"Xu Cang, there is a problem, it shouldn't be played so fast, it shouldn't be played so fast." Richard yelled. His perception was so sharp that he could detect it at the first moment even if there was something slightly abnormal.
As Xu Cang said before, as the altitude decreases, the air content in the center of the cyclone will gradually increase. In a near-vacuum environment, there is no resistance during the plane's descent, but as the air content increases, the huge fuselage of the passenger plane will produce more and more resistance, and the plane's descent speed will still increase, but the rate of increase should be slower.
However, it was noted that the aircraft's airspeed indicator and altimeter began to recover, which undoubtedly indicated that the aircraft had left the vacuum area.
Only when it rubs against the air at high speed can it generate enough heat to melt the ice on the probe, allowing the airspeed indicator and altimeter to return to normal.
However, in this situation, the plane's falling speed did not slow down at all, which undoubtedly exceeded their expectations.
"Damn it, how could this happen?" Xu Cang's heart tightened. The current situation was indeed no longer in his plan. At this rate of descent, the plane's final indicated speed would probably exceed 450 knots.
"Richard, prepare for the second ignition." Almost at the moment when Xu Cang lost consciousness, the plane's altitude dropped by more than two thousand feet. It seemed that the plane was in a vacuum environment and ignored the air resistance.
Xu Cang had his own plan for when to slow down and when to restart the engine. Even if it was not particularly precise, he had a rough idea. But in the current situation, all of Xu Cang's advance plans were useless, so he needed to improvise.
Richard was almost staring straight down. If it were someone else, he would have exploded. But Richard showed a strong psychological quality at this time. Even though he realized that the current situation was very critical, he still tried his best to stabilize his mentality in order not to make any low-level mistakes.
They only have one chance to restart, if they miss it, they will die.
Richard wiped his face quickly and vigorously, and then he found that his face was covered with cold sweat. However, Richard still suppressed his inner panic and reviewed the engine re-ignition procedure in his mind at an incredible speed.
"At your command." Richard's breathing was trembling: "Now?"
"Wait, wait a little longer!" Xu Cang's eyes were filled with bloodshot at this moment. The rapid descent rate caused a large amount of blood in his body to accumulate in his head. The huge blood pressure made Xu Cang's eyes red, and there were already some signs of hematuria.
The plane's speed was too fast and continued to increase with no sign of slowing down.
Richard watched the altimeter needle drop rapidly and there was no way it could be stopped. He could estimate the plane's current descent rate simply from the rate of change of the altimeter's value.
"Xu Cang, the decline rate is close to seven thousand. It's too fast, too fast. If we don't restart it, we won't be able to wait any longer." Richard shouted loudly.
This is not a disturbance to Xu Cang, but a real threat.
The descent rate of 7,000 is close to the display limit of the aircraft's variometer. For ordinary large passenger aircraft, the numerical display of the descent rate has a range, most of which are around 6,000 for the climb rate and 7,000 for the descent rate. The variometer will not display it beyond this range.
Although 30,000 feet is a high altitude at the beginning of the descent, if you subtract the average altitude of the Alps, it is actually only 20,000 feet. If you leave a height margin of several thousand feet, they can actually only consume about 15,000 to 16,000 feet.
With the current rate of descent, that was only a little over two minutes. Moreover, they had already consumed more than four thousand feet of altitude, so they had less than two minutes left.
Two minutes was not enough to complete a full startup cycle. Therefore, what Richard said was not groundless, but a real threat, and it was quite urgent.
"The plane is going too fast. I need to control the descent rate first." Xu Cang yelled wildly. It can be heard that Xu Cang is extremely anxious. A slight mistake in decision-making now may mean the difference between life and death.
Richard shouted, "It's just the right speed to get the engine started."
There are many ways to start an engine. For air starting, there are two types: wind turbine starting and cross-bleed starting. Wind turbine starting is most suitable for high-speed conditions, so Richard said the faster the speed, the better.
