In the cockpit of Blue Sky Airlines Flight 9811, Xu Cang silently put down his headphones. He seemed to relax after just sending a blind message.
"Shuyue, did you remember what I just said to you?" The five fingers of Xu Cang's left hand kept opening and closing, revealing his extremely anxious heart.
Indeed, in theory, if the airspeed and heading are known, a track can be calculated mentally. The only thing he was thankful for was that before this, he knew that the wind speed in Jianchuan was very low, a rare state of almost calm wind, which virtually reduced Xu Cang's calculation burden.
But in reality, this is still almost impossible. Those people in the dispatch room are all experienced bosses, how could they not understand Xu Cang's plan?
However, understanding does not mean agreement, and Xu Cang's current situation is worse than they know. He can only vaguely hear Xia Shuyue's voice now. In a foreseeable time, he will be completely deaf, and he must make the final explanation before then.
Not to mention the amount of mental arithmetic that Xu Cang had to do, one of the important issues is that even an extremely small error will be gradually magnified after the accumulation of time, leading to an irreversible end for Xu Cang.
Unfortunately, the accumulation of such errors is inevitable, and Xu Cang is well aware of this. If everything is fine, even in strong winds, he is confident that he can control the airspeed to the exact degree, and he can always grasp the correctness of the slope and heading of the turn. However, in the extreme case of being unable to see or hear, it is impossible to maintain accuracy continuously by relying solely on one's own senses.
Therefore, when there is only a little sound left that can be heard, Xu Cang must try his best to eliminate the accumulation of errors, that is, to determine the correction point!
"I remember it all!" Xia Shuyue nodded heavily. She knew that what Xu Cang had told her was very important, so she didn't let up at all. "If the speed changes by more than two knots, I'll tap your shoulder. If it's too fast, I'll tap you once. If it's too slow, I'll tap you twice in a row. When the plane turns parallel to the runway, if the heading is greater than 051, I'll tap you once on the arm. If it's less than 051, I'll tap you twice in a row."
"Yeah." Xu Cang nodded gently. Xia Shuyue had not received any special training, and her attention was not distributed. If she was assigned too many prompting tasks, she would probably make mistakes and give Xu Cang the wrong information. Therefore, Xu Cang only asked Xia Shuyue to provide prompts on a few key nodes or data, and they were only very vague prompts.
If Xia Shuyue had the ability of Xu Cang, after reaching an agreement with Xu Cang, she could accurately describe all subsequent errors. Unfortunately, Xia Shuyue did not have this ability.
Actually, Xu Cang felt a little regretful. That was that he did not type out the distance circle and the extension line of the fifth side of the airport before he lost his eyesight, but only typed out an airport positioning point. Otherwise, relying on the distance circle, the positioning point and the extension line of the fifth side, Xia Shuyue should be able to simply describe the precise location of the aircraft.
The most fatal one is the error during the final approach. Without relying on instruments and relying only on visual observation, ordinary people cannot tell whether the plane is skewed to the left or right.
Ordinary people may think that it is impossible to tell whether the aircraft is on the left or right side on the final approach, and how can the left and right be distinguished? But in fact, this is the case!
Not to mention the altitude deviation which is even more difficult to distinguish, the relatively easy roll deviation requires a long period of training even for professional pilots to find the key.
Many pilots cannot clearly see the aircraft's roll deviation even when they turn to the left seat, resulting in them being unable to land on the centerline of the runway from time to time.
This involves the problem of the direction deviation of the aircraft nose and the viewing angle, which is why ordinary people are more likely to make mistakes. Therefore, Xia Shuyue can basically not help in the most critical fifth leg, which is also what Xu Cang is most worried about.
However, Xu Cang still wanted to add one last layer of insurance for himself.
"Can you see Qingfeng Building now?" Xu Cang said in a deep voice: "If I remember correctly, Qingfeng Building should be at our three o'clock direction, you can look for it."
Qingfeng Building is a landmark building in Jianchuan City. The main structure is a triangular building with extremely high floors, making it very easy to distinguish.
Xia Shuyue followed Xu Cang's instructions and quickly found Qingfeng Building: "Brother, I saw it, what's wrong?"
"According to the correct glide path, the plane will fly over Qingfeng Building in the final descent phase, and the altitude should be around 4,500 feet. As agreed before, if the altitude deviation exceeds 200 feet when flying over Qingfeng Building, pat me on the back if it is too large, and pat me twice in a row if it is too small. If the altitude is just right, just hold it on my back for more than three seconds." Xu Cang explained seriously: "Shuyue, this is the most important, more important than what I told you before."
