Chapter 12 What happened to this plane?
A reaction time of more than one second cannot be considered quick, but it is definitely not slow. The captain missed the last chance to abort the takeoff due to this reaction time, which strictly speaking cannot be considered his mistake.
However, the captain did one thing very well. After getting accurate information, he was able to listen to it, no matter whether the information came from the co-pilot or from Xu Cang, who was a passenger.
Generally speaking, the autothrottle will ensure that the takeoff thrust is at the same state, but this kind of thing cannot be completely consistent. Usually, a thrust difference of 1% to 2% is acceptable. After the captain personally confirmed that the No. 2 engine had obvious thrust attenuation, even if this engine did not completely fail, he still decided to abort the takeoff.
The decision itself was not wrong, it was just that he made it too late.
When Xu Cang spoke, the captain's right hand was about to pull back the throttle. If he had been impatient and pulled back the throttle, it would have blocked his escape route. Fortunately, even at such a critical moment, the captain was still sober, and did not even look at the airspeed indicator. He directly listened to Xu Cang's words and stopped pulling back the throttle.
After such a mental confrontation, the captain and the co-pilot both paid some attention to the airspeed indicator. Seeing this, both of them felt their hair tingling, especially the captain, who was sweating coldly. He was just a little bit away from making a big mistake.
The co-pilot was not much better off. It was his duty to report V1, an important standard call for the captain to make decisions. However, he was distracted by the abnormal data from the No. 2 engine and lost control , which was a serious dereliction of duty.
At this moment, the N1 speed of the No. 2 engine has dropped below 50, which is almost close to the speed used for taxiing. If it drops further, it will be no different from a slow car.
The captain who survived the disaster was not so nervous. He temporarily suppressed his gratitude towards Xu Cang and concentrated on flying the plane.
At this time, the aircraft had exceeded the pitch speed, but the captain did not pull up. This was not an operational error, but rather a reflection of the captain's calmness.
When a single engine is used, a truly experienced pilot will not rigidly follow the speed to raise the head, but will straighten the aircraft before raising the head. Otherwise, the aircraft will be pulled up with a sideways slide, which will affect the aircraft's climbing performance. In extreme cases, the aircraft may even lose altitude and touch down again, which is quite dangerous.
Xu Cang was worried that the captain would force the aircraft to tilt up in a panic. But when he saw that he chose to correct the side slip of the plane first, Xu Cang finally breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that this captain was still quite reliable.
Moreover, the captain was very patient. The thrust reduction of the No. 2 engine was gradual, which meant that the thrust difference between the two engines was constantly changing, which also caused the sideslip to change. The captain kept the plane in the taxiing state, and waited until the thrust of the No. 2 engine was reduced to almost the idling thrust, and the plane was stable, and then he slowly pulled the plane up.
When the plane looked up, the runway centerline lights had turned red and white, indicating that there were less than 600 meters of runway left. I think the captain also noticed this situation. I can only say that the captain was very patient.
When the plane looked up, it did not feel like a normal twin-engine plane flying into the sky, but rather like an old man dragging his heavy body forward with difficulty.
After leaving the ground, the aircraft did not even form a positive climb rate for a full five seconds. Of course, this does not mean that the aircraft is not climbing, but the climb rate is too small to be displayed on the vertical table.
The 737's altitude indicator needs to be greater than 400 feet per minute to display.
Although from a visual reference, the aircraft is in a slow ascent, but some things cannot be confirmed by visual observation alone, because the eyes can deceive.
The concept of "positive ascent" in civil aviation must be reflected on the variometer, and the instrument is more trustworthy.
About seven or eight seconds later, under the gaze of three pairs of eyes in the cockpit, the altitude indicator finally responded, barely forming a climb rate of about 500 feet.
The three people who were already in great torment were all overjoyed. The captain did not even wait for the co-pilot to report that the aircraft was ascending before he shouted, "Retract the wheels! Retract the wheels!"
That's right, the three of them waited until a clear climb rate was formed before they could retract the landing gear. The presence of the landing gear would inhibit the aircraft's climbing performance, but it couldn't be retracted . Because in the case of a single engine, there is no way to avoid a problem, that is, a second touchdown.
Although it should be possible to ensure that the aircraft can take off and clear obstacles with a single engine under certain conditions when it was first designed, theory cannot perfectly describe the facts, and a single-engine aircraft may not be able to climb.
In this case, the aircraft will inevitably have to land again. Except for a forced landing on water, it is better to have a landing gear than no landing gear.
Obviously, Xu Cang and others were relatively lucky, as they did not face the problem of secondary grounding.
The climb rate, which had begun to decline, finally maintained at 500 feet per minute after the landing gear was retracted. A climb rate of 500 feet per minute was considered good at a high-altitude airport like Jianchuan Airport.
The co-pilot wiped his forehead, and a hand of cold sweat fell off. It was less than half a minute ago, and it was really thrilling. When training in the simulator, single-engine is a very common project. After doing it many times, it doesn't feel anything. But when it comes to the actual flight, he feels that his heart is about to jump out of his throat.
As Feiyu 6321 was climbing with difficulty, the controller on the tower was sitting in front of the radar screen with boredom. The three planes handed over from the ground control seat had all been released, and Feiyu 6321 was the last one. There would be no more flights handed over from the approach side for a while, so there would be about a quarter of an hour of free time.
He stretched himself vigorously. Sitting for a long time made his waist a little sore. He thought he would stand for a while when he had some free time. At this time, through the glass, the controller could overlook most of the airport, and the runway was naturally in sight.
"It glided so far?" The controller muttered, "Is the plane heavy?"
From the tower, the tower controller could see that the plane took up almost half the runway and was rolling crookedly. Most 737s should have left the ground in the middle of the runway.
But he didn't think much about it. He glanced at the radar screen and prepared to ask the crew to change the frequency. However, when he noticed the flight data of Feiyu 6321, he immediately realized that something was wrong: "What's wrong with this plane?"