"No, the speed is too fast, exceeding the envelope of the wind turbine start-up. The air will be squeezed in the air intake and the aircraft will surge." Xu Cang has already put one hand from the thrust handle to the speed brake: "I'm going to pull the speed brake, you concentrate and listen to my ignition command."
"Speed ​​brake?" Richard was shocked: "The speed is too high, the speed brake will be damaged."
"Never mind!" Xu Cang shouted and pulled up the speed brake handle.
However, what followed was a violent shaking of the aircraft.
After exceeding the speed limit, the aircraft was in a normal state at first. However, as the speed exceeded the limit, the ultra-high speed environment put a great burden on the aircraft fuselage structure, so before the speed brake was pulled up, the aircraft began to tremble slightly.
However, as Richard said, the aircraft speed has exceeded 400 knots, which is beyond the use range of the speed brake. Forcibly pulling up the speed brake will cause great damage to the speed brake structure, and the speed brake is linked to the wing. When the speed brake is overloaded, the wing and fuselage also make painful cries, as if they are about to disintegrate at any time.
At this moment, the only sound in the cockpit was the continuous speeding warning, and the rest... was the breathing sound that seemed to smell fear and suffocation.
No, in this environment, even breathing seems unimportant.
Although ignoring the applicable range of the speed brake and raising the speed brake caused the fuselage to begin to vibrate more and more terrifyingly, the effect was also extremely obvious. The speed of the aircraft did not increase any more. To be precise, it increased at a smaller rate.
When Xu Cang looked at the airspeed indicator, the plane's speed had just exceeded 427 knots.
However, this is far from enough!
"Xu Cang, it's no use. We can't slow down!" Richard was sweating profusely. The effect of the speed brake was only to suppress the increase in the speed of the plane and could not reduce the speed at all.
Richard certainly knew the CS300 in-flight re-ignition envelope.
The altitude should be below 30,000 feet and the speed between 130 and 350 knots.
Therefore, what Xu Cang mentioned before about exceeding the starting envelope was true, at least in terms of speed.
Wind turbine starting does require high speed, but if the airflow speed is too fast, the engine will not be able to digest so much airflow when starting. Part of the airflow will be congested in the intake duct, thereby blocking the airflow coming from behind. The blockage will become more and more serious, and eventually the starting will fail.
Even if the start is successful by chance, as soon as the engine starts running, it will directly enter a surge state, which is not much different from a failed start.
They only had one chance to start, and it was reasonable for Xu Cang to wait when they were out of the envelope. It was for this reason that when Xu Cang stopped Richard from starting the engine a second time, Richard still followed Xu Cang's instructions even though he thought Xu Cang was too hesitant.
But now it's different. The speed brake is not as effective as expected. If we wait for a minute, the remaining altitude will be reduced by one minute. Even if the speed is increasing very slowly, it is still increasing. The situation is still getting worse. Why not try now?
At least Richard wasn't the kind of man who would wait to die while watching his life slip away!
However, Xu Cang had a completely different picture in his mind.
"Why didn't the speed slow down?!"
Xu Cang's right hand, which was holding the air brake, moved slightly, and it was this small movement that almost suffocated Richard. His left hand suddenly grabbed Xu Cang's right wrist and said, "Don't pull it anymore, the plane is going to fall apart."
There are actually two positions for the speed brake, namely the flight position and the raised position.
The expansion range of the raised position is larger than that of the flying position, and the actual deceleration effect is also stronger.
However, the flight position is called the flight position because it is the maximum position applicable to the flight phase, while the lift position can only be used during the ground phase.
The manual clearly states that it is not allowed to move the speed brake handle beyond the flight position in the air. Once the speed brake handle is moved beyond the flight position, it will cause the aircraft to vibrate and have a negative impact on the fuselage structure.
The plane is already overloaded due to excessive speeding. If the speed brake exceeds the limit, the plane will probably disintegrate on the spot.
Richard first noticed the movement of Xu Cang's right hand, fearing that Xu Cang would get carried away and pull the speed brake to the raised position.
However, Xu Cang had not reached that point yet. Even though he was terrified by the current situation, reason still prevailed.
It is critical now, but there is still a chance to turn around.
