Just when Xu Cang was in a critical situation, in the office of the head of the strategic department of Tiandong Airlines headquarters in Shanghai, Zhou Yanping looked at Xiao Lingyun who was sitting across the desk in front of him, and a trace of doubt arose in his heart.
"Of course, what is the little stock god doing here?" Zhou Yanping knew Xiao Lingyun's identity. Moreover, from a personal perspective, Zhou Yanping still admired Xiao Lingyun, otherwise such an outsider without an appointment could not enter his office casually.
Xiao Lingyun is a big shot, with his own demeanor. He is not at all nervous even when facing the top management of Tiandong Airlines.
"It was just a little bit of fame many years ago, so let's not mention it." Xiao Lingyun said with a smile: "I don't have any personal relationship with Mr. Zhou. I came here this time because I was asked to do so."
Zhou Yanping was quite curious: "Who?"
"Xu Cang!" Xiao Lingyun said with a smile: "Before this trip, Xu Cang told me that he has a good personal relationship with Mr. Zhou. If he wants to discuss matters with Tiandong Airlines, he only needs to talk to Mr. Zhou."
"Xu Cang?" Zhou Yanping was stunned at first, then he laughed out loud: "That's right, that's right, my brother thinks highly of me as his elder brother, so I will do anything for him. However, Mr. Xiao was also a powerful figure in his time, so why would he obey my brother now?"
What Xiao Lingyun is doing now is basically just a job of passing messages and running errands, which is undoubtedly the job of a younger brother. However, this kind of thing is obviously not in line with Xiao Lingyun's identity.
Although Xiao Lingyun became famous very early, his reputation has faded in recent years, but that doesn't mean he has fallen on hard times. If Xiao Lingyun is willing, there are many large financial institutions in China that would like to hire him.
But such a person who once had a great reputation is now working as an errand boy for Xu Cang.
"The new wave pushes the old wave forward. Xu Cang, the new wave, is too powerful. I can't help but accept it." Xiao Lingyun sighed.
Before, Xiao Lingyun was quite impressed by Xu Cang, especially his investment vision. But after hearing about Xu Cang's layout in South Korea, Xiao Lingyun has been completely impressed by Xu Cang.
Zhou Yanping raised his eyebrows: "It seems that my brother has done something shocking again."
"Yeah, if you knew, you would have the same idea as me."
Zhou Yanping looked at Xiao Lingyun deeply, confirming that Xiao Lingyun was not joking: "I am somewhat interested. However, let's talk about business now. What does my brother need me for?"
"It's not a big deal." Xiao Lingyun changed the topic and calmed down: "As far as I know, the fruit part of Tiandong Airlines' in-flight meals is provided by Xinmu Fruit Industry, right?"
Zhou Yanping smiled and said, "When did Xu Cang start to care about airline food?"
"No, he is not concerned about the inflight food, but the fruit," Xiao Lingyun corrected.
"What's the meaning?"
Xiao Lingyun straightened his body slightly: "Mr. Zhou, Xu Cang wants to replace Xinmu Fruit Industry and become the in-flight fruit supplier of Tiandong Airlines."
The expression on Zhou Yanping's face froze slightly. To be honest, he had thought of many possibilities, but he never thought that what Xu Cang wanted was the qualification to be the in-flight fruit supplier for Tiandong Airlines.
"This..." Zhou Yanping was a senior executive who could participate in Tiandong Airlines' decision-making, but this matter obviously touched his blind spot: "Let's not talk about whether it's possible or not, can you ask why Xu Cang started the fruit business again?"
Zhou Yanping was completely confused. What on earth was Xu Cang thinking about? He should just do his job in civil aviation. Why was he doing this and that, doing civil aviation work and looking at the money from the fruit business?
Although it is said that money is not too much, it is not necessary to attack on so many fronts, right? This will easily lead to a bloated structure. Now that Spring Airlines is still in its growth period, shouldn't it focus on operating Spring Airlines?