Compared to airspeed, as long as the throttle and attitude remain unchanged, the airspeed can basically be maintained within a relatively accurate range. However, changes in altitude are difficult to express, and there are too many factors that can affect the descent rate. In addition, Xu Cang will use some special descent methods to avoid the influence of terrain factors.
Theoretically, he has a way to maintain a relatively stable descent rate, but due to the influence of air currents, the descent rate will fluctuate unpredictably. Therefore, at the location of Qingfeng Building, Xu Cang has to make the final altitude correction.
Qingfeng Building is located exactly five nautical miles from the fifth side of Runway 23. According to the three-degree glide gradient, the AFE altitude when flying over Qingfeng Building should be one thousand five hundred feet. Combined with the altitude of Jianchuan Airport itself being more than three thousand nine hundred feet, the pressure altitude of Qingfeng Building should be four thousand five hundred feet, which is the most accurate altitude.
"Got it, brother!" Xia Shuyue kept Xu Cang's instructions firmly in mind.
"Okay, let's make the final preparations now." Xu Cang let out a long sigh. In order to eliminate all uncontrollable factors, he must construct the landing configuration at this moment. Otherwise, the deceleration period during the configuration establishment is very difficult to calculate, which will only cause trouble for himself: "Okay, report the airspeed to me."
Xia Shuyue immediately said: "Brother, the current speed is 200..."
Xu Cang pursed his lips lightly and said, "When it drops to 160 knots, pat my shoulder."
After saying that, Xu Cang pulled out all the throttles, keeping the pitch attitude unchanged, and then moved the flaps to the 30th position for landing in one breath.
This is actually an illegal operating method, because the decrease in airspeed is likely to be faster than the release speed of the flaps, which can easily lead to a low speed and thus generate a QAR warning.
However, Xu Cang didn't care about the QAR warning at this time. He couldn't follow the conventional plan of lowering the flaps, which was too time-consuming. If the plane flew over the airport as a positioning point during this period, the subsequent calculations would be messed up. Therefore, he could even ignore whether the flaps were in place or not, as long as the speed dropped to 160 knots.
Xu Cang had discussed the plan of lowering the flaps with Xia Shuyue before. At that time, Xu Cang clearly told Xia Shuyue to continue reporting the speed, but now he has changed to using flapping to indicate the final target speed.
This was a very bad signal. Perhaps Xu Cang could no longer hear, or he might feel that he was on the verge of becoming deaf and was adapting himself to an environment where he could not hear anything at all.
During the deceleration process, Xia Shuyue kept staring at the airspeed indicator. Suddenly, she asked a question she had wanted to ask just now: "Brother, what if the plane did not fly over Qingfeng Building?"
This is an extremely acute question. Xu Cang asked Xia Shuyue to remind him if the altitude was too high or too low when flying over Qingfeng Building, so as to make the final correction. But the premise is that the plane can fly over Qingfeng Building accurately. What if the plane deviates from the final route? The plane will pass by Qingfeng Building. What should be done in this situation?
However, Xu Cang seemed not to have heard it. He lowered his head and said nothing.
Just when Xia Shuyue thought Xu Cang couldn't hear him at all, Xu Cang suddenly spoke up: "Shuyue, this is a meaningless question!"
…
In the control room of the Jianchuan Airport tower, everyone was staring at a radar screen. Next to the signal point of Blue Sky 9811, there were constantly fine-tuned data. These were various flight data transmitted by the aircraft transponder.
"He's slowing down?" The controller couldn't help but frown. "He's slowing down so fast. Is he slowing down to below the smooth speed? Is he lowering the flaps?"
Luo Yong also felt strange: "Deploy the flaps so early?"
Even if it is to land as soon as possible, the flaps should be postponed, because once the flaps are released, the aircraft will slow down. Time is the most precious thing now, so how can we waste it like this? Now the altitude of 9811 is only 2,700 meters, which is a very low altitude. There is a lot of room for deceleration, so the deceleration and flaps can be postponed.
Lowering the flaps so early will delay the landing time by two or three minutes!
"Because he wants to maintain the speed within a stable range before passing the local positioning point." Ye Xian licked his lips. "The process of slowing down and releasing the flaps will cause a huge change in speed, which will greatly affect the calculation of the aircraft's distance. So even if the landing is delayed, he has to eliminate this hidden danger. Moreover, he seems to want to approach from the north."
"North?" Director Liu seemed to be thinking about something and muttered to himself, "Why did he come in from the north? There are very few planes coming in from the north."
Because there is an unusually prominent mountain on the north side of the final approach of Runway 23, its range affects the operations of most aircraft coming in from the north to cut into the final approach, so that aircraft coming in from the north need to keep their altitude down and cannot descend until they cut into the final approach and can start to descend.
