On the control tower of Jianchuan Airport, the assistant looked at the plane floating in the air in an extremely strange upward posture in the sky, and his heart was already surrounded by endless fear.
As we all know, a 737 cannot hover in the air. The upward attitude of the aircraft is obviously abnormal, and even the assistant who is not a professional pilot can detect the seriousness of the problem.
In this posture, the aircraft will definitely stall, and then the lift on the wings will gradually be lost, and the aircraft will fall straight down in a free fall posture.
"director!"
The assistant has been in the industry for many years, but has never seen such a scene on an airplane. This picture is deeply engraved in the assistant's mind like a brand.
Just when Director Liu was about to lose all hope, the plane that was almost hovering in the air suddenly moved, turning to the left at an incredible and exaggerated slope.
“Moving!?”
Director Liu's muscles trembled violently, and his eyes finally revealed a little light.
“There is another way!”
At this moment in the cockpit, Xu Cang finally made his own response on the eve of a deep stall. He only had one chance, and if he didn't seize it, he would die without a burial place.
Xu Cang suddenly made a very steep turn with a slope of more than 50 degrees. Under this effect, the red and black speed belt of the plane immediately began to move downward. However, the plane did not continue to rise, but the speed of the plane was still switching back and forth at the top of the red and black speed belt, and the steering wheel was always in a state of shaking.
Under the condition of manual recovery from hydraulic pressure loss, the aircraft's control wheel was already extremely difficult to operate, and due to the vibration logic of the control wheel, Xu Cang even had a hard time holding on.
However, Xu Cang still used all his strength to tightly grip the steering wheel. He knew that if he made a slight mistake, God would not give him another chance.
Next to Xu Cang, Tan Heling really didn't expect Xu Cang to make a steep turn. This would indeed prevent the plane from continuing to rise and causing a sharp drop in speed, but they couldn't keep turning like this.
"The plane's altitude hasn't dropped and its speed can't increase. What's wrong?" Tan Heling yelled.
In Tan Heling's opinion, Xu Cang's method of making a steep turn was like drinking poison to quench thirst, and it could not fundamentally change the plane's current predicament.
However, Xu Cang did not answer Tan Heling's question at all. In his mind, he had already outlined all the steps that would follow. He did not need other people's advice, corrections, or doubts. He just wanted to do it according to his ideas.
"Pull out all the landing gear handles!" Even when Tan Heling still didn't understand Xu Cang's thoughts, Xu Cang had already started to issue new instructions.
In his imagination, there is already a possible landing method. However, before landing, he must clear the obstacles for his landing as much as possible, including the problem of landing gear.
The reason why the plane took off just now was that the left landing gear retracted again after touching down. Maybe it was because of hydraulic problems that caused the landing gear to not be lowered and locked, or it might be a simple structural problem of the landing gear, but now Xu Cang didn't have the heart to find out what the reason was. He just wanted to solve this problem as much as possible.
"You want to lower the landing gear manually?" Tan Heling was stunned.
"What else?" At this time, Xu Cang was slowly leveling the plane from a steep turn while speaking.
Seeing that Xu Cang was going to level the plane, wouldn't the plane have to lift its head and slow down again, and fall into the quagmire of stalling? Although Tan Heling believed that Xu Cang's steep turn was only a temporary measure, he could only hold on for a while and couldn't just rush towards the direction of stalling.
Tan Heling grabbed the steering wheel in a hurry, not wanting Xu Cang to level the plane: "Xu Cang, how can you level the plane now?"
When Xu Cang saw that Tan Heling was still interfering with his operation, he immediately flew into a rage: "Damn it, let me go! Instructor, lower the landing gear manually!"
Tan Heling was scolded by Xu Cang and didn't know what to do. However, Mo Shangyun, who was sitting in the back, reacted quickly and immediately opened the manual landing gear cover on the floor. Without saying a word, he didn't care which landing gear it corresponded to, and pulled out all three manual landing gear handles one by one.
"If you want to use gravity to lower the landing gear, I feel that a certain amount of maneuvering is required!" Mo Shangyun could understand Xu Cang's idea, but he was not very optimistic.
The reason why Xu Cang wanted to change to a flat plane was because the way to manually lower the landing gear was to completely use gravity to lower and lock the landing gear. However, Mo Shangyun felt that the problem with the landing gear could not be solved by relying on gravity.
Sure enough, usually a few seconds after the manual lowering of the landing gear, if successful, the landing gear indicator light will be on. In fact, the manual lowering of the landing gear operation has nothing to do with the position of the landing gear handle, that is, even if the landing gear handle is in the up position, as long as the manual lowering of the landing gear handle is pulled down, the landing gear can still be lowered.
However, the landing gear handle was still down at this time. Logically, as long as the left main landing gear was down and locked, it would be consistent with the position of the landing gear handle, and the corresponding red indicator light would go out.
However, after waiting for a few seconds, the red indicator light on the left landing gear still did not change.
Xu Cang looked up and saw that there was another device above the rear top plate that could indicate the position of the landing gear with only three green lights. Of the three lights, the green light for the left landing gear was not on.
"I..." Xu Cang almost cursed, but he didn't have time to wait any longer. The risk of leveling the plane was too great at this moment.
However, Xu Cang obviously still did not give up the idea of ​​lowering and locking the landing gear. In any case, the problem of the landing gear provided too many obstacles during the landing process, and he still hoped to remove it as long as there was a possibility.
However, Xu Cang could not maintain the leveling now. If he continued like this, he would be dead. At this moment, Xu Cang pressed the left steering wheel to the full position, and the plane began to turn left again with a large bank. However, when the plane just formed a bank, Xu Cang did not wait for a moment and directly pressed the steering wheel to the full right position.
