Return to 2000: Captain of the Great Powers

Chapter 187 Xu Cang, What Should We Do! ? (Please subscribe!)

In the cockpit, the co-pilot was sweating profusely looking for flight charts at unreliable airspeeds.This time, the captain may have sensed the pressure on the co-pilot, so he didn't urge him to urge him. Instead, he was patient and forced himself to stop talking.

Just by looking at the sweat streaming down the face of the co-pilot, he could tell that the co-pilot was on the verge of collapsing at this moment, but any pressure was applied, and he might collapse at any time.What's worse, now he has to concentrate all his energy on controlling the plane, and he simply doesn't have the ability to play two roles.

Suddenly, the captain glanced at the co-pilot casually, and his pupils shrank.Ignoring the plane, I freed my right hand and slapped the checklist: "Isn't this the flight chart?"

"This is not a turbulent flight." The co-pilot trembled in the middle of speaking, and he suddenly saw that there was another mark on the title of the chart-unreliable airspeed.

That said, the charts below are for both turbulent flight and unreliable airspeeds.Before that, he was really nervous. He only read the first few words of the title of the chart, and didn't read the whole thing at all. No wonder he couldn't find it.

This flight chart is actually on the first page of the flight performance chapter!
The co-pilot swallowed, wishing he could find a crack in the ground and get in.However, he quickly adjusted his emotions and turned his attention to checking the meter.

The captain on the left breathed a sigh of relief. Although the process was a bit tortuous, it finally achieved the corresponding result.However, after waiting for about a minute, there was still no response from the co-pilot.

The captain, who was already holding back his anger, couldn't help but began to curse: "Can you find it?"

"There are too many charts here, and I don't know which one to use!" In the co-pilot's field of vision, there are a total of six charts in this small chapter on unreliable airspeed, but the co-pilot doesn't know which one to use?
The captain was so angry that the veins on his forehead popped up, and he was about to snatch the checklist from the co-pilot and put it on his lap.At worst, he could do two things at once, manipulating the plane and looking at his watch at the same time. Anyway, he could see that the co-pilot was hopeless.

However, at the moment when the captain stretched out his right hand, the two windshields in front of the cockpit suddenly blasted countless fine electric arcs.Previously, windshields did arc from time to time, but only locally and for a brief moment.

But this time, the arc light almost covered the entire two windshields, and the bright yellow light almost illuminated the entire cockpit, and the most strange thing was that the arc not only did not disappear immediately after it was generated, but continued to maintain On the windshield, the image is horrific.

The reason for such a terrifying arc phenomenon is that in order to maintain the strength of the two windshields in front, electric wires are buried in the windshield so that the windshield can always be kept warm by means of electric heating.

Because if the windshield is too cold, it can become very brittle.If something hard hits the windshield at this time, it is likely to shatter the windshield directly.

Therefore, if the windshield heating function is lost, the speed limit must be implemented at low altitudes, otherwise the situation will be very dangerous once a bird strikes.

However, in line with the principle of "use it or don't equip it", usually only the front two windshields have a heating function, while the glass of the side windows does not.It is for this reason that only the front two main windshields have arcs, which is due to the induction between the electric wires in the windshields and the external charges.

Although windshield arcing is rare, it is not uncommon to see extremes.It's just that such a large-scale and dense arc at this moment is quite rare.

"Captain, is there anything wrong with this?" Regarding this, the co-pilot's mood was relatively stable. After all, he had experienced this phenomenon when he encountered a relatively serious thunderstorm before and when he was passing through the clouds.When I saw this scene for the first time, I was a little terrified, but the captain at the time thought it was quite interesting, and there really was no problem after that.

As long as a person has experienced it once, the sense of fear will plummet.

The captain turned on the landing lights again, but there was still that kind of unknown substance around the plane, like clouds but not clouds, like fog but not fog.

The captain actually didn't know what to do. If he encountered this situation in normal rain clouds, he wouldn't panic at all.In my professional career, I guess I have encountered it more than a dozen times, and I have long been familiar with it.

However, in such an environment, any problems are magnified, which makes the captain feel quite anxious.

However, fortunately, the star-like arc light did not last long after all. After about ten seconds, the windshield arc finally returned to normal.

Just when the captain felt a little relieved, click, it seems that the most exquisite porcelain in the world has cracked.The captain, who had just let go of his mind, shrank suddenly, and his brain lost the ability to think at this moment.

