Chapter 140: I have no solution either!
At the Qizhou control tower, when the lights of Shandong Airlines Flight 9451 overlapped with the runway lights, the tower controller who had been paying attention to the aircraft's dynamics immediately shouted, "Director, the plane has landed, and the air-to-ground logic has been switched."
This type of radar-controlled airport can obtain some aircraft information through data link exchange with the aircraft's transponder, including the aircraft's true airspeed, ground speed and the aircraft's air-ground logical status.
The question of whether the plane is in the sky or on the ground may seem simple, but it is indeed an extremely critical logical question, because the operation of many aircraft systems is completely different on the ground and in the air.
Most aircraft rely on the compression signal of the landing gear strut as the basis for the air-to-ground logic conversion. Of course, this involves the problem of the landing gear being unable to be released or the forced landing on water. Both of these situations will cause the problem of the landing gear strut being unable to be compressed, but this cannot be used to determine whether the aircraft has landed.
Fortunately, this problem did not exist for the Shandong Airlines aircraft. Once the air-to-ground logic was converted, it was displayed on the control radar.
The duty director did not speak, but looked out the window at Shi Lingling who was looking at the runway. He could keenly notice that after the plane landed, Shi Lingling's originally tense body gradually relaxed. It seemed that her father was one of the crew members on duty, which was true.
After waiting for a while, Shi Lingling was relieved when she was able to confirm that the plane had indeed landed on the runway just by visual inspection. She turned around and nodded slightly to the duty director: "Now I'll trouble Director Li."
The duty director waved his hand and said, "I am responsible for reporting the need for ground support, but the specific situation on the scene is still under the command of the airport's security committee."
"Oh, I see." Shi Lingling didn't really care who was in charge, she just nodded and said, "Sorry for bothering Director Li just now, I'll go down first."
In the event of an engine explosion, even if the fire alarm was gone, to be on the safe side, she would probably still have to evacuate after the plane stopped, so she had to go to the scene to take a look.
The duty director knew that Shi Lingling was going to the scene, and whispered, "Miss Shi, it's not convenient for you to walk there. Wait a moment, I'll contact the backfield car to take you there."
Shi Lingling thought about it and felt that what the duty director said made sense. Although the runway looked not far away from the tower, it would still be very troublesome to walk there.
"Well, then I'll trouble you, Director." Shi Lingling did not refuse.
"It's just a small matter." The duty director was very considerate and said with a smile, "I think we'll see news about your father in the official newspaper soon."
Speaking of this, Shi Lingling raised her lips slightly: "That will have to wait until the results of the investigation come out."
The duty officer was about to offer a few more compliments when the controller behind him suddenly asked in confusion, "Officer, why doesn't 9451 seem to have slowed down at all?"
"What did you say?" The duty director was stunned when he heard this: "Impossible!"
As he spoke, he glanced out the window at the runway. With the naked eye, he could tell that the plane had already passed almost half the length of the runway. He then looked down at the plane's speed, which was still over 130 knots.
For the smaller Airbus 319, a speed of more than 130 knots is almost the approach speed. The approach speed of the Airbus 320 is higher, but only by a dozen knots at most.
More than half of the runway was used, but the plane only reduced its speed by less than 20 knots. This was obviously abnormal.
"What's wrong?" Shi Lingling hurried forward: "Is there a problem with the plane's deceleration?"
"The plane didn't slow down." The duty officer looked at the plane getting closer and closer to the end of the runway, feeling extremely anxious. If the previous deceleration efficiency was maintained, the plane would not have been able to stop on the runway.
At this moment, Shi Lingling also noticed the speed information displayed on the radar screen for Shandong Airlines Flight 9451, and was shocked: "One hundred and thirty knots, how can the speed be so high?"
…
In the cockpit, Wang Baotian also noticed that the plane was decelerating too slowly. It had already passed the middle mark of the runway, but the airspeed indicator was still slowly descending.
"Too slow, too slow!" Wang Baotian was anxious: "Automatic brakes are useless, manual brakes, manual brakes!"