Speaking of this, Xiao Lingyun showed a rare look of embarrassment: "To be honest, I am not very clear about Xu Cang's specific plan. What I know is that Xu Cang intends to cooperate with a fruit merchant in the northwest, and he promised to open up the initial eastern coastal market for him."
Zhou Yanping understood at once: "So you're interested in the fruit supply for Tiandong Airlines' in-flight meals?"
Shanghai is the headquarters of Tiandong Airlines, and the Shanghai route is the lifeblood of Tiandong Airlines. There are a lot of Tiandong Airlines planes leaving Shanghai every day. These planes need to be equipped with meals, crew meals, and passenger meals. Passenger meals are divided into grades, ordinary meals, first class meals, or business meals. Not only is the demand not small, but it also fits Xu Cang's positioning of fruit.
After all, Tiandong Airlines is not a low-cost airline, and the in-flight meals they provide are of a certain standard, so they will not purchase poor quality ones. In fact, even after more than a decade or two, when civil aviation has become relatively popular, in-flight meals are still one of the external business cards of an airline.
Low-cost airlines focus on cost-effectiveness and don’t invest much in in-flight meals, so it’s normal that they don’t pay much attention to them. But if you want to build up your airline brand, the quality of your in-flight meals must also keep up.
Some people even compare the quality of airline meals of various companies on the Internet. These online reviews are not commercial advertisements, but in a subtle way, the promotion effect is no worse than real advertisements.
Of course, the Internet is not well developed in this era, but Tiandong Airlines still attaches importance to the tradition of in-flight meals, which coincides with Xu Cang’s high-end fruit positioning.
"That should be the case." Xiao Lingyun said somewhat embarrassedly: "Boss Zhou, I wonder if this is a good thing to do?"
This question really stumped Zhou Yanping. Tiandong Airlines was too big, and he didn't know every department.
After thinking for a while, Zhou Yanping said uncertainly: "This kind of in-flight catering supply should be managed by the cabin department. However, when it comes to the specific classification of some of the supplies, this..."
Zhou Yanping rubbed his temples and said, "Forget it, I'll ask the cabin manager. But, is Xu Cang really planning to do the fruit business? This thing is very profitable, is it necessary to devote energy to this?"
"I don't understand. Xu Cang has a lot of ideas. In fact, I don't understand why he has such a big stall. Can you really make a lot of money from the fruit business, right?"
Zhou Yanping's mouth twitched: "I ask you, you ask me. My brother has a lot of ideas, but they are probably not something he came up with on a whim. It is likely that the profit prospects are really good, otherwise he would not risk dividing his energy."
"It seems that in order to ensure the freshness of the fruits, Xu Cang plans to transport the fruits by air, and has submitted a cargo application to the Civil Aviation Administration." Xiao Lingyun doesn't know much about the civil aviation industry, so he only mentioned it briefly: "From Xu Cang's current performance, he seems to be treating this matter as a serious matter, rather than an optional option."
Zhou Yanping couldn't help but fall into deep thought. He recognized Xu Cang's ability, but he really couldn't figure out what kind of profit margins there were in the fruit business. In this era, the fruit business was still based on the stereotype of small profits but quick turnover. In addition, Zhou Yanping himself had no experience in the fruit business, so his thoughts were naturally superficial.
"Let's go, we can talk while walking." Zhou Yanping could call the cabin department manager directly, but because he felt uncomfortable sitting for a long time, he decided to take a walk and go directly to the cabin department general manager's office on the first floor to find someone.
Xiao Lingyun also stood up, and the two walked side by side and started chatting.
"If we only supply fruits for our in-flight meals, the scale will not be small, but it is definitely not large either. We purchase high-quality fruits for in-flight meals, so the prices will be higher, so there must be some profit margin. However, I think with Xu Cang's appetite, he shouldn't just want to make these small amounts of money from our Tiandong Airlines, right?"
Some of the in-flight meals are crew meals and first-class meals. Ordinary passengers may not have so many requirements for meals, but for its own crew meals and high-standard first-class meals, Tiandong Airlines' standards are definitely relatively high. The fruits must not only be fresh enough, but also look good, so the purchase price is generally quite generous.
