In the air, Rescue Helicopter One.
The co-pilot had already maneuvered the helicopter to approach Runway 03 from Blue Sky 9200. However, the 737 in front of him suddenly turned at a very low altitude and seemed to be turning to the third side of Runway 21, which made the co-pilot extremely confused.
"Master, what kind of flying method is this?" The co-pilot was full of questions. "Isn't he flying towards Runway 03? Why is he turning around? It seems like he is doing a visual takeoff and landing, a visual takeoff and landing on Runway 21. Where is he landing?"
Chen Huaxin frowned. The procedures for fixed-wing aircraft were completely different from those for helicopters, so it was normal for the co-pilot to not understand. However, Chen Huaxin did understand a little: "He should be flying a visual circling approach, but does Yulong Airport have a visual circling approach procedure? Why don't I remember it?"
Although their general aviation and large transport airlines are both under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aviation Administration, their operating rules are completely different. For example, their general aviation belongs to Part 135, while Blue Sky Airlines belongs to Part 121, which is a huge difference. Therefore, although Chen Huaxin is already a captain, it is actually not certain.
"Master, I don't understand its procedures, but it seems to be flying normally. Why did the higher-ups ask us to come here in such a hurry?" The co-pilot looked at Xu Cang's plane and couldn't see anything obviously unusual.
They tuned the radio frequency to the Yulong Airport control tower, but heard no communication content during monitoring. This did not sound like the radio that an airplane should have in an emergency.
It can only be said that they arrived a little late, and they missed the moment when Xu Cang entered the interior of the storm. When they came over, Xu Cang had already begun to organize the approach, and there was indeed no obvious abnormality.
"Everything is normal?" Chen Huaxin pointed at the 737 and said, "See that faint black smoke behind it? Can it be okay? Just wait and see. Anyway, the plane is about to land. Once the plane lands safely, the mission will be accomplished. Let's go."
"Hmm!" The co-pilot just nodded when he suddenly discovered that the 737 that had been flying steadily in front of him began to rise sharply for some reason, and at the same time, it fell to the left at an obviously abnormal angle.
"Master, look!"
In fact, Chen Huaxin noticed the abnormal posture of the 737 immediately without the co-pilot's reminder. Even though he doesn't fly fixed-wing aircraft, he still understands the basic principles of flight. Even a student who has just learned to fly knows that it is abnormal when he sees the aircraft in this state.
However, after waiting for a few seconds, this situation that made all the flight crew feel uncomfortable showed no signs of being corrected, and even had a tendency to intensify.
Suddenly, the 737 stopped climbing, and then, in front of Chen Huaxin's incredible gaze, it plunged directly to the left.
Chen Huaxin got goosebumps all over his body and shouted, "Oh no! Something happened! The plane went into a spiral!"
Instantly, Chen Huaxin turned on the onboard rescue recorder above his head. The next moment must be recorded, which will be the real mission of their trip.
At the same time, in the control room of Yulong Tower, Lu Jinghua and others could already visually observe Xu Cang's plane on the three sides. Wang Xuan followed with a telescope without saying a word.
Lu Jinghua leaned against the edge of the table, frowning all the time: "Where on earth did this kid get this program? He looks like he's flying really well."
"No!" Wang Xuan said inexplicably: "Why do I feel like there's something wrong with the plane?"
"What's wrong?" Lu Jinghua found another telescope and looked in the direction Wang Xuan pointed.
Lu Jinghua had not been watching since the plane joined the three-way line. Although he didn't know where Xu Cang had seen the procedure, it looked really like that, so it shouldn't be difficult to land safely.
Ever since he saw Xu Cang enter the storm mass, Lu Jinghua's heart has been under tremendous pressure, and he still needs to relax a little in the intervals.
However, when Lu Jinghua just found Xu Cang's plane, his heart, which had just relaxed a little, suddenly tightened: "What's going on? Why is he in such a posture?"
The high pitch angle causes obvious sideslipping. This doesn't look normal no matter how you look at it?
Stall is more likely to occur at large pitch angles, and isn't a stall with sideslip just... a spin?
Almost at the moment when Lu Jinghua had the idea, the plane at a high angle finally stopped climbing, and then plunged to the left.
"It's in a spiral!" Lu Jinghua immediately identified the status of the Blue Sky 9200 aircraft: "Get out of it quickly!"