"I stepped on it, I dammit stepped on it!" When Wu Taiming mentioned that the deceleration effect was not good, Shi Qi had already switched from automatic braking to manual braking, and almost stepped on the brake pedal to the limit.
At this moment, the flight spoilers and ground spoilers had been raised, the reverse thrust had been pulled up, and the maximum manual brakes had been used, but for some reason, the plane's speed was slowing down very slowly.
"What's going on? Why can't we slow down?" Wang Baotian yelled as he looked at the remaining runway that was getting shorter and shorter.
There are only a few ways to slow down an airplane, and Shi Qi has used them all, but the expected deceleration effect is simply not achieved. If this continues, they will definitely run off the runway.
Moreover, they were not just a little off, but a lot off. If they only had a little remaining speed, they could have just turned around at the end of the runway and maybe they could have saved it.
But according to the current deceleration efficiency, by the time they reach the end of the runway, they estimate that they will still have a speed of 100 knots. What does a speed of 100 knots mean? It is a high speed of more than 180 kilometers per hour.
If you want to spin in place, you must use the retracting wheel, because the turning angle is very large and only the handwheel can complete this turning action.
However, the front wheel steering device is very sensitive, especially at high speeds. Therefore, the front wheel steering should be used at very low speeds, mostly below ten knots. If it exceeds twenty knots, there is a risk of loss of control.
Twenty knots was already deadly, let alone 100 knots. If the aircraft was to spin in place using the hand wheel at 100 knots, it would undoubtedly roll over, which would be no different from seeking death.
The situation now is that they have no chance to take risks in the foreseeable future, and it seems there is no hope.
However, at this moment, Wu Taiming found that the ECAM consultation page began to refresh the alarm information continuously: "Instructor, the No. 2 engine reverse thrust error, high vibration value, brake temperature is overheated..."
"Reverse thrust error, is the reverse thrust not turned on?" At this moment, Shi Qi's mind was working rapidly. As for the high engine vibration value, he didn't even need to look at the instrument display. Just based on the vibration scene of the aircraft at this moment, he suspected that it was not the high engine vibration value, but the entire aircraft was about to fall apart.
Wang Baotian simply stopped looking at the instruments in the cabin and raised his head to observe the outside world. He couldn't just surrender like that. He had survived a full 36-year flying career, so how could he lose his reputation after retirement?
Suddenly, Wang Baotian noticed that there seemed to be no planes parked on the end apron on the left side of the runway. He immediately pointed in that direction, turned out from the second to last exit and entered the end apron.
Shi Qi looked subconsciously and saw that it was pitch black. He was not sure whether there was a plane there.
"It's too dark over there. I can't rush over there without the guidance of ground lights." Shi Qi immediately opposed Wang Baotian's proposal: "Besides, I'm not sure if there are any planes over there."
Wang Baotian shouted, "It's called a helipad, but most of the time it's actually used as a de-icing pad for slow vehicles. How could there be an airplane there?"
However, Shi Qi did not listen to Wang Baotian at all, and he had not finished half of his words. Even if he could successfully turn into that apron, theoretically he could increase the taxiing distance, but in reality it would not increase much, which was like drinking poison to quench thirst.
Seeing that Shi Qi completely ignored him, Wang Baotian became even more anxious and angrily asked, "Do you even understand what I'm saying?"
At this moment, Wu Taiming's eyelids jumped: "Instructor, the brake temperature is about to exceed the limit!"
At such a high speed, the brakes are always pressed hard, and the temperature of the brake pads must have soared wildly. It would be strange if the temperature did not exceed the limit. If the temperature of the brake pads is too high and lasts for a certain period of time, it is possible that the brake pads will melt and deform directly, and at that time, the brakes will be scrapped.
"Shi Qi, you have no choice!" Wang Baotian still insisted that his method was the last resort.
However, Shi Qi would never accept this gambling-style solution. At this moment, Shi Qi's decisiveness was reflected, and he was clearly going to find another solution among the solutions pointed out by Wang Baotian.
Looking up, Shi Qi even saw that the remaining runway centerline light was about to turn red, and there was not much runway left.
It's time to make a decision!
