Chapter 215: Words come true! Target: Asiana Airlines!
At the Erhai Spring and Summer Airlines Base, even though it was already night and long past working hours, the lights in Qin Xin's office were still on. Recently, Spring and Summer Airlines had been discussing the transfer of routes within Qianzhou Province with Feiyu Airlines.
Just as Li Chenxing had discussed with Xu Cang before, Feiyu Airlines finally agreed to hand over its own Qianzhou domestic routes to Spring Airlines, and as Li Chenxing said, this was not a one-time transfer, but more like a cooperation.
Feiyu Airlines' Qianzhou base can provide relevant services to Spring Airlines, such as providing food and accommodation services for Spring Airlines' on-site crew members, and can also provide assistance in dispatch, information and simple maintenance.
Generally speaking, Spring Airlines only needs to provide aircraft and crew members to directly operate Qianzhou's domestic routes, and all other matters will be left to Feiyu Airlines.
However, the general agreement does not mean that cooperation has been reached. The two companies have not yet reached an agreement on many details. For example, Feiyu Airlines complained that the route profit given by Spring Airlines was too low, while Spring Airlines complained that the service fee of Feiyu Airlines' Qianzhou base was too high.
Of course, these are all minor issues, and it all depends on who ultimately compromises.
This matter was naturally handed over to Lu Xiaoxiao. Anything involving money would be handled by Lu Xiaoxiao without any problems. Lu Xiaoxiao could clearly know the bottom line of Spring Airlines' profit, so relatively speaking, the progress of the negotiations was still relatively optimistic.
After all, Spring Airlines needs the Qianzhou route to absorb the upcoming large-scale ARJ21 capacity, and Feiyu Airlines is in urgent need of withdrawing capacity from the Qianzhou route. Both sides are very eager, and the general direction has been determined, so it seems that agreement on the details will not be far away.
At this moment, Qin Xin was sorting out the expected profitability of the Qianzhou route that would be included in Spring Airlines in the future. Of course, this expected profit report was made by Lu Xiaoxiao so that Qin Xin could make a correction to the company's future cash flow. After all, knowing how much money he would make would help him better formulate the budget plan for the next year.
Perhaps it was because she had been looking at the document for too long. By the time Qin Xin finished reading, the densely packed words on the document had become blurry. Then her eyes became increasingly dry, and she began to secrete tears involuntarily.
"How about we stop here today?" Qin Xin pondered. However, there were not many documents left to look at. For Qin Xin, who was half a workaholic, he felt it was not a good idea to keep the work.
Just as Qin Xin was hesitating, Lu Xiaoxiao suddenly leaned out of the door and said, "Boss Qin, there's a foreigner here."
"Foreigner?" Qin Xin was stunned: "Who are you looking for? Me? Xu Cang?"
"Xu Cang." Lu Xiaoxiao suddenly looked behind her, and when she leaned out again, she added, "He's here."
"Hmm?" Qin Xin quickly closed the company document, and when she looked up, she noticed a tall man in his thirties coming in. His skin was fair, a bit like that of a white person, but his facial features were more like those of an Asian. His short black hair was slightly curly, as if it was naturally curly, and his eyebrows were thick and dense, as if they were painted on.
"Half-blood?"
This was the first thought that came to Qin Xin's mind. Soon the man walked to Qin Xin's desk and nodded slightly: "Ms. Qin, I am the head of Boeing Asia Pacific. You can call me by my Chinese name Huang Jing."
"Huang Jing, Huang Jin? What kind of name is that?" Although Qin Xin felt a little bit amazed by this person's name, her expression did not change at all. Instead, she had a hint of doubt in her eyes: "Head of Boeing Asia Pacific? I remember it should be... Li Rongcheng, right?"
Huang Jing found a chair and sat down: "Li Rongcheng has resigned recently, I am his successor."
Li Rongcheng's successor also speaks fluent Chinese. Perhaps for such executives, mastering a foreign language proficiently is a routine operation.
"Li Rongcheng resigned?" Qin Xin straightened up involuntarily: "Why did he resign? This is too sudden."
