it, it confirms his thoughts.

"If it's not a problem with the flaps, then what could it be?" Tang Jian asked.

"Since the flaps are fine, then it must be the slats," Xu Xian said decisively. "Part of the engine nacelle's pylon is connected to the wing's leading edge. If it detaches, it could damage the wing's leading edge. Under such damage, it's not impossible for the aircraft's leading-edge slats to unexpectedly retract."

"Absolutely impossible! The indicator lights on the leading edge device are all normal. What makes you think the leading edge slats have retracted?" Tang Jian simply couldn't accept Xu Xian's statement: "Besides, our B hydraulic system is still working properly. The leading edge slats couldn't possibly retract."

Xu Xian, however, was unconvinced: "This crappy plane has already lost an engine, who knows if the indicator system will still work? As for the B hydraulic system, I didn't say the hydraulic lines were damaged. The leading-edge slats are outside the engine nacelles, so even if the engine detaches, it would only affect the leading-edge slats' linkage mechanism. If the linkage mechanism malfunctions, what good is the hydraulic system even if it's still working?"

In Xu Xian's eyes, the 737 is a crudely made aircraft; it's sturdy enough, but it's prone to inexplicable problems. As he said, now that the plane has lost one engine, who knows if its warning system is still functioning properly? It's hard to say whether the indicator lights on the leading edge device on the rear dome are still working correctly.

Tang Jian couldn't accept it: "Impossible, that's just your side of the story."

"I don't care if it's just your side of the story!" Xu Xiancai was too lazy to waste words with the captain. He directly said to Lian Shanxue, "Lian Shan, the lift is inconsistent because of the asymmetry between the leading edge devices on both sides. What you need to do now is retract the flaps. This way, the right leading edge device will also retract, the lift of the wing will no longer be inconsistent, and the deflection will disappear."

This aircraft doesn't have a way to retract the leading-edge flaps separately, but it does have a way to deploy them separately. Therefore, the crew can only retract the flaps because the trailing-edge flaps and leading-edge flaps have a corresponding relationship. If the trailing-edge flaps are retracted, the corresponding leading-edge flaps will also retract. In this way, both flaps are smooth, and there is naturally no lift asymmetry.

However, Xu Xian's reply was...

"No! We can't retract the flaps now," Lian Shanxue sighed, staring at the barely moving airspeed gauge.

"What's wrong?" Xu Xian asked, startled. "Isn't your hydraulic system B working fine?"

The B hydraulic system controls the flaps, and Xu Xian thought there was a problem with it. But didn't the captain just say the B hydraulic system was working properly? How come the flaps aren't retracting?

"The plane keeps veering, we can't increase speed! We're already at maximum thrust!" Lian Shanxue said in a low voice.

"How could this be?" As soon as Lian Shanxue said this, Xu Xian understood what had happened.

Under normal circumstances, at altitudes above 1,000 feet, a single-engine aircraft can begin to accelerate and retract its flaps. At this point, with a single engine operating, the power provided can only maintain acceleration at near-level flight. In other words, the power of a single engine cannot guarantee both acceleration and climb, at least at low speeds.

Even so, in a single-shot scenario, the speed can still increase, albeit at a slower pace.

However, this is under normal circumstances. But now, Lian Shanxue's plane is in an abnormal situation; it's yawing. When a plane yaws, it loses some lift, so it usually needs to apply some throttle when turning.

However, the throttle of engine number two is already at its maximum, and there is simply no extra thrust to compensate for the lift loss caused by the deflection. This creates a vicious cycle.

Because the aircraft is yawing, they cannot accelerate and retract the flaps. Without accelerating and retracting the flaps, the aircraft's yaw will continue indefinitely, in a vicious cycle with no solution.

Tang Jian quickly realized this as well, and he gave a desolate smile: "So what if Xu Xian is right? This is a dead end, there's no way to resolve it."

Upon hearing this, Xu Xian's expression changed drastically. He knew that this was indeed a deadlock, a cycle, and without external influence, there was no possibility of a solution.

At this moment, the Star Travel Control Center was plunged into an atmosphere of despair. Xu Jingzhong and Gu Wei in the control tower also looked ashen-faced. They had originally thought that Xu Xian's involvement offered a glimmer of hope, but in the end, the result was the same.

A glimmer of hope appeared, but in the end it was all just a mirage, driving one to the brink of madness!

Just when everyone was sinking into despair, an unprecedented light shone in Lian Shanxue's eyes: "No! There's still a way!"

You guys said you don't have enough subscriptions, so you'll use monthly tickets, but there are still monthly tickets for tipping, hehe! (blushing slightly)

(End of this chapter)