"I want to let go..." Xu Cang had just opened his mouth when he suddenly felt the side stick in his hand begin to shake wildly. The movement was so loud that it almost suppressed the sound of the speeding warning and the vibration of the aircraft.
"Is that... stick shaker?" Richard looked down at the side stick on his side, which was also vibrating slightly and at a high frequency uncontrollably, exactly the same feedback mechanism as that produced by a stall stick shaker.
Richard's mind went blank: "More than 400 knots of stick shaker?"
In many people's impressions, stall is just as its name suggests, that is, loss of speed, that is, stall usually only occurs at low speed.
Of course, this is a rather one-sided and narrow understanding. Real professional pilots generally know that stalling has no direct relationship with speed, and stalling can still occur at high speeds.
However, the occurrence of stick shaking at more than 400 knots really refreshed Richard's cognition.
However, the next moment, another huge doubt loomed in Richard's mind. He suddenly noticed that there was no stall pitch limit indicator on the attitude instrument.
In the stall warning logic of CS300, the stall pitch limit indicator should appear on the attitude instrument before the stall, so that the pilot can correct the aircraft's attitude.
But what is strange is that when the stick shake warning appeared, the pitch limit indicator did not appear.
"Thrust the stick?" At this time, Richard felt dizzy. He couldn't slow down and he even encountered a stall. However, the most common response to a stall is to push the stick up to reduce the angle of attack.
However, Xu Cang only pushed the pole slightly in the early stage, so as to prevent the plane from moving excessively in the horizontal dimension and leaving the center of the cyclone.
However, if the input of the push rod is increased, the speed, which was originally increasing slowly, may become uncontrollable again.
Therefore, even under the standard procedure for dealing with a stall, Richard seemed a little hesitant.
However, if the stall is not dealt with, the aircraft will gradually lose lift, and at that point, without the weight of lift to hold it back, the aircraft will still fall faster.
For a moment, Xu Cang and his companions were caught in a dilemma.
Xu Cang frowned. Since there was no pitch limit indicator, and no warning zone or red zone on the airspeed indicator, there was no indication at all.
This is so weird and totally out of character.
The crazy loss of altitude, the uncontrollable speed, the stall warning that came out of nowhere, and the engine that would never start.
Various problems are intertwined and piled up, and there seems to be no suitable entry point.
These issues are not unique but are essentially interrelated, or more precisely, contradictory.
The complexity of the situation made even the experienced Richard feel stuck in his thinking. He couldn't help but roared, "Xu Cang, tell me, what should I do!?"
"Damn it!" Even Xu Cang felt that the situation was extremely tricky at the moment. He raised his right index finger, showing a hint of hesitation.
Just now he didn't want to move the airbrake, but the flaps, and now this thought began to arise in his mind again.
There is no manual to tell them what to do now, and perhaps even Bombardier, as an aircraft manufacturer, could hardly imagine that such a complicated situation would arise.
"Let's go out!" Xu Cang suddenly said.
"What?" Richard was stunned: "What did you say?"
"Leave the center area." Xu Cang gritted his teeth and said, "I'll release the stall first, and then start driving with the stick."
"But if we bring a pole, we won't be able to get down."
In fact, as long as Xu Cang gave up the dive, he could reduce the speed by operating the lever. However, this also meant that the plane could not maintain the dive state, and the plane would enter a violent cyclone, which also meant that the landing was likely to fail.
"The current situation is unsolvable!" Xu Cang's face was gloomy. Without asking Richard's consent, he steadied the vibrating side stick and pushed it forward slightly.
Just like that, the speed of the plane, which had been slightly stabilized, suddenly soared, exceeding 430 knots in an instant.
"FUCK!" Richard cursed in anger. Because of Xu Cang's action, the plane not only soared in speed, but also increased its descent rate, leaving them with much less altitude.
The probability of success is infinitely close to zero.
However, Xu Cang's face changed suddenly after he hit the top pole. He was stunned for a moment and suddenly turned his head to look at Richard.
Richard was startled, then immediately realized: "Did the stick shaken not stop?"