Due to the high altitude, the aircraft entering from the north did not cut in from the bottom as usual for the No. 23 blind landing glide path, but chased from the top. This is not an ideal way to intercept the glide path, which will cause the aircraft to descend very fast during the glide path pursuit, and it is easy to punish the hard warning of the low-altitude high descent rate, and sometimes it will mistakenly trigger the terrain warning. Therefore, the Jianchuan Airport approach has modified the approach method and rarely directs aircraft to enter the port from the north.
Any pilot who has flown at Jianchuan Airport for a long time should know this. Jianchuan Airport is the base airport of Blue Sky Airlines, so it is reasonable for their pilots to know the difficulties of entering the airport from the north.
Director Liu strongly suspected that the crew of Blue Sky 9811 was too anxious. What did they mean by giving up the easy route and going far? Wouldn't it be a smooth road to approach from the south?
Just as Director Liu was puzzled, a commotion suddenly broke out in the control room. Someone pointed at the sky outside the window and screamed, "The plane is coming!"
Everyone looked up in the direction the man pointed, and indeed saw a plane in the sky, and it was already approaching the airport. Comparing it with the radar screen, it was clearly Blue Sky 9811!
Director Liu, the controller, and Luo Yong and others surrounding the area did not pay too much attention to the outside, but stared at the radar, which was the most powerful reference.
"How is he going to fly?" Director Liu muttered to himself. Although he felt that Blue Sky 9811 was doomed, he would always have some unrealistic fantasies until the last moment. However, once the plane flew over this airport, it would belong to the north. He really wanted to know what the crew was going to do.
Everyone held their breath and focused on the signal dot on the radar screen. When the signal dot was about to fly over the field, it suddenly turned slightly to the left and flew to a 360-degree heading.
Luo Yong was stunned: "What is he going to do?"
"Turn in advance!" Ye Xian's eyes flashed: "He is really calculating the route!"
Since it takes time for the aircraft to form a slope and turn, the turning point is not a conventional angle, but an arc. If you want to fly strictly according to the predetermined trajectory, you must master the lead time, not just when you reach the turning point, but start turning a little in advance.
From the radar, the Blue Sky 9811 aircraft started turning 1.5 nautical miles in advance. The trajectory of the signal point perfectly cut through the local point, and then formed a 360-degree departure heading when it departed.
"Is this really flown manually by humans?" Yu Fengtian stared at the trajectory of the signal point. It was so smooth, and the accuracy was spotless from the time it entered to the time it passed through the point and then to the time it departed.
Luo Yong bared his teeth: "Isn't it just like the computer flew it? This is not manual flying, this is blind flying!"
Although Yu Fengtian was from the maintenance and support department, he also knew some flying knowledge. He looked at the path that 9811 flew and felt more and more incredible: "Could it be that Xu Cang deliberately made the problem worse? In fact, his vision and hearing are not affected that much?"
Ye Xian looked at Yu Fengtian with some disdain: "Why did he do this?"
"He's exaggerating the problem. If he manages to land by luck, won't it make him look like he has done a great deed?" Yu Fengtian speculated with the greatest malice on the possibility that Xu Cang had committed fraud. He even pushed Luo Yong beside him and said, "Do you think there's a possibility? When he sent the message blindly just now, think back to his tone. Was there any panic in his voice? If he really couldn't see or hear, and couldn't use any instruments, anyone would be scared and nervous! But did his tone show these emotions?"
Luo Yong looked at Yu Fengtian as if he were an idiot. Perhaps out of the instinct to protect himself, or perhaps just to find psychological comfort, Yu Fengtian began to talk nonsense.
We’ll know whether Xu Cang is pretending or not by going to the hospital for a checkup after getting off the plane. Only idiots would play tricks on such matters!
While Yu Fengtian was talking nonsense, the controller suddenly smacked his lips and said, "Director, why does the trajectory of flight 9811 look familiar?"
Ye Xian raised his eyebrows and asked, "Has your airport passed the No. 23 approach procedure over this airport?"
"Yes, there is. That is, the plane coming in from the north will first fly over this airport, then join the right third leg, and finally land on Runway 23." Director Liu thought for a moment: "But this doesn't make sense. He is flying north, and the procedure is to fly south. Could it be that he is going to make a 180-degree U-turn in the air?"
"It shouldn't be!" Ye Xian thought for a moment: "He was able to fly directly to this field just now because the extension line of the starting approach direction just passed through this field. However, if he turns around on the spot, he may not be able to fly back to this field. He needs an accurate positioning point without any error. Therefore, any turn exceeding 90 degrees should be avoided as much as possible."
