Chapter 14 I can’t fall!
Many pilots, or more precisely, many captains will wait for the aircraft to stabilize and communicate with the control before starting to do the abnormal checklist.
It's not wrong to do this, but Xu Cang personally feels that it's inappropriate. Simple engine failure is not as urgent as a fire or serious engine damage. Doing the checklist early will not provide any substantial help to the pilot, but will only satisfy the crew's impatience and anxiety.
Moreover, the time when the aircraft stabilizes and establishes communication with the control should be between 400 feet and 1,000 feet. During this period, due to the inefficient climbing performance of the aircraft, there will be a waiting period, which is not only enough time for the pilot to communicate with the control, but also some extra time. In this extra time, some pilots tend to complete the "Engine Failure or Shutdown" checklist.
However, the "Engine Failure or Shutdown" checklist is not a short checklist like the "Engine Stop and Start" checklist, and it is unlikely to be completed in a short period of time. Moreover, it is necessary to do the "Engine Air Start" or "Single Engine Landing" checklist afterwards.
This means that the checklist at this point is bound to be interrupted, because once it passes 1,000 feet, the aircraft will start to increase speed and retract flaps, and then it will be necessary to consider the issue of flying to the turning point and circling.
Since we know that rushing through the checklist has no apparent benefit and is bound to be interrupted, why not wait until the aircraft's flaps are retracted and most of the procedures have been completed before doing the checklist in peace?
All we can say is that this captain's style of doing things is somewhat similar to Xu Cang of later generations.
Although the plane was not climbing fast, 600 feet was not a long distance, and it was possible to reach the destination. After waiting for a while, as soon as the plane reached 1,000 feet, the captain instructed the co-pilot: "Speed up."
The first officer immediately adjusted the UP speed to 220 knots in the speed window. As the need for speed increase arose, the aircraft began to descend, reducing the rate of descent in exchange for an increase in speed.
At this time, the captain slightly adjusted the force on the stick and then turned on the autopilot.
A single-engine aircraft can be connected to autopilot, and the manual even recommends doing so because it will free up the pilot to focus more on dealing with the special situation itself.
However, in single-engine mode, the autopilot is not responsible for rudder control. In other words, even if the autopilot is turned on, the pilot's feet still have to be on the rudder pedals.
With the autopilot turned on, the captain was freed up. He glanced at the airspeed indicator, then turned the range knob on the navigation page, looked at the paper departure chart for a moment, and then typed a dot ML (Minlong) on the FIX page of the CDU.
Soon, a ML positioning point appeared on the navigation DU about ten nautical miles away from the right third leg of the field. The captain pointed to this point and said, "After the flaps are retracted, apply to circle around this point."
"Okay!" The co-pilot didn't ask any more questions and checked the airspeed indicator: "V2+15."
"Flap one." The captain scratched his head and went to look at the QRH. When the co-pilot was doing the checklist later, he would also need to check it to avoid making any mistakes.
As the aircraft accelerated, the flaps were retracted, the captain pressed the altitude change button, selected maximum continuous thrust on the N1 limit page of the CDU, and the first officer requested the tower to turn right and circle at point ML.
"You can fly ML. Turn right and circle when you arrive." At this time, the controller has returned and continued to ask: "Excuse me, do you know what caused the engine to stall?"
This was a fairly normal problem, but it made the captain and the co-pilot look at each other in bewilderment, because they didn't know what the cause was, or was it just a simple engine failure?
Just as the cockpit fell into silence for a moment, another voice came from behind: "It should be a bird strike."
The co-pilot subconsciously turned to Xu Cang: "How did you know?"
"I seemed to hear a crash when we were taxiing." Xu Cang shrugged, "But I'm not sure. When the No. 2 engine was shut down just now, the vibration value was almost always at three, which is not a normal vibration value. It should be that the bird hit the engine blades, causing the blades to deform and causing the vibration value to increase."
Although the vibration value of 3 is still within the limit, it is obviously too high, because the normal engine operation should be below 1. There should be no direct connection between the simple engine stall and the increase in vibration value, so it is likely to be affected by external objects.
"Was the vibration value three just now?" The co-pilot frowned. Now that the No. 2 engine has been shut down, the vibration value is naturally zero. But he didn't pay attention .
The captain's mouth twitched a few times imperceptibly. He had just seen the vibration value of the No. 2 engine, but seeing that it did not exceed the limit, he did not associate it with the bird strike at all.
It is undeniable that Xu Cang's speculation makes sense. Considering the frequent bird strikes , this speculation seems to be much more credible.
The captain licked his dry lips and said, "That's what I said."
Anyway, it was just speculation, and they were not responsible for it. After landing, it would be possible to check whether the No. 2 engine was hit by a bird.
When the co-pilot replied to the tower, the captain's mind suddenly grasped a strange place. The subsequent checklists or procedures were not a problem. Everything still had to go in one direction, that is, landing.
The question is where to land?
Thinking of the ground wind reported by the tower just when taking off, the captain felt guilty and his face became gloomy involuntarily.
Xu Cang was sitting in the back and was originally thinking about the following procedures, but he suddenly caught a glimpse of the captain's profile out of the corner of his eye, and saw the sad and worried look on his face.
Suddenly, Xu Cang held his breath instinctively and asked, "What's your expression?"
At this time, the co-pilot and the captain, who had just responded to the tower, looked at Xu Cang at the same time, and the captain quickly realized that Xu Cang was asking him. At this time, the plane was turning to ML, and there was nothing special.
The captain smiled bitterly and said to the co-pilot , "Let's do the post-takeoff procedures."
Immediately, he turned to Xu Cang. He did not look down on Xu Cang, but rather regarded Xu Cang as more important because of what he reminded V1 about during takeoff. Without hiding anything, he sighed and asked, "Where do you think we should land?"
Xu Cang immediately realized the problem and frowned: "Is there any problem with returning to this field?"
"Yes!" The captain showed a trace of apology on his face: "I can't seem to land!"
