In East Hartford, Connecticut, USA, there is a huge building complex on the outskirts of this small city, and the owner of this complex is Pratt & Whitney, one of the world's aeroengine giants.
Normally, one could always hear the noisy sounds of engine tests at the test site at Pratt & Whitney's headquarters, but today there was unusual silence. Only the PW6000 was still hanging on the engine test site, with many people busy underneath, seemingly preparing something.
Not far from the engine test site, there is a high platform with an observation room with high-strength glass walls. One side of the observation room faces the open-air engine test site, and the other side faces the indoor engine workshop, which can almost see the entire front-line engine department.
Among them, Clark, president of Pratt & Whitney Power, was gazing solemnly at the PW6000 engine hoisted in the open air in the distance. Next to Clark, Yu Chen, CEO of General Electric, was looking at Pratt & Whitney's latest turbofan engine with great interest.
"It looks like your PW6000 will be launched before our GENx." Yu Chen smiled and said, "Why are you looking like this? Isn't that enough?"
Clark looked solemn. He didn't like the CEO of General Electric very much, but as a colleague and a senior executive of General Electric, he couldn't give him a cold shoulder. He just said indifferently, "The market for Boeing 777 has been taken by your GE90, and you still don't think it's enough."
Yu Chen knew that Clark didn't have a good impression of him personally, so he was just being polite and said with a smile: "The price of the Boeing 777 is too expensive, which means that the market for this model will not be very large. Even if the GE90 takes over the Boeing 777 market, its profit will not be as much as you think."
The price of Boeing 777 has reached three times that of Boeing 737, which is really prohibitive. Only large airlines can afford to buy Boeing 777. Even though Boeing 777 adopts a lot of new technologies and also listened to the opinions of a large number of airlines at the beginning of its development, it will take time to test the future of this model.
Due to the uncertainty in business and the unimaginable cost of trial and error, even large airlines are cautious about purchasing the Boeing 77 7. If they lose it, it will cost nearly 1 billion US dollars, and no one can afford it.
It is precisely because of the cautious attitude of airlines towards the Boeing 777 that the global shipments of the Boeing 777 are not high, which means that General Electric did not actually make a lot of money on the GE90, at least not as much as Clark described.
"So you want to make the GE90 a little smaller and then occupy a larger market? In the end, won't you still need to compete with our PW6000?" Clark asked.
In any case, the GE90 is too big, with a diameter that even exceeds the fuselage diameter of a Boeing 737. Due to its large size, it can currently only be used on the Boeing 777, and its scope of application is too narrow, further limiting the upper limit of this engine.
Therefore, the GENx, a smaller version derived from the GE90 template, came into being. Its size will be a whole circle smaller than the GE90, so that many more aircraft can be equipped with the GENx. However, GE's road to modifying the GENx is obviously not very smooth, so that Pratt & Whitney has heard about it.
However, once GENx is successfully developed, the market it covers will overlap with Pratt & Whitney's newly launched PW6000. In this case, it would be strange for Clark to be in a good mood towards Yu Chen.
"This is not the first time this has happened. Aren't your V2500 engines competing with my CFM56 engines? Yet we are living in peace with each other." Yu Chen said with a smile, "Let the market decide what's happening in the market."
Clark withdrew his gaze from PW6000, walked back a few steps, found a sofa to sit down, and asked faintly: "Then why did you come here?"
Yu Chen turned around, faced Clark, raised his right hand, and pointed at an engine in the center of the engine power workshop that had not even been assembled: "That... PW8000."
Clark's expression froze, but he still managed the situation well and said calmly, "Are you still concerned about an engine that doesn't even have a prototype?"
As Song Xinyang mentioned in a previous conversation with Rolls-Royce chief engineer Joe, Pratt & Whitney is indeed developing the PW8000 engine. However, the specific development progress is not known to outsiders like Rolls-Royce.