But no matter what, Tiandong Airlines is an airline. Even if it monopolizes the supply of in-flight food and fruits for Tiandong Airlines, how much money can someone of Xu Cang's level make?
You know, Xu Cang also has an aviation material company that makes money without doing anything. It is a gold mine. Zhou Yanping didn't think Xu Cang's vision would be so narrow that he only had his eyes on the small amount of food and fruit supply from Tiandong Airlines.
"Everything is difficult at the beginning. I think Xu Cang still wants to expand the sales channels in the end. Indeed, it is not his style to just do business with your Tiandong Airlines."
Zhou Yanping smiled and said, "I roughly understand Xu Cang's plan. But why do I feel like I'm being used as a stepping stone by Xu Cang?"
"Mr. Zhou, don't think too much. The quality of the fruits provided by Xu Cang will only be higher, but the price will not increase much." Xiao Lingyun said: "In fact, Tiandong Airlines should have made a profit."
"We made money?" Xiao Lingyun must be Xu Cang's man, otherwise Zhou Yanping would have slapped him. The two did not take the elevator, but walked down the stairs slowly. When they stepped into the cabin department, Zhou Yanping suddenly said, "I heard that Spring Airlines is about to acquire Kingfisher Airlines in the UK?"
"Huh?" Xiao Lingyun was startled, and forced a dry smile on his face: "Boss Zhou is really well-informed, he even has someone at the General Administration."
The news that Kingfisher Airlines is about to be merged into Spring Airlines will only circulate in the Civil Aviation Administration of China, because apart from Spring Airlines submitting a merger application and an application for foreign aircraft entry to the administration, there should be no other channel to know about this.
However, despite the confidentiality, Zhou Yanping was able to learn about it. This shows that Tiandong Airlines's methods are really powerful.
"Without anyone in the General Administration, what kind of three major airlines are they?" Zhou Yanping did not hide it at all. This was basically tacitly accepted and there was no need to conceal it.
Now that things have come to this, Xiao Lingyun did not hide anything: "Yes, Kingfisher Airlines will be merged into Spring Airlines. However, to be precise, it is not Spring Airlines that acquires Kingfisher Airlines, but someone gave Kingfisher Airlines to Xu Cang. In theory, Xu Cang only needs to pay a property tax."
"What did you say? Someone gave Kingfisher Airlines to Xu Cang. Who was it?" Even Zhou Yanping found this news unbelievable. What kind of thing is this? Who would be so generous as to give away an airline as a gift?
Xu Cang has a lot of face, but not to this extent, right?
Xiao Lingyun shook his head: "I don't know about that."
"It seems my brother is still hiding a lot of things." Zhou Yanping took a deep breath: "Where is my brother now?"
"As far as I know, he should be in Japan now. He is cooperating with ANA. This time he sent some trainees there, and later he will sign a cooperation agreement with ANA with a wider scope." Xiao Lingyun knew a lot, and he did not hide anything from Zhou Yanping. Of course, this was also Xu Cang's intention. Otherwise, Xiao Lingyun would not have been so open with Zhou Yanping.
"ANA?" Zhou Yanping's mouth twitched: "He really has a wide range of business."
Xiao Lingyun smiled and said, "Mr. Zhou, I'm afraid this is only a small part of what you know."
"So, it's better to be a brother to such a person." Zhou Yanping was too lazy to think about it: "He went to Japan to sign something, so he should transfer in Shanghai. I will intercept him later and do my best to be a good host. My master also wants to meet him."
"Mr. Zhou's master?" Xiao Lingyun thought for a moment and said, "Is it Chairman Gu?"
Zhou Yanping laughed loudly: "Yes! My master admires Xu Cang very much, so my master is naturally curious too. Hey, here we are!"
As they were talking, the two had already arrived at the door of the general manager's office of the cabin department.
At this time, the office door was not closed. Zhou Yanping stood at the door, and the general manager of the cabin department saw Zhou Yanping inside and hurried out.