In this way, the plane is like an autumn leaf swaying from side to side, and the swing amplitude is very large. If the seat belt is not fastened, the degree of swinging alone is enough to throw people out.
"He's going to use centrifugal force to throw out the landing gear?" Tan Heling, who was standing next to him, immediately realized Xu Cang's intention and was extremely amazed at how many unbelievable methods Xu Cang had.
However, after trying back and forth several times, the red indicator light on the left landing gear was so stubborn that Xu Cang gave up the last glimmer of hope and extinguished it.
So, Xu Cang let go of the thrust handle with his right hand, grabbed the flap handle, and without even looking at it, put it directly to the 40th position of the flap at the bottom.
"Xu Cang, for manual recovery, you need to land with flaps 15... No, you need to land with flaps 40 and partially retract the landing gear?" Tan Heling let out a long cry: "Xu Cang, we can't land now, how can we land the plane?"
Flaps 40 is the recommended landing configuration during the "Landing with Partial or Full Landing Gear Retracted" inspection, the purpose of which is to reduce the aircraft's touchdown speed as much as possible.
In fact, there is a requirement to circle to consume fuel in the checklist, but the Boeing 737 does not have the function of dumping fuel in the air. If it only consumes fuel by circling, the efficiency is too low, and it will take at least several hours.
With this length of time and the current level of damage to the aircraft's structure, this 1566 simply cannot sustain the required fuel balance conditions.
Therefore, Xu Cang directly skipped the step of circling to consume fuel, and directly started to set flaps 40 for landing.
However, the problem now is that the pitch attitude of the aircraft is stuck at such an exaggerated level that even in a steep turn, it can only barely suppress its upward movement trend. Not to mention landing, it is impossible to turn the aircraft into a descent.
Before solving the problem of the possibility of descent and landing, Xu Cang started to progress to the landing configuration step. How could Tan Heling understand?
In fact, Mo Shangyun, who was sitting in the back, didn't know how Xu Cang would land. But compared to Tan Heling who couldn't see the situation clearly, Mo Shangyun had a very good quality, that is, he knew how to trust Xu Cang, and believed in Xu Cang unconditionally.
"Xu Cang, are you going to start the second approach?" Mo Shangyun just asked this question, without asking how to descend, how to land, whether you are ready, etc. He just wanted to know whether you have made a decision.
"Yes!" Xu Cang said in a deep voice. At this time, the plane had already turned from right to left: "The plane's left turn is the beginning of the approach. So, put the flaps down for me!"
If the fuselage of the aircraft was not damaged, and if only the landing gear was not lowered, Xu Cang might have more methods to try, such as making a solid landing and then taking off to knock out the left landing gear. For example, making a turn at a higher speed and a smaller radius to obtain greater centrifugal force.
However, no matter which method is used, it will cause a huge load on the aircraft fuselage structure, and the last thing that can be applied to the already damaged fuselage is excessive load.
The plane was like a piece of porcelain that was about to break. There was no chance to play with it carefully. What Xu Cang had to do now was to gently place the porcelain that was about to break on the ground.
"Okay!" After Xu Cang's answer, Mo Shangyun no longer hesitated. He directly unbuckled his seat belt, stood up, pressed the switch for the standby flap position, and kept pressing it without letting go.
At this time, Xu Cang began to gradually reduce the throttle to slow down the plane. Because the plane was in a very large attitude and was in the process of turning, as long as the throttle was slightly reduced, the speed of the plane would drop rapidly.
However, the speed of the plane was close to stalling, Xu Cang just reduced the throttle slightly, and then quickly increased it again. In fact, Xu Cang's deceleration method was problematic.
Generally speaking, the deceleration plan for flap extension must be gradually reduced as the flaps are extended. For example, when flaps are extended to five, the aircraft's minimum maneuvering speed cannot be less than flaps five, otherwise, it will be a warning, which may cause safety problems and will also limit the aircraft's turning slope in terms of control, because when it is less than the maneuvering speed, the aircraft's maneuverability is limited.
However, Xu Cang directly reduced the speed to a speed even lower than flap 40. That is, Xu Cang's deceleration plan was much faster than the flap release progress, and in the process, Xu Cang did not comply with the 15-degree bank limit.
Therefore, strictly speaking, Xu Cang's operation method was problematic. Mo Shangyun saw it more clearly from the back, but he did not say anything and chose to trust Xu Cang completely.
However, even so, Mo Shangyun still mentioned it briefly: "Xu Cang, maybe the speed is too slow."
Xu Cang didn't want to go through the repeated process of increasing speed and then decreasing it again, which Mo Shangyun could understand. However, Xu Cang could have just kept the speed without touching the throttle. After all, the starting speed was already close to the approach speed with flaps 40.
However, Xu Cang still pulled back the throttle to reduce the speed a little, so that it was close to the stall speed at the top of the red and black speed band. This speed was obviously lower than the approach speed with flaps 40, which was very abnormal.
However, Xu Cang just said calmly: "It's okay, I know what's going on."
After hearing what Xu Cang said, Mo Shangyun also knew what to do and did not continue the topic.
Since the standby flaps were deployed at a relatively slow speed, Xu Cang once again made an announcement to passengers while waiting for the flaps to be deployed: "The aircraft is about to perform a very large maneuver. Please make sure your seat belts are fastened and hold on to the armrests of your seats."
Mo Shangyun, who still had one hand on the alternate flap position switch, raised his eyebrows. He looked away from the flap position indicator and looked at Xu Cang, who had a serious face. He suddenly said, "Xu Cang, the aircraft structure is damaged now. Can we do that maneuver?"