Huang Jing spread his hands and shrugged: "I'm not sure about this."
"What did he do wrong?"
"Not that I know of."
"Then..." Qin Xin recalled that Li Rongcheng didn't seem to have mentioned any idea of resigning before.
"That's all I know about Li Rongcheng. If Miss Qin doesn't mind, I hope to get to the point." Huang Jing looked a little anxious: "Miss Qin, can I meet Xu Cang alone?"
Qin Xin immediately became alert: "Xu Cang? What do you want to do with him? The deal between you and Boeing should have ended with the flight test of the 777. He should have nothing to do with you now, right?"
"Nothing to do with it?" Huang Jing snorted coldly, "Someone wants to short us recently because of a research report. The most fatal thing to us is the safety incident of one of your planes with the number 1566. This matter has nothing to do with Xu Cang, but you?"
Qin Xin was stunned. She didn't pay much attention to the international financial market, but she was still quite shocked that someone in the international community wanted to short Boeing. Boeing is such a big company, and it can be shorted. Besides, Boeing recently completed the verification of the 777. It takes a lot of courage to choose this time to go after Boeing.
"Mr. Huang, if you are here to accuse me, please show me the evidence. If it is just your speculation, I hope you will stop here. Otherwise, if you continue to make groundless accusations, it will make it impossible for our conversation to continue."
Facing Huang Jing's sudden questioning, Qin Xin behaved neither servile nor overbearing, and even had the intention to fight back. Qin Xin was not the kind of woman who could not keep her composure. Besides, she really didn't know about the shorting of Boeing, so she was more confident when she spoke.
Huang Jing felt guilty when he saw Qin Xin's words, especially his reaction, which seemed to have nothing to do with the recent short-selling incident. Managers of his level still had some experience in observing people's expressions, unless Qin Xin had really reached the state of not changing his expression even when facing a mountain collapse.
In fact, Boeing only suspected Xu Cang and had no definite evidence, otherwise he would not have sat down and talked with Qin Xin so calmly.
However, compared to questioning Xu Cang and Qin Xin with some unclear speculations, Huang Jing now has a more urgent thing to do.
"Where is Xu Cang?" Huang Jing really did not dwell on the short selling issue anymore, but repeated his request to find Xu Cang.
Qin Xin looked at Huang Jing deeply: "He's not here?"
"Not here?" Huang Jing was stunned: "Then where is he? I'll go find him."
"If nothing unexpected happens, he will arrive in Los Angeles in a few hours. Perhaps you can contact someone at your headquarters to go to Los Angeles to look for him."
"Los... Los Angeles?" Huang Jing had never expected that Xu Cang was actually on his way to the United States: "What is he going to Los Angeles for?"
"Muhua Airlines' 777 transatlantic flight, someone asked him to watch the flight." Qin Xin frowned: "Why are you looking for him? What's the important matter? Confrontation?"
Huang Jing was silent for a moment: "Miss Qin, if you want to know, I can also tell you. If you can decide to help me, we at Boeing will be grateful."
"Looking to me for help?" Qin Xin was skeptical.
To be honest, Qin Xin had a clear understanding of her own weight or the weight of Spring Airlines. Airlines were really nothing in Boeing's eyes. The only person of value to Boeing was Xu Cang.
It was hard for her to imagine how she could help Boeing. Qin Xin was a little curious: "Tell me about it first."
Huang Jing immediately asked anxiously: "Miss Qin, is the FDR of 1566 still there? "
"FDR?" Qin Xin has been in contact with flying for a long time and knows some flying terms. For example, FDR is the flight data recorder, which is part of the black box.
Qin Xin hummed: "Yes, what's the matter?"
"The data inside has not been moved, right?"
"The bureau copied the data once, but the original data should still be inside." Qin Xin felt increasingly puzzled: "What on earth are you going to do?"
Huang Jing quickly raised a finger: "Ten million... US dollars, we are willing to spend ten million US dollars to buy 1566 FDR!"
…
At this moment, thousands of miles above the Pacific Ocean, a Boeing 777 of Muhua Airlines was soaring in the sky. However, the atmosphere in the cockpit of the plane was extremely tense.