There is no porcelain on the plane, but there is a windshield, and the sound just now was clearly the sound of the windshield cracking.

"Where's the flashlight? Take a snapshot!" The captain broke out in cold sweat, and hurriedly asked the co-pilot to check it out.

Every pilot will be equipped with a flashlight to observe the aircraft at night and so on.This equipment is standard equipment just like the pilot's reflective vest. If the pilot is found not to have a flashlight or the flashlight is out of power during the bureau's ramp inspection, he will be punished.

Of course, even if the pilot did not bring a flashlight, the cockpit of the aircraft is equipped with a flashlight, and they are all at hand at the pilot's seat.However, this flashlight is not portable, but is connected to the airframe by wires, and the pilot can only pull it out a certain distance.It's just that, considering various situations, the range of expansion and contraction is very large, and in most cases there is no limit.

However, although the flashlight that comes with this plane can be manually adjusted in brightness, even the brightest level is actually not very powerful, and it is slightly inferior to the map lights above the crew seats.

This map light is specially used for pilots to read various chart files at night or when the light is dim, and the brightness can also be adjusted.However, the maximum brightness intensity of this map light is very high, much stronger than a flashlight.

However, the irradiation angle of this map light is limited. Basically, the maximum irradiation range can only be concentrated on a part of the area in front of the fuselage. It is simply impossible to use the map light to illuminate the windshield.

Because the bureau's ramp checks are a rare activity, some pilots don't bother to carry flashlights.However, fortunately, the co-pilot was still "abiding by the law" and quickly took out the flashlight from the flight case.

As the flashlight was turned on, a strong light shot out, first shining on the left front windshield, and the two people were waiting for the left front windshield with four eyes.What made the captain feel relieved was that even though he heard the obvious sound of the windshield cracking, the windshield did not break into pieces immediately, so it is very likely that the windshield was only cracked.

The most urgent thing now is to find out where the crack is. Whether it is on the outer windshield or the inner windshield, the location of the crack is different, and the degree of danger caused is completely different.

In addition to being anxious at the beginning, the captain finally focused most of his energy on the control of the aircraft after confirming that the fragmentation was not that serious.

However, even though the captain was relatively sure that there was a crack, the co-pilot still couldn't find where the crack was after searching for a long time.

The captain had no choice but to glance out, seeing how incompetent the co-pilot was, and seeing his way of shooting, he immediately became angry and cursed: "You can find anything if you take a straight shot, take it sideways, give me a sideways shot!" According to!"

The co-pilot was scolded again by the captain, his whole body shivered, and he immediately tilted the angle of the flashlight.It has to be said that the captain is experienced, and the co-pilot quickly found the crack just by changing the angle of incidence.

The co-pilot pointed to the center of the windshield on his side: "Captain, the crack is here!"

The captain quickly took a look at it, and sure enough, a crack cut diagonally from the lower right corner of the right front windshield to the upper left corner, dividing the entire right front windshield into two parts.

"It can be seen that it is the outer windshield, or the inner one?" Actually, from the captain's point of view, it is roughly certain that it is the outer windshield, but the captain still wants to get a second confirmation of such a terrible thing. , even if the co-pilot is really useless.

To the captain's comfort, the co-pilot felt that it was only the outer windshield problem after observing for a while, which was the same as the captain's opinion.

That's it, the captain is still worried.He actually pulled the seat back, unfastened his seat belt, continued to hold the steering wheel with his left hand, then got up slightly, and quickly touched and swept the right front windshield with the fingertips of his right hand.

If there is a crack in the inner windshield, the fingertips should feel a little bit.However, after quickly sweeping across the right front windshield, the fingertips did not feel any strange touch, and it was still quite smooth.

"It's okay, it's okay!" Since the first problem appeared, the plane's troubles have never stopped. The plane's instruments, trim, navigation, management, and now even the windshield have problems. He can't bear to toss.

Since the windshield of the 737 aircraft is double-layered, if only the outer windshield is broken, the risk factor is not too high.But if the inner windshield is cracked, it may be able to carry the cracked windshield until it hits the ground, but there is also a possibility, that is, the windshield is broken directly, and that is a big problem.