"So, we only have one chance to try!" Xu Cang's expression condensed, and then said: "Instructor, after the flaps are lowered, P6 board 3: D18 landing gear sound warning trip switch, P6 board 2: B9 flight control automatic speed brake trip switch are all turned off for me."
One of these two jumpers is used to prevent the landing gear audio warning from sounding when the landing flaps are set. Because the left landing gear is not lowered and locked, once the flaps are set to 30, the landing gear audio warning will sound.
This warning was originally intended to prevent the pilot from forgetting to lower the landing gear. However, if the landing gear cannot be partially lowered, the audio warning will interfere with the pilot, so it needs to be suppressed.
Another automatic speed brake trip switch is designed to prevent the ground spoiler from accidentally rising during landing.
When landing with the landing gear partially or fully retracted, the process is different from normal landing. Speed ​​brakes can only be used when the landing distance is limited and there is no other choice. Otherwise, speed brakes are not allowed to be used during the rollout process of landing with the landing gear partially or fully retracted. Moreover, even if speed brakes are used, they must be pulled up after the wing or engine nacelle begins to contact the ground.
The use of reverse thrust is based on the same principle as the use of speed brakes.
However, in some cases, even if the speed brake is not manually pulled up, the flight spoiler will not be activated, but the ground spoiler will rise under the dual effects of air logic conversion and the slow car of the thrust handle, which will destroy the aircraft in the landing roll state in this case and needs to be eliminated.
These items were all on the checklist, and Mo Shangyun had no doubts about them. What he was worried about was another thing, which was the way Xu Cang descended.
"What on earth are you talking about?" In the cockpit, only Tan Heling was confused: "Xu Cang, what maneuver are you going to do?"
However, Xu Cang did not answer Tan Heling. Instead, he glanced at the flap indicator and found that the flaps were already at forty. He pointed back at the P6 board and said, "Pull out the jumper!"
Mo Shangyun looked at it deeply, and finally sighed, then began to pull out the circuit breaker according to Xu Cang's instructions.
Tan Heling, who was standing by, heard Mo Shangyun's sigh and felt his scalp tingling. He had a premonition, a very bad premonition: "Xu Cang, Xu Cang, what on earth are you going to do?"
After hearing the sound of two trip switches being pulled out, Xu Cang took a deep breath, turned his head to look at Tan Heling, and said solemnly: "I think you should buckle up your shoulder straps as well."
"You...what did you say?" Tan Heling's face was filled with fear. The deep uneasiness had already attacked his heart and was rapidly expanding, as if he had returned to the moment when the plane was about to stall and fall because of its excessive pitch. He didn't know what Xu Cang was going to do, but his reason told him that it was best to follow Xu Cang's instructions, so he began to fasten his shoulder straps in a hurry, and his mouth was even more anxious and angry: "Xu Cang, what on earth do you want to do?"
This time, Xu Cang did not ignore his question. Instead, while turning left, he lowered his head and looked down through the side window to see the Jianchuan Airport located almost directly below him.
"A steep turn can only level the plane, but it cannot complete the descent." Xu Cang retracted his gaze, his determination clear: "If it cannot complete the descent, it means that the slope is still not enough."
Tan Heling's face froze for a moment, then he shouted, "It's almost over 50 degrees, isn't this slope enough?"
No matter from which angle, a slope of fifty degrees is definitely a steep slope, but Xu Cang said it is still not enough.
"It's not enough, it's still not enough, it's far from enough!" Xu Cang said indifferently.
At this time, the plane's bank angle had exceeded 30 degrees, and the cockpit sounded the BANK ANGLE alarm. However, to Tan Heling, this sound was like the whisper of the god of death.
At this moment, he finally knew what Xu Cang was going to do. An indescribable fear enveloped Tan Heling, and he looked at Xu Cang in disbelief: "You want to fly backwards?"
Xu Cang was still controlling the plane to increase its slope, and the slope warning sounded for the second time. Amid the warning, Xu Cang's unquestionable voice fell: "That's right!"
"You lunatic, a large passenger plane cannot withstand the aerodynamic load of inverted flight, and the Boeing manual does not recommend inverted flight maneuvers." Tan Heling shouted, "Besides, the fuselage structure of our aircraft is already damaged. Aren't you afraid of disintegration in the air?"
Before this, Mo Shangyun had already thought of the possibility that Xu Cang wanted to fly the 737 upside down, so when Tan Heling reacted and exposed Xu Cang's idea, he was not very surprised.
However, Mo Shangyun's expression was not very good. Obviously, from his personal point of view, he did not quite agree with Xu Cang's approach.
It was too dangerous, really too dangerous, it was no different from seeking one's own death! It was just that he trusted Xu Cang, and he didn't have a relatively practical method, so he could only choose to default.
"Do you know why I have been able to survive so many special situations?"
Tan Heling was startled: "What do you mean?"
Xu Cang's gaze was like a rock that had not moved for ten thousand years. He said softly, "Because I live to die!"
At this moment, a small pickup truck was parked on the working path next to the runway of Jianchuan Airport. This was a ground handling vehicle. According to the airport's requirements, after the plane landed and was towed away by the tow truck, they had already entered the runway to start the inspection.
However, not long ago, the plane did not stop after landing, but instead took off, which forced the maintenance vehicle to continue to stay on the work path.
"The plane just landed, is it necessary to conduct a special runway inspection?" one of the thin ground staff sitting in the right seat complained.
The colleague sitting on the left who looked relatively plump did not complain at all: "I just did whatever the boss told me to do. Why would I complain so much?"
"You are aware, model worker! I'm off work now, please come here temporarily." The thin ground attendant was still complaining. Suddenly, he noticed that his colleague seemed to be looking at the sky, so he looked over too: "Is the plane going to land?"