Due to the huge speed of the aircraft, its turn in place will draw a huge circle, and the pilot cannot guarantee that after turning a circle, it will return to the starting point. Not to mention the influence of wind, as long as the slope changes slightly, the starting point and the final point will be different.
Xu Cang is not a god. He cannot ensure that the slope remains unchanged without being seen.
This left Director Liu confused: "What does that mean? There is no approach procedure for No. 23 in the north?"
"Director, didn't we have an SXS-2Y approach procedure before? It was to pass through our airspace from the south, and the departure trajectory was a 360-degree heading." The controller suddenly said.
"But, isn't this program abandoned?" Luo Yong knew something about the inside story: "Logically speaking, this program should have been abandoned for a few years. It was no longer used before Xu Cang joined the company, so he shouldn't know about it."
Director Liu nodded: "Yes! However, except for the need to intercept the glide path from a high altitude at the end, which is a bit troublesome, there are no other problems with that procedure."
As mentioned before, this SXS-2Y procedure is the backup procedure of SXS-1Y, which is rarely used. In addition, the four sides of this procedure are just on the hill on the north side, so if you approach from this procedure, you must intercept the glide path from a high altitude, which makes pilots miserable and complain at every turn.
It was precisely because of the continuous complaints from pilots and the frequent problems with terrain warnings caused by high descent rates that the authority required modifications to the SXS-2Y procedure to eliminate approach risks.
However, if you want to modify an approach procedure, you need to submit it to Boeing or the Flight Research Institute. The cost of modifying the procedure alone is a huge sum of money, not to mention that it takes a while to verify it after the modification. If there is a problem, you have to start over again.
Since Jianchuan Airport couldn't solve the problem of money, it could only eliminate the problem itself. So, SXS-2Y was directly deleted. Anyway, this program was just a backup of SXS-1Y and was rarely used, so deleting it would not cause any harm.
Even if there is too much incoming traffic, the controller can just take the trouble to guide it manually. Controllers are paid by time, not by the number of flights they direct, so the airport does not have to increase labor costs. It is perfect.
"Does the crew need to intercept the glide path from a high altitude in the current state?" Director Liu was puzzled: "Isn't this asking for trouble?"
"No!" Ye Xian shook his head. "He established the landing configuration so far in advance, so it would be easier to catch up with the correct glide path when he reached the final approach. This is feasible. Moreover, he did not care about the low-altitude descent rate warning. I am curious about how he controls the descent. Pilots can sense the slope, attitude and even throttle of the aircraft through physical sensation, but the descent rate is difficult to control. The difference in descent rate within 500 is basically imperceptible. How can he control the aircraft on a three-degree glide path and rely on the flight attendant who helps him to calculate the height-to-distance ratio for him?"
If a professional pilot cooperated with Xu Cang, he could calculate the appropriate descent rate for Xu Cang using the altitude ratio table on the approach chart for Runway 23, but Xia Shuyue obviously did not have this ability.
Of course, even if it can be calculated, how to convey it accurately and timely to Xu Cang who is blind and deaf is also a very troublesome problem.
However, just guessing here is useless. Director Liu immediately patted the controller on the shoulder and said, "Switch the software number to the previous two versions."
In the new version, the SXS-2Y program could not be displayed on the radar screen, so it was necessary to switch to the old version. The controller immediately operated and quickly switched the command software version.
Fortunately, there are basically no major changes between versions, otherwise it would take a lot of time to switch versions.
After switching the software version, the controller made some input and soon the reference path of SXS-2Y appeared on the radar screen.
Just by listening to the sound of inhalation, the signal point of 9811 really overlapped with the path of SXS-2Y. Director Liu's eyes almost popped out: "He really was flying along the SXS-2Y, how could he know? Even if he knew, there should be no information about SXS-2Y in the flight computer database of the airlines operating at Jianchuan Airport, right?"
Shocked, Director Liu gradually looked towards Luo Yong, wanting to get an answer. Luo Yong was a little embarrassed. To be honest, he didn't know what was going on. This made him look useless. A vice president of operations couldn't guess the thoughts of a second officer at all.
"There is indeed no SXS-2Y program in our company's database. Even the relevant content in the aeronautical charts has been removed." Luo Yong frowned, "I don't know how he knew it."
"Wait a little longer!" Ye Xian's eyes gleamed with brilliance, "See if he can turn at the scheduled turning point."
The SXS-2Y program will turn right after flying about ten nautical miles after crossing the airspace of this field. Ye Xian wants to see if Xu Cang can follow suit and turn right.