The captain was exhausted at the moment, and he didn't want to ask the co-pilot to look for the "Windshield Damage" checklist anymore.Fortunately, this checklist is relatively simple. After distinguishing whether the outer layer or the inner layer is damaged, the captain pointed directly at the windshield heating switch and ordered: "Then the right windshield heating is turned off."

The co-pilot knew this step without looking, and immediately turned off the windshield heating according to the instruction.In fact, there is another step in the back, which is to close the windshield blower switch, which is used to defog.Now that the device itself is turned off, there is no need to do it again.

"Look out for me, listen up. Once you notice something wrong with the windshield, remind me immediately." After the captain explained, he immediately took the checklist to his lap and put it away. He began to find the corresponding unreliable airspeed by himself. Flight Charts.

To be honest, if you haven't thoroughly understood the content of this subject before or haven't read it for a long time, it is really easy to get dizzy on this chart.

These charts are divided into climb, cruise, and descent, all at different thrusts and speeds, and there is a difference between waiting and circling.Thereafter, there are various settings of different flaps in the airfield area, and in the third glide on final approach.

Not to mention the co-pilot, even the captain felt his mind was empty when he saw these charts at the beginning, and he could only devote a part of his energy to look at them, which was intermittent, and it took about 2 minutes to see them. The corresponding chart was found.

"What's our total take-off weight?" the captain suddenly asked.

In fact, the captain shouldn't ask such a question in normal times.What he really wanted to know was the gross weight of the plane now, not the gross weight of the plane when it took off.

Because the attitude and thrust settings need to be determined according to the aircraft weight and flight altitude in the flight chart.Now the height is known, but the total weight is unknown.

However, the most direct way to get the total weight of the aircraft at this moment is on the performance page of the CDU, where there will be real-time changes in the total weight of the aircraft (you can also see it on the approach page).

But now, due to the failure of all the flight management computers and the black screen of the CDU, he can't get the full weight of the plane directly.Then change the way!
The difference between the total weight of the aircraft and the total weight at takeoff is the fuel consumed.Now the real-time fuel volume of the aircraft is visible, and the fuel volume added when the aircraft is released is also known, so the difference between the two is the weight of fuel burned.In this way, as long as you know the total weight of the take-off, and then subtract the weight of the fuel consumed, that is the current total weight of the aircraft!

That's right, pilots always have a way!

However, the co-pilot, whose brain was close to crashing at the moment, didn't understand the meaning of the captain. He thought the captain wanted the current aircraft's full weight information, but he pointed at the CDU innocently: "Captain, the CDU can't read it now." Arrived."

"The total weight for take-off is not the total weight of the current aircraft!" The captain knew that the co-pilot had heard it wrong, but the tired feeling was real: "Look at the manifest, it has the total weight for take-off."

"Ah? Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" The co-pilot realized it was his own problem, and hurriedly looked through the manifests he had collected earlier.Recognizing and reading the manifest is the basic skill of a pilot. Even the near-disabled co-pilot quickly got the take-off full weight.

After receiving the information from the co-pilot, the captain did some mental calculations. At this moment, the total weight of the aircraft is about 340 tons, and the condition in the table is 75 pounds.

With altitude and speed, the captain immediately had the attitude and thrust settings for cruise.

"Three-degree attitude, EPR1.39, N190.8!" The captain readjusted various settings of the aircraft according to the flight chart.

According to this setting, theoretically, the aircraft can maintain a level flight state, and at the same time, the aircraft can stabilize at a value within a normal range.

However, since the crew does not know which airspeed data source is correct at this moment, they can only believe that the chart given by Boeing is realistic.

Although there is no precedent for successful handling in the early stage, at least there is a little glimmer of success in this matter.

Then the good news came one after another. Jakarta control responded to the application for the previous high altitude: "British Airways 1009, the airport has not given a reply, but FL400 has been approved, do you still want to go to the high altitude now?"

The captain had long been afraid of the unknown black matter surrounding the plane, and was naturally overjoyed when he learned that he could finally go up: "Come on, let's go up!"

With the captain's approval, Jakarta control immediately said: "British Airways 1009, you can go to the standard pressure altitude FL400."

After the co-pilot read back, the captain immediately lowered his head and glanced at the attitude setting in the climbing state.They don't know the real airspeed now, so they can't climb casually, they can only set the climbing attitude according to the requirements on the chart.

According to the climb chart, at maximum climb thrust, with a four-degree attitude, the airplane will produce a rate of climb of 84 fpm at a speed of .[-].