I saw Shi Qi actually pushed the extended decelerator back directly, then released the brake, manually retracted the reverse thrust device, and then pushed the thrust handle of the No. 2 engine to the front.
In this situation, Wang Baotian took a deep breath and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"One more circle! Flap three!" As Shi Qi removed all deceleration measures, the aircraft's vibration suddenly seemed to decrease a little, but as the engine thrust increased, the vibration of the fuselage began to increase again.
After the thrust of the No. 2 engine increased, the aircraft began to tend to deviate to the left, so Shi Qi quickly controlled the aircraft's taxiing direction through the rudder to keep it on the centerline of the runway.
"Instructor, you..." Wu Taiming saw Shi Qi's action and immediately realized that Shi Qi was going to take off after taxiing, so he needed to retract the flaps to level one. In fact, Wu Taiming didn't know whether he should do this based on his own technical level, but he still chose to trust Shi Qi unconditionally and directly raised the flap handle to the third position.
However, as soon as Wu Taiming finished his movements, he looked down and discovered another situation: "Instructor, the reverse thrust fault indicator is still there!"
Hearing this, Shi Qi's face turned pale. He had clearly retracted the reverse thrust device just now, so why was the reverse thrust still reporting an error? Suddenly, he thought of an extremely terrifying possibility.
On the contrary, Wu Taiming still couldn't quite figure out the situation, but he could vaguely sense that something was seriously wrong. Wang Baotian, who was sitting behind him, was keenly aware of the problem and his face changed drastically: "The reverse push is stuck and can't be retracted, you can't get up!"
Yes, Shi Qi did have a rough idea of the reverse thrust failure. When he first landed, he pulled the reverse thrust and pulled it to the full open position. However, the thrust system failed and the actuator did not open the reverse thrust deflector to the correct position. The reverse thrust failure error was caused by the mismatch between the reverse thrust handle and the actual position of the reverse thrust device.
But in many cases, as long as the reverse thrust handle is retracted, the faulty deflector door will also be retracted. But this time, after he retracted the reverse thrust handle, the deflector door of the reverse thrust device did not move and was stuck in the open position, because the reverse thrust fault message still did not disappear.
This means that Shi Qi needs to use engine reverse thrust to take off. Once the engine reverse thrust is turned on, it will greatly offset the engine's forward thrust, making it difficult for the plane to take off.
It was based on this idea that Wang Baotian tried his best to prevent Shi Qi from taking off again.
However, Shi Qi narrowed his eyes and made up his mind: "I am the captain in charge, I will make the decision, and continue to take off!"
"Damn it!" Wang Baotian cursed in his heart, but at this time, the speed of the plane had increased to nearly 130 knots. It was obvious that the arrow had been shot and there was no turning back. He could only follow Shi Qi's approach.
Shi Qi put his left hand on the side stick. He didn't know the correct rotation speed, so he could only delay the rotation time as much as possible so that the aircraft's rotation speed would be high enough.
The only thing Shi Qi was thankful for was that they slowed down too slowly and Shi Qi acted decisively. When they decided to take off, they still had a speed of more than 100 knots. If they accelerated from the beginning, they would not be able to increase their speed enough.
After waiting for about four or five seconds, Shi Qi saw the first red light suddenly appear on the center line of the runway in front of him, and he knew that the final moment had come.
"The last six hundred meters, lift the wheels, lift the wheels!" Wang Baotian was also paying attention to the outside world, and naturally noticed the red light on the center line light. Once the first red light appears on the center line light of the runway, it means that there are only six hundred meters of runway left, or two thousand feet.
This distance seems long, but in fact the speed of the aircraft has exceeded 140 knots, which is 260 kilometers per hour. The distance of 600 meters is about eight seconds of remaining time.
You know, it takes some time from the time the aircraft starts to rotate until the dual main wheels leave the ground, so eight seconds is really very tight.
Shi Qi took a deep breath, he knew it was a life-or-death moment. If both engines were running normally, even with a proper reduced thrust, a speed of more than 140 knots would definitely be more than enough.
But at this moment, the plane was running with only one engine, and the reverse thrust was abnormally turned on, so the thrust was offset. He didn't know whether he could pull the plane up.
But he had no choice!