The earlier you get into a spiral, the easier it is to correct it. If you wait until the speed increases, you may not be able to correct it. In the aviation community, you often hear news about planes that crashed because they were stuck in a spiral and could not correct it.
Moreover, due to the energy conversion, if it is not controlled, the speed of the aircraft will increase. This means that the height loss of the aircraft in a spiral will increase. Therefore, in a low-altitude environment, unless the aircraft spiral is controlled at the initial stage, once the number of circles increases, the altitude will not be enough to recover.
These do not take into account whether the aircraft's fuselage structure can withstand aerodynamic loads under ultra-high-speed conditions.
At this moment, the plane was at an altitude of about 2,300 feet. Of course, the Yulong Tower was under procedural control. They did not have air traffic control radar or ADS-B system, so they could not know the plane's altitude at this moment and could only judge it with the naked eye.
However, it is difficult to judge the actual height of the plane by naked eyes without any reference. However, according to the mountain next to the plane, Lu Jinghua roughly guessed that the plane's altitude was at least 2,000 feet above the ground.
The height difference was very ambiguous. If Xu Cang had tried to correct the spiral as soon as it occurred, there might have been a glimmer of hope. But if he had hesitated for any longer, Xu Cang would have been in great danger.
Lu Jinghua was more worried about whether Xu Cang could react in the shortest possible time. Logically speaking, spin recognition and recovery are a must-go item in the initial training of any professional pilot. Xu Cang should not be unable to see the plane's spin state, right?
To be honest, although spiral is scary, it is not that difficult as long as it is discovered and corrected early.
However, the muscles on Lu Jinghua's face gradually tensed up. He clearly saw that the plane in the sky did not stop its spiral momentum, but there was obviously something wrong with its speed of rotation.
"What's going on?" Lu Jinghua ran directly to the window to get a wider view: "Why is the plane still spinning?"
"Not only is it still spinning, but it's also spinning at an unusually fast speed!" Wang Xuan followed and he also discovered the problem with the plane. When entering the initial stage of the spiral, the energy accumulation is not so exaggerated, and the speed of the plane is slowly increasing. However, the speed of Xu Cang's plane is obviously different, so fast that it can be detected by the naked eye.
Wang Xuan wondered, "Does he know that he has entered a spiral?"
The color drained from Lu Jinghua's face. "Did he not ease off the accelerator?"
"If he doesn't reduce the throttle, it will be very dangerous!" A trace of worry appeared on Wang Xuan's face. Keeping the engine running during the spiral means helping the accumulation of spiral energy and increasing his speed to a dangerous level in advance.
"No, no! This is the most basic flying skill, how could Xu Cang not know it?" Lu Jinghua simply couldn't imagine that with Xu Cang's technique, he would make a mistake in the spiral correction procedure.
Even if you find a student in the aviation school who has completed a solo flight and has not yet obtained a private license and can complete the recovery from the initial spin, how could Xu Cang not know it and have done something wrong?
"Mistake in a hurry?" Wang Xuan raised his eyebrows. Even if he was unhappy with Xu Cang, it was difficult for him to imagine a situation where Xu Cang would not change into a spiral: "Or, he didn't realize that he had entered a spiral at all? But..."
At the end, even Wang Xuan himself couldn't continue. However, no matter what the situation was, the reality was that Xu Cang not only failed to correct the spiral, but even made a wrong operation that contributed to the danger of the spiral.
The tower controller also came behind Lu Jinghua and Wang Xuan at this time and asked curiously, "What's wrong?"
However, Lu Jinghua did not answer at all. Instead, he tightly grasped the railing and squeezed out a sentence from between his teeth: "The first lap! It's getting faster and faster!"
"He didn't change his position!" Wang Xuan's eyes followed the plane in the sky, which kept shaking: "He didn't move, he really didn't move!"
Suddenly, the plane turned into a blind spot. Wang Xuan immediately rushed to the small balcony outside the tower, while Lu Jinghua and the tower controller followed immediately.
The three of them rushed outside, and were immediately enveloped by biting wind and rain, blowing away the little bit of warmth that had accumulated on their body surfaces.
However, Lu Jinghua and Wang Xuan didn't care about the coldness in their bodies. When they rushed out, Lu Jinghua's face, which had already lost its color, turned even paler: "It's the second lap! The height is not enough, and I can't change it! Too fast, too fast, what on earth is he doing?"
