Legendary Captain

Chapter 371 I'm Going to Fly Blindly!

Inside the cockpit, the Guangdong Air Force soldier was initially drawn to the crack on the right windshield. However, his expression only showed slight surprise at first before quickly returning to normal.

There is a real difference in psychological resilience between people who have served in the military and those who haven't.

Xu Xian originally wanted to instruct the person on how to lower the observer's seat, but to his surprise, the person lowered the seat and fastened the seatbelt on their own without Xu Xian's guidance.

This surprised Xu Xian quite a bit.

When the man saw Xu Xian looking over, he immediately sat up straight and gave Xu Xian a very formal military salute: "Captain Xu!"

Xu Xian's exact position was Deputy Squadron Leader of the First Flight Regiment, Third Air Division, Western Air Force Theater.

Across the country, there are seven air force theater commands. Each theater command comprises two to three air divisions, one radar brigade, and several air force auxiliary units. Each air division comprises two to three flight regiments and two to three airfield regiments. Each flight regiment typically comprises three flight groups and one maintenance group.

Each flight squadron commander is at the battalion level, so theoretically, assigning Xu Xian, a captain, to a battalion-level position would be acceptable. However, a flight squadron is a relatively large combat force with fighter jets, so the selection of a squadron commander must be extremely careful. Even though Xu Xian was considered the "savior" of the Western Air Force during the trilateral exercise, he had truly performed a great service. However, granting him the rank of captain as an exception was already quite audacious, so his job assignment could not be too arbitrary.

Therefore, after careful consideration, Xu Xian's official position was deputy squadron leader. However, without needing to make a special distinction, anyone with a modicum of emotional intelligence wouldn't explicitly mention the deputy position. Thus, in that person's mouth, Xu Xian became "Team Leader Xu."

"You know me?" Xu Xian was taken aback. His job assignment announcement should have only just been issued. How did the people from Guangdong Air Force know about it so quickly?

"Captain Xu, you're quite famous around here." The man smiled, revealing a row of white teeth: "Meng Zili, Fourth Division of the Guangdong Air Force."

"Meng Zili?" Xu Xian's eyes lit up slightly. "Meng Ziyang, that's you?"

"He's my brother," Meng Zili said with a smile.

In the Huacheng Control Center, an assistant was reporting to the duty officer: "Officer, we've made contact with the Air Force; they've agreed to open the restricted area."

Flight V41, which Xu Xian chose to fly through the typhoon's eye, had to pass through a restricted area for a portion of its route. This restricted area frequently experiences artillery firing and other activities. Due to the frequency of these activities, instead of issuing artillery firing notices every time, the airspace was simply designated as a restricted area. In reality, normally, if there is no artillery firing activity, it is permissible to fly through the restricted area.

The entire southern region is currently experiencing wind and rain, so there's naturally no artillery firing activity. Therefore, when the duty officer learned of the planned passage via flight route V41, he didn't mention the restricted area issue. He figured that if he proposed temporarily opening the restricted area to the Air Force, they would likely agree. This way, he wouldn't add any further psychological burden to the crew.

As expected, just as he predicted, the Air Force quickly responded with approval, a speed that caught even the duty officer somewhat off guard.

"There's one more thing," the assistant said. "The Air Force said they have one of their pilots on board. So they want us to keep them updated on the flight's latest situation."

The duty officer was taken aback: "You mean there are Air Force personnel on flight 5641 right now?"

The assistant's expression was slightly strange: "To be precise, it's not one, but two!"

Inside the Wen family ancestral home, Yang Ning remained outside Wen Jingshu's bedroom, not daring to step out. Ever since Wen Jingshu realized she had to choose between herself and her child, she had rarely left her room. Yang Ning was worried and could only stand guard outside, even though she didn't know what she was guarding.