"Upside down..." The fat colleague seemed to have seen something extremely terrifying, and the muscles on his face froze.
"It's upside down. What's upside down?" The thin attendant squinted his eyes and searched the sky. Even though the sun was setting, it was still difficult to look up at the sky against the light.
"The plane is upside down!" The fat colleague yelled, got out of the car, looked up, and pointed in a direction in the sky: "Look, the plane is flying upside down!"
The thin ground attendant saw his colleague's actions and got out of the car in confusion. He looked up and followed his colleague's instructions and indeed found the trace of the plane in the sky.
However, this plane is a bit strange. Because it is too far away, it is actually difficult to tell what the specific state of the plane is. However, the landing gear and vertical tail of the plane are too conspicuous.
The landing gear of the plane in view is actually facing upwards, while the vertical tail is actually facing downwards, which is really the opposite.
"Flying backwards, flying backwards, how can this plane fly backwards?" The ground attendant shouted, as if he had seen something extremely shocking. He grabbed the fat colleague next to him and said, "I am not seeing wrong, I am not seeing wrong, this plane is flying backwards."
The fat colleague was also shocked, but his reaction was better than the thin staff member. He was relatively calm, but his trembling lips revealed that he had difficulty controlling his mood.
"This... this... this..." The tall and thin ground attendant was almost speechless. He felt that he could not describe his feelings in words. He just looked up and followed the trajectory of the plane.
The plane went from his right side to his left side. He was so shocked that he forgot to turn around to follow the plane with his eyes. He just kept tilting his head back and finally reached his limit, and fell backwards unconsciously.
Fortunately, the fat colleague was quick to support him and prevented him from falling and getting injured.
Although he was supported by his fat colleague, he sat down on the ground. At this moment, as the plane lowered, more details could be seen, and the size of the plane became larger and larger in his eyes, and the shock it brought was beyond description.
"It can still fly like this, it can still fly like this." The field staff sat on the ground, repeating this sentence over and over, feeling as if they were possessed.
The fat colleague knew that the ground attendant in front of him, Xu Mingjian, had a dream of flying. He had even participated in the pilot recruitment, but was ultimately rejected. He had to settle for the next best thing and work as a ground attendant at Jianchuan Airport.
Although his participation in the recruitment was fruitless, Xu Mingjian still actively inquired about the recruitment information of airlines during his time at the airport. However, after several years, there was still no progress.
However, his love for flying has given him some understanding of flying itself. But it is precisely because of this understanding that Xu Mingjian understands how terrifying it is to fly a 737 upside down, which is simply beyond common sense.
The fat colleague patted Xu Mingjian on the shoulder, and suddenly, his eyes were flashed by something. Subconsciously, the fat colleague looked in the direction of the flash based on his intuition.
Suddenly, his eyes searched the runway for a moment, and he found a piece of metal debris in the touchdown area. It was this piece of metal debris that reflected the sunlight and shone into his eyes.
"Old Xu, please get up and take a look. Is there a piece of metal debris over there?"
Xu Mingjian was pulled up by his colleagues. While he was still in shock, he followed his colleagues' instructions and looked towards the runway landing area.
As someone pointed out the direction, Xu Mingjian soon found the metal fragments and immediately became serious. However, just as he was about to answer his colleague, Xu Mingjian continued to scan along the runway, and the expression on his face froze.
"No, no! Not just one piece, but a lot!"
The fat colleague was startled, and then he looked back along the runway, his face also turning into a look of fear. There were more aircraft debris on the runway in front of the touchdown area, so many that it was impossible to clear them away in a short time.
"We can't land. We absolutely can't land on this runway." Xu Mingjian forgot about the plane that was still in the sky but was about to land. He quickly returned to the car, picked up the walkie-talkie and began to report the ground situation to his superiors.
In the tower control room, Director Liu also witnessed the horrifying scene of Xu Cang's plane flying upside down, and with the help of a telescope, he could see the details even more clearly.
Next to him, the assistant, whose figure was like a sculpture, said in a daze: "Director, can a plane really fly like this? Did the crew fly it like this on purpose?"
"What else? Under normal circumstances, the plane would never enter this state." Director Liu put down the telescope, his heart pounding. Xu Cang really shocked him beyond words. This young man, who was less than 30 years old, behaved in a way that was so different from ordinary people.
Because large passenger aircraft have strong static stability, even in many deviation conditions, the aircraft can still slowly return to its normal attitude without intervention.
It is precisely because of this characteristic that it is difficult for an aircraft to spontaneously enter a complex state such as inverted flight. Only deliberate human manipulation can achieve such an effect.
The assistant also understood this, but he had a question: "Why did the crew fly like this? I remember that almost all large passenger aircraft now prohibit inverted operations, right? The mainstream large passenger aircraft in the world were not designed with inverted flight in mind."
Although the design concept of commercial airliners pursues safety, it naturally also has to take into account economy. In many cases, economy is even the first factor.
In fact, the structural strength of commercial airliners is different. For example, the leading edge of the wing is much stronger than the trailing edge. In the most common bird strikes, usually only the leading edge of the wing is hit. In that case, it is only the leading edge of the wing that needs to be reinforced. The unnecessary high strength of the trailing edge of the wing can save a lot of costs.
Therefore, since passenger aircraft manufacturers assume that large passenger aircraft will not perform maneuvers such as flying inverted, they will naturally not reinforce the aircraft fuselage to the level of a fighter jet that can perform super-maneuvers.
If there is no demand, there is no need for assembly. Reducing costs as much as possible is the concept of commercial airliners.
