In a large conference room on the top floor of a high-end hotel near Munich Airport, senior executives from several major European airlines gathered to discuss the increasingly prosperous European civil aviation industry driven by the issuance of the euro.
Among them are the presidents or chairmen of internationally renowned airlines such as Air France, Lufthansa, KLM and Alitalia.
In this small conference room, except for the British Airways representative, more than 80% of the European civil aviation forces were present. However, in addition to this, the focus of the meeting was also a non-airline personnel, that is, Richard, the president of the International Federation of Airline Pilots Association.
No one can ignore Richard's presence, but the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association does not interfere in the daily operation of the company. Therefore, Richard has become an indispensable but rarely spoken presence in meetings.
The level of this meeting was relatively high. After all, it brought together almost the entire European civil aviation force. A business meeting of this level would definitely attract a lot of media reporters to report on it. The circle of cameras and reporters behind the participants was the best proof of this.
In any case, the content of the meeting must be made public. This kind of content that needs to be made public is cautious and lacks substantive content. The senior executives of several companies just read the drafts that were prepared and polished in advance.
There were no arguments or verbal battles during the meeting, only advance communication, a show like acting. In this tacit state, everyone maintained their dignity as business elites.
The formal meeting lasted about an hour. After the host suggested a short break, these elites who had been sitting upright and meticulous a moment ago immediately showed a relaxed attitude. Some even chatted with the reporters around them, talking about the possible effects that might be presented in the newspapers tomorrow.
The media personnel who were invited had been screened and knew what they could and could not shoot. During the halftime, the surrounding cameras were all turned off, and the airline bosses began to enjoy this rare time for chatting.
As the actual controller of the European civil aviation industry, this circle is very small, so these people basically know each other. The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines saw Richard, who was not interested, and asked with a smile: "Richard, I heard that Asiris was trapped in the Alps. Is this true?"
It can be seen that the president of KLM has a good personal relationship with Richard. He uses an abbreviated nickname when addressing Richard.
If the original plan had been followed, British Airways President Ashley Reese's vacation plan would have ended yesterday. Then, of course, he would have taken a private helicopter to Munich, rested for a night, and attended the meeting the next day, without delaying anything.
Munich is located next to the northern foothills of the Alps, so even a slower helicopter won’t take too long, which is quite convenient.
However, as the Alps were hit by a rare snowstorm, British Airways representatives missed the European Civil Aviation Conference.
Richard also works part-time as a technical consultant for British Airways and asked him what was the best choice.
"You look very happy. Although I don't know why you are so happy, if Asiris comes back and knows your reaction to this, the cooperation project between you and British Airways will be in danger." Richard said with a smile.
"Richard, you are just bored and want to kill some time at British Airways. You don't really consider yourself a British Airways employee, do you?" The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines smiled brightly. "Besides, if you really care about British Airways, then the recent strike at British Airways wouldn't be so intense, right?"
Compared to the slightly frivolous demeanor of the president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, the president of Lufthansa is much more stable, just like the external image of this veteran airline.
"Richard, with the issuance of the Euro, the European civil aviation market is overheated. We admit that airlines can achieve substantial development within it. However, we also hope that the union will not be too greedy, as this is not good for both parties."
As soon as the president of Lufthansa finished speaking, the chairman of Alitalia started to tease him: "Didn't you raise salaries at Lufthansa some time ago? Why is it that the union is not satisfied and wants a second raise?"
The president of Lufthansa Airlines remained silent and did not respond to the question at all.
The chairman of Iberia just sneered: "Serves you right!"
As soon as these words came out, the president of Lufthansa Airlines immediately changed color and slammed the table: "What did you say?"
"What did I say? You Lufthansa deserves it." The chairman of Iberia responded directly: "You Lufthansa and Air France clearly know that European airlines will affect each other. As a result, you raised our salaries by 8% without informing us, which directly put us in an embarrassing situation. It's a good thing that British Airways' Asiris didn't come, otherwise he would be scolding you now. As far as I know, the average salary increase of British Airways' union has reached 12%. Our union asked us for a 10% salary increase not long ago. These are all good things you have done."