Suddenly, Yang Ning's phone rang. Looking at the caller ID, she saw it was Lu Xinyu, the general manager of the flight department, and immediately frowned. She wasn't keen on answering, but fearing something serious had happened at the company, she hesitated for a moment before answering anyway: "What is it?"

"Ms. Yang, this is Lu Xinyu. I just received a message saying that Xu Xian is currently on a Letu Airlines plane, which has strayed into a typhoon and is in a dangerous situation."

"So?" Yang Ning said coldly, "Just this? Okay, I understand!"

After Yang Ning finished speaking, he suddenly remembered something: "Let me emphasize this to you, you are not allowed to reveal this to the chairman, do you hear me? If I find out that the chairman has heard about this, no matter who said it, your position as general manager of the flight department will be replaced."

"Uh..." Lu Xinyu had originally wanted to curry favor with Yang Ning, but it seemed he had backfired. He didn't dare ask any more questions and could only casually ask, "What about Xu Xian's matter?"

"You can handle it yourself. Okay, that's all." Yang Ning hung up the phone in frustration, staring at the still-closed door with worry.

In the cockpit, the captain sat nervously in the left seat. He never expected that the air force soldier who had just entered would salute Xu Xian, who appeared to be an officer. This was a real shock to the captain's worldview.

"We'll follow the V41 route in a bit. If we can't stay on the route, ascend to 5100 meters according to the grid altitude," Xu Xian instructed Meng Zili. "Just keep an eye on the aircraft's status when the windshield cracks. If there's a serious loss of aircraft status, remember to remind me."

To be honest, even Xu Xian himself struggled to maintain control when the windshield cracked. In that situation, he might not be able to accurately manage the aircraft's data and needed Meng Zili's reminders.

"Understood." Meng Zili nodded from the side.

Xu Xian wanted to discuss some more details with Meng Zili, but soon he noticed that the plane was starting to veer to the left. He instinctively pressed the right yaw to try and keep the plane on the V41 flight path.

However, Xu Xian soon discovered that the problem was not with the plane's roll, but with sideslip, which could be detected by the sideslip meter.

Xu Xian suddenly snapped to attention, disregarding the possibility of skidding, and immediately turned his gaze to the engine data of the upper and lower DU. With just a glance, Xu Xian quickly discovered the problem.

The thrust of the No. 1 engine, which had just been increased, has started to decrease again. The thrust difference between the two sides has decreased, but the rudder trim that Xu Xian had previously set has not changed, so the aircraft will naturally start to veer to the left, in the opposite direction from the original right turn.

The problem of the aircraft skidding is not a big issue. Xu Xian can always kick it back after a large skid. The problem now is that the number one engine seems to be unable to hold up.

Xu Xian hesitated for a moment, then pushed the thrust handle of Engine No. 1 forward again, trying to inject more fuel into the combustion chamber of Engine No. 1 in order to extend its life.

However, this time, it seemed that Engine No. 1 had truly reached the point of exhaustion. Even when Xu Xian pushed the thrust handle forward, he still couldn't stop the engine's thrust from decreasing.

"Damn it!" Xu Xian knew that Engine No. 1 was beyond saving, so he had no choice but to readjust the rudder trim to eliminate sideslip. However, sideslip was never the real problem. Xu Xian watched helplessly as the N1 of Engine No. 1 dropped to below 30, which was even less than the thrust at idle. Eventually, the N1 of Engine No. 1 stabilized at around 25. This was not because Engine No. 1 was still running at low speed, but purely due to wind-induced rotation.

After N2 dropped to a critical level, the ENG FAIL indicator appeared, and engine number one was officially shut down.

At this moment, the number one engine was not only not providing thrust, but was also generating additional drag due to the wind. Under these circumstances, without any trim correction, the aircraft would naturally veer to the left. Therefore, Xu Xian slightly adjusted the rudder to the right to correct the slight sideslip.

The only benefit of completely shutting down Engine 1 is that the descent rate increases dramatically, even slightly more than that of a dual-engine slow train. Now, forget about not having enough time to descend; we can probably descend to the planned altitude ahead of schedule.