Of course, commercial airliners are not made of paper. Whether from a design or procedure perspective, Boeing does not want pilots to perform inverted flight maneuvers, but that does not mean it is impossible. At least it may be feasible in the short term.
"Xu Cang is not a reckless man who would do anything without regard for the consequences. He has his reasons for doing this."
The assistant's eyes narrowed slightly: "What if he has really reached the point of being desperate?"
"What did you say?" Director Liu shouted coldly, his face looking very ugly. In fact, he had been feeling worried since the plane took off.
In the 747S2 switch incident, Director Liu had already had a deep understanding of Xu Cang's astonishing control skills. In the previous communication, Xu Cang also said that the problem was not serious, so it seemed that the problem was indeed not serious.
But the plane took off again, and completed the climb in an extremely exaggerated pitch attitude that even he, a semi-layman, could feel the problem.
Does that mean that Xu Cang and his team have encountered new problems, new and very difficult problems that will make him choose to do whatever it takes?
"Director, do we need to contact the airport emergency committee?" the assistant called softly.
Once the Airport Emergency Committee is informed, the matter will become a big deal. Even if the Airport Emergency Committee is contacted and the airport enters a state of emergency, it will not have a big impact on him. But after all, it is his duty as the duty director to minimize the scope of the impact of the matter. If he has to put the airport into a state of emergency no matter what, then this duty director will have an easy job.
"Wait a moment." Director Liu ordered, but he added at the end: "Tell the fire department and the medical team to take their positions, but don't move out. Wait for our instructions."
This is the limit of what Director Liu can do. Whenever the fire and medical personnel are dispatched, the sirens will sound loudly, and the impact range is too large.
"good!"
Although the ideas were somewhat different, the assistant still followed Director Liu's advice and gave up the idea of ​​contacting the airport emergency committee.
At this moment, another staff member quickly walked to the assistant and whispered a few words in his ear. In a short time, the assistant's expression suddenly changed.
"Really?" the assistant exclaimed.
"It was just reported by the venue management department. It was visually observed by the venue staff on standby. It has been confirmed without a doubt." The staff member nodded.
"Damn it!" The assistant cursed, left the staff behind, and quickly came to Director Liu. He said in a low voice: "Director, the ground staff just saw a lot of aircraft parts on the runway."
"Hmm? Where did the plane debris come from?" Director Liu said this, and then he immediately understood and his face turned pale: "Did it fall from the 9951N plane? "
It was during the go-around after touchdown that the 9951N aircraft dropped so many debris. This shows that the structural condition of the aircraft at this moment is definitely more terrible than the worst result they could imagine.
Perhaps, he began to understand Xu Cang's idea of ​​flying the 737 upside down.
"Is it really time to do whatever it takes?" At this moment, Director Liu also realized the seriousness of the situation. Such a huge amount of aircraft debris scattered on the runway surface could not be cleared away in a short time.
However, according to Director Liu's assumption, the condition of the 9951N aircraft did not seem to be able to sustain long enough for the airport to clear the runway. Wasn't this another dead end?
No matter what, Director Liu had to change the order: "Notify the airport emergency committee. Jianchuan Airport has entered an emergency state. At the same time, notify the ground management department to clear the dangerous objects on the road surface as quickly as possible."
The assistant immediately said, "What about the plane? It looks like they are about to land."
Judging from the current trajectory of the aircraft, the crew does not seem willing to carry out a complete instrument approach procedure, but instead completes a visual landing on their own.
At this moment, the aircraft has turned into the third leg. If it is fast enough, the crew will not even go to the fourth leg, but directly insert the final leg course in the continuous turn.
"What should we do? The plane must not land."
"What if they have no choice and must land?"
Just by imagining the plane debris scattered all over the runway, the assistant could imagine the current status of Flight 9951N. Sometimes, the crew could choose not to land the plane unless the controller forbade it to do so.
At certain times, the aircraft does not allow the operator to think or maneuver.
"No matter what, let's notify the crew first." Director Liu actually didn't have any good ideas. If he really encountered such a dilemma, he would let the crew decide.
In fact, Director Liu had been thinking about contacting the crew since the go-around just now. However, due to concerns about interfering with the crew's emergency operations, he had not taken the initiative to contact them, but passively waited for the crew to contact him. But at this point, Director Liu still chose to take the initiative to contact the crew.
In the cockpit, when Xu Cang continuously turned the plane to more than 90 degrees, Mo Shangyun's expression was okay. He had flown fighter jets before, and flying backwards was commonplace for him, so his psychological acceptance was relatively high.
But Tan Heling is different. Not to mention on a real plane, even on a simulator, except for deliberate complex state training, there will be no inverted flight in simulation training.
In his mind, such a thing as flying backwards should not happen in normal business operations, so when Xu Cang increased the slope to more than ninety degrees, Tan Heling's heart seemed to be tightly grasped by a big hand, as if he was about to suffocate.
"Xu Cang, Xu Cang, think of another way. Flying backwards, flying backwards is too risky." At the critical moment, Tan Heling was still unwilling to face the situation of flying the plane backwards, and hoped that Xu Cang could find a relatively acceptable solution.
Moreover, it was not because he was afraid, but because he really felt that flying backwards was not feasible and the plane would definitely disintegrate in the air.
However, Xu Cang's hands on the steering wheel showed no sign of returning to normal, and his voice was so indifferent: "There is no other way."
At this moment, the plane's slope had exceeded ninety degrees, and it was already in an upside-down state. The altitude that had been rising or leveling off finally lost its last stubbornness and began to descend.
Seeing this, Tan Heling almost collapsed. He shouted hysterically: "Xu Cang, you are dragging us to death together!"
Xu Cang's eyes gradually narrowed: "No one will die."