In this situation, Xu Cang pushed the stick and the aircraft speed soared to more than 430 knots. At this moment, the aircraft's angle of attack should be very small. On the attitude instrument, the aircraft's attitude indication and FPV almost overlapped. In this situation, stall should not occur again.
"What's going on? How could this happen!" Richard's face turned pale. He began to realize that they were really in big trouble, a stall that could not be recovered.
"Is it because of the air content?" Xu Cang's heart couldn't stop beating wildly at this moment. He knew that it was a moment of life and death. Glancing at the cyclone wall on the side that was like a cliff, a crazy idea came to his mind.
However, the moment Xu Cangsheng had the thought, the stick-shaking warning that came from nowhere suddenly disappeared.
That's right, it just disappeared without any warning.
During this period, Xu Cang did nothing.
At this point, Xu Cang and Richard could not help but be stunned. This stick shake warning came without any reason, and it also seemed to disappear without any reason.
However, at this moment Xu Cang couldn't care why the stick shake warning disappeared again. He had to do something.
The moment the stick shake warning disappeared, Xu Cang immediately reduced the input to the push rod. Then his right hand, which had been hesitant before, no longer hesitated. He grabbed the flap handle and extended the flaps completely.
"Xu Cang, you..." Richard never expected that Xu Cang would release the flaps at this time. The current speed even exceeded the limit of the speed brake, and it exceeded the speed indicated on the flaps by an unknown amount.
"You want to use the flaps as speed brakes!?" Richard immediately understood Xu Cang's approach, but that didn't mean he agreed with it: "The flap structure will break."
Flaps generate lift as well as drag, and numerically, the drag is greater than the lift. Therefore, Xu Cang's use of flaps as speed brakes has theoretical support.
Since the speed brake's gears cannot be increased any further, the flap structure can only be sacrificed.
"We don't need flaps." Xu Cang just said indifferently.
"You are indeed a lunatic!"
With the flaps extended, and with Xu Cang reducing the amount of the top rod, the speed of the aircraft finally began to decrease. However, even so, the speed reduction trend was not fast enough, and it only dropped to 410 knots in more than ten seconds.
At this time, Xu Cang looked at the altimeter. It was nineteen thousand feet!
Xu Cang's eyelids twitched suddenly, and almost at the same moment, Richard could no longer control himself: "Xu Cang, it's too late!"
Xu Cang's teeth were almost bleeding, and he suddenly roared: "Ignite!"
Richard, who had been waiting for a long time, confirmed that the two main engine switches were turned off and the engine thrust handles were at slow speed, then put all the engine mode selection switches in the ignition position, turned on the cross bleed air, verified that the wing anti-ice switch was turned off, and finally turned on the main engine switch.
The whole action was done in one go, as if it had been rehearsed countless times, and it didn't even take two seconds.
After the main engine switch was turned on, a start failure/engine stall alarm suddenly appeared in the start consultation. Richard's face suddenly changed. As expected, what he worried about came true. Even though he had tried hard to control the speed of the aircraft, the speed was still too fast for the engine to re-ignite.
"No matter what!" Xu Cang shouted coldly, fearing that Richard would turn the main engine switch to the off position.
Richard knew that in some cases, such as when the N2 and EGT indexes were normal, the start advisory warning could be ignored. However, the problem now was that the engine indexes were not normal.
"Xu Cang, the N2 index can't go up." Richard yelled wildly. He could even vaguely see the undulating mountains below: "Too fast, the plane is going too fast, the plane will fail to start!"
Actually, the engine starts in one breath. If the breath comes up, then the road ahead will be smooth. But if the breath does not come up, it means the engine has failed to start.
Obviously, the excessive speed made the engine unable to keep up.
But the problem is that now the aircraft cannot accept engine start failure.
During this short period of start-up, the plane descended nearly 5,000 feet. According to the plan, they should level off at 12,000 to 13,000 feet.
However, there were only a little over two thousand feet left and the engine hadn't even started.
Suddenly, the plane shook violently, and without warning, it suddenly rolled to the left. Xu Cang, who was already under great pressure, was caught off guard and the plane had a slope of 40 degrees.
