Legendary Captain

Chapter 99 This is genius! (Please subscribe!)

The starting point's altitude limit is 2700 meters. As long as the altitude is not less than 2700 meters when passing this point, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you descend.

We are currently in the initial stage of direct flight, and the route is straight. Maneuvering is relatively simple at this stage. During this period, once we have descended to the bottom, we will no longer need to descend and turn simultaneously during the DME arc phase.

The workload for the DME arc is too large, so we need to complete as many things as possible in advance so that we can focus all our energy on it during the DME arc manipulation period.

Han Qi maintained the method of changing the altitude, and at the same time took this time to make some supplementary instructions. The previous instructions were all made according to the blind landing on the 19th.

"3600 meters, transitional altitude layer, corrected sea pressure 1022."

When the aircraft passed through the transitional altitude layer, Xu Xian was in control, while Han Qi took on the role of PM, diligently adjusting the ground pressure correction values ​​of the three altimeters to 1022 and confirming them.

"Approach checklist!" Xu Xian announced. He had been flying somewhat carelessly before, but when it came to working seriously, Xu Xian immediately focused his attention.

"Approach Checklist," Han Qi drawled, eagerly anticipating Xu Xian's performance. "Altimeter verification 1022, 1, 2, 3, check! Channel, frequency check! We are on VOR approach, channel 190, frequency 117.7, verify both sides!"

There are knobs for inputting flight paths on both the left and right sides of the MCP panel. The crew must verify that the flight paths on both sides are correct; otherwise, cutting the wrong flight path would be a complete joke.

At the same time, the navigation tuning panels on both sides of the central control console also need to be checked to ensure that the VOR frequency is correct. If the VOR frequency and the flight path do not match, it will definitely be a failed approach.

Actually, navigation databases for each airport are stored in the navigation database. If the flight path and frequency set by the flight crew do not match, it will be displayed on the PFD (Portable Floating Display). However, this is only a last resort and not a guarantee of safety.

"Captain, can you take over the controls first?" Xu Xian suddenly asked.

"Huh? Oh, okay!" Han Qi was a little confused, but he still followed Xu Xian's instructions and temporarily took over the controls.

Xu Xian handed over the controls, took several deep breaths, and picked up a towel to wipe the sweat from his palms. Even with some confidence, he still felt considerable pressure when it came to actually flying.

Han Qi glanced at Xu Xian, whose anxiety was palpable, and chuckled inwardly, "He's still just a kid!"

"Captain, everything's fine on my end. I'm taking over the controls!" Xu Xian paused for a moment, calmed himself down, and took over the controls again.

Han Qi handed over control, tapped the sun visor, and caught Xu Xian's attention: "Kid, don't feel pressured. I'll cover for you. There won't be any problems."

"Then why did you say you couldn't fly the DME arc?" Xu Xian sneered.

At this point, why pretend to be a good person in front of him?

"What if I suddenly unleash my full power?" Han Qi laughed. "Ten thousand feet!"

"Turn on the lights!"

Han Qi turned on the fixed landing lights, his smile fading. This kid is getting better and better to look at!

At this point, the aircraft was very close to the initial approach fix, which meant it was about to begin its DME arc route.

"Kunlong 9543, continue descending to 2100 meters. Strictly adhere to standard procedures and prohibit any outward deviation," the approach control command announced.

Han Qi: "Descending to an altitude of 2100 meters, Kunlong 9543. Approach. Our aircraft is currently experiencing autopilot issues and is in manual flight mode. If accuracy cannot be guaranteed, we will abort the approach."

Han Qi felt it was necessary to inform approach control of the aircraft's situation.

Approach control was clearly caught off guard by Han Qi's statement. After a moment of silence, they replied, "Received! If you are unable to make a manual approach, we will contact Wupanshan Airport, and you can make an emergency landing there."

Wupanshan Airport is the closest civilian airport to Qianyang Airport. It's a small airport with a runway of only 2600 meters. Even though it's not large, Wupanshan Airport uses the standard RNAV approach procedure and an instrument landing approach. There won't be any strange flight segments like the DME arc.

Moreover, Wupanshan Airport is one of the few airports in the province with an excellent airspace environment, and it is very close to Qianyang Airport, with a flight time of less than 20 minutes.

It's clear that the approach control team thinks very quickly, and they came up with alternative solutions in an instant.

"It's nothing, I just wanted to let you know. There won't be any problems during the approach." Han Qi spoke with unparalleled confidence, as if it were the natural course of events.