"Damn, a 737 can't fly upside down, and you still say no one will die." At this time, Tan Heling's face flushed red, and it was unclear whether it was because he was too excited, or because his head and feet were hanging upside down and the blood was flowing backwards.
However, Xu Cang's expression remained unchanged, and he said firmly: "The 737 can fly backwards!"
However, looking at Xu Cang's appearance, although he seemed unwavering, he actually seemed to be trying to convince himself.
"Bullshit, there is no mention in the manual that the 737 can fly backwards." Tan Heling shouted.
"No! Someone has done this before!" This was Xu Cang's last words. After that, Xu Cang didn't say anything else.
Both Mo Shangyun and the others were shocked because in their memories, there had never been a precedent of a 737 flying upside down, not only in China, but also in foreign civil aviation history.
It was precisely because there was no precedent that Boeing felt so comfortable abandoning the 737's ability to fly inverted during design.
However, Xu Cang was not a person who spoke without purpose. This was a matter of life and death. Would he fabricate a precedent? Could it be that they were simply unaware of this due to their own knowledge?
Just as Mo Shangyun and Tan Heling were filled with wonder, Xu Cang had already controlled the plane to complete the final slope construction, and the plane was turning upside down.
However, there was one thing that only Xu Cang knew. Mo Shangyun and Tan Heling's memories were not wrong. So far, there has been no precedent in the history of world civil aviation for flying a 737 upside down. The case that Xu Cang knew about happened 20 years later. An equally amazing genius completed the feat of flying a 737 upside down, proving that this maneuver was feasible, at least in a short period of time.
Now that the future legend has set a good example for him, why doesn't Xu Cang follow that example?
However, the plane was damaged at the tail, so Xu Cang said there was only one chance. If time went on, there was no guarantee that other problems would occur.
Once the plane turns into inverted flight, the originally exaggerated upward floating posture turns into a downward dive, and the plane begins to rush down at an extremely high descent rate.
Because the downward thrust was too great, even with the throttle fully closed, the aircraft was still going up. Mo Shangyun's eyelids jumped, and he immediately remembered that he had questioned Xu Cang's reason for adjusting the approach speed to a speed significantly lower than flap 40. Now he finally understood Xu Cang's intention.
In the extremely large downward pitch, the slow engine thrust cannot prevent the increase in speed. The inverted flight of the aircraft has already put a huge burden on the fuselage structure, including the fragile flap structure.
Therefore, Xu Cang could not allow additional load to be applied to the flaps, namely the so-called overload under overspeed.
If the impact of overspeed is added to the already overloaded flaps, the flap structure may collapse first. Therefore, before turning to inverted flight, Xu Cang must leave some space for speed increase, even if it means reducing the speed to the point of stalling.
"He knows everything!" At this moment, Mo Shangyun couldn't help but admire Xu Cang's ability to foresee everything. He seemed to be able to think of everything about the future. The seemingly unclear future was like a stop-motion animation to Xu Cang. He was prepared for everything.
However, Mo Shangyun still didn't know who Xu Cang was, and his amazement was far from over!
When the plane just passed the end of the runway, Xu Cang started to turn to the fifth side of the runway without waiting, but in the inverted flight, all the controls were mirrored.
Moreover, from visual observation, Xu Cang's third leg was kept very close to the runway, and the current wind direction was blowing the plane towards the fifth leg, so it was very likely that the plane would not be able to take a formal fourth leg, but would cut into the fifth leg in a continuous turn.
As expected, Xu Cang's turn was very steep, and the plane turned onto the fifth side of the runway while falling rapidly. In this situation, Tan Heling felt that all the blood in his body was accumulated on his head, and he felt that his head was about to explode. His eyes were filled with dense bloodshot, which was obviously protruding, as if it would pop out of his eye sockets in the next moment.
It was too painful. He hadn't exercised for a long time. When he wanted to learn to fly, he used all kinds of sports equipment to cope with the annual physical fitness test, but when he really started working, he was getting further and further away from his former self!
However, at this moment, a large amount of blood accumulated in Xu Cang's brain. He was more sober than ever before. He knew what he should do, now and in the future!
"Landing gear inhibit switch, inhibit! Engine bleed air switch...off!"
When the plane was about to turn into the fifth direction, Xu Cang issued an order.
Mo Shangyun could reach out and turn off the engine bleed air switch, but he couldn't reach the ground approach gear inhibit switch. Fortunately, at this juncture, Tan Heling still played a little role. He struggled to inhibit the ground approach gear inhibit switch.
"Teacher, listen to my commands!" Xu Cang said fiercely.
Mo Shangyun nodded, but he suddenly realized that there seemed to be something wrong with the direction the plane's nose was facing.
"Xu Cang, the runway is on your right, you leveled it too early."
Originally, Mo Shangyun was reluctant to remind Xu Cang of this kind of thing, because this was the most basic correction action, a basic technique that even flight trainees had to master.
However, at this moment, because Xu Cang's third turn was very early, the length of the fifth turn was very, very short, and he was almost about to turn into the air above the runway, so there was very little room for the pilot to make corrections.
Therefore, in this kind of ultra-short five-turn maneuver, it is best to align with the runway from the beginning, otherwise you will be quite passive afterwards.
However, with such basic knowledge, Xu Cang seemed to have made a low-level mistake. He deviated to the left side of the extended line of the runway, and the deviation was not small. If he did not correct it, he would lose the final opportunity for correction.
"No, I have no problem!"
Tan Heling also noticed Xu Cang's deviation at this time. This deviation was so big that any pilot could see it. However, Xu Cang still said that he had no problem.
"You are obviously far behind!" Tan Heling said, "Hurry up and correct it, otherwise it will be too late."
