Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 184 Electricity from the Void!Weird and unexpected! (Please subscribe!)
Facing Xu Cang's half-smile, half-serious, half-joking words, there was a moment of stiffness in the air.In the end, Leo shook his lips and squeezed out an ugly smile: "Mr. Xu, you really know how to joke."

"You must not have checked the weather, right? The weather on the flight route is not very good. If something happens, don't I want to save you?" Xu Cang said with a smile, "Do you think what I said makes sense?"

Leo was taken aback, then heaved a sigh of relief, and a bright smile appeared on his face: "Then something is really going to happen, and I really need to trouble Mr. Xu to take action."

Just when Xu Cang said the opening remarks just now, Leo felt a little nervous for no reason.After all, in Leo's view, Xu Cang should not be taken lightly.As a result, judging from Xu Cang's subsequent words and expressions, it seemed that he was overly nervous.Perhaps, this is Xu Cang's unique way of greeting.

After Leo finished speaking, he looked at the seat number of the seat next to Xu Cang, and then turned around to ask the purser if he could transfer the seat to Xu Cang's side.

The aisle of the 747 first-class cabin is very spacious, and Leo’s parking does not affect the follow-up personnel to pass through. Moreover, unlike the 737 cabin, which has only one aisle, the 747 has dual aisles, and at worst, you can use the other aisle.Therefore, no follow-up staff complained about Leo's behavior.

It's just that when Leo turned his head, he happened to see Song Xinyang who was not far behind him. Leo froze for a moment, then showed a gentle smile, and greeted Song Xinyang: "Mr. Song, I didn't expect to meet you here!"

Communications throughout Europe are very close, and Airbus and Rolls-Royce naturally travel frequently. Song Xinyang's rank is not low, so it's not surprising that Leo can know each other.

Facing the chief financial officer of Airbus, Song Xinyang thought that his status was still lower, so he lowered his posture: "Mr. Leo, what a coincidence, are you going home?"

The headquarters of Airbus is not in the UK. If Leo works, he should go to Toulouse, not Heathrow.But Song Xinyang knew that Leo's hometown was in the suburbs of London.

"That's right, I have dealt with a very difficult matter recently, so go home and rest for a while." Leo nodded.

Song Xinyang probably knew what Leo was talking about, and he just flattered: "Mr. Leo, you have worked hard."

"It's not hard!" Leo laughed, his gaze gradually deepened: "However, I feel that Mr. Song is also very busy recently, right?"

Song Xinyang's face was very ugly. The air crash of the Concorde plane did a lot of harm to Rolls-Royce. In addition, Rolls-Royce was already at a disadvantage in the competition with General Motors and Pratt & Whitney. Squeeze out of the ranks of the Big Three.

Facing Leo's slightly teasing words, Song Xinyang was not only not annoyed, but rather eager, and stepped forward: "Mr. Leo, if it's convenient, can we talk about the A380?"

Leo is the real high-level executive of Airbus, if he can be persuaded, it will have a huge effect on Luo Luo.Of course, from a rational point of view, Song Xinyang didn't think he could talk to Leo with his own mouth.However, it would be a pity to waste such a good opportunity.

However, Leo shook his head again and again: "Now is my vacation time. I don't talk about official business during my vacation. Besides, now that my friend is here, I'm afraid I don't have time to talk about such serious things with Mr. Song."

"Friend?" Song Xinyang took a few steps forward, and soon saw who the friend Leo mentioned was, and when he saw who it was, he couldn't help exclaiming: "Xu Cang?"

Leo looked at Xu Cang and Song Xinyang very strangely, slightly surprised that they knew each other.

Xu Cang raised his eyelids: "Where's Yang Tian?"

"He's economy class, and he will board the plane later." Song Xinyang was very suspicious, and became vigilant: "Are you going to London for business?"

Xu Cang laughed, showing two rows of white teeth: "Is it convenient if I say to visit Luoluo's headquarters?"

Song Xinyang was startled: "If you really want to go, why not?"

Leo is a genius, just listening to the conversation between Xu Cang and Song Xinyang, he immediately guessed: "It seems that Mr. Xu is very busy."