At this moment, the plane was so close to them that they could even see the flight emblem on the vertical tail of the plane. The rumbling sound of the airflow under the high-speed operation of the plane was even more shocking, as if the hearts of everyone below were trembling.
Second lap!
Logically, even if he was slow, he should have understood his situation after turning into the second circle. However, from visual observation, the plane did not show any signs of recovery.
The plane had very little altitude left when it entered the spin, and if it had not corrected its maneuver after two circles, it was basically halfway to death.
Lu Jinghua shouted towards the sky: "Xu Cang, what are you doing!?"
But the next moment, Wang Xuan's heart seemed to skip a beat. He tilted his head slightly and asked in confusion, "Listen, the sound...is getting smaller?"
"What?" Lu Jinghua turned around and asked, "What's smaller?"
Wang Xuan raised his head suddenly and pointed at the plane that was still spinning in the sky: "The engine sound has become quieter, he's reducing the throttle!"
"We're going to change it now?" Lu Jinghua gritted his teeth and said, "Is it too late?"
"It's too late!" In the sky, Chen Huaxin's face changed drastically when he saw Xu Cang's plane turn the second circle. He pointed in the direction of the airport: "Get closer, slow down, hurry up, and rescue accurately!"
However, when the co-pilot was about to control the helicopter to descend, he was startled and pointed at Xu Cang's plane: "Master, look!"
"He moved!" On the tower, Wang Xuan's pupils shook violently.
At this moment, mist and rain filled the air between heaven and earth, and water vapor surged up. The plane, which had been motionless, suddenly stopped drifting with the current and moved like a giant whale into the sea, stirring up huge waves, with a large amount of water mist gathering out of thin air at the vertical tail.
Lu Jinghua's eyelids twitched: "He is controlling the rudder. He wants to stop the plane from spinning? He knows the plane is spinning and he knows how to correct it. So what is he doing in front? Can he correct it now?"
Thousands of thoughts were intertwined in Wang Xuan's mind, and at that moment when inspiration came, he suddenly grasped a clue to the source.
"Maybe, maybe he knew it all along? He just didn't change it on purpose?" This horrible thought appeared in Wang Xuan's mind like a nightmare that could not be shaken off. Wang Xuan's muscles tensed up unconsciously, and all 8,400 pores on his body relaxed, even his breathing stagnated: "If, if he didn't change it on purpose, then he..."
Lu Jinghua frowned: "The spiral won't change, what are you waiting for?"
Wang Xuan rested one hand on the railing: "What if he wants to use the spiral to descend? What if he wants to use the spiral to adjust to the opposite direction of landing? What if he never thought of recovering and just landed directly once and for all?"
At the end, Wang Xuan looked at Lu Jinghua with a look of extreme fear: "What if he... really thinks so?"
"Spiral directly to... landing?" Lu Jinghua's heart seemed to be hit hard by a sledgehammer.
Wang Xuan's words were so crazy, so unrealistic, and so ridiculous. But Lu Jinghua did not dare to despise or make fun of him. Instead, he asked solemnly, "Is this really something that humans can accomplish?"
No one answered him, because at the same time as Lu Jinghua's voice fell, in the void, a huge object weighing tens of tons drifted at an incredible angle to the fifth side of Runway 21 like a racing car drifting on land.
Xu Cang's spin recovery was as precise as an art, with a margin of about half a circle as the lead time. At the moment the plane stopped spinning, the plane's track was stuck on the fifth side of Runway 21, facing the target runway directly.
Such a huge aircraft drew an extremely graceful arc in the air, and its fuselage and vertical tail madly squeezed the air it passed through, causing a thick and sharp sonic boom in the surroundings.
The squeezed air spread out like ripples on water and spread all the way to the tower. Lu Jinghua and Wang Xuan only felt their ears buzzing.
Gentlemen! Listen to the dragon's roar!
"The antelope hangs on the horns, it is a natural thing!" These are the only eight words that come to Wang Xuan's mind.
However, Wang Xuan’s amazement was far from over!
While Lu Jinghua was shocked, he also felt a little worried: "He entered the game from too low a height!"
Without the aid of any instruments, Lu Jinghua could see with his naked eyes that the plane was not on a normal descent profile at the moment, but was far below the normal profile.