When it comes to salary increases, whoever takes the initiative first will have the upper hand and can raise salaries at a smaller rate. However, this will cause trouble for other airlines that follow.
The unions of the remaining airlines will directly refer to the standards of the previous proactive wage increase when following up the strike, and then there is a certain chance that the unions of the remaining airlines will increase their demands for wage increases. Judging from the actual performance of the unions of the remaining major European airlines, it almost perfectly confirms the ideas of the chairman of Iberia.
Among them, the British Airways union had the biggest appetite, directly increasing the average salary increase by 4%, which brought a huge burden to British Airways' finances.
These aviation bosses all know that salary increases are inevitable in the current extremely hot market. However, how to keep salary increases as low as possible while having an advantage in the labor market is something these bosses need to consider.
In fact, the best way is for the leadership of major European airlines to reach an agreement on salary increases in advance and not change them easily.
As long as all companies unite and speak with one voice, it will be easier to deal with the unions.
However, in order to gain an advantage, Lufthansa and Air France sold all the remaining airlines.
However, as the initiators of the proactive salary increase, Lufthansa and Air France actually only gained short-term benefits.
After gambled with their own unions by threatening an average wage increase of 8%, in recent days, union representatives of Lufthansa and Air France tore up the memorandums of understanding reached with the company and raised the wage increase to 10% after learning that other companies' unions' demands for wage increases were generally above 9%.
This makes the leadership of Lufthansa and Air France look like clowns.
In order to save some financial expenses for salary increase, they had to sacrifice their reputation. In the end, their reputation was ruined a lot, but the result was no change. What do the leaders of Lufthansa and Air France think?
The most important force in Richard's International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association is the alliance of union forces of various airlines.
So, in a sense, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association is the largest civil aviation union in the world.
If Richard could intervene, at least the somewhat embarrassing situation that Lufthansa is facing now could be greatly alleviated.
In Europe and the United States, no company dares to ignore the power of labor unions. It is precisely because of this power that makes all businessmen extremely headache that Richard has the final say in the civil aviation industry.
"You have to protect the interests of Lufthansa, and I have to protect the interests of the union." Richard said calmly, "However, one thing is right. You really shouldn't raise wages without consulting other airlines. You two should bear the main responsibility for taking action without prior agreement, which has led to the current situation of wage increase demonstrations that is like an arms race. I will not interfere with the activities of the unions of various companies, but will only provide guidance in the general direction. So, if you want me to take action to clean up the current situation, you seem to be overthinking it a bit."
"You won't interfere with the activities of the unions of various companies?" The president of Lufthansa snorted coldly. "Now the unions of European airlines that are slightly respectable are ready to make a move. But why do I hear that the union of Kingfisher Airlines in the UK is quite honest?"
Although Kingfisher Airlines was once on the verge of bankruptcy, it still has a place in the low-cost airline field in Europe.
But while European airlines are all racking their brains over protests over wage increases, Britain's Kingfisher Airlines seems to be living in peace and tranquility, with no union activities at all, as if the Kingfisher Airlines union does not exist.
If you think that the Kingfisher Airlines union is weak in combat power, you are totally wrong. Previously, Kingfisher Airlines had repeatedly delayed the payment of salaries due to financial constraints.
As a result, this move directly angered Kingfisher Airlines' union, which not only went on strike but also protested in front of the UK Ministry of Labor, which was truly unusually fierce.
However, such a highly active union has shown unparalleled docility in this wave of wage increases and has not caused any trouble to the company at all. This is obviously abnormal.
The president of Lufthansa did not believe that the union of Kingfisher Airlines was really so considerate. There was only one person who could make the union of Kingfisher Airlines stop protesting, and that was Richard.
The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines had a better relationship with Richard and was less oblique in his words: "Richard, you are helping Kingfisher Airlines. Why?"
"I heard that Kingfisher Airlines has a new owner recently." The chairman of Iberia added indifferently: "Before, when Kingfisher Airlines had financial problems, their union was very ruthless. At that time, you didn't help Kingfisher Airlines. But now, you actually stopped Kingfisher Airlines' union. The only explanation is the new owner of Kingfisher Airlines."