"Mr. Zhou, why are you here? Come in and sit down." The general manager of the cabin department said with fear and trepidation.
Although Zhou Yanping seemed to be a generous person, he was actually very ruthless. In addition, although the cabin department was a key department, he was just a department leader after all. Zhou Yanping only needed to say one word to replace him, which was really a sign of neglect.
"No need, I just brought a friend here to ask something, and I'll leave after that." Zhou Yanping waved his hand.
The general manager of the cabin department glanced at Xiao Lingyun inconspicuously. He didn't know Xiao Lingyun, but because of his identity as Zhou Yanping's friend, the general manager of the cabin department was very flattering: "Hello, hello, if there is anything I can help you with, just ask."
Xiao Lingyun smiled and said, "It's like this, my boss wants to do business with your company's in-flight fruit supply. I heard from Mr. Zhou that your department is in charge of this matter, so I came by to ask about the situation and whether this business can be done."
"His boss is my brother." Zhou Yanping added expressionlessly.
The cabin department general manager's mouth twitched a few times. If Zhou Yanping hadn't said this, he would have politely refused. It wasn't that he didn't know how to read his boss's face, but this matter was indeed difficult to handle.
"Mr. Zhou, we have signed a five-year contract with our fruit supplier, Xinmu Fruit Industry. If we change suppliers, it would be a breach of contract. Not to mention the high penalty, it would also have a significant impact on our company's reputation." The general manager of the cabin department thought about it and told the truth: "Mr. Zhou, this matter cannot be done normally."
This would not only cost money, but would also damage the company's reputation. No matter how you look at it, it's not something that can be done.
However, Zhou Yanping is a senior executive of Tiandong. If he is determined to hand over the company's business to his family, the general manager of the cabin department will not be able to stop him. However, Zhou Yanping needs to make a promise that if the matter is investigated later, Zhou Yanping will protect him.
He was not worried about Zhou Yanping's downfall. His master was the top leader of Tiandong. How could he possibly fall?
Therefore, he did not directly say that it could not be done, but only said that it could not be done normally. What he meant was that if Zhou Yanping was willing to support him, there would still be a chance for this matter. This was obviously to drag Zhou Yanping into the water, so that he could feel at ease.
"Five-year contract." Zhou Yanping couldn't help but frown.
The penalty for breach of contract is nothing, the key is the impact on the reputation of Tiandong Airlines. The forced termination of the cooperation agreement is to give the business to the family members of the senior management. If this gets out, wouldn’t it be a complete case of embezzlement and abuse of power for personal gain?
If it was someone else who requested this, Zhou Yanping would have stopped there. He would not do anything that would harm the public interest and benefit himself. But since this was Xu Cang's request, it was not easy to refuse.
It is actually quite unwise to throw the problem to the leader, as it will make the subordinates look incompetent. But the cabin manager really couldn't solve the problem, so it was better to throw it away.
Seeing Zhou Yanping's hesitation, Xiao Lingyun suddenly said, "I wonder if you can provide me with some specific information about Xinmu Fruit Industry. I want to go there and maybe I can talk to the person in charge there and come up with a plan that all parties can accept."
The cabin manager did not agree immediately, but looked at Zhou Yanping first. Zhou Yanping pondered for a moment and said, "Give it to him and let him talk on his own."
"Okay, I'll go find him right away." The general manager of the cabin department immediately ran away to take care of his own business.
"It looks like the timing is not right. If there were still one or two years left on the contract, maybe we could intervene. A five-year contract is a bit too long and it's hard to handle."
Xiao Lingyun waved his hand: "I understand what you mean, so I will go find it myself..."
Before Xiao Lingyun could finish his words, there was a sudden noisy sound of running from downstairs, and from the sound, it seemed that there was more than one person running.
Zhou Yanping frowned immediately. He hated running so noisily in a building. It was so disrespectful. He walked to the lever and looked down. The floor below belonged to the flight department.
He spotted the two people running at a glance and shouted, "Why are you running? You're in such a hurry."