In fact, the progress of PW8000 is not even as good as that of Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000. At least, Trent 1000 has a prototype that can be tested, and after further debugging, it may be able to conduct flight tests. However, PW8000 has not even a prototype so far.
“May I ask, will PW8000 really enter the prototype stage?”
Yu Chen's words actually have a very implicit meaning. What does it mean that PW8000 will really enter the prototype stage? That means it is possible that the prototype of PW8000 will not be born, which also means that Pratt & Whitney still has doubts about the feasibility of PW8000.
Clark sighed: "I didn't expect you knew so much."
Yu Chen smiled and said, "This circle is so small that it can't reach the British across the Atlantic Ocean, but it can still reach my ears. Single-stage fan, three-stage booster compressor, five-stage high-pressure compressor, one-stage high-pressure turbine, three-stage low-pressure turbine. Tsk, tsk, tsk, the number of engine stages has been reduced so much in an instant. No wonder you are still hesitant."
Geared turbofan engine, this is the path that the PW8000 engine is taking now. Obviously, even a strong company like Pratt & Whitney has not made a good decision since the project was announced more than two years ago.
This involves the issue of the reducer installed therein.
In a high-thrust, high-bypass-ratio turbofan engine, the fan is directly driven by the low-pressure turbine, but this situation will cause an unavoidable disadvantage, that is, neither the boost compressor nor the low-pressure turbine can operate at their optimal speed.
The main reason is that because the fan is directly connected to the low-pressure turbine, and compared with the internal turbine, the fan speed causes the diameter to be too large, and its speed is at a lower level. This drives the boost compressor and low-pressure turbine directly connected to it to also be at a low speed, which is far lower than its optimal speed.
Since the speed of the low-pressure turbine is too low, in order to meet the performance requirements of the engine, the same performance effect can only be obtained by increasing the number of boost compressor and low-pressure turbine stages.
However, too many engine stages are not a good thing, as they will result in lower efficiency, higher pollution, more noise, and higher maintenance difficulty and cost.
Therefore, it seems a feasible solution to let the low-pressure turbine first drive the boost compressor, and then the reducer drives the fan.
This design can ensure that the low-pressure turbine and the boost compressor can achieve a sufficiently good speed without affecting the fan. However, in large turbofan engines, there has never been a related design before, because in fact, not many people have confidence in whether the reducer can operate safely and reliably at high speed and high power.
Clark was only slightly surprised at first when Yu Chen mentioned his own reducer, but soon calmed down. Yes, the circle is so small, and even engineers and managers from General Electric and Pratt & Whitney Power have switched jobs to each other. It would be strange if the news could be kept secret.
"So what if I know." Clark seemed uninterested. It seemed that the issue of the PW8000 engine had been tormenting him for a long time, and the PW8000 had been delayed long enough, and a decision needed to be made. However, Clark or the entire Pratt & Whitney had not yet realized this.
Yu Chen smiled and said, "Knowing your difficulties, I am here to help you solve them."
Clark raised his eyebrows: "Is there such a good thing?"
Clark seemed very restrained and obviously took Yu Chen's words as a joke.
"It is indeed unprecedented to install a reducer in an engine. It is normal for you to be unsure. After all, with a speed of 10,000 revolutions per minute and a transmission power of more than 30,000 kilowatts, it is hard to imagine that any reducer can withstand it for a long time."
"Did you come here just to repeat our questions?" Clark said sarcastically.
"No, I misunderstood." Yu Chen said, "Well, since you don't have the confidence to fully develop the gear transmission engine, why not give it to us. We will give you a price that satisfies you for your reducer."
At this moment, Clark, who had been in low spirits until now, suddenly opened his eyes wide and said in disbelief, "You want to buy our planetary gear technology?"
That’s right, the reducer used on the PW8000 engine is exactly the planetary gear that Xu Cang has always dreamed of.
"Did I not express myself clearly enough?" Yu Chen nodded. "If you transfer all your planetary gear patents to us, we won't have to worry about whether to push forward the PW8000 engine project. Isn't that the best of both worlds?"