As he spoke, he snapped his fingers at the purser, and said in English: "If it's convenient, please help me make an exchange with this gentleman."

The purser probably knew Leo's identity, so he immediately responded and went to check the information of the seat next to Xu Cang.Fortunately, after some confirmation, the seats around Xu Cang were empty, so Leo and Song Xinyang moved to Xu Cang's side respectively.

Although Xu Cang's flight this time has a certain purpose, he also needs the help of Leo or Song Xinyang at critical moments.After all, if the crew of this plane is stubborn and refuses to enter the cockpit when something goes wrong, it will be quite troublesome.

With Leo or Song Xinyang, two well-known people who have a reputation, it will be quite easy to intervene at that time.However, Xu Cang didn't like Leo and Song Xinyang sitting on the left and right sides of him, as if they were guarding the dharma on the left and right, which would make Xu Cang uncomfortable.

However, when Leo made the arrangements, Xu Cang was too embarrassed to ask him to leave, so he could only acquiesce in the occurrence of this situation.

Thinking of sitting like this for the next ten hours or so, Xu Cang felt that his waist was starting to ache.

At this moment, in the courtyard of the Erhai Base, Yi Feng from the Strategy Department of National University Aviation unexpectedly appeared here.

Previously, because Xu Cang needed to prepare for the Great Britain Air Disaster, and at the same time, some minor problems occurred when submitting the materials for forming an airline company, which delayed the time, so Xu Cang delayed the matter of renting 21 ARJ[-]s.

Qin Xin listened quite well to Xu Cang's words. Xu Cang said that we would talk about it when he came back, so Qin Xin canceled the plan to go to Hanjing.As a result, Yi Feng couldn't wait on Hanjing's side.

If the 21 ARJ[-]s stay in China National Airlines for one more day, then they will lose one more day’s money. How can Yi Feng bear it?Therefore, Qin Xin didn't go to Hanjing, but Yi Feng made a special trip to Erhai from Hanjing.

Yi Feng has always been pampered since he was a child, and the bumpy journey to Erhai Lake was really a torment for Yi Feng.As a result, when he arrived at Erhai Base, Qin Xin was already planning to go to Jianchuan Air Traffic Management Bureau the next day, but if Yi Feng was late for another night, it would be a waste of time.

When the executives of National Airline came over, Qin Xin naturally wanted to entertain them warmly.Originally, Qin Xin planned to send Yi Feng to live in the urban area, but Yi Feng became very impatient, and after eating casually at the base, he began to talk with Qin Xin about lending ARJ21.

In the courtyard, Qin Xin and Yi Feng were sitting on the edge of the flower bed in the center of the courtyard. Qin Xin cut to the chase: "Xu Cang is not here, our discussion today is at most a decision of intention, and everything needs to wait for Xu Cang to come back." Make a decision."

"I know, what is that kid Xu Cang up to?"

"He is now estimated to be on a flight to England."

Yi Feng frowned and said, "He went to England, what did he do there?"

"I don't know. If he doesn't say it, then I won't ask." Qin Xinyan returned to the main topic: "Mr. Yi, you came here specially, because there is a consensus within the National University?"

"That's right! As long as you are willing to lease our ARJ21 fleet, we can give you a [-]% discount, and at the same time provide training assistance in the early stage, including theoretical instructors and simulators." So he made the words clear.

To be honest, the conditions of National University Airlines are quite sincere.It can be seen from this that the ARJ21 fleet is an embarrassing existence in the route structure of China National Airlines at this time.Previously, due to political considerations, a batch of ARJ21s were purchased, but now they have completely lost money.

"A 21% discount." Qin Xin was already tempted by hearing this: "I heard that you have twenty ARJ[-]s over there? Do you mean to rent them all out?"

Yi Feng said anxiously: "Of course, it must be rented out, so why keep it?"

"Twenty ARJ21s." Qin Xin dragged out the ending, making Yi Feng's heart itch: "Mr. Yi, I can tell that you are very sincere. However, renting twenty ARJ21s in one go, we Not so much money."