The two men stopped immediately after hearing the words, followed the voice, looked up, and saw Zhou Yanping staring at them with a pair of bull eyes, which frightened them to death. One of them replied hesitantly: "Mr. Zhou, there was an ANA plane accident in the Tokyo area. The airspace around Tokyo has been blocked, affecting many flights. Our company is also affected, and the transportation control is busy."
"Something happened in Tokyo?" Zhou Yanping frowned. Tiandong did have some flights flying to Tokyo or passing through Tokyo's airspace. If the airspace over there was blocked or restricted, it would indeed have a big impact, and it was reasonable for the transportation control to be anxious.
Zhou Yanping could accept this reason: "Forget it, go and get busy."
The two people below felt as if they had been pardoned when they heard this. But before they had taken a few steps, Zhou Yanping's voice suddenly came over again: "Which flight is this?"
"Huh?" One of them stopped and said immediately, "ANA Flight 45."
Zhou Yanping silently took note of it, waved his hand and let them go. Returning to Xiao Lingyun, Zhou Yanping said expressionlessly: "Xu Cangzhen gets into trouble wherever he goes. Didn't you say he went to Japan? Just now, an ANA plane in the Tokyo area had an accident."
"ANA flight? Tokyo?" Xiao Lingyun looked down at the time on his watch and calculated in his mind: "Do you know which flight it is?"
Zhou Yanping said: "ANA 45, what's wrong?"
As soon as Zhou Yanping said this, Brainchild suddenly had a terrible thought: "Which train did Xu Cang take to Japan?"
Xiao Lingyun's face turned pale. "It's to ANA Flight 45, and the time is right."
Zhou Yanping was shocked: "What did you say?"
…
In the cabin, at the moment when the oxygen masks dropped, the captain used up all his strength and shouted to the back of the cabin: "Everyone return to your seats and put on your oxygen masks."
Obviously, not everyone could understand the captain's sense of urgency. At least for a moment after the captain shouted, some people didn't know whether they didn't understand what the captain said or didn't think what the captain said was important. They just looked blankly at the passengers around them who were running back to their seats.
"What the hell is going on?" one of the standing passengers yelled at the captain.
From the violent attack just now to the sudden drop of the oxygen masks, most of the passengers were just spectators who didn't understand what was going on. They were terrified because everything was unknown to them.
The captain was about to say something when he suddenly heard a loud and clear muffled sound. Before he could understand what was happening, he felt as if his chest was about to explode.
But this did not last long, and then a violent and sharp scream pierced the entire cabin. It was as if billions of countless demons were howling in unison, but where were the demons in the world?
"wind?"
Almost the moment the sound arose, the captain knew where it came from. But before he could react, the huge airflow from behind him pushed him to the ground, causing him to stagger .
A strong vibration ensued, as if the entire plane would disintegrate in the next moment. At the same time, the temperature in the cabin dropped sharply, and it seemed that in an instant this was no longer a cabin, but an ice cellar.
But after a while, the sweat on the captain's face had turned into a thin layer of frost. The air flow scraped the captain's face like a knife, and the muscles in his mouth were almost frozen.
At this critical moment, the captain shouted with all his strength: "Find a seat nearby and put on your oxygen mask!"
Although I don't know why, this terrifying experience is undoubtedly a manifestation of explosive pressure relief. Considering the problem of aircraft loading balance, the captain wanted to let the passengers return to their seats. But now that it has happened, it is a matter of life and death, so there is no time to worry about loading balance or the center of gravity of the aircraft. The only way to survive is to find a seat quickly and put on an oxygen mask.
At this altitude, if you don't put on your oxygen mask within 30 seconds, you will start to lose consciousness. Moreover, when others are busy taking care of themselves, it will not be as simple as a coma.
After giving the final reminder, the captain felt dizzy. He was already suffering from lack of oxygen and shouting so loudly had already aggravated his symptoms.