Yu Chen's words hit Clark's heart. It is true that Pratt & Whitney has a huge amount of funds to support the development of two engines at the same time. However, the situation of PW8000 is somewhat special. As Yu Chen said, the gear transmission engine is indeed unprecedented. Even a strong company like Pratt & Whitney has no confidence in the application of this technology. It is even said that according to the estimation of its own technical department, the probability of the final success of the PW8000 project is less than 30%.
It is not like before. An engine project costs billions of dollars, and the success rate of less than 30% has made Pratt & Whitney struggle for almost three years. Otherwise, with Pratt & Whitney's strength, it has not even built a prototype since the project was launched in 1998, which is really a loss of standard.
Pratt & Whitney's power department dare not invest too much money in the PW8000 engine project. Once too much money is invested, the huge sunk costs will make it difficult for the entire power department to turn back. However, it is a pity to develop the planetary gear technology without using it, so now the entire Pratt & Whitney power department is in such a twisted state.
It must be said that Yu Chen did provide a good idea. By selling the planetary gear technology patents to GM in a package, GM can earn a considerable transfer fee and no longer have to worry about whether to promote the PW8000 engine. It is indeed the best of both worlds.
However, out of intuition, Clark always felt that Yu Chen was setting a trap for him.
"What do you want planetary gear technology for? As far as I know, General Electric doesn't have any application for planetary gears, right?"
"Aren't you thinking too much? You can't possibly know all of GE's plans. Whether planetary gears can be used or not is not something you should be concerned about, right?"
However, even though Yu Chen's words made sense, Clark still instinctively doubted it. He pondered for a moment, and finally said, "Let me think about this matter again."
As soon as Yu Chen heard this, he knew that Clark was inclined not to do this deal. There was no way, Yu Chen's proposal was too abrupt. Clark would rather let the planetary gear rot in his hands than give it to GM.
"Heh." Yu Chen was also a little distressed. Clark had suffered losses in the past, so he was naturally wary of him. Now that he thought about it, he probably shouldn't have come here in person.
Seeing Yu Chen's reaction, Clark couldn't help but be curious: "What on earth are you going to do? Do you think I will agree to such an unreasonable proposal?"
"You're right. This proposal is indeed easy to arouse some reverie." Yu Chen did not hide it: "We at General Electric do not need planetary gears, but others need them, and this is the reason."
As he spoke, Yu Chen told Clark about Xu Cang's plan to use planetary gear technology to solve the problem of low-pressure fan material. Clark felt that Xu Cang was very creative.
"We developed planetary gear technology to increase the speed of the supercharger compressor and low-pressure turbine, and he developed it to reduce the speed of the fan in the opposite direction. It's an interesting idea, interesting, interesting." Clark smiled and said, "Xu Cang, right? If I have the chance, I really want to meet this person."
"We at General Electric have encountered some problems with the GENx and may need his help in flight tests. But this guy won't listen to any soft or hard words, so we can only use planetary gear technology as a bargaining chip." Yu Chen asked, "What do you think of this reason?"
Clark retorted: "Is there anything that you, General Electric, can't do?"
"That's right. After all, your PW6000 is derived from the XTC-66 fighter engine core in the IHPTET program. There are no technical barriers, so naturally there is no need to make any efforts to break through anything. I just wonder if you, Pratt & Whitney, are willing to do us this favor?"
Clark thought for a moment: "But if the success of your GENx is not a good thing for us, why should I help you?"
"I see." Yu Chen said, "You must be aware of Boeing's 7E7 project. What I can tell you is that Boeing intends to use our GENx and Rolls-Royce's future Trent 1000 as the power system for the 7E7."
"Impossible. The prototype of Rolls-Royce's Trent 1000 engine has just taken shape. How could Boeing bet on such an engine for its new generation of wide-body aircraft?" Clark thought it was unreliable at first.