Xu Xian held the steering wheel with one hand and rested the accelerator on the other, seemingly lost in thought. He pressed the terrain display button again, but nothing appeared. He glanced at the GPS light, but the warning light was not illuminated.

Xu Xian sighed inexplicably and said to the captain, "Prepare an engine failure or shutdown checklist, and then prepare an engine in-flight start checklist."

"In this situation, a restart is very likely unsuccessful." Under normal circumstances, a stall not caused by engine failure wouldn't cause the captain excessive anxiety. After all, there's a good chance of successfully restarting the engine in the air in such cases. However, given the current strong winds and heavy rain, the captain frankly didn't believe a successful in-flight restart was possible. They would likely need to rely on just one engine to cross the typhoon's eye boundary.

"I know, but we should still try it. Let's try it first!" Xu Xian glanced at the upper and lower drums to confirm that the engine oil level, temperature, and pressure were all normal. It seemed the engine had indeed been extinguished simply by the heavy rain. This situation met the conditions for an in-flight engine start.

Of course, being able to start in the air and being able to start successfully are two completely different concepts.

Although there is a checklist for engine in-flight start, it is not allowed to proceed directly. It can only be done after completing other corresponding non-standard checklists.

This engine stall was not due to any other faults such as surge, serious damage, or fire alarm; it was simply an engine stall. This applies to engine failure or shutdown inspection reports.

The engine failure or shutdown checklist is a very familiar checklist for pilots; captains can even complete all the items on the checklist without looking at it. However, the in-flight start checklist is slightly less common, but that doesn't really matter.

The captain wouldn't make a mistake on the checklist; what he really wanted to know was what to do after completing the checklist. Because before even completing the checklist, he probably already knew what the result would be.

Rather than completing this somewhat formal task, he was more interested in whether Xu Xian had figured out how to use an engine to cross the boundary of the typhoon's eye.

The captain pulled out a quick checklist, but before reading it, he couldn't help but ask, "Now there's only one engine left, what do we do?"

"Do you think the biggest problem right now is the engine?" Xu Xian shook his head.

The captain was stunned: "Isn't that right?"

Xu Xian pointed: "It's not the engine, it's the terrain display! No need to ask anymore, just make the inspection report."

"Terrain display?" The captain was puzzled, but he was obedient and didn't ask any further questions. He simply opened the quick checklist and began to perform the checks.

Just as the captain was about to begin the checklist, Xu Xian hesitated for a moment, then announced to air traffic control, "PANPAN, PANPAN, PANPAN."

Letu Aviation Operations Control Center.

Even though the information from Huacheng Air Traffic Control indicated that there was no major problem with the number one engine of flight 5641, the safety manager was still somewhat uneasy and continued to monitor flight 5641 closely.

The moment the ENG FAIL indicator appeared on engine number one, a notification was sent to the monitoring system at Letu Operations Control Center. This wasn't just a simple case of abnormal engine data; the engine had indeed stalled.

"The engine has shut down?" The safety manager was dumbfounded. Since he was promoted to work in the operations control center, this was the first time he had encountered an engine failure on one of his own flights. During a flight, an engine failure is a clear sign of an accident, and the nature of the situation changes drastically.

The staff were also shocked, but the monitoring system showed that engine number one had indeed shut down.

The security manager took a few deep breaths to catch his breath, then pointed at a staff member: "Go and contact the Huacheng control room to find out what happened."

"Brother Wang, no need." The staff member who had been assigned by the security manager to communicate with Xingyou had just returned. He smiled wryly, "Just now, flight 5641 announced 'PANPAN'."

"A state of emergency has been declared?" The safety manager's mind went blank, and he almost choked on his breath. Engine failures weren't uncommon in Lotto Airlines' history, but the situation with Flight 5641 was different. They were currently in a typhoon zone, with extremely harsh flying conditions. With only one engine, who knew when PANPAN would turn into MAYDAY?