This plane can no longer bear the burden of doing this again, and Tan Heling doesn't want to do it again.
At this moment, Director Liu's voice suddenly came from the cockpit: "Xu Cang, the ground management visually observed a large amount of FOD on the runway. You can't land! You can't land!"
FOD is a professional term, which stands for Foreign Object Debris, and refers to foreign matter, debris or objects that can damage an aircraft. Of course, what Director Liu is talking about is naturally the aircraft debris on the runway.
However, the ground management department reported that it was most likely aircraft debris, because the ground management staff had not yet entered the runway for direct visual inspection. Therefore, even though it was certain, Director Liu still described it as FOD in accordance with professionalism.
He felt that with Xu Cang's ability, he should be able to understand what he meant quickly.
But the first person to react was Mo Shangyun. He immediately thought of a possibility and said tremblingly, "Is it the debris from the plane that just landed?"
Airport runways are inspected by specialized personnel, so it is impossible for a large number of FOD to appear suddenly. During this period, only one of their planes touched down, and it touched down with damaged fuselage, so it is reasonable that a lot of debris would fall off.
However, before Mo Shangyun could say anything, Xu Cang spoke first: "Teacher, I just said that we only have one chance!"
"But there is FOD on the runway. If we land there, we will be dead." At this point, Mo Shangyun could no longer agree with Xu Cang's idea. They definitely couldn't land now.
However, Xu Cang did not show any intention of aborting the approach. He just said indifferently: "Who said I was going to land on the runway?"
Mo Shangyun was stunned: "What did you say?"
At this moment, Director Liu, who was on the tower, used the telescope to find that Xu Cang was still approaching, and he was very anxious. There was no response from Xu Cang on the frequency. In a hurry, he turned around, picked up the microphone and shouted: "Xu Cang, go around, go around, I order you to go around! You can't land on the runway, you can't land, do you hear me!"
When Director Liu's urgent cry echoed in the cockpit, Mo Shangyun's pupils suddenly contracted and he felt a chill all over his body. He now understood Xu Cang's thoughts.
Just now he said that Xu Cang was not aiming at the runway, but Xu Cang said that he had no problem. Xu Cang was not wrong, because he had no intention of landing on the runway.
At this moment, right in front of their vision, Taxiway A came into view.
He was not going to land on the runway, but on the main taxiway A.
From the very beginning, Xu Cang knew that he would not be able to land on the runway. He knew everything, ahead of everyone else, and everything was under his control.
At this time, in the cockpit of Muhua Flight 1233 parked in front of taxiway A, the co-pilot tilted his head hesitantly and looked to the fifth direction through the side window on his side.
He could already see Flight 9951N on the final approach with his naked eyes, but after the initial shock of visually catching sight of the aircraft on its inverted approach, the co-pilot discovered a more pressing problem.
He patted the captain on the shoulder and said, "Brother, look, isn't that plane flying towards the runway?"
At this moment, the captain was also looking at the upside-down plane in amazement. After the co-pilot's reminder, the captain was stunned for a moment. He really didn't notice where the plane was flying.
However, since they were not facing flight 9951N, their line of sight was off and it was hard to determine for a moment, so he quickly drew an extension line of the final side of runway 05 on the CDU.
When the green dotted line appeared, the captain's face froze. Thanks to the transponder, they could already see the TACS signal of 9951N on the navigation DU. However, this signal point was not on the extension line of the fifth side of No. 05, but a little to the left.
"Is it just a roll error?" The captain hesitated for a moment, but as 9951N got closer, his face became paler and his anxiety grew wildly. Until he could clearly see the paint details on 9951N, and the plane did not make any roll corrections, he cursed: "What is the crew of 9951 going crazy about?"
So the captain directly pressed the button: "Tower, 9951N is not on the 05 route!"
After these words were spoken, Director Liu, who had been anxious because he had not received a reply from Xu Cang, was stunned. He dropped the microphone and picked up the telescope to observe the position of the 9951N plane again.
Just two seconds later, Director Liu's heart seemed to stop, because he clearly saw that flight 9951N was not heading towards the runway, but towards taxiway A.
However, after receiving this suffocating information, Director Liu's gaze moved and immediately fell on the Muhua Airlines plane parked outside taxiway A.
At this moment, the nose of the Muhua Airlines plane had almost reached taxiway A. If Xu Cang wanted to land the plane on the main taxiway, the wing of the plane would hit the nose of the Muhua Airlines plane if he was not careful.
After all, even the main taxiway is far less wide than the runway, and the crew has very little space to maneuver during taxiing.
In fact, Director Liu still didn't know about the problem with the landing gear of the 9951N aircraft. If he knew that there was a problem with the landing gear of the aircraft, it would undoubtedly increase the difficulty of ground control and he would be scared to death.
However, just as Director Liu was shocked by all the horrific news and his mind went blank, the pilot of Muhua Airlines could not wait for a long time for the control to reply. At this moment, he could see all the details of the 9951N flight clearly. Seeing that the plane was about to land, it was really facing the taxiway. If the nose of his plane was too far forward, it would be easy to be hit by the wing tip of the 9951N flight running at high speed, which would be a catastrophic consequence.
So the captain ignored the tower and yelled directly into the tower frequency: "9951N, where the hell are you landing?"
This shout directly woke up Director Liu, whose brain was overloaded. Director Liu woke up in a cold sweat. He turned around and grabbed the microphone, shouting at the same time: "Xu Cang, A main slide cannot land. There is a Muhua Airlines plane coming forward. After landing, it is easy to scratch the wing tip. Xu Cang, go around, go around quickly!"