Almost at the moment when the plane passed the first red light, Shi Qi began to slowly pull the stick to form a take-off posture. However, when he clearly felt that the nose of the plane had left the ground, the main wheels could not leave the ground anyway.
"I can't carry it!" Shi Qi's face suddenly turned pale. The thing he was most worried about happened.
Although theoretically a single engine can complete the takeoff, the thrust damage caused by the opening of the reverse thrust part is still too great.
The plane is now in a strange situation where the front wheels are off the ground, but the main wheels are still unable to leave the ground.
Wu Taiming's breathing suddenly stopped, and he also noticed the state of the plane. At this moment, he couldn't force the stick to move roughly. Not to mention that forcibly moving the stick would cause the tail to be scratched, and with the nose of the plane too high, it would undoubtedly increase air resistance, which would be detrimental to the speed of the plane.
Wang Baotian could already see that the lights on the center line of the runway had turned completely red, which was the sign that there were only 300 meters left. In the short time that Shi Qi was lifting the wheel, the plane had already rushed past 300 meters.
"It's over!" Wang Baotian felt a chill in his heart.
However, Shi Qi did grit his teeth and pressed the TO/GA switch. The EGT temperature of the No. 2 engine directly rushed to nearly 890 degrees. The CFM56-5A engine seemed to be burning out its last bit of power, and the violent operation sound was like the wrath of thunder.
The thrust limit of the engine is only limited by the exhaust gas temperature, that is, the value of EGT. After pressing the TO/GA switch, the engine will obtain the maximum theoretical takeoff thrust, which is the limit of the engine.
The maximum takeoff thrust is not like the maximum continuous thrust that can be used unlimitedly. In the case of a single engine, it can only be used for no more than ten minutes. Otherwise, the engine will not be able to withstand long-term overload operation and will be damaged.
At the moment when the maximum takeoff thrust was generated, the aircraft body, which was already shaking violently, continued to shake violently, shaking so much that Shi Qi could hardly hold the side stick.
This was also the reason why Shi Qi was reluctant to use the maximum takeoff thrust. As the reverse thrust was turned on abnormally, the engine vibration would increase accordingly as the engine thrust increased. Shi Qi did not want to damage the fuselage structure due to excessive body vibration, but when it came to the moment of life and death, he could not care less!
"Hold on!" Shi Qi roared.
However, the row of lights at the end of the runway was getting closer and closer. Just when the plane was about to run off the runway, Shi Qi pulled the lever slightly again. Amidst the noise that was obviously a collision, the main wheels of the plane left the ground at the last moment.
As soon as the plane began to gain an actual climb rate, Shi Qi shouted, "Retract the wheels! Retract the wheels! Retract the wheels quickly!"
At this point, the aircraft could only barely maintain a climb rate of 500 feet per minute. It had really reached the critical point and the wheels had to be retracted as quickly as possible to reduce flight resistance.
Wu Taiming certainly knew that, even before Shi Qi called for the gear to be retracted, he had already retracted the gear after seeing the positive index on the rate gauge. He retracted the landing gear at the same time as Shi Qi spoke.
As soon as the landing gear was retracted, the aircraft's climbing rate increased significantly, but the vibration of the fuselage caused by the reverse thrust never disappeared. However, it finally took off instead of running off the runway.
Due to the lack of thrust, the aircraft's speed was slow. Shi Qi was not in a hurry. After seeing that the aircraft was temporarily stable, he reported to the tower control: "9451... Go-around!"
…
"What did you say? The plane can't slow down?" Li Rongxian, who had just gotten off the plane on the tarmac, was stunned after receiving the feedback from Shandong Airlines' operation control: "Is it a brake problem?"
" Brake problem, the brake pads are almost melted, and you told me it was a brake problem!" Deng Wenjia grabbed the call from the other end of the line and yelled at Li Rongxian, "What the hell are you guys doing? Can you figure out the reason?"
Deng Wenjia is the leader of Shandong Airlines' Safety and Supervision Department. After the problems with Flight 9451 occurred, Deng Wenjia, the general manager of the Flight Department and the Safety and Supervision Department, were the first to know about it.