Everyone almost unconsciously held their breath. The distance of ten nautical miles was very short even for an aircraft that had already completed the landing configuration. Soon, when he was about to enter the turning point, Xu Cang started turning 1.9 nautical miles in advance, just in time to keep up with the arc-shaped predetermined turning trajectory.
"What a wonderful lead time!" Even Ye Xian had to admit that Xu Cang was simply perfect in grasping the lead time for turning.
The last time he turned over the field, the turning angle was relatively small, so Xu Cang's lead time was also relatively small. However, this time the turning angle was much larger, so the lead time was correspondingly increased.
Just this micro-manipulation of the lead time is enough for many pilots to learn for a lifetime.
After Blue Sky 9811 turned along the planned trajectory, it was confirmed that Xu Cang was indeed flying along the abandoned SXS-2Y program. Although I don't understand why Xu Cang knew this program and had such a thorough understanding of its data, so far, everything is going well.
"This doesn't look like it was made by a blind pilot." The knowledgeable Director Liu couldn't help but exclaim in amazement: "Can humans really calculate so accurately?"
"It's difficult! But not impossible!" Ye Xian became more and more excited. It was the excitement of finding an opponent.
At this point, Director Liu had a clearer view. Compared to Luo Yong, the Vice President of Operations, Ye Xian looked young, but he seemed to have a lot of experience, even though he didn't know Ye Xian.
So, out of instinct, Director Liu was willing to seek Ye Xian's opinion: "Do you think he can bring the plane down?"
It can be seen that the trajectory calculated by Xu Cang and the actual program trajectory are highly consistent, which rekindles the fire of hope for Director Liu. However, Director Liu's behavior of abandoning Luo Yong and asking Ye Xian for advice made Luo Yong feel a little embarrassed.
Ye Xian shrugged: "Xu Cang, I've heard of him. If the previous news about him is not exaggerated, there is probably a 50% chance of success."
At this moment, Director Liu was just about to drink some water to moisten his throat, but when he heard that the chance was only 50%, his hands trembled and he almost spilled all the water: "50%, 5%, so low?"
"What do you think? If it were an ordinary pilot, he would have a 100% chance of survival. It's pretty good that he has a 50% success rate." Ye Xian raised a finger: "Just now you talked about PBN technology. In this technology, the navigation accuracy in the approach phase is three times that of the route, and the accuracy in the final descent phase is three times that of the approach phase. Now you see that it is in good agreement with the actual trajectory, that's because the accuracy requirements are not high now, and the deviation within one nautical mile is not very visible on the radar. Moreover, it is only the initial stage, and the error has not accumulated yet, so it naturally looks very accurate."
"In the final descent phase, the accuracy requirements will increase exponentially. You know, the runway is only 60 meters wide, which is about 0.03 nautical miles!" Ye Xian smiled, "Moreover, it's not just the error control on the roll, the final leveling is also a key issue. For top pilots, they can completely rely on the final reading of the radio altimeter to judge the sinking of the aircraft without looking at the outside world. But if he really can't hear it, how can he judge the sinking of the aircraft and the ground closure rate, and how can he choose the time to level off?"
"So... I don't mean to belittle him at all." Ye Xian said firmly: "Only half!"
Director Liu's facial muscles, which had just relaxed, immediately tensed up again. He thought for a moment and called his assistant: "Have all the planes on the ground been recalled?"
"Everyone has been notified. The ground staff said that not many planes have taxied out, so they will be recalled soon."
"Are there other people near the runway, such as maintenance personnel working on engineering vehicles or scaring away birds?" asked Director Liu.
The assistant thought for a moment and said, "Now is not the time for inspection and bird-scare-off, so there should be no relevant personnel. However, there is a Gulfstream business jet waiting to take off on the business jet apron near the head of runway 23, and there should be someone on it."
Director Liu's face changed: "Tell them to withdraw quickly."
"Director, they have already closed the cabin door and the shuttle has already left. It's probably too late to call them now, right?"
"It's okay. Tell them that the situation is special and they are allowed to move around on the apron. Just leave on your own and be careful to avoid the obstacles." Under normal circumstances, this kind of order must never be issued.
But now it is different, special matters are handled specially. Moreover, all the planes outside are about to be recalled, so there is no possibility of collision with aircraft.
"This..." The assistant obviously still did not agree with Director Liu's order.
Seeing the assistant's doubts, Director Liu waved his hand and said, "Just do as I say!"
The assistant nodded, his face somewhat solemn. In this way, except for the terminal building and the planes on the bridge, there was no living creature in the entire Jianchuan Airport. Director Liu was already preparing for the worst outcome.