"What's wrong?" Xu Cang did not sit down immediately, but supported Chao Ning's chair with one hand, his eyes constantly wandering over the panel.
Chao Ning was still controlling the aircraft's steering wheel, but he looked very tired: "I don't know, the autopilot can't take over, and the pitch control of the aircraft is also very difficult."
"Is there a problem with the pitch control?" Xu Cang stretched out his right hand to grab the co-pilot's steering wheel, and said to Chao Ning at the same time: "Let go, I'll take control."
Chao Ning looked at Xu Cang who was standing, and at first he wanted to ask Xu Cang if his current standing posture would affect his control, after all, Xu Cang's standing posture at the moment was not very conducive to exerting force. However, this thought only lasted for a moment before Chao Ning suppressed it.
This is Xu Cang. How could he not think of what I can think of?
So Chao Ning confirmed: "I handed over the control?"
"Hand it over!" Xu Cang said only one word, very concisely.
Seeing that Xu Cang seemed to have the situation under control, Chao Ning's pressure suddenly eased. He didn't say anything else, but just hummed and let go of the steering wheel.
Seeing that Chao Ning had let go, Xu Cang slightly pulled the steering wheel. The force was not very strong, otherwise if there was nothing wrong with the plane, if he pulled it too hard, the plane would deviate seriously, which would cause trouble again.
Although the force was not strong, it was still quite obvious. However, the steering wheel actually only moved slightly during this period.
"Huh?" Xu Cang was surprised for a moment. It was definitely not because he didn't have enough strength. It seemed that there was indeed some problem with the pitch control.
Chao Ning also saw that Xu Cang's efforts were fruitless, so he said from the side: "You can't carry it, right? Pushing forward doesn't work either."
Xu Cang clicked his tongue, and his expression didn't seem to change. He just nodded to show that he heard it. Perhaps he wanted to verify how serious the pitch control problem was, so he raised his chin and said, "Hold the plate with both hands. I'm going to use more force. If there is a huge deviation in altitude, you can intervene directly, don't worry about me."
Chao Ning nodded: "Go ahead and move, I'll keep an eye on the height."
"Okay! I'll pull back!" Xu Cang even said his moves in advance before he exerted force. After giving the reminder, Xu Cang paused for a second or two, then pulled back hard, this time with much more force than last time.
However, even with such great force, the steering wheel remained basically motionless.
"Stuck?" Xu Cang was stunned. This looked like the flight control was stuck.
Xu Cang had encountered flight control jams before. Not to mention the distant past, the pitch jammed in flight 1566. However, that was because the tail of the plane hit too hard, causing the horizontal stabilizer to scrape against the ground, which eventually led to the pitch jam.
Under normal circumstances, flight control jam is actually quite rare. How come it happened to me again?
This shouldn't be the case. He thought he had good luck, so how come he encountered this again?
"Is it really stuck?" Chao Ning asked.
He tried several times just now, but he didn't dare to use too much force. Xu Cang's move just now was indeed quite strong, but it didn't move. It seemed that the problem was quite serious. If the pitch was blocked, then it would explain why the automatic driving could not be connected.
"It seems so." Xu Cang seemed calm: "Is there any problem with the hydraulics?"
Chao Ning answered almost immediately: "There are no problems with the three sets of hydraulics on the left, middle and right."
For this kind of control problem, any pilot with a little insight will look at the hydraulic system. After all, the drive of the control surface is ultimately completed by hydraulics. Once there is a problem with the hydraulics, the control surface may have problems.
However, modern aircraft have a relatively large margin on the control surfaces. Generally speaking, unless all hydraulic systems have problems, which will lead to control surface problems, the hydraulic systems can back up each other on key control surfaces.
The West Asia classification of Boeing 777 is different from the A system, B system and backup system of 737. It adopts a classification method that is somewhat similar to the red, yellow and blue three-color hydraulic system of Airbus, creating a left, center and right classification method.
However, the Boeing 777 does borrow a lot of Airbus ideas in a sense. This small change in hydraulics is nothing.