Yi Feng was stunned: "What do you mean, no money? Then Xu Cang vowed to talk to me about cooperation?"

"Mr. Yi, we are really not joking with you. The rent of the 737 we rented from Muhua Airlines is still in arrears! Recently, we have introduced a lot of pilots, and the expenditure is a bit high. Moreover, Jianchuan before There was a little flight accident at the airport, which caused the funds to be tight now."

"You mean the time when the elevator felt that there was a problem with the centering device?" Yi Feng still knew about the accident of flight 9951N.After all, Boeing has since provided each airline with a self-inspection software to check whether there is a software problem in the elevator feel centering device.

Qin Xin nodded: "Boeing has agreed to compensate, but the money has not yet arrived. In the future, we still need to communicate with Blue Sky Airlines about the previous wet lease agreement, so it will not be clear about the funds for a while. .”

"No, what do you mean?" Yi Feng rubbed his temples: "You don't want us to give it away for nothing, do you?"

"How could it be?" Qin Xin lowered her head and hid her expression in the darkness, she just whispered: "My idea is that twenty ARJ21s are indeed too much for us, even if it is just the rent, we It will be unbearable for a long time, so can you rent less, such as five first?"

"Five?" Yi Feng was instantly upset: "Then what about our remaining fifteen? Either we want all of them, or we don't want all of them. How can there be only five of them, and the planes are still on sale. ?”

The meaning of National University Airlines is very simple. It is almost meaningless to only ask for five planes.But once these five planes are given away, isn't the already weak ARJ21 fleet more marginalized?Yi Feng couldn't accept this feeling of neither up nor down, neither left nor right.

Either lease it all, or stop the business.

Qin Xin immediately showed a troubled expression.There is no way, eating twenty ARJ21s in one go is enough to support the entire Erhai base to death.Twenty planes, this is already the fleet size of a medium-sized airline.

Seeing that Qin Xin stopped talking, Yi Feng was also very anxious in his heart.He managed to find someone who was willing to accept ARJ21, but he was unwilling to give up.

Therefore, Yi Feng thought for a while, and asked tentatively: "How does Xu Cang plan to use this batch of ARJ21?"

These are not commercial secrets, Qin Xin directly pointed it out to Yi Feng: "Xu Cang wants to use ARJ21 to fly the provincial routes."

"Intra-provincial routes? ARJ21 is indeed suitable for flying short-distance feeder flights. But, can this really make money? We have also tried to use ARJ21 to fly short-distance routes, but we can't say that it makes money, it just means less loss."

"It's inconvenient for me to disclose any more details." Qin Xin said, "However, Xu Cang is very optimistic about the prospect of ARJ21 operating routes within the province. We really sincerely want 21 of your ARJ[-]s, but why did we get them?" Shy. Of course, this business cannot be done. We will compensate Xu Cang for the damage caused to the simulator in Hanjing. However, in terms of the amount of compensation, we think the amount is a bit large. We hope to send someone there Check it out."

Qin Xin had heard about Xu Cang burning the simulator in Hanjing.Although it was outrageous no matter how you looked at it, Qin Xin didn't intend to let it go.However, Qin Xin felt that it was biased to place all the losses of the simulator on Xu Cang. Even if he wanted to pay compensation, he had to figure out how much responsibility Xu Cang should bear.

When Qin Xin said this, he was already ready to cut off the deal. After all, the premise for Yi Feng not to hold Xu Cang responsible for burning down the simulator was to facilitate the lease of ARJ21.It is estimated that the sale cannot be done now, and the liability for compensation is naturally inevitable.

Hearing what Qin Xin said, Yi Feng immediately understood, and he was a little flustered in his heart, but his expression remained calm: "Then if you don't want our twenty ARJ21s, how will you fly the subsequent intra-provincial routes?"

As if knowing that Yi Feng would say that, Qin Xin smiled and said, "I heard that Muhua Aviation still has ten ARJ21s. We can seek cooperation from Muhua Aviation."