"Oh no! The right flap is broken!" Richard's breathing stagnated, and he looked down at the airspeed indicator. The speed that had originally decreased to 410 knots increased again, and instantly reached 420 knots.
This is the consequence of reduced drag after the flap breaks!
Originally, the plane couldn't even take off at 410 knots, and now that the speed is even higher, isn't that a death sentence?
At this moment, in such a hopeless situation, the weather radars that were originally turned on on both sides were suddenly covered by the terrain display, and then at such a critical moment, the desperate warning sounded.
"WHOO! PULL UP!"
"Terrain! Terrain! PULL UP!"
Perhaps it was the powerful airflow brought by the dive of the plane that broke away the clouds below, revealing the peaks of the Alps. The mountains that seemed so close, as if within reach, gave Xu Cang and Richard endless fear.
But at this moment, things are still not over!
With an extremely crisp breaking sound, the left slope originally formed by the breaking of the right flap suddenly disappeared by more than half.
Richard only felt that his brain had lost the ability to think, and the left flap was also broken.
The speed was too high, and the flap structure could not support it at all, so it was inevitable that it would break. But Richard did not expect the flap to break so quickly.
He didn't really care about flaps, he cared about speed.
As the flaps on both sides broke, the additional resistance disappeared in an instant, and the plane was like a wild horse running free of restraints. The speed that had just recovered to 420 knots continued to soar, directly reaching more than 440 knots.
Richard felt as if time had stopped at this moment. He could only rely on his instinct to gently utter two words: "It's over!"
…
Thousands of miles away, on the balcony of the conference room of the AVIC headquarters building, Lin Ming, who had just spoken to Xu Cang, was leaning on the edge of the balcony, squinting his eyes and looking at the sky. No one knew what he was thinking.
Suddenly, footsteps were heard behind him. Chen Jinwu stepped into the balcony and stood behind Lin Ming.
"I heard that you just talked to Xu Cang on the phone." Chen Jinwu spoke first.
Lin Ming withdrew his gaze, turned his face to the side, and just hummed.
"I also heard that you promised Xu Cang that the fuselage strength of CS300 can withstand a speed of 450 knots?" Chen Jinwu's voice gradually turned gloomy, like a volcano about to erupt.
At this time, Lin Ming slowly turned around, with no expression on his face: "You came here just to confirm this?"
Normally, even though Lin Ming was his superior, he was quite respectful to Chen Jinwu. But at this moment, Lin Ming's attitude seemed unusually cold.
"I'm here to confirm something else." Chen Jinwu didn't care about Lin Ming's attitude, but asked, "The CS300 fuselage can withstand a speed of 450 knots. Where did you get that data?"
Lin Ming simply replied: "Under flight test."
"Flight test!?" Chen Jinwu suddenly jumped up and shouted angrily: "Neither we nor Bombardier have ever conducted such a high-speed flight test. Not only us, no aircraft-related organization will test a passenger plane at a speed of 450 knots!"
A large passenger aircraft is a complete commodity, and its performance is to meet the standard and leave an appropriate safety margin. However, a speed of 450 knots is obviously far beyond the standard performance, which is abnormal in terms of business rules.
Chen Jinwu has extensive experience in AVIC and knows a lot of things, much more than he should know at his level.
At least he was completely certain that AVIC had not tested the strength of the CS300 aircraft fuselage in an ultra-high-speed environment in actual flight, and had not even verified it in theory, because there was no need at all.
Bombardier is even more impossible. It is an out and out commercial company. How could it take the risk of conducting flight tests that are completely inconsistent with business rules?
Lin Ming looked at Chen Jinwu calmly, and after a long while he said: "Yes, you are right!"
Chen Jinwu could hardly believe his ears: "Then you...you are lying! Are you lying to Xu Cang?"
Lin Ming's expression did not change at all, just like ice that had not melted for ten thousand years: "Lie to him? Maybe! But, does the number of 450 make you think of anything?"
"You..." Chen Jinwu was stunned, and a certain memory in his mind seemed to become clear: "You mean..."