Richard raised his eyelids, but the cold light in his eyes was very cold: "This is a gift I gave to someone. Why, you want it too?"
The president of Lufthansa opened his mouth, but when he saw Richard's unhappy expression, he closed it obediently.
However, the president of KLM, who had a good personal relationship with Richard, didn't care much and was quite curious: "Who is that person?"
Richard frowned, already a little annoyed. Suddenly, the door of the conference room was pushed open with a loud noise, which directly attracted the attention of most people in the conference room.
The person who came was the manager of the airport hotel. He was panting and breathing extremely rapidly, and it seemed that he had run here.
"What's wrong?" The host was not happy. How could he be so flustered in such an important occasion?
However, after taking a breath, the manager of the airport hotel said in a somewhat shrill voice: "Urgent report from the airport, we hope everyone will evacuate the hotel as soon as possible."
"Evacuate?" The president of KLM was puzzled. "Evacuate for what? What happened?"
The manager of the airport hotel took another breath and said, "Just now, the airport tower reported that a plane with a broken wing is about to land on Runway 35. The extended runway 35 is right in front of the hotel, so for safety reasons, it's better to leave here."
"The wing is broken!?" The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines stood up and said, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? Let's go!"
However, he soon discovered something was wrong. Almost no one followed him out. Instead, there were several people looking out.
"What's wrong, aren't you leaving?"
"If you mean hiding from that plane... then it seems unnecessary." Among the crowd, Richard also looked outside.
"Why?" The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines was stunned.
Richard looked into the distance and saw a moving dot in the sky not far away. It was none other than the plane mentioned by the airport hotel manager.
The reason why Richard was so sure was that not long ago, Munich Airport stopped takeoffs and landings due to excessive wind volume. Under normal circumstances, no planes would come for approach.
"A plane with a broken wing? Wow!"
Some people want to go out to avoid unexpected dangerous situations, but more people don’t really care and even have a lot of interest in it.
Although this hotel is located on the extension line of Runway 35, it is still some distance away.
Just because of this, we have to evacuate? This is really an exaggeration.
Among them, the reactions of many reporters were the most representative. They asked the photographers accompanying them to turn on the camera, adjust the shooting angle, and point it towards the sky on the fifth side of Runway 35.
The broken wing of a large passenger plane is always explosive news at any time, and this time we can get first-hand footage of the crash, which is quite valuable.
That’s right, in the reporter’s mind, this plane with a broken wing has been sentenced to death.
Richard pursed his lips, and instead of sitting quietly waiting to watch the "good show", he slowly stood up and walked out of the meeting room.
The president of KLM Royal Dutch Airlines saw Richard was about to leave and hurriedly followed him: "Wait for me, where are you going?"
Richard had already turned out of the conference room at this time, and only heard a cold voice from outside: "Airport."
…
At this moment, above the fifth side of Runway 35, British Airways Flight 531 was tilting its fuselage, aiming at the entrance of Runway 35 at an oblique angle.
There was no way. No matter how Xu Cang tried to curb the huge right-rolling moment of the aircraft, this moment could not be eliminated. Regarding this point of cognition, Xu Cang had a sufficient degree of realistic acceptance.
Therefore, under the premise of always having a rolling moment to the right, Xu Cang always kept the aircraft on the left side of the final leg of the runway during the approach. Fortunately, when the aircraft was initially guided to make an alternate landing, the initial heading of the aircraft was 010, and the trajectory of the aircraft just cut in from the left side of the final leg.
In a sense, this relatively good initial position was more in line with Xu Cang's wishes, otherwise Xu Cang would have to make laborious adjustments to the position and approach direction. But now, due to various coincidences, Xu Cang only needed to fine-tune the trajectory of the aircraft so that the point of intersection between the aircraft and the fifth edge was just above the runway entrance.
Xu Cang's idea was very simple. For them, for the aircraft, there was no straight five-plane approach. Due to the constant existence of the right rolling moment, it was impossible for the aircraft to land normally along the extended runway.
Therefore, the only way is to eliminate the final approach, cut straight in over the runway from the left of the final approach, and then start to enter the touchdown attitude directly.