"Tsk tsk, is it really stuck?"
Hearing this, Chao Ning suddenly became a little nervous. Control jamming, especially the jamming of the main control surface, is quite troublesome, which will cause the aircraft to be unable to maintain its altitude accurately. A plane that shakes up and down will not be very popular no matter where it goes.
Xu Cang glanced at the panel again and frowned, and found that Chao Ning had already turned on the wing anti-icing.
"Is the ice accumulation serious?" Xu Cang glanced outside the windshield, and there was no flashing phenomenon as if it entered the clouds.
Due to the existence of strobe lights, if the plane enters the clouds at night, the windshield will flash, just like encountering lightning. In fact, Boeing has stipulated that if the existence of strobe lights affects the pilot's judgment, the strobe lights can be turned off according to the situation.
The main reason is that this thing is too much like being struck by lightning, which puts too much psychological pressure on the pilot.
Normally, even if you encounter icing conditions, you can just use engine anti-icing. When you use wing anti-icing, it means that the ice accumulation is more serious.
"It was raining a while ago. There was quite a bit of ice on the wiper tips, but it seems to be gone now."
There are generally two methods for using wing anti-icing. One is to observe whether there is obvious ice accumulation on the tip of the windshield wiper. The other is to turn on the wing lights and visually observe whether there is serious ice accumulation on the wing.
If ice has accumulated on the wiper tips, it is indeed necessary to use wing anti-icing.
"Such serious ice accumulation?" Xu Cang couldn't help but speculate in his mind.
Just as Xu Cang was thinking about it, the originally stable plane suddenly shook violently, as if it encountered some turbulent airflow.
Normally, this wouldn't be a big deal, just a little bump, but now the pitch control is stuck, which is troublesome. Chao Ning's first thought was probably subconsciously to control the steering wheel, but when he pushed and pulled the steering wheel to no avail, he realized that the pitch control was stuck.
At this time, Xu Cang supported the seat with one hand, leaned down, grabbed the thrust handle with his right hand, and directly reduced part of the throttle. After pausing for two seconds, he increased it to a slightly smaller level than before.
Originally, the plane was about to break the planned altitude of 36,000 feet, but fortunately Xu Cang stepped on the accelerator and stopped the plane's ascent.
A thousand words are not as good as showing off one's skills!
Originally, Chao Ning and the co-pilot had only heard of Xu Cang's past deeds, but had never actually seen Xu Cang's strength. They couldn't help but have some doubts in their hearts. After all, everything Xu Cang had done before was shocking, and it happened to a young man in his twenties, which was totally illogical.
However, Xu Cang's throttle adjustment of pitch just now was extremely exquisite.
The throttle can certainly control pitch, but no flight instructor will teach students to control pitch with the throttle. That's because pitch control will cause many chain reactions, and there is some delay in throttle control of pitch. If the number is not enough, it is easy to have excessive or insufficient input, resulting in excessive or insufficient correction of deviation.
Therefore, the pitch should be controlled by the steering wheel!
Whether in the teachings of flight instructors or in Boeing's operating manuals, one of the principles for pitch control jamming is not to move the throttle frequently, and this is exactly the reason.
Without extreme proficiency, using the throttle to control the pitch of the aircraft is a recipe for death.
However, such superb control skills seemed like the most ordinary operation in Xu Cang's hands. His control over the throttle and flight status had reached the level of perfection. The throttle was just right, and the throttle return was within a fraction of a second.
However, Chao Ning had a question: "Why should the throttle be smaller?"
"I added some against the wind. Didn't you notice?" Xu Cang said casually.
Chao Ning was stunned. He really hadn't noticed the change in wind speed. This was too detailed. When correcting the aircraft's status, he also took into account the changes in the external environment. His attention allocation was terrifying.
At this moment, the co-pilot said, "Let me tell the controller. Anyway, the aircraft's condition needs to be reported. We may not be able to maintain the correct altitude all the time."
The biggest problem with pitch control jamming is the inability to maintain altitude properly. For controllers, if there is an aircraft that cannot maintain altitude accurately, it involves the issue of air traffic conflict and requires additional arrangements.