The GENx engine is more likely to succeed, after all, GM has a lot of cooperation with Boeing, so the closer you are to Boeing, the better. In addition, GENx is derived from GE90 and has a good foundation. Even if it is facing some difficulties now, the overall prospects of the project are still optimistic.
"With the connections we have accumulated through our long-term cooperation with Boeing, how could the information we have obtained be wrong? Of course, this is just a preliminary idea. Even the name of the 7E7 project has not been finalized, and the pre-planned power selection can naturally be changed." Yu Chen smiled and said, "Rolls-Royce is not so popular in Europe. As long as we work harder and completely defeat it, the future aviation engine market will be equally divided between you and me. Isn't it more comfortable than having one more person to share the cake now?"
It can only be said that due to the consecutive setbacks in the Concorde and A380, Rolls-Royce has been at a very obvious disadvantage in the competition with the three major aero-engine giants. It is no wonder that General Electric and Pratt & Whitney Power have come up with the idea of ​​completely squeezing Rolls-Royce out of the ranks of the three giants.
To kill you while you are ill is true everywhere.
Clark really got interested when this was mentioned. He asked solemnly, "How do you want to operate it?"
"It is still just a preliminary idea from Boeing, and there is a high probability of change. The aircraft of the 7E7 project is likely to be between the 737 and 777 in size. I think this will be a more applicable aircraft. As long as Rolls-Royce is excluded from this project, then in the next ten years, Rolls-Royce will have no gains and can only eat the profits of the previous Trent 700. It can't support it for long." Yu Chen said: "We will try our best to lobby Boeing to replace the power option of Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 with your Pratt & Whitney in the 7E7 project. What do you think? Of course, this lobbying will cost a lot, and you Pratt & Whitney must bear part of it. After all, you can also get tangible benefits."
In the United States, lobbying is a legal and widespread business, and there are even many specialized lobbying companies. Of course, the cost of lobbying a company of Boeing's size is still quite staggering.
Although suppressing Rolls-Royce is in the common interest of GM and Pratt & Whitney, asking GM to pay for the lobbying costs alone is undoubtedly unacceptable to GM. They are not the kind of philanthropists who would sacrifice themselves for others.
"Are you confident?" Clark asked.
Yu Chen pondered for a moment: "If you ask me to give a probability now, I definitely can't. We have a good relationship with Boeing, but it is impossible to fully understand the thoughts of Boeing people. I can only say that there is a relatively high possibility. As far as I know, the power requirement of the 7E7 project should be about 35 tons of thrust per engine. Does your company's engine series meet this requirement?"
"Thrust of 35 tons?" Clark thought for a moment and said, "Only the derivative series of PW4000, PW4000-112, meets the requirement. It was originally designed to fit the Boeing 777. If it is modified, it will meet the requirements of the 7E7."
"PW4000-112? The engine with a 112-inch diameter fan?" As the main power provider for Boeing 777, General Electric is relatively familiar with its competitors. As soon as Clark mentioned it, Yu Chen remembered it.
Clark snorted, "Yes, it's the PW4000 that is only equipped with the Boeing 777-100."
The Boeing 777, like the Boeing 737, also has many sub-models, such as the 777-100, 777-200, etc. In the original 777-100 model power selection, the PW4000-112 engine is also one of the options, but it is not as popular as the GE90.
However, all subsequent 777-200 models have adopted GE90, and the PW4000-112 engine has completely lost its market.
"Isn't this better?" Yu Chen smiled awkwardly, "This can also share some of the R&D costs for the PW4000-112 engine."
Clark thought about it. Although he disliked Yu Chen, this proposal was still quite good. At least Yu Chen shared the same interests with him on this matter. If the possibility of lobbying success could be described as "relatively high", then it was enough to invest.
"Okay, I accept your proposal." Clark said, "I will send someone to discuss the details with you."
Yu Chen clapped his hands and smiled: "Very good. But, what about the planetary gear?"
"Just in case, I still can't give you the planetary gears. However, I won't sell them to Xu Cang easily. Of course, I can't guarantee you that if he can give me a condition that I can't refuse, I can't ignore the interests of the company. However, I don't think he can give me anything that will move me."