No way, for an aircraft over 340 tons, [-] feet is indeed close to the ceiling, and the subsequent climb speed will be very low, which is caused by objective conditions.

However, the captain doesn't mind what the climb rate is, as long as he can leave this level, he can climb as slowly as he wants.

Therefore, the captain slightly increased the pitch-up attitude of the aircraft, and at the same time began to increase the thrust of the aircraft.However, with such an increase in the thrust of the plane, suddenly, the plane trembled violently, and the captain and co-pilot heard an explosion that almost burst their eardrums.

"What's the situation?" The captain's nerves were already tense, and such a sudden explosion made the captain's hair stand on end.

Then, the co-pilot suddenly discovered that the EGT of the No. 1 engine was directly red.The N[-] speed of the engine began to fluctuate violently.

"Wheezing?" the co-pilot said.

"What?" Hearing the co-pilot's words, he lowered his head and felt a chill run down his spine. Judging from the engine data, it should be that the No. [-] engine was surging.

The captain made a quick decision, but he was stunned for a moment, then he woke up immediately, and immediately said: "The engine is surging, let's do the memory project first!"

Engine surge is indeed dangerous, but if it is handled properly or if the surge is not serious with good luck, it is possible to achieve reduced thrust operation without turning off the engine.

However, the premise of obtaining such results is that the exhaust gas temperature of the engine can be reduced and stabilized within a limited range.Therefore, the captain didn't wait for the co-pilot to react at all, now time is everything, the faster the action, the damage can be controlled to a lower range.

He directly started to recover the thrust handle of the No. 747 engine.Since the Boeing [-] is operated by four engines, even if one engine starts to reduce the thrust alone, the resulting thrust difference makes the aircraft deflection moment not too large. In order to maintain the stability of the aircraft trajectory.

When closing the throttle, the captain and co-pilot are looking at the value of EGT, they are looking forward to the reduction of thrust, the value of EGT will also decrease, it is best to drop below the red line, so that The aircraft can continue to operate under reduced thrust, with little impact on flight control.

However, when the No. [-] engine was about to receive the idle speed, the EGT only dropped slightly, and it seemed that it was impossible to realize the reduced-thrust operation without stalling.

"Fuck!" The captain couldn't help but uttered a curse, and then instructed the co-pilot: "Announce PANPAN, and apply for an immediate return flight. Also, we can't go up to a high altitude now, first apply for drifting, and you can check the status of the aircraft at the moment." What is the leveling altitude when the first engine is not working. The total weight of the aircraft is calculated at 75 pounds."

Originally, the captain planned to maintain the altitude, but he estimated that with a weight of 75 pounds, it seemed impossible to maintain an altitude of [-] feet without one engine working.

Of course, the No. [-] engine has not been turned off yet, but seeing that the exhaust temperature has not dropped, the car still needs to be turned off manually.

"PANPAN! PANPAN! PANPAN!" The co-pilot called three times: "British Airways 1009, engine failure, please return immediately."

Jakarta control quickly responded: "British Airways 1009, now turn right and fly heading 100, do you still want to go up?"

"No more, we are going to drift down"

When talking about this, the captain interjected a sentence: "Application for descending to altitude FL290."

The co-pilot just paused, and after receiving the captain's instruction, he continued: "We apply to descend to FL290."

At this time, a state of emergency was declared, so British Airways flight 1009 naturally had the highest priority, and Jakarta control immediately agreed to their request to descend without even applying.

Then, the captain began to turn right and fly back. During this period, the No. [-] engine had received the idle speed and could no longer be lowered.Although he had some mental preparations, the captain moved his mouth when he saw the still strong EGT exceeding the temperature limit, but he still didn't curse out in the end.

"The continuous ignition switch is on!" If the exhaust temperature is not controlled, then the checklist has to be continued, and the next step is to shut down the car.

The co-pilot turned on the continuous ignition switch according to the captain's instructions. After the action was completed, the captain looked at the EGT meter again. The red mark was too eye-catching. Finally, he could only sigh and switch the fuel control switch of engine No. Door cut!

In first class!

"Sulphur! Sulfur! Why is there sulfur?" Xu Cang's eyes moved back and forth on the portholes on both sides.

However, through the glass of the porthole, he couldn't see anything at all, except the thrilling darkness and the uneasiness that was almost solidified.