"No matter what, we still need to go through Huacheng Control to inquire about the specific situation," the security manager muttered to himself.

The staff member looked at him strangely: "Brother Wang, no need, we can directly apply for emergency communication with flight 5641."

The safety manager didn't react immediately: "Emergency communications? We do have them... Hmm? Could it be?"

The staff member nodded: "Yes, Xingyou Aviation Control has agreed to act as the data intermediary. We can directly apply to Huacheng Air Traffic Control for emergency communication."

"Agreed? Why would they agree?" The security manager racked his brains but couldn't understand what Star Travel Airlines meant. This was completely illogical!

The security manager was a very pragmatic person, and he believed that most people in the world were like him: unwilling to do bad things, nor willing to do good things. Truly good or bad people, genuinely good or bad from the inside out, were always a minority. Could it be that he had really encountered one of the most philanthropic leaders at Star Travel Airlines?

He always felt it was somewhat like a dream!

"They don't have any conditions?" The security manager still didn't believe that there was really such a thing as a free lunch or that there were truly kind people out there.

"Yes, there is," the staff member said. "Star Travel said they also want to get involved."

"Why are they getting involved? Isn't this our own business?" Not only were the staff confused, but the safety manager couldn't understand it either. When did Star Travel's operations control become so enthusiastic? It was too strange.

A staff member sighed, "They said Xu Xian is on the plane."

Inside the cockpit.

Captains who have completed the engine failure or shutdown checklist should proceed with the engine in-flight start checklist.

"Engine thrust lever, turn off."

"Engine starter lever, disconnect."

When they were performing the engine failure or shutdown checklist, they had already released the accelerator and disconnected the engine start lever. Therefore, the first two steps don't require manual intervention; a quick check is sufficient.

"Switch off the affected side of the component's power switch. Verify, left component off."

At this point, Xu Xian slightly increased the throttle of engine number two, otherwise the pipeline pressure would be too low. This showed that Xu Xian already knew the next steps and was starting to prepare in advance.

Sure enough, the next step was to verify that the pipeline pressure was greater than 30 PSI.

Just as the captain read out this step, Xu Xian finished adjusting the pipeline pressure. Almost without pausing, the captain placed the starter switch for engine number one in the ground position.

After N2 reached 11%, Xu Xian moved the starter lever of engine number one to the idle position, and both crew members started timing. Now, Xu Xian and the captain are both monitoring the EGT changes of engine number one.

In such windy, rainy, and cold conditions, the most common problem is that the EGT (Electronic Tolerance) fails to rise. If the EGT does not rise within thirty seconds, the in-flight start has failed.

As they had anticipated, after thirty seconds, the EGT had barely moved.

"Damn it!" Even though he was somewhat prepared, the captain couldn't help but curse when he actually found that the engine couldn't start.

Xu Xian sighed in disappointment, turned off the starter handle of Engine No. 1, and pointed to the starter switch: "Turn it off."

The captain reluctantly turned the start switch back to the off position.

In this way, the startup cycle ends in failure.

"Again?" the captain asked. An engine that's already overcooled usually requires multiple attempts to start; it would be strange if it started perfectly on the first try.

However, the captain probably knew that no matter how many times he tried, it would likely be a waste of time. But he still wouldn't give up, since all he could do was keep trying to restart the engine.

As the aircraft descended, after reaching the predetermined altitude of 4,500 meters, Xu Xian was shocked to discover that even with the throttle of the No. 2 engine at almost maximum, he still could not stabilize the altitude.

Under normal circumstances, an aircraft can maintain a stable altitude of 4,500 meters when operating with a single engine. However, due to the typhoon, the airflow is too turbulent, and the situation cannot be judged by normal standards. At least from the current situation, they are no longer able to maintain a safe altitude for their flight path.