However, the captain reacted quickly. He stood next to the seat. He pulled an oxygen mask over and put it on himself first. Then, he looked back at the unconscious flight attendant. He pulled down the oxygen mask that had fallen from the flight attendant's seat and put it on the flight attendant's face. Finally, he sat back in his seat and fastened his seat belt.
At this time, human power is limited and we can only try our best to protect ourselves.
Like the captain, Xu Cang in the cockpit was also struggling to survive. The difference was that he was bearing the direct impact of the broken windshield.
He still neglected that the cloud in the south was obviously a thunderstorm cloud in a rapid development period. Not only inside the cloud, but also outside it, a large amount of electric charge had accumulated.
Although the aircraft is a Faraday cage and people inside the fuselage will not be electrocuted, this does not mean that the aircraft will not be damaged by lightning. On the contrary, lightning strikes are an extremely important cause of damage to the aircraft.
According to the principle of charge accumulation , charges are most likely to accumulate at certain metal tips or protrusions. Among them, the tip of the windshield wiper arm is undoubtedly an ideal charge accumulation point.
Huge amounts of free electric charges accumulated in the air around the clouds, and continued to gather under the attraction of the tips of the windshield wiper arms, eventually forming an ionization phenomenon similar to ball lightning.
Most of the time, ball lightning has no effect on the aircraft. However, when ball lightning approaches the windshield, the heating wire inside the windshield is induced and begins to heat up.
This kind of heating is obviously abnormal. Unlike the conventional windshield heating function, the heating of the wire under this induction is local and uneven. This will cause local overheating of the windshield.
Once overheating occurs only locally, the windshield will spontaneously burst due to the principle of thermal expansion and contraction.
In fact, due to the special position of the windshield, its strength is actually very high. However, even the strongest fortress can be easily breached from the inside.
The two most important reasons for windshield damage are violent impact from the outside, such as bird strikes, and spontaneous rupture due to uneven heating from the inside.
In fact, as long as the external breakthrough is not a particularly exaggerated impact, even if the windshield is broken, most of the time only the outermost layer will be broken. Even if the innermost layer is cracked, it can be guaranteed to be cracked but not broken.
But internal breakthroughs are quite fatal, and often the whole thing is shattered into pieces in an instant, leaving no time to react.
It swept in like a tsunami. Xu Cang didn't have his shoulder straps on, but he was pinned to the back of the chair and couldn't move. He had put on an oxygen mask just now, but because it wasn't tightened completely, it was blown away.
Xu Cang moved his left hand from the throttle lever and grabbed the steering wheel with his right hand, while his right hand went to remove the opened oxygen mask.
At the same time, he pulled back the throttle and almost by memory tried to press the altitude change button to reengage the autothrottle. In this environment, the autothrottle was engaged, freeing his hands to do other things.
However, just as Xu Cang touched the mode control panel, he suddenly heard a sound of something collapsing. Facing the violent airflow, Xu Cang's mind went blank. He saw a finger-thick crack in the middle of the entire mode control panel, and dense wires could be seen through the crack. The left half of the mode control panel had collapsed, and the input interface on the mode control panel had all crashed, and the activation lights on some mode selection buttons had all gone out.
"Damn it!" Xu Cang didn't care about the automatic driving at this time. He pushed the lever down and at the same time touched the speed brake with his left hand and pulled it to the flight position.
Since the speed brake handle is on the left seat, it is actually quite inconvenient for Xu Cang to operate it on the right. Moreover, the speed brake cannot be pulled all the way during flight, but can only be pulled to the flight position. Otherwise, if it is pulled too much, it will easily cause the aircraft fuselage to vibrate.
However, pulling too much is not good, and too little will not increase the descent rate. It was really difficult for a while. Xu Cang could only pull to a similar position based on his feeling.
Under the impact of the airflow, Xu Cang couldn't open his eyes. He could only force his head down, bend down, and use the instrument panel to slightly block the impact of the airflow. Then he turned his head and squinted at the gear position of the speed brake. Finding that it had not reached the flight position yet, he pulled it back again.
Under the triple effects of the push rod, throttle and speed brake, the aircraft immediately stopped its upward trend and soon began to descend.