"Muhua Airlines? Didn't you just say that there is still an aircraft rented by Muhua Airlines that has not been settled? Would they be willing to lease the plane to you again?"

"We don't have much money, but our Muhua Airlines has the handle!" Qin Xin laughed.

Yi Feng was dumbfounded by Qin Xin's words: "What do you mean by that?"

Qin Xin suddenly yelled towards the administrative building opposite: "Linglong!"

As soon as the voice fell, a pretty figure came out from a room on the first floor of the administration building. It was Si Linglong.

Si Linglong walked up to Yi Feng with a chuckle, and called out timidly, "Brother Feng."

"Linglinglong, why are you here?" Yi Feng looked at Qin Xin in horror: "What do you mean, you abducted the granddaughter of Mr. Muhua Airlines?"

Good guy, that's really holding the handle of Muhua Aviation in your hands.

More than an hour later, in the cockpit of British Airways flight 1009, the captain and the co-pilot were chatting aimlessly in English, and the second captain sitting in the back yawned , patted the shoulder of the responsible captain present: "I'm going to sleep first, and I'll take over in three hours."

Such an ultra-long-distance international flight is definitely not possible for two people to fly. This time, there are two captains and one co-pilot. Keep your energy high.

To be reasonable, the strength of the crew configuration of British Airways this time is actually quite stingy.If it is more abundant, it is estimated that two complete flight crews will be sent directly, that is to say, two co-pilots are also sent.

Such a three-person, two-pilot crew configuration is said to take turns to rest, but in fact the co-pilot must have to work longer hours, and the captain can get more rest.

The 747 has a two-story structure in the nose part. Most of the time, the flight crew lounge is arranged on the second floor. There is a small bed, so it can be regarded as a qualified rest area.

The captain in charge waved his hand: "Go!"

After the second captain went out, the two present continued to chat.Pilots are basically like this. Chatting is not necessarily because there are so many things to talk about, but to pass the boring time.Because once a person becomes bored and unable to move, he will immediately start to feel sleepy.

Especially in the ears of many pilots, the sound of the engine running is like a lullaby. There is nothing to keep them awake, and sleepiness will soon hit them.

While chatting, the co-pilot glanced outside and suddenly felt something unusual. He stopped talking, looked at his navigation DU, and then at the weather radar panel to confirm that the weather radar on his side was The one that was open revealed a hint of doubt.

The captain noticed that the co-pilot was a little strange, but he didn't have any special reaction, so he asked casually, "What's wrong?"

"Captain, do you think it's cloudy outside?" The co-pilot pointed out the windshield.

"Huh?" The captain sat up straight all of a sudden, shifted his gaze to the outside of the windshield, and immediately realized that he could still see the bright moonlight and the sky full of stars just now, but now it was pitch black outside the windshield, and it was really a little bit of stars and moons. They couldn't see it anymore: "It seems to have entered the cloud."

Generally speaking, if you can’t see the stars in the sky during night flight, then you are entering the clouds. It is common sense, and it is common for the co-pilot to have such questions.

The captain looked back from the side window again, he couldn't even see the navigation lights on the wings, and couldn't help sighing: "The clouds are so thick?"

It’s just that the visual conditions at the distance from the nose of the aircraft to the tip of the wing are so poor, how thick are the clouds?
"Cumulonimbus? It doesn't look like it!" The captain's hand wiped the weather radar panel, and his fingertips felt that the button of the weather plus turbulence mode had been pressed, which meant that the weather radar on his side had been turned on.

Not only on the captain's side, but also on the navigation DU page of the first officer's side, there is no display of bad weather.The captain squinted at the range circle of the co-pilot that time, but because the lights in the cockpit were turned off, the brightness of the instrument display of the co-pilot was dimmed, so he couldn't see it clearly for a while: "How much did you adjust the distance circle? "

"Forty nautical miles!" The co-pilot quickly replied.

"Forty nautical miles." The captain snorted, and he also adjusted the distance circle of forty nautical miles.So, the captain quickly reset his side to [-] nautical miles, waited for a while, and waited for the weather radar to respond for a while, so as to present the weather conditions within the range of [-] nautical miles.