Yu Chen felt that it was enough to get such a response. Clark was not the only one who thought so. Yu Chen also felt that Xu Cang could not offer any conditions that would attract Pratt & Whitney. In this way, as long as Pratt & Whitney did not give the planetary gears, Xu Cang would be helpless and relatively easy to control.
…
Xu Cang and others waited at the boarding gate for a while, and then boarded the plane normally without any delay.
The aircraft type for NH45 flight was not the Boeing 747 of NH61 as Xu Cang remembered, but the narrow-body Boeing 737. The flight number was different, and the aircraft type was also different, so Xu Cang felt that he could rest assured.
Xu Cang is the luckiest and the unluckiest. God gave him another chance, but the various air crashes in history are like a thorn in the flesh, and it is difficult to get rid of them. At the beginning, Xu Cang had some ideas about reversing the air crashes in history, but now, except for domestic air crashes, he will help within his ability, after all, compatriots are different.
Of course, the premise of everything is to ensure one's own safety. As for things abroad, Xu Cang thought it was better to forget it. The savior mentality was not good.
There were casualties on ANA flight NH61, so Xu Cang thought it was better to avoid them. Now that the flight number and aircraft model don't match, I think there should be no problem.
Xu Cang and his group boarded the plane. Except for Xu Cang, the rest of the people were in the economy class, while Xu Cang was alone in the first class. This flight was arranged by ANA after notifying ANA. It was not realistic for all passengers to be in first class, but it was okay to reserve a first class seat for Xu Cang, at least the attitude was good.
However, when the passengers were almost boarding, Xu Cang discovered that the first-class cabin was empty with only a few people.
When Xu Cang saw that the chief flight attendant was not busy, he took the opportunity to call the chief flight attendant over and asked if Xia Shuyue could be upgraded to first class. Guan Yueling must have informed the crew. For such unreasonable upgrade requests, the chief flight attendant basically rejected them in a tactful way. But after Xu Cang mentioned it, the chief flight attendant did not refuse immediately, but said that he would find time to ask the captain.
It is only natural to ask the captain for permission for matters like cabin upgrade. Xu Cang expressed his understanding, and the chief flight attendant went on with his work.
Until the end, the Kuroda Takashi who was sitting next to Xu Cang before the flight came in. However, this Kuroda Takashi did not have the enthusiasm that he had when they first met. He moved his backpack from the back to the front, and crossed his arms, looking a little nervous.
Xu Cang instinctively felt that this person seemed a little too nervous. However, Xu Cang did not think much about it, thinking that it might be because of flying. Some people still have a psychological fear of flying, and the cabin is originally closed, which is also quite stressful for those with claustrophobia.
Compared to Kuroda Takashi's nervous expression, Xu Cang was more concerned about his name. Kuroda Takashi, he always felt that he had heard this name somewhere, but he couldn't remember it for a while.
However, as Kuroda Takashi entered the economy class, the chief flight attendant found a gap to consult with the captain and told Xu Cang that Xia Shuyue could be upgraded to a higher class, and that bit of doubt disappeared.
Xia Shuyue was a little surprised that she could get a cabin upgrade. She thought that Xu Cang was really influential. Even ANA could get her a free cabin upgrade just by saying a word. It was quite impressive.
The plane took off on time. During the flight, Xu Cang chatted with Xia Shuyue about the plans for the next six months and the arrangements Xu Cang would make for Xia Shuyue after he returned.
Xu Cang must have had selfish motives in forcing Xia Shuyue into the list. Xu Cang is not a saint, he also has his own ideas about relatives and strangers. In Xu Cang's opinion, Xia Shuyue is definitely one of his own, so Xu Cang rarely intervened in the matter of training at ANA and added Xia Shuyue to the list.