At this time, Xu Cang's conditioning for his body during this period showed its effect. If it were in the past, even if he didn't faint due to the pressure relief when the windshield broke, the action of pulling up the speed brake would be enough to consume the remaining oxygen in Xu Cang's body.
But after taking Rhodiola rosea for a long time, Xu Cang's tolerance to hypoxia has obviously improved a lot. After some treatment, he can even hold on a little.
However, this support was only a last resort, and Xu Cang already felt like he was wandering in a trance. This was not a good sign, as it meant that if Xu Cang did not put on an oxygen mask, he would soon fall into a coma due to lack of oxygen.
However, Xu Cang's right hand, which had been groping for the oxygen mask, suddenly grabbed the mask and tried the oxygen mask's inflation device again. The oxygen mask was fixed by several rubber tubes.
In order to achieve a better fixation effect, the rubber tube is made very tight. It is impossible to open enough space for the head to fit in by human power alone. The only way is to inflate the rubber tube and use the gas pressure to expand the tube, then put it on the head. Finally, release the inflation switch, the rubber tube will regain its elasticity and buckle the oxygen mask tightly on the head.
But this time, after pressing the inflation switch, Xu Cang did not hear the familiar inflation sound. Yes, even in the noisy environment of the broken windshield, if the rubber tube can be inflated normally, Xu Cang can still distinguish it, but there is no life-saving inflation sound. Moreover, when he wiped the rubber tube with his right hand, he also did not feel the inflation after inflation.
"not good!"
At this critical moment of life and death, the oxygen mask actually malfunctioned.
Xu Cang had experienced a broken windshield before. The one at Yulong Airport was when ice hit the windshield. Moreover, not only was the windshield broken, but it also caused rainwater to flow back.
But the plane was at a relatively low altitude at that time, so there was no risk of hypoxia, so all we had to do was be patient.
But now it's different, the plane is already at an altitude of more than 10,000 meters. At this altitude, the severe cold is secondary, and the lack of oxygen is the most fatal. This is not something that can be completely overcome by endurance. You can hold on for a while, but in the end you still have to use an oxygen mask, otherwise no one can hold on.
Therefore, when Xu Cang realized that the windshield mask, the only thing that could save him, was useless, even someone as calm as Xu Cang couldn't stop his heart from pounding wildly.
He was already on the verge of falling into a coma due to lack of oxygen. With that heart rate, the symptoms of lack of oxygen began to quickly overwhelm him, and he was beginning to lose consciousness.
This is an extremely dangerous phenomenon.
However, even so, Xu Cang still used his last breath to turn the plane's direction with a left pressure plate. Now it was just a lack of oxygen. If he rushed into the cloud ahead and was eroded by the thunderstorm, he would die.
Fortunately, the cloud ahead was still in the development stage, and no precipitation or hail formed. While Xu Cang maintained the pressure plate, the plane barely brushed the edge of the cloud, turned around, and flew north again.
However, due to the close proximity to the cloud, turbulence was rampant. The plane was already shaking due to the cracked windshield, and now it was about to fall apart. The cracks on the control surface that were already broken became larger, and the left half completely collapsed. It seemed that the control panel was completely scrapped.
Without a way to control the control panel, Xu Cang was confident that he could still land the plane. In comparison, Xu Cang's bigger problem now was lack of oxygen. By the time the plane turned around, Xu Cang could no longer hold on. Even though the plane was already descending rapidly, he still couldn't catch up.
Xu Cang felt his head getting heavier and heavier, as if his mind was stuck in a quagmire. In his last glimmer of consciousness, he only had one thought: Is it really impossible to save the situation this time?
Is the inability to use an oxygen mask really Xu Cang’s Achilles’ heel?
What else can I do? What else can I do? Xu Cang screamed in his heart, just like a dying person struggling under the instinct of survival. However, even if Xu Cang was given some more time to think clearly, what would change?
Is everything already destined?
Meanwhile, however, in the Tokyo area control room, the controllers and supervisors were watching the radar screens, and suddenly they saw the plane suddenly climb for a short while and then begin to level out.