"I know, I know, I know everything!" In the cockpit, Xu Cang finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted on the tower frequency: "I know everything, so, can you all shut up!"
Yes, he knew everything! He had thought of everything since the plane touched down and took off. He saw the Muhua Airlines plane parked on the left side in front of the taxiway. He anticipated that the damaged aircraft would produce debris when it touched down. He knew that he couldn't land on the runway. He understood that landing on the taxiway might scratch the Muhua Airlines plane.
He knows everything!
So, he also knows what he should do!
His vision, his perspective, and his thinking are always ahead of everyone else. What others see and don’t see are all presented in his mind, and he finds a feasible path in the information surrounding him!
Just as Xu Cang's voice fell, the plane had passed the last five hundred feet.
At this moment, Tan Heling no longer cared whether what Xu Cang said was true or false. The plane was in Xu Cang's hands, and he could only choose to believe it.
"Xu Cang, we're about to touch the ground, turn back, turn back!" Tan Heling said anxiously.
Xu Cang was unmoved: "Not yet, wait a little longer!"
"How long do we have to wait?"
Xu Cang stopped talking and gradually held his breath. The next moment would decide his fate. The plane couldn't turn back too early, otherwise, it would be difficult for the plane to complete the final sinking in a normal posture.
So, he had to wait, wait for a time when there would be no problems.
Just when the plane passed the last two hundred feet, Xu Cang pushed the cockpit to the right, and the plane began to turn clockwise back to normal flying posture.
You have to know that the wing length of the 737-800 is nearly 130 feet, which means that Xu Cang only has 70 feet of vertical margin. In the process of turning back to the right position, the plane has to descend, so that at the lowest point, the wing tip of the plane just skims the ground. The thrilling degree is so thrilling that it makes my spine cold just thinking about it.
During the turn, Xu Cang held the left rudder and used the force of the reverse rudder to offset the lateral drift caused by the aileron roll, so that the aircraft could always stay on the direction line of the taxiway.
Xu Cang's slope was very large this time, and it took only a moment to straighten the plane. At the moment the plane straightened, it had already flown over the runway.
The radio altimeter even skipped the fifty-foot altitude reading and the first reading was forty feet. At this moment, Xu Cang pushed the throttle up, supplying the last bit of energy to the plane, which was not sinking much after returning to the right position, and then he completely closed the throttle.
Because the pitch attitude of the aircraft turned positive and extremely large, the initial sinking of the aircraft was very small, which consumed the speed of the aircraft. However, Xu Cang increased the throttle at 40 feet, so that the speed of the aircraft did not decrease significantly immediately.
In this way , the plane's sinking was normal until it reached 20 feet. Once it passed 20 feet, the plane's energy was exhausted, and its speed began to drop continuously, resulting in a decrease in lift. With the decrease in lift, the attitude was very large, and the speed dropped again. In this vicious cycle, the plane's sinking began to gradually increase.
Fortunately, at the moment when the feedback was formed, the plane was already at a very low altitude. It was not until it dropped to five feet that Xu Cang felt that the sinking was becoming unacceptable.
However, the moment this thought came to mind, the plane crashed heavily into the road surface.
As the plane touched the ground, Xu Cang began to gradually press the plate to the right while stepping on the manual brake.
"Turn off the fuel pump!" Xu Cang yelled.
Mo Shangyun, who was already prepared, immediately stood up and turned off all the fuel pumps. This was required by the checklist!
Xu Cang has some skills in pressing the plate. As the speed of the plane slows down, he gradually increases the amount of pressure on the plate to keep the plane slightly tilted to the right.
Due to the existence of the right pressure plate and extremely small crosswind on the ground, the aircraft began to slowly turn to the right even without the help of rudder and differential brakes.
The two pilots in the cockpit of the Muhua Airlines plane parked in front of the taxiway saw the speeding flight 9951N and their hearts almost stopped.
But just as it approached the Muhua Airlines plane, the right landing gear of the 9951N plane was already close to the right edge light of the taxiway, keeping as much distance as possible from the Muhua Airlines plane.
At the same time, as the aircraft tilted to the right, the left wing lifted and the right wing pitched down. The tilt angle was so large that the tip of the right wing almost touched the tip of the grass next to the taxiway.
Precisely because of the sufficient distance and the simultaneous lifting of the left wingtip, in the shocked eyes of the two Muhua Airlines pilots, the left wingtip of 9951N narrowly passed over the nose of the Muhua Airlines plane, with the two planes missing each other by a hair's breadth.
As the Muhua Airlines plane passed by, the aerodynamic performance of the wing surface was no longer sufficient to maintain the plane's tilted state due to the continuous decrease in the plane's speed. Even though Xu Cang turned right, the plane still began to spontaneously return to the left.
Moreover, after returning to the correct position, the aircraft continued to tilt to the left because the left landing gear was not lowered and locked. Finally, at about 60 knots, with a violent tremor, the left wing tip of the aircraft touched the ground first, followed by the pod of the No. 1 engine.
The moment the left wing tip touched the ground, Xu Cang no longer hesitated. He pulled up the speed brake and the reverse thrust of the No. 2 engine at the same time. Now that the No. 1 engine nacelle had touched the ground, the reverse thrust of the No. 1 engine could not be activated. Of course, the reverse thrust effect was already very poor below 60 knots, but it was better than nothing.
With the help of speed brakes, brakes and reverse thrust, as well as the friction between the wingtips and engine nacelles, the aircraft's last sixty knots of speed were decelerated in less than five seconds.
The moment the plane stopped, the air was filled with a hot, burnt smell.
Xu Cang took a deep breath, pulled the parking brake, and then collapsed on the seat, sweating all over, and said weakly: "Okay, evacuate!"