…
In the cockpit of the Gulfstream business jet on the business jet apron, the voice of the clearance control was resounding at this moment: "N254DC, you can disembark on your own and return to the terminal from the nearest apron. If possible, wear a reflective vest."
The two pilots in the cockpit were stunned. It was the first time they had heard such an order in their lives. The captain confirmed it incredulously: "Let us go. Do you mean let us run from the apron to the terminal?"
"Yes, this is a special authorization. Just be careful to avoid it on the way." The clearance control confirmed: "Please evacuate as soon as possible. The area near Runway 23 is unsafe."
Since the controller had confirmed it, there was no need to worry. The captain took off his headphones and prepared to pack up and leave.
However, Qin Xin asked from behind: "You asked your friend just now, what did he say?"
"He replied to my text message." The captain unplugged his headphones and said, "There is no one named Xu Cang on the Blue Sky 9811 crew. However, there is one on the extra crew."
Qin Xin's expression suddenly changed: "Are you saying Xu Cang is on the plane?"
The captain nodded blankly: "Yes, is he adding crew?"
While the captain was packing up, Qin Xin's face became even more livid. When Xu Cang sent the message blindly just now, she felt that the voice was very similar to Xu Cang's. After confirming it, it was indeed the case.
If the pilot in the sky who couldn't see, hear, or use navigation instruments was Xu Cang, Qin Xin felt extremely anxious. She suddenly asked, "Do you think the pilot who was on the radio just now can land? I mean, judge from your professional perspective."
The captain couldn't help but stop what he was doing and looked at Qin Xin with a little surprise. His boss seemed to be particularly concerned about the person in the sky. If he was just curious, was it necessary to take it so seriously?
However, although he was surprised by Qin Xin's attitude, the captain still replied seriously: "He is dead. Although I don't want to say this, this is what I think. It won't work no matter what! The airport should think so too, so they need to clear the area near the runway to prevent harm to others."
This question requires almost no thought. To be honest, even if you are not an insider, you can figure out the answer based on intuition alone. It is rare that Qin Xin asks it so seriously.
However, when Qin Xin heard this, her pretty face turned pale. She asked in a daze, "The airport just turned the runway lights to the brightest..."
"Maybe they thought he might not be completely blind, so they wanted to give him some guidance?" The captain guessed, and then asked carefully, "Boss, shall we go down?"
However, as soon as the captain finished asking the question, Qin Xin suddenly shouted, "No!"
"Huh?" The captain really didn't expect that Qin Xin didn't want to leave. He looked at the secretary behind Qin Xin in confusion.
Although Qin Xin is his boss, they don't communicate much on a regular basis. Instead, it is Qin Xin's secretary who communicates with him.
The secretary was about to persuade Qin Xin, but was stopped by Qin Xin. Qin Xin suddenly raised her head and looked directly at the captain: "I want you to do something!"
…
In the cockpit of 9811, Xia Shuyue stared at the airspeed and heading indicators with great excitement. Although she felt it was impossible when she first heard Xu Cang describe the possibility of blind flying, but when they really flew, Xu Cang seemed to be able to see it, the airspeed was stuck at 165 knots and the heading was maintained at 051, with a deviation of no more than one degree.
When Xu Cang turned, he relied on his body sense to always maintain the slope at 20 degrees, and then counted the time in his mind to complete the turning action. It can only be said that no matter whether it is the formation of the slope or the timing, any large deviation will cause the aircraft trajectory to deviate greatly from the actual program trajectory.
Judging from his mental arithmetic ability alone, Xu Cang is as terrifying as a humanoid computer.
In other words, Xia Shuyue could not see the actual flight trajectory. If she knew that Xu Cang's blind flying trajectory was exactly the same as the program trajectory, she would probably be even more surprised.
"Brother, just fly like this, and the data is exactly the same." Xia Shuyue said excitedly.
Not long ago, Xu Cang stopped talking to her. It seemed that he was completely deaf, so he couldn't hear what she said. However, Xia Shuyue didn't care. In the midst of despair, there was a ray of hope, and she had to vent her excitement.
After flying for a while, Xu Cang turned right 90 degrees and turned to the four sides. Xia Shuyue looked down and saw a hill not far below the plane. It was so close that Xia Shuyue could even clearly see the trees and rocks on the top of the hill.
But this turn shocked Director Liu and his colleagues who were always keeping an eye on the radar.
"He turned ahead of time?" Director Liu really couldn't understand Xu Cang's train of thought: "Shouldn't he be flying along SXS-2Y? Why did he turn around ahead of time?"