This six-month training at ANA was definitely a good opportunity. Xia Shuyue had too little experience, so there were many work conveniences that Xu Cang wanted to give to Xia Shuyue, which was not convenient. After all, he couldn't be too blatant.
Xia Shuyue was indifferent, and if Xu Cang treated her too differently, she would be easily isolated by others. With Xia Shuyue's personality, once isolated, she would never think about how to try to fit in, but would just ignore it, which would make the isolation more serious.
This time, forcing Xia Shuyue into the list has caused a lot of dissatisfaction among the crew. If they are given more, I am afraid there will be a big uproar. In Xu Cang's plan, after returning from Japan this time, he has to deal with the gossip about Xia Shuyue in the crew.
As long as Xia Shuyue's coming to ANA for training is justified, the subsequent criticism of Xu Cang's promotion of Xia Shuyue will be much smaller.
In fact, this kind of thing is quite trivial and Xu Cang would not consider it. Only Xia Shuyue could make Xu Cang so concerned.
However, Xu Cang could see that Xia Shuyue didn't seem to like Xu Cang's arrangement for her very much. But Xu Cang had already made up his mind, and Xia Shuyue didn't want to reject Xu Cang's kindness, so she didn't say anything.
After talking for a while, Xu Cang felt sleepy. When the plane entered the cruise control, his consciousness began to blur. He didn't know how long it had been. When Xu Cang began to dream, he was pushed and regained consciousness. Then he smelled a fragrance in his nose. When he opened his eyes, he found that he had grabbed Xia Shuyue's right hand without knowing when. Xia Shuyue found that Xu Cang was awake and whispered, "It seems that the flight attendant is looking for you."
"Captain of Flight." Xu Cang quickly let go of Xia Shuyue's hand, and when he looked carefully, he found that the captain of flight was indeed standing in the aisle next to him.
"What's wrong?" Xu Cang yawned.
The chief flight attendant said softly, "Mr. Xu, the cockpit requires you to go over."
"Oh." Almost out of professional instinct, Xu Cang started to unbuckle his seat belt without thinking, but halfway through, his mind suddenly cleared up and he asked back, "Is the plane okay?"
The flight attendant was stunned: "No problem."
"Then why should I go to the front?"
"I'm not sure about the details, but it seems to be the president's order." said the flight attendant.
"President?" Xu Cang was stunned and said, "Guan Yueling."
Xu Cang scratched his head. Since it was Guan Yueling who ordered him to go, it would be fine to go. But he didn't know what Guan Yueling was up to.
"I'll go to the front." Xu Cang unbuckled his seat belt, explained something to Xia Shuyue, and followed the chief flight attendant to the front cabin.
Soon, after some necessary joining procedures, the cockpit door opened and Xu Cang entered the cabin. He found that the captain and co-pilot inside nodded to Xu Cang at the same time.
"Mr. Xu, nice to meet you."
The captain looked to be in his forties and in good spirits, while the co-pilot did not seem much younger, except for his worrying hairline, which made him look much older.
Xu Cang closed the hatch and nodded in response, asking, "What's wrong?"
"Mr. Xu, we have arrived in the Tokyo area. The president told us that Mr. Xu is interested in our Mount Fuji. The view from the cabin is not good, so we took the liberty of inviting Mr. Xu to the cockpit, where the view is much better." The captain explained.
"Ah? That's it." Xu Cang just remembered that he did mention to Guan Yueling that he was interested in Mount Fuji when he came to ANA last time. Of course, he was just interested, so there was no need to come to the cockpit specially.
However, since Guan Yueling was interested, Xu Cang couldn't refuse, so he said, "Then I'm sorry to bother you, Captain."
"No, no." The captain said quickly, "The observer's seat still has some obstruction to the view. How about Mr. Xu take the seat? On the right."
"Take the seat? Can I take the seat? Are JCAB's requirements for taking the seat so lenient?" Xu Cang was stunned. He was just a simple passenger now. Even if he was a pilot, he was a pilot with a CAAC license. How could he take the seat?