Just now, Xu Cang had nipped the danger in the bud, but who could guarantee the next time? After all, there were still nearly four hours before landing!
For normal people, the co-pilot's idea is quite normal. If there is a problem with the plane, then inform the controller first.
The co-pilot was convinced that his idea was correct, so after saying this, he didn't even wait for the captain Chao Ning's reply, but pressed the radio transmission button on his own: "Alaska..."
Before he could finish his words, Xu Cang stretched out his right hand and grabbed the microphone of the co-pilot's headset, and shouted, "Don't report it!"
The co-pilot was a little confused by Xu Cang's sudden move and couldn't help but look at the captain Chao Ning.
At this moment, the supervisor's voice sounded in the headset: "Muhua 631, what's going on?"
Chao Ning first glanced at Xu Cang, and after his eyes met Xu Cang's, he exhaled and replied, "Muhua 631, it's okay."
Immediately, a rapid sound of electricity was heard in the headset. It was simply caused by the controller quickly pressing the send button. This is the default rule in civil aviation communications, which is to press the send button quickly to create a short sound of electricity in the channel to indicate that you understand.
After replying to the control, Xu Cang patted the co-pilot's shoulder: "You get off, I'll get on."
The co-pilot did not act immediately, but first cast a questioning look at Chao Ning. Chao Ning was also overwhelmed, holding his forehead and waving his hand: "You go first."
Although the co-pilot had a bad mouth and was very unpleasant, he was very obedient. As soon as Chao Ning spoke, he started to unbuckle his seat belt without saying a word, pretending to give up his seat to Xu Cang.
While the co-pilot was unbuckling his seat belt, Chao Ning asked worriedly, "Shouldn't we tell the control department about this?"
"What's there to say?" Xu Cang looked very calm: "It's just a pitch jam, it's not a big problem."
Chao Ning's mouth twitched. Is pitch jamming not a big problem? Is that how all big guys talk?
"But, there are still four hours left. Are we going to fly like this?"
"What else? Is there any problem with roll and yaw?" Xu Cang asked, "Can the main electric trim be used?"
Chao Ning nodded. "They can all be used, but we can't keep using the trim for more than four hours, right? Besides, when we enter the approach area of Los Angeles, it will be very busy. What if something goes wrong?"
Chao Ning's meaning was very simple. Now we were cruising, and we just needed to maintain the altitude. Most of the time, there was no other operation. But when we reached the low-altitude approach area, there were all kinds of instructions. You have to know that Los Angeles International Airport is one of the busiest airports in the world. There were all kinds of state changes, such as slowing down, lowering altitude, turning, etc., which could not be stopped.
Can such frequent changes in aircraft status be accomplished by relying on a main electric pitch trim? If there is an altitude deviation in the low-altitude approach area, the problem is much more serious than the altitude deviation at high altitude.
In high-altitude environments, if the aircraft deviates a little, it will generally only be punished, and there will be no real traffic conflict, after all, the density of aircraft is not that high at high altitudes. However, in the approach area, especially the terminal area, the density of aircraft is too high, and if there is a slight problem with the altitude, it will not be a matter of post-punishment, but it will cause the aircraft to crash and people to die on the spot.
If the controller is notified, at least he or she will deliberately create a larger interval, which is always safer.
"Then don't be in danger." After the co-pilot vacated his seat, Xu Cang sat in the right seat. Fortunately, after the brief turbulence just now, the plane returned to stability, so there was no need for obvious control input.
However, the absence of turbulence now does not mean that there will be no turbulence later.
Although it is better than throttle control of pitch, the main electric trim control of pitch does have a lag, which is not as timely and fast as the elevator. This operation alone is already quite difficult, not to mention the changes in the aircraft status caused by airflow and control instructions.
It might be acceptable in a short period of time, but there are still four hours left, including the most dangerous and complex terminal area. Chao Ning was really unsure in his heart.
While Xu Cang was adjusting his seat, Chao Ning still expressed his concerns: "Four hours, how much energy do you have left when you reach the terminal area?"