Upon hearing Han Qi's words in the approach control room, the person immediately curled their lip: "This guy really has a big mouth!"

Although he was just an air traffic controller, he knew about the DME arc and that it was difficult to fly manually!

"2100 meters, 6900 feet!" Han Qi set the next altitude and instructed Xu Xian, "We have a lot of altitude margin. If you feel you can't control it, you can stay at the correct altitude and focus on flying along the DME arc."

2700 meters is the starting altitude of the DME arc, and 2100 meters is the ending altitude, with only a small difference in altitude. Furthermore, the end of the DME arc is some distance from the FAF point. Even if one doesn't descend during the DME arc, there is still ample space to descend to a suitable altitude.

Han Qi said this mainly for Xu Xian's sake. He wanted Xu Xian to focus on flying the DME arc and not be distracted by other things.

Xu Xian glanced at the aeronautical chart and did some mental calculations. The altitude was indeed quite ample, so he decided to adopt Han Qi's suggestion and focus on flying the DME arc first, dealing with the descent later.

"Turn off the guidance!" Xu Xian suddenly said.

Han Qi: "Don't you need any guidance?"

They received a guide earlier when they were connecting to the autonomous driving system, but now Xu Xian is saying it's unnecessary. Even without autonomous driving, the guide is still there!

"I feel there will be problems with the flight guidance when entering the DME arc," Xu Xian said. "I flew the entire DME arc without guidance. I only turned on the guidance when cutting off the flight path."

The navigation system is not entirely foolproof and can sometimes be unreliable, especially when the route is complex.

Xu Xian didn't want to be led astray; he only trusted himself!

"Without guidance, the difficulty will increase significantly. Are you confident?" Han Qi actually suggested that Xu Xian refer to the guidance, since it could simplify many mental calculation processes.

Xu Xian shook his head: "I'm not very confident, maybe 80-90%!"

Han Qi was genuinely shocked by Xu Xian's outrageously arrogant words: "Never mind, forget I asked!"

After passing the IAF point, Xu Xian began maneuvering the aircraft to turn left and enter the DME arc. The angle between the approach and the DME arc exceeded 90 degrees. He had to make a large left turn to enter the DME arc, and then make a small right turn to fly along the DME arc, which was a very challenging maneuver.

Because if the slope of the left turn or the slope of the right turn are slightly wrong, or if there is a problem with the timing of the turn, then he will never be able to stay strictly on the DME arc.

This is where the difficulty lies; this is where the very beginning determines life or death!

The problem is that the required angle for a turn varies depending on the airspeed, so there is no reference value and it all depends on the pilot's sense of feeling.

Moreover, the timing of the turn must be extremely precise. If you turn too early, you will fall inside the DME arc; if you turn too late, you will be outside the DME arc.

The entire process will definitely not exceed ten seconds, but within those ten seconds you will know whether you need to stop the approach.

As Xu Xian turned the steering wheel, Han Qi gradually tightened his grip on it. If Xu Xian made any mistakes, Han Qi would have to take over the aircraft.

There's only one chance; if you make a mistake, there's absolutely no going back.

However, things unfolded in a way that Han Qi had never anticipated. As if he had rehearsed this countless times, Xu Xian's muscles gradually tensed as he entered the left turn; he knew he had only one chance.

Without time for precise calculations, Xu Xian relied entirely on his intuition to establish a bank angle of 25 degrees. Three or four seconds later, before the aircraft had fully entered the DME arc, Xu Xian changed the bank angle from 25 degrees to 5 degrees to the right.

Because the bank angle change takes time, during this brief period, the aircraft made a slight left turn, just catching up with the DME arc. Afterward, the aircraft smoothly transitioned to a right turn, flying precisely along the DME arc.

Xu Xian had calculated the delay of the aircraft's turn, grasped the lead time, and perfectly embedded the aircraft's trajectory into the DME arc. Such an artistic maneuver was truly a sight to behold.

In the approach control room, the controller watched the aircraft's trajectory. He had been paying closer attention to the Kunlong 9543 after receiving the message that its autopilot was malfunctioning. If the Kunlong 9543 deviated too far from its path, he would force the flight to abort its approach.

However, after watching for a while, the controller realized that the plane's trajectory was clearly a smooth DME arc, and it didn't look like manual flight at all.

"What? Autopilot is working now? Why didn't you say so?" the controller muttered casually.

Following Han Qi's advice, Xu Xian did not choose to descend during the DME arc phase. Maintaining this DME arc was already his limit, and if he were distracted by the altitude issue, he was unsure whether he could perfectly follow the arc.