If they cannot maintain a safe altitude for their flight path, they must rely on the grid altitude to ensure sufficient obstacle clearance. However, the safe altitude for this grid area is 5,100 meters. They can't even maintain 4,500 meters now, let alone 5,100 meters.

If they can't maintain a safe altitude for their flight path, and they can't maintain a grid altitude either, then if they continue flying, they risk crashing into a mountain.

It was already night, and with the sky dark and the wind high, it was impossible to fly around the enemy using only visual means. The captain finally understood why Xu Xian had said that terrain visualization was the biggest problem.

If the terrain display function is also available, even if their altitude is below the safe altitude for the flight path, they can still use the terrain display to avoid obstacles, which still makes them quite maneuverable.

But now the terrain display is gone. Are they going to fly blindly through the valleys?

The captain now understood why Xu Xian had said the biggest problem wasn't the engine, but the terrain information system. Engine number one was essentially doomed. However, if the terrain information system were still usable, they could maintain relatively safe flight even below the safe altitude for their route. Furthermore, at lower altitudes, the terrain would block some of the turbulence, making maneuvering relatively easier.

However, with the terrain display now unavailable, they are at their wits' end.

Ultimately, they could only maintain an altitude of about 3,600 meters, which is definitely not a safe altitude for the mountainous Lingnan region.

"Letu 5641, weren't you planning to go at an altitude of 4,500 meters? How come you've broken the altitude barrier?" The duty officer also noticed that Letu 5641's altitude had dropped to 3,600 meters, which was different from what was said before.

If it's 3,600 meters, isn't that below the safe altitude for air traffic? Could Letu's aircraft safely complete the obstacle clearance?

Xu Xian answered directly: "5641, we cannot maintain an altitude of 4,500 meters under the first-strike condition. 3,600 meters is the limit of the altitude we can maintain."

As Xu Xian spoke, he began to slow down, as he needed to buy more time to process the situation.

"So what are you planning to do? Continue crossing at an altitude of 3,600 meters? That's below the safe altitude for the flight path," the duty officer reminded them.

"I know," Xu Xian replied. "Give us some time to handle this."

The moment Xu Xian finished speaking, Meng Zili suddenly said from behind, "Captain Xu, we've now entered our Guangdong Air Force's defense zone. We have terrain data for this area. Do you think we should try requesting the terrain data from us and uploading it over?"

"This...is that okay?" It's understandable that Guangdong Air Force has terrain data for this area, but Xu Xian didn't know that this terrain data could be applied for.

"Normally, that's impossible, but the situation is urgent, so we need to make exceptions. We can't just fly blindly over obstacles, can we?" Terrain data isn't like cabbage at the market, something you can just grab whenever you want. But Meng Zili understood the situation; without terrain data, things could get very difficult: "How do we use this microphone? I'll talk to control."

Professor Xu Xian demonstrated how to use the handheld microphone, then, after setting up the third VHF transmitter, pointed to a button on the handheld microphone: "Press this to speak."

"Oh." Following Xu Xian's instructions, Meng Zili pressed the speak button: "Hello, I am a pilot from the 4th Air Division of the Guangdong Air Force. Our terrain display is currently unavailable. I would appreciate it if you could help contact the 4th Air Division and request terrain data for the area near Zhangzhou."

Mencius's words were very general, but he believed that as long as the officials could relay his words, the people of the Fourth Division should be able to understand what he meant.

"You're the one from Guangdong Air Force." When the duty manager applied to open the restricted area, Guangdong Air Force had mentioned that they had a pilot on the Letu plane. Unexpectedly, that person spoke directly to him.

"Just tell the Fourth Division that Meng Zili is the guarantor, and request the retrieval of topographical data near Zhangzhou," Meng Zili confirmed again.

Topographical data is actually quite sensitive. Meng Zili provided a personal guarantee; otherwise, the Fourth Division might not have agreed, because they couldn't be sure if the civilian airliner was truly at the brink of death.