This means that soon, all the actions of the plane will be concentrated in the extremely short time above the runway. The fate of the entire plane and the people on board will also depend on the extreme operation in those few seconds.
For many people, this is not a good principle, because no matter from which angle, such an operation is too risky. But for Xu Cang now, the best choice is to accomplish everything in one go. His current state is so peak that he feels that he can handle all flight problems.
"Munich Airport, occupying the runway after landing, evacuate on the spot, requesting ground support." This was Xu Cang's last land-to-air call.
The tower responded quickly: "British Airways 531, you can occupy the runway after landing, evacuate on the spot, airport support is in place... I wish you good luck."
At this time, David could already see Munich Airport's Runway 35 more clearly. The plane was flying too fast, and its approach rate to the runway was twice that of a normal landing configuration. It was almost blinding, and the runway markings seemed to be clearer in his field of vision.
A thousand feet high!
"Xu Cang, do you need my cooperation in anything later?" In such an environment, David no longer stopped Xu Cang, even though he still thought that the final manipulation plan proposed by Xu Cang was too complicated.
That’s right, Xu Cangguang just explained the operations before landing, and David found it incredible, not to mention that this operation could be achieved with the human brain power and muscle reaction ability.
Not only David, but also Schneider who was sitting in the back felt that hope was extremely slim. He even thought that even with the assistance of the flight control computer, it would be difficult for humans to complete Xu Cang's planned actions in the near future, not to mention that the Boeing 777 did not have an advanced flight control computer like a high-performance fighter, and it all depended on the pilot's operational feedback.
"No, if you join the operation without permission, it will affect me ." Xu Cang took a deep breath: "Make a notification for the emergency landing before landing. Two hundred feet, one hundred feet, fifty feet and ten feet!"
Although Xu Cang thought that this was not the most critical thing, if David wanted to contribute his energy in the final stage, Xu Cang could only give him these chores. David could do nothing else.
At this moment , David was no longer picky. Looking at the approaching runway, he just said, "Xu Cang, I'm still a little nervous."
"Only the ignorant will be nervous! If you were in my current state, you would find that the whole world has slowed down." Xu Cang adjusted his breathing, and at an altitude of 200 feet, his eyes suddenly focused: "Let's start!"
"Two hundred feet in altitude!"
As David's emergency landing was broadcast, Xu Cang slowly held his breath and slightly opened and closed his left hand. At this moment, he felt that the blood in his body was boiling, and the suffocating feeling of welcoming a miracle made him feel extremely excited.
That’s right, the plane hasn’t landed yet, but Xu Cang has already simulated everything in his mind.
Everything is under his control.
"A hundred feet in height!"
As David put down the handheld microphone for broadcasting, the plane was very close to the runway. However, before it reached the runway, Xu Cang had already started to make moves.
The Boeing 777 is too big and has extremely strong inertia. We cannot wait until the plane flies over the runway to start taking action. We need to do it a little in advance.
At this critical moment of life and death, Xu Cang stepped on the left rudder of the plane, then pushed the steering wheel forward a lot and pressed it down to the left at the same time.
At other times, such operations seem very strange, especially the left full rudder and left pressure plate are actually counter-controls. That is to say, these two control actions combined together are likely to cause some unexpected aircraft reactions, such as the aircraft flipping to the left.
However, at this time, Xu Cang's manipulation had completely transcended what ordinary people knew.
When the aircraft is fully tilted to the left, at a large inclination angle, it is almost horizontal to the ground, and the vertical tail acting as the elevator is directly raised upward, and the rudder travel is directly pulled to the full. In conventional aircraft, when the elevator is raised, the airflow will press down on the horizontal stabilizer, causing the tail to pitch down, and under the action of the torque, the nose will rise.
Then when the vertical tail, which functions in tandem with the elevator, rises upward, it will bring the same effect, that is, the nose of the aircraft will be pointed up, even if it is at a large tilt angle.
This is obviously not a normal maneuver when landing.
Because it was too early! And the action was too rough.
Just like the final leveling before landing, who would start to pitch the nose up to reduce the rate of descent when the aircraft is above 50 feet and has not entered the runway? This action to reduce the sinking is too early to do at 50 feet, let alone above 50 feet.