However, after waiting for five or six seconds, the complete [-] nautical mile weather image was presented in front of the captain.Only in the ten o'clock direction of the plane, there is an extremely weak echo area at a distance of about sixty nautical miles.However, that place seemed to be completely out of touch with where the plane was at the moment.

The captain frowned all of a sudden, so he expanded the distance circle to 160 nautical miles and 320 nautical miles, but the results of the investigation showed that there was no obvious weather that could be regarded as a threat.

"WTF!" The captain looked out again, and what caught his eyes was the endless darkness that seemed to be able to swallow everything. This is obviously not a sign that the sky is starless and moonless, but that the plane has indeed entered the clouds Only phenomenon.However, it is strange that such a dense cloud cover did not respond at all on the aircraft's weather radar.

The co-pilot guessed at this time: "Is it the clouds with insufficient water vapor?"

Under the action of the working principle of the weather radar, it can only distinguish the severe weather containing water vapor. If the water vapor is insufficient, even if the plane enters the cloud, it will not be displayed on the weather radar.

Of course the captain understood this principle, but the clouds were so thick that he couldn't even see the navigation lights on the wingtips. This level of cumulus clouds doesn't look like the kind of lack of water vapor.

"Does the weather radar have reservations?" The captain pulled the seat back, then turned to get the aircraft's maintenance book to see if there were any reservations or maintenance records on the weather radar.

"No way, we are flying at night. If the weather radar is not working, the plane will not be allowed to pass. Besides, the company dispatch will not fail to remind us of such a big problem."

According to the regulations, for night flight of instrument flight, if there is no weather radar, it is an unacceptable item, and it will not be released.

The captain also understands this truth, but what if the maintenance and the company's dispatch lose their heads?As long as it is done by people, there is a possibility of mistakes, no matter how outrageous mistakes.

Therefore, the captain did not give up the idea of ​​checking the maintenance book, but continued to take it over and started to check it.Not only looking at today's records, but even scrolling forward to see past records.

Because some aircraft failures have warning signs.For example, if the previous weather radar had a failure record, although it was repaired later, there may be a possibility of recurrence, so it is better to confirm the cause of the failure.

While looking through the maintenance records, the captain asked the co-pilot without raising his head, "What's the temperature outside now?"

The co-pilot called up the outside temperature display from the CDU and replied, "minus 42 degrees. Do you still have anti-icing on?"

It's minus 42 degrees, which is too cold to be regarded as icing conditions, at least in level flight. If you descend, you should consider turning on anti-icing.

The captain finally raised his head this time and took a look outside. The outside was still invisible, his face was full of worry, and he clicked his mouth: "Go!"

"Oh!" The co-pilot didn't care, and turned on the anti-icing of the engine without any anti-icing for the wings.

About 5 minutes later, the captain finished reading a maintenance book, put it back on the back seat with force, and adjusted the back of the seat back, sighed, and stretched his body Lazy: "Oh, there is no record on it."

"Captain, it should be ordinary cumulus congestus, right?" The co-pilot said, "There is no forecast of dangerous weather on the route, so there should be no problem, right?"

The weather radar is fine, the weather report is fine, and the plane is flying fairly smoothly now, so it should be fine.

The captain hummed, put his hands behind his head, turned his head and said, "Check with the controller, is there any crew on our side who has responded to dangerous weather or applied for a bypass."

"Is this necessary?" The co-pilot wondered.Now the plane looks like it is in the clouds, but it is flying smoothly, it does not look like it is in bad weather at all. I have also checked the weather radar and the maintenance book, and I have to confirm with the control?
However, although the co-pilot felt it was unnecessary, he followed the captain's instructions and called on the radio frequency: "Jakarta, British Airways 1009?"

"BA 1009, Jakarta, please speak!"

"Has any aircraft reported bad weather or requested to fly around our current location?" The co-pilot asked, "Can you see dangerous weather on our side on the radar?"

The Jakarta control quickly replied: "British Airways 1009, there is no indication of dangerous weather on our radar. The previous flight on your route was an hour and a half ago, and there was no report of bad weather or an application for circumvention."