However, Xu Cang was not very familiar with the relevant regulations of the Japanese authorities, so he only raised questions.
"If it was someone else, it would definitely not be possible. However, as far as I know, Mr. Xu is an ICAO flight specialist, and his qualifications are valid for aircraft of all member states, so it is not a violation for Mr. Xu to take the seat." The captain said with a smile.
"I had forgotten about this." Xu Cang is now a flight specialist of the International Civil Aviation Organization. His pilot license is indeed transnational. What the ANA captain said is right.
This must be what Guan Yueling told the captain. It took a lot of thought.
"Are you a flight specialist of the International Civil Aviation Organization?" The co-pilot seemed to be unaware of this and was quite surprised to hear this: "You are so young."
Indeed, compared with other flight commissioners of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Xu Cang really looks too young.
"Good luck." Xu Cang said with a smile.
"Mr. Xu, you are too modest. Your handling of special situations is enough for us to learn from for a lifetime." The captain complimented.
Such words made Xu Cang feel a little embarrassed. At the same time, the co-pilot was already unbuckling his seat belt.
Soon, the co-pilot unbuckled his seat belt, pulled his seat back, and left the seat to make room for Xu Cang. After the co-pilot got off, Xu Cang stepped in and sat down without fastening his seat belt.
Suddenly, the cabin door seemed to be hit hard by something, and then bursts of noise were faintly heard from the cabin.
"What's wrong?" Xu Cang put his earphones in the air and looked at the captain in confusion. The noise just now really scared Xu Cang.
"I don't know." The captain scratched his head and said to the co-pilot, "Take a look at the monitor."
This 737 is relatively old-fashioned, and the monitor control panel is not on the center console, but on the rear ceiling.
At this moment, the co-pilot was standing at the entrance of the cockpit, and hadn't even sat down yet. He raised his hand and just touched the control panel of the monitor. This monitor showed the situation in the front cabin workshop.
The co-pilot was in a good mood. He thought that the flight attendant in front of him must have accidentally hit the cabin door with something. This had happened before.
The captain seemed to have encountered similar things before, and even joked: "Could it be that the flight attendant fell down? This fall is quite serious, don't get hurt."
"Let me see." Soon, the co-pilot turned on the monitor. However, the monitors of this era were really not very good, and the screen image was like a black and white TV. The co-pilot looked at it for a few times and could only see a few blurry shadows moving in it.
"What?" The co-pilot muttered and switched the camera's view from the center to the left, but the picture was still blurry. Switching to the right side, the effect was similar.
"What's wrong? Can't see clearly?" The captain looked up and glanced at the monitor screen. Due to the viewing angle, the picture the captain saw was even more blurry.
At this time, Xu Cang had already put on his headphones and fastened his seat belt, and casually said, "Watch it through the cat's eye."
There is only a peephole on the cockpit door, through which you can clearly see part of the situation in the front cabin workshop.
The co-pilot said "oh" and turned around to push the cover of the peephole aside. Just as he was about to get closer to the peephole, there was a sudden knock on the door in the cockpit.
Boom boom boom…
For some reason, this knock on the door, seemed inexplicably strange in this situation.
Xu Cang and the captain looked at each other and saw the horror in each other's eyes. This feeling had no reason, as if it came out of nowhere, just like the instinctive sense of danger of a wild animal.
Perhaps feeling the atmosphere in the cockpit, the standing co-pilot tensed up, wiped his face, lowered his body slightly, and looked out through the cat's eye.
In an instant, the hair on the co-pilot's body stood up, like a cat with its fur standing on end.
In the narrow field of vision presented by the cat's eye, the flight attendant looked extremely frightened. Behind her, a man with a ferocious face held a sharp knife in his right hand, with the tip of the knife close to the flight attendant's snow-white neck.
"Open the door!" the man roared.
Suddenly, perhaps due to the influence of the air current, the plane shook violently. The man with the knife lost his balance and lost control of the knife, and the tip of the knife went straight into the neck of the flight attendant.