Therefore, Xu Cang’s idea was not to reduce the plane’s sinking and thus level the plane in disguise, but to have another purpose.
At the same time, there was still some throttle left to go, and the moment he stepped on the left rudder, Xu Cang applied all the throttle to the No. 1 engine.
At this moment, David, who was sitting in the right seat, had his eyelids twitching wildly. This operation was too familiar, and because he knew Xu Cang's thoughts in advance, he felt that Xu Cang was simply playing with fire.
Analogizing to a normal airplane, Xu Cang's control now is equivalent to suddenly pushing the throttle all the way up during the approach, and then suddenly pulling the steering wheel. This is an extremely standard demonstration of excessive control error, at least in the perception of conventional pilots.
This situation often occurs during a go-around. Some inexperienced pilots, after deciding to go around, will increase the throttle immediately and then instinctively pull the stick back. However, perhaps due to technical reasons or psychological factors, they may pull the stick back too much.
At this time, the aircraft will not rise rapidly, but will lose speed at an extremely exaggerated efficiency, eventually causing a stall.
Therefore, many experienced instructors will mention one thing more than once in their instructions on go-around control, that is, the initial go-around control must be gentle. Do not pull the stick hard under high thrust, and sometimes even slightly push the stick.
In some extreme cases, such as a zero-altitude go-around at an ultra-low altitude, this incorrect operation will not only cause a stall, but the most direct consequence is a tail strike.
There are too many precedents showing that a large part of tail strikes are caused by incorrect maneuvers during zero-altitude or ultra-low-altitude go-arounds.
Who is David? He is the flight specialist of the European region of ICAO. He is very familiar with this kind of routine flight operations and he saw through the problem of Xu Cangzuo's full rudder and full throttle at a glance.
But, wouldn’t Xu Cang know?
If a person who never makes mistakes makes a mistake, it is very likely that it was not his mistake, but that he did it on purpose.
Not long ago, Xu Cang said that he needed a differential horizontal tail, but the Boeing 777 does not have a differential tail, only a linked tail. So how can Xu Cang's idea be realized?
As Xu Cang pulled the left rudder to the maximum and increased the throttle of the No. 1 engine to the maximum, the nose of the aircraft tilted upward, just like the nose pitch angle caused by the crew's control error during a very low-altitude go-around.
While operating the rudder and throttle, Xu Cang also began to correct the landing direction of the aircraft, which was the previous large push stick and left pressure plate. However, he did not push the steering wheel all the way up, nor did he press it to the left. The reason for this was to maintain the aircraft's tilt angle in a short period of time so that the vertical tail could temporarily replace the function of the elevator.
If Xu Cang corrected the tilt angle excessively, the vertical tail would no longer be in a roughly horizontal state, and the alternative pitch operation would not be able to be completed. At least Xu Cang did not want this to happen at this stage.
Because the secondary interchange of the control surface functions of the vertical tail and the horizontal tail would involve extremely delicate and complex control conversion, Xu Cang planned to move this conversion process to the final stage.
Moreover, he needed to keep the plane at a huge tilt angle, but he had to keep the tilt angle and not let the plane deviate too far to the right from the runway. Therefore, Xu Cang would manipulate it in advance to achieve the purpose of inputting the lead time.
As the nose of the plane pitched up exaggeratedly, the tail of the plane pressed down. At the same time, because Xu Cang did not correct the tilt angle of the plane a lot, the right horizontal tail wing hit the runway surface in an instant after entering the air above the runway due to its low altitude, and broke and separated on the spot.
"Did the plane hit its tail?" Schneider's face changed. The vibration of the fuselage caused by the right horizontal tail wing hitting the runway was too obvious. Moreover, with such a huge pitch angle and such a low altitude, how could the plane not hit its tail?
However, the more this happened, the colder Schneider felt, because all this was within Xu Cang's expectations.
That’s right, Xu Cang was deliberately causing the tail of the plane to hit.
The Boeing 777 does not have a differential horizontal tail. If one wants to achieve this effect, one has to destroy one side of the horizontal tail. Xu Cang chose the right horizontal tail.