In fact, after learning that Flight 9451 was a single flight, Deng Wenjia's mood was relatively stable. He knew Instructor Shi Qi, who was well-known in the talented National Aviation University. Moreover, Shi Qi was not a theoretical person, but someone who had actually handled single flight incidents. He was an experienced person with strong skills, so Deng Wenjia was not worried.
But just now, the plane actually pulled up again after touching down. According to the crew's feedback, the plane was almost unable to slow down after landing, and the reverse thrust system also malfunctioned. At this moment, the plane was flying with reverse thrust, and the body was always in a state of vibration.
If the single-engine problem is still acceptable to Deng Wenjia, then the inability to slow down after landing is intolerable. If the plane cannot slow down after landing, how can it land?
Moreover, the aircraft is now flying with reverse thrust, and the fuselage is continuously shaking. Who knows when the fuselage structure will no longer be able to hold on? That would be the end of it.
In his anxiety, Deng Wenjia hated Li Rongxian, the Airbus representative, so he was naturally impolite in his words.
At this moment, Li Rongxian was obviously panicking. He did work in a technical position, but that was many years ago, and there wasn't much left now. When he first heard it, Li Rongxian himself couldn't figure out what was going on.
"It should be the fragments of the explosion of the No. 1 engine that flew out and damaged some other systems." At this moment, the panicked Li Rongxian actually said a possible guess of his own.
Normally, Li Rongxian would never speak like this. He represents Airbus and his words carry weight. How could he say something that he himself is not sure of?
However, when Deng Wenjia heard this, it was like an explosion in his ears.
"So you mean that the explosion fragments of the No. 1 engine penetrated the fuselage structure?" Deng Wenjia said in disbelief.
The aircraft's systems are all hidden inside the fuselage structure. If the debris can damage other systems, it means that the structure of the aircraft's outer shell has been penetrated. Doesn't this mean that the aircraft's current fuselage structure has lost its integrity in a certain sense, and its strength limit is greatly reduced.
You know, the plane is still in a state of continuous vibration, which already puts extremely high demands on the strength of the fuselage structure. Isn't it like adding insult to injury?
Deng Wenjia's question made Li Rongxian realize that he had said the wrong thing. He quickly said, "No, no! Give me five minutes, at most, and I will help you contact the technical department of our headquarters."
On the other end of the phone, Deng Wenjia was silent for a while, then said, "I'll trust you for once. The plane is in a very bad condition right now, and I hope you can get a solution as soon as possible. Also, I've already communicated with the airport. If you feel it's necessary, you can go to the tower and communicate directly with the crew to understand the situation."
When Li Rongxian heard that he could communicate directly with the crew, he was naturally eager to do so. Now he said that the information he got was relayed from Shandong Airlines, and it was still unknown whether it was correct. He still wanted to obtain the most accurate information by directly contacting the crew.
"Okay, okay, how do I get there?"
Deng Wenjia snorted, "You're at camera stand 221. Just wait there. A car will pick you up soon."
" Okay !" As soon as Li Rongxian finished speaking, Deng Wenjia rudely hung up the phone. Under normal circumstances, Deng Wenjia's attitude would definitely cause Li Rongxian's dissatisfaction, but now, he was left with only fear.
…
On the plane, when it reached 3,600 meters, Shi Qi chose to keep the flap 2 configuration. After leveling off, he patted Wu Taiming on the shoulder and said, "Go to the back and see if the second engine is in reverse thrust."
Due to the viewing angle, the engine condition cannot be seen from the cockpit, so someone can only be sent to the cabin to check.
Wu Taiming understood what Shi Qi meant, and immediately unbuckled his seat belt, took off his headphones and was about to leave. Wang Baotian also stood up to make way for Wu Taiming.
When Wu Taiming stood up, Shi Qi suddenly seemed to have thought of something and reminded him again: "After you go to the cabin, find Xu Cang and ask for his opinion. If possible, call him in."
At this point, Wang Baotian's face changed, but he quickly hid his expression and said nothing more. After Wu Taiming left the cockpit, he sat down again and said in a cold voice: "Xu Cang? Do you think he has a solution?"