The captain smacked his lips, waved his hand, and signaled to the co-pilot that it was okay.

"received, thank you!"

The control in Jakarta is quite enthusiastic: "British Airways 1009, do you need help?"

"not needed for now."

After finishing the conversation with the controller, the co-pilot smiled and said, "Captain, it should be pure cumulus congestus, there is nothing wrong with it."

"Well! It should be." After reaching this point, the captain also felt that there was no major problem, so he yawned: "Why don't I squint and take a look at the plane?"

The co-pilot nodded: "Captain, I'll take over."

"Hand over!" The captain twisted his neck from side to side, loosening his muscles and bones. Although he said he wanted to take a nap, he didn't close his eyes immediately, but casually looked at the instrument display on the side of himself and the co-pilot.

Suddenly, the captain's eyes fixed on the airspeed indicator, he sat up straight suddenly, his eyes moved back and forth between the airspeed indicator on his side and the airspeed indicator on the co-pilot's side.

The co-pilot was a little confused by the captain's action, so he said, "Captain, what's the matter?"

The captain looked back and forth for a while: "No, the airspeeds of our two sides are different?"

"Huh?" The co-pilot was taken aback for a moment, then lowered his head to look at his and the captain's PFD.From this comparison, I immediately saw the problem. The airspeed on my side was seven knots higher than that on the captain's side.

"Seven knots short?" The co-pilot's heart skipped a beat: "So much short?"

As long as the aircraft speed differs by more than five knots, the airspeed can be considered unreliable.However, at this moment the PFD was not showing inconsistent airspeed or Mach number displays.

However, according to the entry conditions of the "Inconsistent or Unreliable Indicated Airspeed" checklist, the current situation already meets the requirements.

"Captain, do you need a checklist?" This situation is quite embarrassing. It is true that the airspeed is seven knots short, and the entry conditions for the checklist are met. However, it seems that the airspeed is unreliable like before. The entry requirements for the courses are different.

The captain hesitated for a while, but soon he made a decision: "Do it, if you meet the entry requirements of the checklist, then do the checklist."

The "Inconsistent or Unreliable Indicated Airspeed" checklist has memory items, so the captain directly disconnected the autopilot and autothrottle, and at the same time signaled the co-pilot to close the guidance switches on both sides.

According to the checklist, the aircraft's altitude, vertical speed, and EPR indicators may not be reliable in this situation.All they have to do now is figure out which is the correct data.

Fortunately, there are not only left and right airspeed indicators on the plane, but also a backup instrument. Later, by comparing with the backup instrument, it can be determined which data source is correct and which is wrong.

Because the follow-up involves the steps of re-selecting the air data computer.

"Let's do the checklist!" The captain set a thrust for level flight based on memory, and the subsequent steps are not memorized items, and need to be done according to the checklist.

The co-pilot's reaction was very fast. He immediately took out a thick 747 quick checklist, and quickly found the location of the "Indicated Airspeed Inconsistent or Unreliable Airspeed" checklist by seeing the catalog index.

However, suddenly the co-pilot's movements stopped.

The captain couldn't hear the co-pilot rummaging through the checklist, so he turned his head to look at the co-pilot, and found that the co-pilot kept looking through the checklist, and the whole person was as still as a sculpture.

"What's wrong?" The captain thought that the co-pilot couldn't find the relevant content, and immediately shouted: "In Chapter 10, the first one is it."

"No, captain!" The co-pilot finally moved, his face was full of bewilderment, his left hand was holding the quick checklist, while his right hand kept searching.

Then, the co-pilot slowly raised his right hand, and the paper on the checklist was brought up directly as if stuck to the co-pilot's right fingertip.

Looking at this magic-like phenomenon, the captain gasped.

A look of fear appeared on the co-pilot's face: "Captain, what's going on?"

However, just as the co-pilot's voice fell, there was only a slight collision sound coming from nowhere, the captain looked up instantly, and saw countless dense electric lights blasting directly on the windshield glass in front of him.

(End of this chapter)