As long as there is a rear wing on one side and not on the other, isn't that equivalent to a differential rear wing in disguise?
All I can say is that when Xu Cang proposed this idea not long ago, Schneider really wanted to call him a madman. This is naked madness.
It was an absolutely dangerous action to scratch the tail of the plane, but Xu Cang wanted to use this dangerous action to complete his own plan, which was simply courting disaster. However, this act of dancing on the edge of a knife in Schneider's mind was completely under control on Xu Cang's side.
He calculated everything and did everything, and it was all so easy and effortless!
This is the peak power and skill!
Schneider could sense the tail of the plane hitting the ground, but how could Xu Cang, as the mastermind of everything, not feel it?
He could keep the plane at a tilted angle so that when he wiped the tail, he would only wipe off the right horizontal tail wing, not the rest of the tail. So, after achieving this effect, Xu Cang's eyes focused: "Let's start!"
The operation of the horizontal tail wing that Schneider was afraid of, which was caused by the tail hitting and breaking, was already terrifying enough, but for Xu Cang, it was just an appetizer to achieve his goal.
It has to be admitted that landing with a broken wing is indeed an impossible task in the eyes of ordinary people, so Xu Cang has to put in some effort.
After manually completing the differential horizontal tail, Xu Cang no longer hesitated and pushed the remaining steering wheel forward to the full extent, while pressing the steering wheel to the left. This time, Xu Cang's action was very rough, and there was really no time to waste.
Because, at the moment of the tail rubbing, the plane had already entered the air above the runway. Every extra second, the plane was consuming the final landing distance, so he had to correct the plane to a regular landing posture as soon as possible and reduce the speed to a sufficiently suitable value.
Under Xu Cang's help, after previous verification in the air, with the combined action of the control wheel top rod and the left pressure plate, the aircraft's tilt angle was immediately restored by more than half, reduced to less than thirty degrees.
But when in the air, why can this posture only last for a moment?
That's because as the bank angle decreases, the aircraft begins to resume its normal flight attitude, which means that the functions of the horizontal tail and vertical tail begin to return to normal. In other words, the main function of the horizontal tail begins to return to controlling the pitch of the aircraft, and the main function of the vertical tail returns to controlling the yaw of the aircraft.
In this case, the operation of the aircraft top stick cannot assist the aileron rolling of the left pressure plate to suppress the right rolling moment caused by the lift difference. Therefore, after the aircraft's bank angle decreases to a certain extent, it will increase again until the normal functions of the horizontal tail and vertical tail are exchanged again.
However, if that were all, it would be nothing more than an ineffective repetition of previous operations, and the aircraft would still be unable to land in a normal attitude.
Because Xu Cang must suppress the rotation of the aircraft's bank angle.
From fifty feet below, there was Xu Cang's brilliant and gorgeous operation that was too brilliant to look directly at.
When the aircraft's bank angle decreases, the functions of the horizontal tail and vertical tail begin to become blurred, so Xu Cang must change the control input as the bank angle decreases.
As the wing of the aircraft gradually leveled off, Xu Cang kept the left pressure plate unchanged, but the action of pushing the stick began to change and began to transform into pulling the stick backwards in a way that was based on feeling. This is because the effect of the action of pushing the plate to the left does not change due to the tilt angle of the aircraft, it always generates a rolling moment to the left. However, the action of pushing the stick or pulling the stick is different.
After the main wing was gradually leveled, the pitch control function of the vertical tail was slowly transferred back to the horizontal tail, and the previous action of pushing the stick forward to assist the ailerons became meaningless, so Xu Cang had to switch from pushing the stick to pulling the stick to control the horizontal tail which was gradually recovering its pitch function and reduce the aircraft's sinking.
This is a standard leveling process!
Xu Cang did not stop pushing the left rudder, because after the wing was leveled, the deflection torque caused by the thrust difference of the No. 1 engine on the horizontal plane began to become obvious. Therefore, Xu Cang had to maintain the input of the left rudder to offset the deflection torque to the right, so that the aircraft could stay on the center line of the runway.
However, this is not the end!