According to the procedure, the plane should have flown another six nautical miles before turning into the four-way. Xu Cang's turn timing was obviously advanced, and by a lot.
However, Xu Cang had not descended in altitude, so there was no problem with the terrain. Once he turned into the fifth leg, it was flat and there would be no problem with terrain obstacles.
But, what does this early turn mean? Does it mean that all the people here are being led by Xu Cang, and they can't guess his intentions at all?
Luo Yong didn't know what Xu Cang's intention was, but Ye Xian seemed to have sensed something and muttered to himself uncertainly: "Could it be related to the way he descended?"
"If you turn in advance, it's definitely not because you're worried about the altitude being too high, but because you're afraid of the altitude being too low?" Ye Xian clicked his tongue, trying to figure out Xu Cang's thoughts in his mind.
Director Liu was a little confused: "Isn't it said that this procedure is prone to causing the height to be too high? Even if the form is established early, there is no need to worry about the height being too low, right?"
"What if his descent method is not normal?" Ye Xian suddenly had an idea: "For example... slow down the car by accelerating?"
Director Liu was startled: "Release the throttle?"
"Yes, yes, it must be!" Ye Xian became excited, feeling excited for guessing Xu Cang's thoughts: "Even under the conditions of fixed speed and configuration, different throttles correspond to different descent rates. We can't remember every corresponding relationship, so let's choose a corresponding relationship we know, which is the descent rate under slow thrust! Under the conditions of landing configuration and final approach speed, the slow thrust condition will produce a descent rate of 1,500 to 1,800 feet."
Ye Xian said, and suddenly frowned: "But this descent rate still fluctuates, and how does he know when he can add the base throttle back when he has verified that he has returned to the correct trajectory?"
Ye Xian was like a madman, constantly deducing Xu Cang's intentions: "Unless, unless he has a verification point to verify his glide path. But where is this verification point? If the helper can understand the approach map to provide a reference for the glide path, he shouldn't use the extreme method of slow descent, right?"
Just as Ye Xian was trying to understand Xu Cang's thoughts as if possessed, Xu Cang, who had once again made a perfect turn into the fifth leg, aligned himself with the runway in his mind, and indeed, pulled in all four throttle levers.
With the throttle fully slowed down, the plane began to gradually form a descent rate. Just as Ye Xian said, the descent rate was floating above 1,500 feet. However, this value was always unstable, which was beyond Xu Cang's control. Because of this, Ye Xian didn't understand how Xu Cang made the final correction under the unstable descent rate, and where was the correction verification point?
Suddenly, Xia Shuyue shouted: "Brother, I see the runway, Qingfeng Building is right in front."
Even though she knew Xu Cang couldn't hear her, Xia Shuyue couldn't hide her excitement. From what she saw, it seemed that the plane was still on the right track.
In fact, although Xu Cang couldn't see anything, he was not completely blind. In his field of vision, almost everything in front of him was covered with dark red, so naturally he couldn't distinguish anything.
But after turning to the fifth side, Weiwei seemed to see a little halo, very blurry. However, it was also a rough guide. According to Xu Cang's guess, this halo was most likely the runway light. However, this halo was too blurry. It was fine at a distance, but when it was close, it was just a blur and could not be used as a guide at all.
However, we can talk about the near future later, let’s do the things ahead first. What happens in the future will be decided by God’s will!
…
At this moment, the captain of the Gulfstream business jet burst into a shocked voice: "Boss, what do you mean by letting me enter the runway? Why do you want me to enter the runway? There is a plane about to land."
Through the windshield, he could even visually observe that a huge aircraft was already on the final approach. Entering the runway at this time would be a runway invasion, wouldn't it?
"No, no!" The captain shook his head like a rattle: "Boss, if I fly the plane in, my license will probably be revoked. How will I eat for the rest of my life?"
Qin Xin's expression was extremely cold: "If you don't go in now, I can make sure you can't make a living as a pilot. Do you believe it? If you listen to me, even if the Civil Aviation Administration revokes your license, I will find you a position in the group that is less busy and pays more than the current one. This is my promise!"
The captain's face darkened. Qin Xin's words were not just talk. Chunxia Travel maintained good business relations with major airlines. If Qin Xin asked, the airlines would still give some face. Most of the rich people who could use business jets had some personal connections, and business jet jobs were hard to find. It was normal for Qin Xin to make him unable to find a job elsewhere.
As a result, business jets can no longer fly, and it is not possible to go back to Part 121. It is really a bottleneck!
The secretary hurriedly advised: "Miss, this is too dangerous!"
"Shut up!" Qin Xin shouted. She looked at the fifth direction and realized that it was almost too late. If she delayed any longer, the plane would land and everything would be too late. So, she said sternly, "Make a decision!"