"What are they trying to do?" the controller muttered. They didn't follow the route before, and now they don't follow the altitude either, and they start changing the altitude at will.
If this is done, the airspace that needs to be allocated will be too large.
"Over the weather?" the supervisor asked puzzledly.
Dangerous weather was also displayed on the controller's radar. At least they could see that there was an area of ​​dangerous weather with extremely strong radar echoes not far from the direction the aircraft was heading.
It is possible that the crew was trying to fly over the hazardous weather.
"But they stopped and leveled off," the controller said.
According to the radar, the aircraft is now at an altitude of over 36,000 feet, but the cloud top ahead is already over 40,000 feet. Under such daylight conditions, the crew should be able to determine that it is impossible for the aircraft to fly over the dangerous weather.
But if it wasn’t the weather, then what was it?
From the time the problem occurred until now, the crew has not given any feedback and has not issued any emergency codes. A group of people in the regional control room are just huddled here and have to rely on guessing.
The supervisor was extremely annoyed: "Sometimes they deviate from the route, sometimes they deviate from the altitude. What on earth do those ANA guys want to do?"
However, just as the supervisor finished speaking, the signal point of ANA 45 suddenly turned, and it began to turn continuously just on the edge of dangerous weather, and then the plane continued to rise.
"Are they going to turn around and come back?" the controller asked blankly.
But at this moment, the supervisor frowned, approached the radar screen, and looked at the ANA signal point in disbelief: "No!"
The controller was startled: "What's wrong? Aren't they turning around?"
"I mean the altitude!" The supervisor pointed at the altitude of the aircraft displayed next to the signal point. The altitude of the aircraft was rising rapidly, and in a blink of an eye it had exceeded 37,000 feet. "Too fast, too fast, it's rising too fast, probably 4,000 feet per minute."
"What's wrong with going up quickly?" The controller obviously didn't understand what his supervisor said.
"What's wrong with climbing fast?" The supervisor gritted his teeth and said, "It's impossible for a 737 to maintain such a high climb rate above 36,000 feet. It's very rare to reach 2,000. No, no, there must be a problem, there must be a problem."
The air at an altitude of more than 30,000 feet is already quite thin, which will also cause the aircraft's performance to deteriorate and become increasingly unable to climb. This is caused by objective factors and cannot be changed by human power.
An altitude of thirty-six or thirty-seven thousand feet can produce a huge climb rate of four thousand feet per minute. This is simply incredible and completely beyond common sense.
The controller now understood what his supervisor meant, but he didn't think it was a particularly difficult question: "Maybe the plane is very light?"
It is common sense that airplanes are light in weight and easier to climb.
But the moment the controller finished speaking, the supervisor's face changed drastically. He pointed at the radar screen and said, "Forty thousand feet. No, it's still rising. Forty-two thousand!"
At this moment, the controller finally realized the seriousness of the problem.
Perhaps, perhaps the previous huge climb rate at high altitude can be explained by the light weight, but when the aircraft breaks through 40,000 feet, or even 42,000 feet and still maintains a huge climb rate, it can no longer be explained by the light weight.
Because the ceiling of 737 is 42,000 feet!
Of course, this does not mean that the 737 is strictly guaranteed not to be able to fly above 42,000 feet. However, above this altitude, the aircraft has been proven to be unable to maintain a climb rate of more than 500 feet per minute. This has been proven in practice and is clearly written in the manual.
But now this ANA 737 has broken common sense. Not only has it exceeded the ceiling of the 737, it is even maintaining a high-speed ascent.
So weird!
"It's impossible. No 737 can fly like this." The supervisor looked at the plane that was still rising, and his face changed from shock to horror. "This is not a 737. This is impossible!"
The deep-rooted common sense was broken, and at this moment the supervisor's brain almost stopped functioning.
The controller's face turned pale. He said tremblingly, "But ANA Flight 45 is a 737. If this is not a 737, then what is this plane with the transponder code of ANA Flight 45?"