In fact, even though Xu Cang was pressing the left plate, the left deflection moment generated by him pressing against the left rudder had been almost offset by the natural right deflection moment caused by the single engine, which meant that there was no deflection moment to assist the left rolling moment of the aileron.
Therefore, based on previous operating experience, the left rolling moment of the left wing aileron alone cannot eliminate the right rolling moment caused by the lift difference. This means that the leveling of the wing is actually an illusion. In just a moment, the aircraft will still tilt to the right.
This is still a dead end!
However, Xu Cang wanted to find an impossible chance of survival from the dead end.
Why does Xu Cang need a differential horizontal tail?
After Xu Cang gradually converted the push-rod action into the pull-rod action, the elevator was actually pitching upwards.
If the horizontal tail is intact, the elevators on both sides of the horizontal tail will pitch up at the same time, and the airflow will press the horizontal tail downward. The torques on both sides will cancel each other out, and no rolling torque to the left or right will be generated, but only downward movement.
But now it’s different. The horizontal tail on the right side was broken because of Xu Cang’s previous operation, which makes the difference.
The horizontal tail is actually very similar to the main wing when viewed from one side, so it can actually generate a rolling moment. However, unlike the ailerons on the main wing that move in opposite directions, the elevators on the horizontal tail move in the same direction, so there is no additional rolling moment, so Xu Cang has to break this balance.
With the right horizontal tail missing, Xu Cang switched to driving with the stick and the elevator pitched up, which was actually very similar to the performance of Xu Cang with the left pressure plate down and the left aileron of the main wing pitched up.
In this case, the horizontal tail on the left not only makes the nose of the aircraft pitch up and reduces the sinking of the aircraft, but also generates an additional rolling moment to the left, which can be superimposed on the left rolling moment of the left aileron to counteract the right rolling moment caused by the lift difference, ultimately allowing the aircraft to maintain a nearly horizontal wing for a long time.
This is a standard landing posture.
However, this is still not enough!
The additional left rolling moment generated by the horizontal tail on one side of the aircraft is actually not enough to completely eliminate the right rolling moment caused by the lift difference. If it were that simple, the left deflection moment would not have been able to assist the aileron rolling moment, which would have limited the aircraft's tilt angle to 30 degrees for a short time.
Moreover, no matter what, the wing area of ​​the horizontal tail on one side is still too small, which makes the additional rolling moment it produces not very large. The plane will eventually roll to the right!
But will Xu Cang allow this to happen?
He started with the stick engaged, which created an additional rolling moment to the left while also reducing the airplane's sink.
After about thirty feet, the plane's descent stabilized slightly, and then, that was enough!
Xu Cang never hoped to rely solely on the ailerons and one side of the horizontal tail to keep the wings level, it was too difficult. Moreover, the plane was too fast, and the previous correction of the plane's state consumed a section of the runway, so he had to do something.
What to do? Keep the wings level and reduce the speed of the aircraft!
Xu Cang suddenly reduced the throttle to the limit, slightly reduced the left rudder input, and then directly pulled the speed brake to the flight position.
These three actions are still done in one go!
Why do you have to release the accelerator all at once?
Some people may think that it is normal to fully reduce the throttle when landing.
However, the effect of fully closing the throttle is not unique.
As soon as the throttle was pulled, Xu Cang still kept pulling the stick, and the speed of the plane naturally dropped rapidly. Combined with the speed brake, the deceleration efficiency was extremely exaggerated.
This first achieves the purpose of deceleration!
Second, as the thrust of the No. 1 engine was completely reduced, the rightward deflection moment caused by the thrust difference disappeared. In this way, the leftward deflection moment caused by Xu Cang stepping on the left rudder could assist the rolling moment of the left aileron to better offset the rightward rolling moment.
However, Xu Cang could not press the left rudder all the way down, otherwise the nose of the plane would deviate sharply to the left, resulting in a huge crossing angle when landing, which would be extremely dangerous.
The second function of the No. 1 engine is to assist the aileron in maintaining the horizontal level of the wing by applying an appropriate amount of continued left rudder input.
There are two purposes for pulling up the speed brake. The first one is of course to slow down.
The best deceleration effect can be achieved by slowing down the throttle and using the speed brake. The speed of the aircraft is too high, and only this deceleration method can achieve the best effect.