At the moment when Lu Jinghua finished speaking, after the plane embedded in the fifth plane at an incredible angle, the plane's attitude began to rise wildly, but the altitude was neither rising nor falling, and it just flew straight forward.
"He's slowing down?" Lu Jinghua raised his binoculars and looked over. When he saw the upper surface of the wing, his heart tightened, because he clearly saw a speed brake rising from the upper surface of the wing to destroy lift: "He pulled the speed brake, at such a fast speed, he's going to land with the speed brake! Why does he have to accumulate so much energy before landing?"
Wang Xuan's chest rose and fell rapidly. "What if he thinks that he can handle too much energy, but can't handle too little energy? Does the current situation look familiar to you, pulling the speed brake at a very low altitude?"
"You mean?" Lu Jinghua's eyes suddenly widened: "Both engines are turned off!?"
When the engine is turned off at high altitude, the pilot would rather make the aircraft have more energy and confirm that it can land right before landing, and then use other means to consume the excess energy.
Because there are many ways for airplanes to consume energy, but the only way to increase energy is to rely on the engine!
"You mean Xu Cang's two engines have problems, and he kept the throttle on purpose?" When the plane flew to the airport, they saw the black smoke from the plane and guessed that there might be something wrong with the engine. So, Xu Cang kept the throttle on purpose when he was spiraling. He wanted to accumulate enough energy for himself! Enough energy for him to keep flying level to the runway.
The plane was already very close to the runway when it cut into the final approach. However, although the plane seemed to be at a very low altitude, it was actually moving forward in a nearly level flight state. As time went on, the nose of the plane began to tilt upward at an increasing angle.
This technique of floating nearly one meter horizontally in Xu Cang's hands is as pleasing to the eye as art.
But when the plane was about to touch down, Wang Xuan suddenly asked, "Is the plane vibrating?"
"Not good!" Lu Jinghua's face changed: "The speed is not enough, the plane is going to stall deeply! He landed with the stick shaker!"
However, along with Lu Jinghua's voice, the nose of the plane, which had been rising continuously, suddenly began to fall, which was a sign that the plane was beginning to lose lift.
But as soon as this happened, the two main landing gears hit the runway just right, and the nose of the plane just landed heavily on the runway surface after falling.
"Falling...falling down!" Lu Jinghua's face was full of disbelief.
In the cockpit, the moment the plane touched down, Xu Cang stepped on the brakes to the maximum, pulled up the speed brakes that had just been retracted, but did not use the reverse thrust of the engines. Anyway, both engines had been shut down, so it made no difference whether to use reverse thrust or not.
This time, Xu Cang touched the ground at a speed close to a deep stall, which was more than ten knots slower than expected. It was simply unimaginable.
The ground load of this landing was so great that it seemed to be able to smash the plane into pieces. Of course, this was because the speed was too low to control, but it was exactly what Xu Cang wanted to see.
At this time, it was raining and a thin layer of water had accumulated on the runway. The first landing had to break through this layer of water, otherwise the plane would skid, which is the so-called solid landing.
It was not known whether the plane was really broken into pieces. During the deceleration period, the plane began to shake continuously until it stopped intact on the runway. Xu Cang looked at the crack not far ahead and he collapsed on his seat.
Xu Cang landed on half of the runway!
At this time, Xu Cang should have let out a long roar of ecstasy, but he no longer had the strength to do so. He set the parking brake, started the APU, cut off the starter handles of the two engines that had already stalled, and then left the right seat that was still leaking, sat on the observer's seat, leaned back, and kept breathing heavily.
It was still drizzling outside, and the crisp sound of rain reached Xu Cang's ears. He lowered his head, let out a long breath, and smiled bitterly, "It's so cold!"
At this moment, in the cockpit of the helicopter in the sky, Chen Huaxin had almost lost his ability to think. From the 737 in front of him falling into a spiral to cutting into the fifth edge in an incomprehensible way and finally landing, the whole process was done in one go, making people dazzled and always having an unrealistic feeling.
Chen Huaxin, who had already lost his mind, came back to his senses after being called several times by the co-pilot. The co-pilot asked, "Master, what should we do now? Should we leave directly, or?"
Chen Huaxin rubbed his temples and thought for a while: "I want to go down and check if there is any problem with the unit. If there is no problem, then go!"