Xu Xian is not a god; this is the limit of what he can do.

"Watch out for the wind!" Han Qi warned as the plane continued to advance.

As the aircraft flies along the DME arc, its crosswind component constantly changes due to the changing flight path. Generally speaking, the current wind is blowing the aircraft towards the outer edge of the DME arc. However, changes in the crosswind component during flight will cause changes in this outward pushing force.

Based on the wind direction provided by the radio communication, we can generally conclude that after entering the DME arc, the crosswind volume will gradually increase over time due to the angle. At this point, the pilot needs to slowly increase the bank angle to counteract this outward pushing force, allowing the aircraft to maintain the correct trajectory.

As for how much to increase the gradient and at what speed, that depends on the pilot's skill.

Han Qi couldn't explain the increase in slope to Xu Xian in detail; he only mentioned this small detail to ensure Xu Xian wouldn't miss it. Judging from the performance when cutting into the DME arc just now, as long as Xu Xian was informed about the impact of crosswinds, he should be able to solve this problem.

However, Xu Xian only responded coldly to Han Qi's well-intentioned advice with one sentence: "Don't speak!"

Xu Xian's entire focus was now on correcting the aircraft's trajectory, leaving him no energy to analyze anything else. Regardless of what Han Qi said, or whether Xu Xian wanted it or not, his words would inevitably reach his ears. His brain would involuntarily process these words, a process difficult to control. Once distracting thoughts entered his mind, they consumed his energy and affected his actions.

Of course, he knew Han Qi meant well. However, there was no time to explain in detail now; he would apologize after landing.

He had already calculated the changes in crosswind load, so there was no need for Han Qilai to remind him.

Airplanes take off with the wind; if a pilot can't even consider the wind's influence, what's the point of flying? However, what's obvious to Xu Xian might not be the same principle for an ordinary pilot. Han Qi's reminder stemmed from his categorizing Xu Xian as an ordinary pilot. From the beginning, his assessment of Xu Xian was flawed, or rather, underestimated him.

There will always be geniuses in the world, whose starting point is the end point that others strive for their entire lives.

Faced with Xu Xian's cold rebuke, Han Qi snorted, turned his head away from Xu Xian, and went off to sulk.

My good intentions have been taken for granted. Figure it out yourself; I won't remind you anymore!

However, despite cursing inwardly, his eyes remained fixed on the PFD and the navigation ND. He discovered that Xu Xian was indeed doing as he had hoped, gradually increasing the input gradient over time, keeping the aircraft consistently on the prescribed trajectory.

He listened! Or did he already know from the beginning?

"Could this be innate knowledge?" Han Qi was already in a state of shock. The finesse of the control was simply like art! It completely exceeded the co-pilot's ability and was truly impressive!

Is this what talent is? It's truly enviable!

However, as the plane's angle of attack increased, Xu Xian deliberately maintained the plane's speed without accelerating, which caused the plane to begin to lose altitude.

Xu Xian didn't care about the altitude loss; they were going to descend to 2100 meters anyway, and let the plane drop on its own. He just needed to make sure it didn't fall below 2100 meters.

"Kunlong 9543, you may descend according to procedure, establish Channel 19, and report to Taiwan from all sides!" the air traffic control reminded.

Generally, after an aircraft intercepts the flight path, it will be approaching the five-way navigation system. At this point, approach control will instruct the aircraft to contact the control tower, which is why the crew is asked to report.

"We can proceed with the descent according to procedure, establish Channel 19, and report to Taiwan from all sides: Kunlong 9543!" Han Qi replied.

At that moment, another unit chimed in on the approach frequency: "Approach, hello, Kunlong 9446, altitude 5700 meters, E-band, at your command!"

"Wave communication E is valid. Continue descending to 4200 meters. Qianxi 11A approach, VOR/DME approach 19," approach control command announced.

"At an altitude of 4200 meters, Qianxi 11A approaches, No. 19 VOR/DME approaches, Kunlong 9446."

The controller paused for a moment, then, driven by curiosity, asked, "Kunlong 9543, are you ready for autonomous driving?"

"No? What's wrong?" Han Qi asked, puzzled.

"Are you flying manually now? The trajectory looks perfect to me! It doesn't seem like you're flying manually!" the controller asked, voicing his doubts.

However, before Han Qi could answer, the other flight from the Kunlong plane interrupted, "Is he an instructor?"

(End of this chapter)