In addition, as the speed brake is raised, the lift on the wing surface is destroyed, which reduces the right rolling moment caused by the lift difference.
As one thing gained while the other lost, the level of the wing, which was originally impossible to maintain, was brought under control.
The reason why Xu Cang didn't pull up the speed brake or reduce the throttle in advance was that he had to wait until the plane's descent was at a lower altitude and within a reasonable range. If he pulled up the speed brake and reduced the throttle without thinking, he could indeed achieve a horizontal wing earlier, but if the plane crashed down, it might disintegrate on the spot.
Xu Cang gradually changed the initial large wing to a flat horizontal tail and the functions of the vertical tail were interchanged again, changing from a top rod to a strap rod, which not only increased the rolling moment to the left, but also controlled the sinking of the aircraft.
When the ship was below 30 feet and the sinking was under control, the speed brakes and throttle were applied, while the stick movement was maintained in order to decelerate faster and control the sinking.
However, no matter what, pulling the speed brake before landing is an extremely risky action. No matter how conservative Xu Cang was, at the last altitude of less than ten meters, the wheels of the plane hit the runway hard.
“Bang!”
The moment the tire touched the ground, Xu Cang heard a loud noise and his face suddenly changed. It was clearly the sound of a tire bursting.
Under the huge impact force, some tires were directly crushed.
What's more, what Xu Cang couldn't see was that the support columns of the two main landing gears were directly compressed inside.
"Press the manual brake fully!" David yelled. Before Xu Cang even stepped on it, he directly turned off the automatic brake and stepped on both brakes.
Under the action of the landing gear, the speed of the aircraft had dropped to the minimum when it touched down. After David stepped on the brakes, the friction between the wheels and the road surface raised a cloud of smoke.
However, it seems that tire blowouts are only a minority and do not affect the aircraft's braking performance.
Xu Cang did not step on the brakes. There was no point in doing so. Based on the deceleration effect, he was sure that the plane could stop.
It can only be said that the deceleration effect of the Boeing 777's wheels is extremely amazing, but even with the wheels stepped on to the limit, the plane still managed to stop just before the head of the runway. Looking at the lights, there were less than 300 meters left.
"Survived?" David released the brake, set the parking brake, and looked around.
He tried hard to control himself, but the excitement of surviving the disaster could no longer be suppressed.
Compared to David's ecstasy, Schneider just let out a long sigh.
He looked at Xu Cang, whose face did not show much expression, and said softly: "Xu Cang, make the manipulation data of the last 100 feet public. The world should know what a miracle is!"
It's crazy, it's absolutely crazy!
To be honest, the operation of the last hundred feet was linked together step by step, no step could be wrong, and it was extremely complicated. It was truly an extremely ingeniously designed work of art.
In the last hundred feet, Schneider completely lost the ability to think, and was unable to appreciate Xu Cang's extremely complex operation and design. However, after the plane stopped, he felt more and more chills on his spine.
Is there really someone who can be more powerful than the flight control computer?
If it really exists, it is a complete miracle!
Everyone should look up to it!
At this moment, David's emotions gradually calmed down, but the way he looked at Xu Cang was completely different. It was really as if he was looking at a god. Even with a broken wing, he was able to land safely. This was completely beyond human imagination.
"Xu Cang, is there anything you can't do?" David asked sincerely with infinite admiration.
"Now... no!" Xu Cang took a deep breath. Heat was steaming around his body. His heart beat like thunder and his blood boiled like flames.
His form hasn't gone away yet, he still has a second game!
He slowly turned his head and looked at the terrifying air mass at dusk that was as oppressive as an ancient sacred mountain.
It seemed as if all the light that shone into it was swallowed up, so that from the outside it looked as black as ink. It was a giant beast that could devour everything, as if the Alps had already entered its belly.
Oppression, the most primitive oppression, no one can be presumptuous in front of it!
At this time, David noticed Xu Cang's gaze: "What are you looking at?"
Xu Cang raised the corner of his mouth, slowly raised his head, and pointed to the cyclone cloud in the distance that encompassed the sky and the earth and covered the entire Alps: "I want to go there!"