The co-pilot turned pale, not knowing why things had turned out like this.
"Okay!" The captain seemed to have made a huge decision and said directly to the co-pilot: "Start the engine!"
Unlike large passenger planes, business jets start their engines very quickly, and starting just one is enough for taxiing; there is no need for both engines to be fully operational.
The co-pilot was already stunned: "Captain, are we really going in?"
"What can I do?" The captain was ready to revoke his license. Seeing the co-pilot was terrified, he decided to do it himself. At the same time, he asked Qin Xin, "Boss, what do you want me to do after I enter the runway?"
Qin Xin let out a long breath and pointed to the fifth direction: "Point the nose of the plane over there and turn on all the lights!"
…
At the same time, the plane flew over Qingfeng Building accurately and reached an altitude of 4,600 feet. Overjoyed, Xia Shuyue patted Xu Cang's back as agreed before.
Xu Cang quickly noticed this action, and he couldn't help but get excited. This meant that following the halo was correct, it should be the runway light, and the height was not too different, which was a very good sign.
Since the altitude was no problem, Xu Cang pushed all the throttle levers to the base throttle for approach. The travel of the throttle levers was deeply ingrained in Xu Cang's genes , and he didn't even need to look at the instrument. Once he pushed the throttle up, he knew how much thrust there would be.
There will be different reference speeds depending on the altitude of the airport. As long as the reference speed is maintained, the aircraft's descent rate can remain relatively stable and correct.
According to the previous agreement, after passing Qingfeng Building, Xia Shuyue quickly gave the chief flight attendant a simple signal, asking him to make an anti-collision broadcast.
The next minute or so will be a life-or-death moment!
There was no major problem with the altitude or the glide path, but there was a problem with the roll. Xu Cang could ensure that the steering wheel was always level, but even though the wind was very light, it was not absent. As long as there was a little crosswind, the plane would be blown parallel to the correct course. Xu Cang could not perceive this process, and it was also the part where he was most powerless.
Previously, he had relied on the halo of the runway lights to roughly keep the final course correct, but at low altitude, the halo was blurry and could not guide him at all.
At low altitudes, the slightest deviation would be fatal. The runway width of 60 meters was not something that could be squandered at will, and there was almost no room for error.
But the problem is, he has no new guidance! Just give him a new guidance, even for a moment!
If things continue like this, whether I can survive or not will really depend on God's will!
It was at this extremely critical moment that a ground controller in the tower control room suddenly noticed that the signal of the Gulfstream N254DC parked on the business jet apron suddenly lit up and then quickly went out.
The ground controller was stunned for a moment, thinking that the crew had misoperated the transponder, and did not take it seriously at first. However, he soon felt uneasy, so he stood up with a telescope at hand and looked at the head of Runway 23.
Just this one glance made him break out in a cold sweat. He put down the telescope, pointed in the direction of the head of runway 23, and shouted to Director Liu: "Director, Director! There's a plane on the runway!"
Xia Shuyue, who was sitting in the right seat, felt her heart beating in her throat. As the altitude got lower and lower, she could clearly see the runway markings. But she always felt that the plane was a little to the left, but she was not sure and didn't know what to do.
Just as Xia Shuyue was hesitating and struggling, the figure emerging from the connecting road at the entrance of the runway was reflected in Xia Shuyue's eyes, and his pupils instantly locked.
"One hundred feet!" Xu Cang silently calculated the altitude of the plane. If the descent rate did not fluctuate so much, he should be over the runway soon.
However, a lingering fear lingered in Xu Cang's heart: Is the plane on the extended line of the final leg?
At this moment, a spot of light suddenly appeared in the vast halo without warning, and was quickly assimilated by the halo, as if the spot of light was an illusion.
However, as if guided by a spirit, Xu Cang pressed the right button and followed the light spot at the last moment. He didn't know what the light spot represented, but everything was so logical that he turned the plane towards that place without thinking.
Almost at the moment when the slope was formed, Xu Cang suddenly felt a lift coming, as if a giant hand gently lifted the plane.
It was during this quarter moment that Xu Cang gave a slight push, and the plane seemed to stop sinking and float up. It was this sign that Xu Cang knew it was time to level out, and without any hesitation, he pulled the throttle to the bottom, and then gently began to increase the attitude.
It took about one or two seconds. As the plane formed a touchdown posture, the wheels hit the runway surface hard. Even with the shoulder straps fixing it, Xu Cang's body couldn't help but jump for a moment.
However, Xu Cang almost let out a long howl. The moment the plane touched down, he knew it had landed on the runway!
They survived!