In fact, Meng Zili's statement was essentially a guarantee in his own name, which was already more than enough. If a subsequent investigation had revealed that the situation wasn't dire, Meng Zili might not have faced a military court trial, but he could still have been severely punished.

Perhaps because Xu Xian's words had provoked the duty officer last time, the duty officer did not ask for details this time, but quickly agreed and contacted the Fourth Division of the Guangdong Air Force.

Xu Xian originally wanted to ask about the details of the terrain data, but at this moment, a voice different from any of the previous voices suddenly came through the radio.

"5641, this is the operations control center. What's the situation?" The voice that came out was that of Letu Operations Control Safety Manager. They had obtained permission from Huacheng Air Traffic Control to connect to emergency communications through Xingyou Aviation's data center.

Upon hearing that it was his family contacting him, the captain immediately grasped at a straw: "We can't see the terrain map anymore, do you know what the solution is?"

"Huh? The terrain display is gone? What happened?" The safety manager had just answered the call and was probably still a little dazed, so he actually asked the crew.

The captain's face flushed red, clearly ashamed of his control system's embarrassing performance. He could only say, "We just encountered lightning nearby, causing our left and right GPS systems to malfunction. This is likely the source of the terrain display problem. Is there a solution?"

"No, that's not right! Let me think about it. If it's a problem with the GPS signal, it would likely cause an incorrect terrain warning, but it shouldn't affect the terrain display." Xu Xian pondered for a moment, then contradicted himself: "Ask around, if there's a problem with the terrain database, is there any way to recover it?"

"Terrain database? Oh," the captain nodded, relaying Xu Xian's words directly: "Let's change the subject. What if we suspect there's a problem with the terrain database?"

"There's a problem with the terrain database?" The safety manager was stunned. They didn't have any terrain data. If updates were needed, they purchased it from Boeing, and there were usage limits. To use additional slots, they needed to make various requests, which was very troublesome. Because each installation cost money.

Actually, the money or the approval process aren't the most critical issues. The main problem is that while they can upload the data online and have the flight crew accept and install it, the terrain database contains only limited terrain data near major domestic airports. They don't have the capability to upload terrain data for a single airport. They have to upload the entire database. Uploading a completely new terrain database would take at least half an hour from the upload's completion to the flight crew accepting the data and finally to installation.

According to the safety manager, flight 5641 cannot hold out for more than half an hour!

Seeing that even the safety manager was helpless, Xu Xian sneered. Sure enough, in the end, he would have to rely on himself; he couldn't count on anyone else.

He took the call directly and asked the security manager, "Have you fixed the bug in your U13 version of FMC source code?"

"An FMC source bug?" Even the captain next to him was puzzled. He whispered, "I don't think so! The flight department issued a notice about this bug before, and I remember that notice hasn't been revoked yet."

Just as the captain had guessed, the safety manager's response was: "That bug hasn't been fixed. Why?"

"That's all. Contact Zhangzhou Airport and prepare to receive us." Xu Xian ended the call directly, then stood up slightly, quickly switched the FMC source selection switch to the right, and then quickly returned it to the center.

The action was extremely fast, but after the power switch returned to center, both FMCs went black, and then restarted again after a few seconds.

The U13 version of the Flight Management Computer has a bug related to the FMC source. If you quickly switch the FMC source selection switch to the left or right and then back to the center, the FMC will crash and restart shortly. This is a software defect in this version, and there is currently no solution.

Previously, Lotto Airlines had issued a special notice regarding this issue, prohibiting crew members from operating the FMC source selection switch too quickly to prevent the FMC from crashing and restarting.

Xu Xian confirmed that by exploiting this bug, the FMC could be forced to restart, which would also cause the entire flight database to restart. It's like the ultimate solution for internet cafe managers to fix computer problems: when in doubt, restart first.

During the restart of the flight management computer, various malfunction flags appeared on both navigation screens, but this was intentional and not surprising.