"Yes, I believe Xu Cang knows that I am lying to him." Lin Ming looked at Chen Jinwu: "His thoughts, his wishes, and his awareness are far beyond you and me. Mr. Chen, changing history always requires great perseverance and courage."
Chen Jinwu only felt the pain in his chest that could not be stopped: "Why is it him?"
Lin Ming lowered his head: "This is his own choice."
"But he's only in his twenties. This isn't a responsibility he should take!"
At this time, Lin Ming suddenly laughed: "Because we can't shoulder such a responsibility. He is very young, but he stands higher than us, and he consciously took on responsibilities that he shouldn't have taken on."
"Bombardier is having a hard time now, but so are we. Bombardier needs this opportunity, but so do we."
Chen Jinwu gritted his teeth and said, "Does Xu Cang need to sacrifice his life for this opportunity? For a lie that doesn't exist?"
"Mr. Chen." Lin Ming said calmly, "I wonder if you know about the CS300 test flight accident two years ago."
Chen Jinwu frowned: "I've only heard some rumors."
"No, that's not a rumor, but a fact." Lin Ming narrated calmly: "Two years ago, before delivering Bombardier's first CS300 fuselage, we conducted the last test. During that test, the aircraft went into a spiral due to some circumstances. For us, the aircraft was not at a high altitude when the spiral occurred, so the black box was finally preserved. The data showed that the aircraft disintegrated in the air when the spiral accelerated to 456 knots."
Chen Jinwu was stunned. He didn't expect that this data was obtained in this way.
"What about the test pilot?" Chen Jinwu asked.
Lin Ming glanced at Chen Jinwu and said nothing.
Chen Jinwu pursed his lips and did not ask about the test pilot: "But this data is actually of no reference value."
Depending on the aircraft shape and environment, it does not mean that the CS300 fuselage can withstand a speed of 450 knots once and will be able to withstand it every time thereafter.
Moreover, the aircraft disintegrated at 456 knots, with only 6 knots of margin. Or, to be more precise, this was not a margin at all.
"Yes, this does have no practical reference value." Lin Ming answered without any concealment.
"But how did Xu Cang know that? Even I don't know."
Lin Ming frowned: "I don't know why Xu Cang knew this. However, for the CS300 aircraft, the speed of 450 knots has special significance. It is definitely not a coincidence that Xu Cang could accurately point it out."
"Then he should also understand that this number can't protect him from anything." Chen Jinwu said coldly.
"I know!" Lin Ming pondered for a moment and gave a sad and miserable smile: "But he still made that choice."
…
In the cockpit, the fear of death almost enveloped Xu Cang and Richard, making it impossible for them to breathe.
"Carry the pole, carry the pole, Xu Cang!" Richard suddenly shouted, like a dying beast shouting from instinct: "Believe in it, just like we believe in you!"
At this point, slowly pulling the rod will no longer solve the problem.
In normal operation, when facing a dive recovery, the stick should be pulled slowly and gently. If the stick is pulled violently, it will impose an instantaneous overload on the fuselage, which may cause the fuselage to break. Especially now that the speed of the aircraft is too high, exceeding the limit speed by a lot, it has already caused a great burden on the fuselage. If the operation is rough, it will only make things worse.
Xu Cang certainly understood what Richard asked him to do, but his next action was to completely gamble his life on the strength of the CS300.
At this moment, with the terrain warnings ringing in his ears more and more urgently and the N2 readings that never rose in his eyes, Xu Cang knew that it was time to make his own choice.
“Is it going to come to this in the end?”
He admitted that he had anticipated this scenario, but deep down, he was not willing to make this choice. Xu Cang took a deep breath, and suddenly, his mood seemed to calm down.
But it was only a sudden peace that lasted for a moment.
It is like a cheetah hunting. If it doesn’t attack, it will be nothing. But once it attacks, it is as fast as lightning, fierce and invincible.
Suddenly, Xu Cang gritted his teeth, exerted force with his left hand, and pulled the side stick back violently, while shouting from the depths of his soul: "May God bless China!"