Shi Qi didn't explain much, but just said calmly: "What if?"
"If this was a Boeing, I could barely accept your approach. But this is an Airbus. I heard that he is the one who modified the Airbus. For such a big matter, you actually asked for advice from a guy who just changed the model. You must be desperate and trying all sorts of methods."
Although Wang Baotian was very unhappy with Xu Cang, he actually knew how strong Xu Cang was. He had been flying for more than 30 years, and he was really amazed after seeing Xu Cang land at Yulong Airport.
However, Boeing is Boeing and Airbus is Airbus. Although the basic flight principles are the same, they cannot be confused. Otherwise, why is there strict training for aircraft type change?
However, Shi Qi sighed and said, "Instructor, you seem to have made a mistake. There seems to be no necessary connection between participating in the conversion training and whether he can fly the Airbus, right?"
Wang Baotian frowned: "What do you mean?"
Shi Qi said calmly: "I mean...what if Xu Cang not only knows how to fly the Airbus, but also flies it very well?"
In the cabin, Wu Taiming came out and asked the chief steward in the front cabin about Xu Cang's seat, then walked directly to the cabin. After passing many passengers with terrified faces, Wu Taiming first looked out through the porthole in the middle of the cabin to see the situation of the No. 2 engine.
As expected, the deflector door of the No. 2 engine was opened with a not very noticeable gap. Fortunately, the gap was not big, and the negative thrust generated was not very large, otherwise it would not have been able to start just now.
While Wu Taiming was studying the No. 2 engine, a cold voice suddenly came from the side: "Is it necessary to spend so much time looking at a reverse thrust failure?"
Wu Taiming shuddered all over, and when he turned around, he saw Xu Cang sitting next to him. He was so busy looking at the No. 2 engine that he didn't even notice the seat number, and he didn't even notice that he was standing next to Xu Cang.
"Just in time!" Wu Taiming pulled Xu Cang's arm and said, "The instructor is looking for you. Come with me to the cockpit!"
However, Xu Cang did shake off Wu Taiming's hand. He pointed in the direction of the second engine on the right and said, "What's the reason for your go-around? Is it a simple reverse thrust failure, or... something else?"
Wu Taiming glanced at the passengers around him. He was hesitant about whether to tell the truth in front of so many people, so he said, "How about we go to the front and talk?"
However, Xu Cang suddenly sighed heavily, and the sigh was so weak that even Wu Taiming could feel the deep despair.
"Is it that the plane can't slow down after landing?" Xu Cang asked softly.
It was this sentence that made Wu Taiming's pupils tremble, and he immediately grabbed Xu Cang's shoulders: "How did you know? No, do you know how to deal with it?"
"You guys fully closed the throttle when you landed!" Xu Cang raised his eyelids and pointed in the direction of the No. 2 engine: "But from the sound of the engine running, I can tell that after the full flap configuration was established, the engine speed has basically not changed."
Wu Taiming took a deep breath and said, "What do you mean? Are you saying that after we landed, the engine was still maintaining high thrust? Is there something wrong with the engine control system?"
Xu Cang didn't say anything, just waited for Wu Taiming to digest this information.
When the plane was on its final approach and about to land, Xu Cang felt that there was something wrong with the sound of the engine speed. Combined with Wu Taiming's reaction, it seemed that his guess was correct.
Soon, Wu Taiming came back to his senses, his expression extremely excited: "Do you have a solution? Come with me to the cockpit and talk to the instructor."
"No need!" Xu Cang pushed Wu Taiming's hand away again: "Just tell the instructor to let him turn around again and land on the airport."
Wu Taiming was stunned: "But the plane can't slow down. How can it stop? Isn't it going to run off the runway?"
At this time, Xu Cang put his arm around Wu Taiming's shoulders, pulled him down, and whispered in Wu Taiming's ear, "Tell the instructor that I have no other options. How many people will survive after running off the runway depends on God's will."
Hearing this, Wu Taiming was shocked. He turned to look at Xu Cang in disbelief, but what greeted him was Xu Cang's indifferent and firm eyes.
Wu Taiming knew that Xu Cang was not joking.