"So it's hard to get the money." Xu Cang said with a sigh while fastening his seat belt, "It's a bit troublesome, but fortunately, it can be handled."
"I think it's better to report it." Chao Ning still felt that Xu Cang's plan was too risky. If anything went wrong, he couldn't afford the consequences.
"Do you know what flight this is?" Xu Cang adjusted his seat, fastened his seat belt, held the steering wheel with his right hand, and placed his thumb on the main electric trim. He probably would have to maintain this posture for the next four hours.
Chao Ning was startled: "A 777 transoceanic flight."
“Has anyone done this before?”
"No."
"Is it important to you Muhua?"
“Very important!”
Xu Cang placed his left hand on the thrust handle and pressed the button to disconnect the automatic throttle. "Then is it allowed to have defects in such a flight? No, this is not a defect. Muhua Airlines' first Boeing 777 transoceanic flight had problems. Do you think it is acceptable?"
Chao Ning's face changed. Once the report was made to the control, the safety factor would increase, but the news would easily spread out, which would be a great shame for Muhua Airlines. An attempt to break through the international route ended up with a real slap in the face. Even if nothing happened on the surface, the leaders would probably not have a good opinion of him.
"But..." Chao Ning could understand what Xu Cang said, but no matter what, safety was always the top priority: "I mean, just in case, just in case something goes wrong..."
Xu Cang did not answer Chao Ning's words, but moved his eyes to a switch: "I deleted the cabin voice, it will be overwritten later anyway. In the last thirty minutes, you just need to be careful with your words. Then, let's get down to business, disconnect the main flight computer switch, DISC position."
Chao Ning knew that this was the procedure for dealing with a stuck pitch control. Pilots all knew that if the elevator control was stuck, they would use pitch trim to offset the effect of the sticking. However, if more pitch trim capability was needed, they would need to select DISC on the main flight computer disconnect switch to put the flight control system into direct mode.
Compared to the normal mode, the pitch trim movement in the direct mode was slightly slower. However, Xu Cang didn't seem to care much about this.
Even though Chao Ning had some complaints about Xu Cang's failure to notify control, he had no objection to Xu Cang's handling procedure. According to Xu Cang's instructions, he disconnected the power switch of the main flight computer.
After reselecting the switch, Chao Ning wanted to say something, but Xu Cang made the final conclusion with absolute certainty. His eyes were so calm, as if nothing would cause him any ripples: "Just watch!"
…
At the same time, in Xiao Lingyun's office at Shekou Yixin Insurance, Xiao Lingyun was answering a call from a friend.
"Boeing's stock is going to continue to fall, right?" Xiao Lingyun howled while beating his chest and stamping his feet. The knuckles of his right hand, which was holding the phone, turned white due to excessive force.
Although Xu Cang had asked Xiao Lingyun to stop, it did not stop Xiao Lingyun from continuing to pay attention to Boeing's stock. As a result, he learned from a friend who focused on international capital investment that a large number of financial institutions had joined the short-selling of Boeing, and Boeing's stock was likely to fall further. After all, a tiger in its weak state could not withstand the bite of a pack of wolves.
Upon hearing that Boeing's stock price had not yet reached the bottom, Xiao Lingyun felt as if his heart was being cut into pieces and he almost couldn't breathe.
Just as Xiao Lingyun was complaining to his friends, a young woman suddenly rushed into the office. It was Xiao Lingyun's secretary.
"Mr. Xiao..."
Xiao Lingyun was very annoyed at this time. Seeing the secretary coming in, he was even more unhappy and his tone was not very good: "What?"
The secretary was startled by Xiao Lingyun's vicious look, but quickly adjusted her mood and said hurriedly: "Mr. Xiao, you asked me to keep an eye on the situation of Asiana Airlines..."
"Huh?" Xiao Lingyun was startled and put down his phone silently: "What happened to Asiana Airlines?"
"I got the news that not long ago, the Seoul Aviation Administration raided the headquarters building of Asiana Airlines." The secretary looked a little strange: "Mr. Xiao, there seems to be a problem with Asiana Airlines."