The data from the flight management computer restarted very quickly because the restart interval was so short that they didn't even need to re-enter the data. After the restart, everything in the CDU was normal.

Once the reboot was complete, Xu Xian immediately reopened the terrain display. The three of them stared wide-eyed at the navigation page.

Under the watchful eyes of the three, the navigation page began to refresh with a shadowy image composed of small dots in green, yellow, and a little red.

"It's out!" Xu Xian was overjoyed. If the terrain display was usable, they wouldn't need to bother the Guangdong Air Force to provide terrain data.

However, just seconds after the entire terrain shadow appeared, it disappeared again without any input from the crew.

Even someone as composed as Xu Xian almost swore, but this only lasted five or six seconds. What was that? Playing with them?

At the Huacheng Control Center, after requesting terrain data from the Fourth Division of the Guangdong Air Force, they could only wait quietly. The flight crew's intention was that, as long as the Guangdong Air Force agreed, they would transmit the terrain data to Letu Operations Control, and then from Letu Operations Control to flight 5641.

Unlike the terrain databases used by airlines, the Air Force divides its defense zone into several areas. The terrain data they provide is not only more accurate but also smaller in size, making it easier to transmit. It doesn't take more than half an hour like when airlines upload data to their databases.

Suddenly, the phone on the command console rang. The duty officer thought it was a message from the Guangdong Air Force and immediately answered the phone. However, what he heard on the other end was not what he expected.

"Hello, this is the South China Sea Fleet Headquarters."

Soon, a message came from control: "5641, the military has agreed to retrieve the terrain data. Should we transmit it to Letu Operations Control now?"

"Hmm," Xu Xian responded, but then casually asked, "This wait has been a bit long."

In this critical moment, Xu Xian valued efficiency, but the control department made them wait for a while, which made Xu Xian somewhat dissatisfied, even though the time was actually less than two minutes.

"Oh, it's mainly because the South China Sea Fleet called to confirm the situation, which took a little longer," the duty officer explained.

"South China Sea Fleet? What did he confirm?" Xu Xian was taken aback. How did this bring up the South China Sea Fleet?

Suddenly, a thought flashed through Xu Xian's mind, and he immediately turned to ask Meng Zili, "Does your defense zone group Zhangzhou Airport and Longjiang Airport into the same area?"

"Right, something's not right! There's a problem!" Meng Zili immediately realized, "We need to retrieve the terrain data around the South China Sea Fleet headquarters! No wonder the South China Sea Fleet came to confirm they don't have this terrain data. How are we supposed to fly? Since the military has agreed, it should be fine!"

Meng Zili could only console himself with this thought.

"No, no, absolutely not! How can we allow terrain data around the South China Sea Fleet headquarters to be uploaded to civilian equipment? Absolutely not!" Xu Xian firmly refused to accept this approach at this moment.

He didn't know why the South China Sea Fleet agreed. Perhaps that's what the People's Liberation Army is all about—the safety of the people comes first, even at the risk of leaking top-secret data.

However, Xu Xian simply could not accept it!

"No? Why not? How are we supposed to fly over if we don't receive this data?" The captain didn't fully grasp the importance of the terrain data; he was more inclined to accept it.

Little did Xu Xian know, he grabbed the captain by the collar: "Do you know what? As long as we receive the terrain data they transmit, the South China Sea Fleet Command will be rendered useless!"

"What are we going to do then? Fly blind from here on out? You're responsible for the lives of the 163 passengers behind us!" the captain roared. He figured that since the military had agreed, there must be no problem. Why should they worry about so much? This wasn't their responsibility.

Xu Xian squinted: "I'm a soldier, and I'm also responsible to the South China Sea Fleet!"

"Then what do you suggest we do? How do we fly?" the captain demanded sharply.

Xu Xian's gaze swept across the airspeed indicator, wind direction and speed display, and the clock. He took a deep breath: "Then I'll fly blind!"

(End of this chapter)