The co-pilot glanced at Chen Huaxin and said nothing, but instead controlled the helicopter to descend.
Soon, as the plane landed, the airport personnel who were about to evacuate immediately took action, and a series of auxiliary equipment such as passenger elevators and transmission crawler vehicles began to gather around.
In the cockpit, after the APU started, Xu Cang connected the power and left the cockpit. As the cockpit was completely leaking, Xu Cang really couldn't stay there for a moment.
After finding the flight attendant's seat in the front cabin workroom and sitting down, Xu Cang tilted his head and waited for a long time, when he suddenly heard a knocking sound next to him. Exhausted, Xu Cang pulled himself together, looked out through the small window of the cabin door, and confirmed that it was the maintenance staff.
The engineer also saw Xu Cang and was obviously stunned for a moment. It was unknown whether he was surprised by Xu Cang's current state. However, the engineer quickly gave a gesture that everything was clear.
Xu Cang took a deep breath and released the door pre-positioner. Pilots learn to open and close the door during emergency survival training. Fortunately, Xu Cang took the class seriously, otherwise it would be embarrassing if the door could not be opened.
However, the Boeing's cabin door is really heavy and it takes some strength to open it. This is a rather troublesome task for Xu Cang who is almost exhausted.
After trying three times, Xu Cang finally opened the hatch.
As the hatch opened, another burst of cold rain hit him, and Xu Cang instinctively took a step back. However, before he could get used to the air on the ground, a black shadow flashed before his eyes. Xu Cang quickly raised his hand and stopped Lu Jinghua from rushing over: "Don't come over!"
Only then did Lu Jinghua realize that Xu Cang's face was as pale as gold paper, and his exposed skin was covered in blue and purple, which was extremely terrifying.
"What are you doing..." Lu Jinghua walked into the cabin and felt a chill blowing out from the cockpit. He was immediately confused. He took a look into the cockpit through the entrance and immediately took a breath of cold air. He saw that the No. 2 windshield of the cockpit had completely disappeared, with only some broken debris on the edge.
Xu Cang leaned against the wall of the front cabin workshop, with an ugly smile on his face: "It was hit by hail!"
Lu Jinghua pointed at the cockpit and said, "During the first approach , the windshield was broken. Is that how you flew the plane down?"
"What do you think?" Xu Cang waved to Lu Jinghua. Lu Jinghua quickly stepped over and supported Xu Cang. However, as soon as his hands touched Xu Cang's body, he felt that he was not touching a human body, but a piece of ice.
Lu Jinghua directly unbuttoned Xu Cang's tie, then unbuttoned the top button of his uniform shirt. He pulled open the shirt and saw that the skin on Xu Cang's shoulders and chest was also an abnormally pale white.
Lu Jinghua quickly took off his clothes and wrapped them around Xu Cang: "You can't stay here, you'll freeze. Come with me first!"
Outside the cabin door, Wang Xuan was standing on the passenger elevator, and the raindrops were falling on him, but he was completely unaware. He just stared at Xu Cang blankly, but did not dare to approach Xu Cang.
Xu Cang put one hand on Lu Jinghua's shoulder. Suddenly, he looked up to the sky and laughed: "From the plane's spiral to the final landing, did you see it? Did you see it?"
Lu Jinghua tightened the clothes wrapped around Xu Cang: "I saw it, I saw it, don't be crazy, come with me and talk!"
“Hahahahahaha!” For some reason, Xu Cang seemed extremely excited at this moment: “That’s my peak, my peak! I’m afraid I will never be able to reach that height again in my lifetime!”
Xu Cang's shout reached the cabin door and Wang Xuan's ears. His body trembled violently and he even took a step back unconsciously. At this moment, Xu Cang was the supreme being that everyone looked up to. Was there really anyone else in the world who could accomplish such an incredible feat?
Obviously Xu Cang also knew that his divine performance just now had reached the most intense peak of his life, and he was afraid that he would not make any further progress in the future. However, he was still extremely excited about everything he had done.
Xu Cang opened his arms, wantonly expressing his heroic spirit as if to fill his chest. At this moment, he felt like he was reaching the top of the world, and he burst into laughter: "Who is the peak at the end of the heavenly road? I am the insurmountable peak, hahahaha!"