Beside Xu Cang, Song Xinyang heard Xu Cang muttering to himself, especially when he saw Xu Cang's complexion like gold paper, a trace of worry suddenly arose in his heart: "Xu Cang, what's wrong?"

At this moment, Leo had already unbuckled his seat belt, and stood up abruptly: "Xu Cang, go, go to the front!"

Xu Cang also did not hesitate, and followed Leo directly to the front cabin working room.However, in the process of running, a certain idea in Xu Cang's mind began to gradually become clear.

sulfur?There is no sulfur in the sky!So where is there a large amount of sulfur, but can it be discharged into the sky?

volcano!

The volcano erupted!
And it is not an ordinary volcanic eruption, it is a giant volcanic eruption, and the volcanic cloud produced by it even reaches more than [-] meters, which is simply exaggerated.

We must know that the limit height of most volcanic eruptions will not exceed 1000 meters, and the ash clouds of some large volcanoes can reach thousands of meters, which is already spectacular.However, based on the cruising capability of the 747, the altitude must be over [-] meters at this moment. However, it is really incredible that the volcanic cloud can still be affected at an altitude of [-] meters.

However, this can also explain some of the anomalies just now.Volcanic ash will generate a lot of static electricity under the violent friction of the fuselage.Of course, since the fuselage of the aircraft is a Faraday cage, it can conduct electricity by itself.But after all, some charges entered the cabin, which caused the charge in the cabin to increase rapidly, so the fine hairs on Xu Cang's arms stood up for no reason.

As for the surge of the aircraft, that is better understood.It is only natural for an aircraft engine to surge after inhaling a large amount of volcanic ash impurities.

"Volcanic ash!" Xu Cang was troubled in his heart, how could an easy-to-solve icing accident turn into an incident of encountering volcanic ash.

Even in the history of civil aviation, there are not many cases of encountering volcanic ash, and there are not many experiences he can refer to, which is very dangerous.

After arriving at the front cabin workshop, the purser was shocked by the arrival of Xu Cang and Leo on the spot.Fortunately, the chief purser knew Leo's identity, and he still showed considerable respect for this executive at the Airbus headquarters.

After learning that Leo and Xu Cang wanted to enter the cockpit, the purser was embarrassed, but he was still willing to ask the cockpit for instructions.

Xu Cang was anxious, but he could only wait.The loud noise just now was clearly caused by engine surge.Generally speaking, if there is such a loud noise, the engine is likely to be unreliable, and the car can only be shut down.

"Shut down the car?" Xu Cang suddenly had this thought in his mind, and when his thoughts turned around, a chill suddenly rushed from the soles of his feet to Tianling Gai, and he murmured to himself: "You can't turn off the car, you can't turn off the car!"

Leo stood beside Xu Cang, a little strangely said: "Mr. Xu, what are you talking about?"

As soon as Leo's voice fell, the chief purser who asked for instructions in the cockpit replied: "Mr. Leo, I'm sorry, the cockpit has important matters to deal with now, so I can't let you in."

"This..." Leo was at a loss for a moment, he didn't expect such a situation.In fact, he doesn't care if he can't get in the cockpit, just looking at Xu Cang's expression, Leo always feels that there is something important, and the solution to this matter must be to let Xu Cang in.

At this moment, Xu Cang's ears twitched slightly, and he could clearly hear the noisy engine running sound gradually weakening, which indicated that the crew had already closed the throttle.

"No, no, this won't work!" Xu Cang grabbed Leo directly and pointed at the flight attendant: "You translate my words to her, and you say that the plane is very dangerous now, you must let me in!"

Leo's eyes widened and he was taken aback for a moment, but soon he translated Xu Cang's words in English to the purser.

Different from Leo's reaction, after a moment of surprise, the purser's face darkened, and she pointed in the direction of the first-class cabin and shouted: "Sir, please go back to your seat immediately!"

This sentence is very short, even Xu Cang can understand it without Leo's translation!However, how could he go back at this time, with the continuous reduction of the sound of the engine running, he finally stabilized.

He didn't know if the crew had cut off the engine, but as long as the engine was cut off, everything would be over!

Suddenly, Xu Cang felt that the plane was leaning forward slightly. In an instant, the hairs all over Xu Cang's body exploded. This meant that the plane was about to start to descend!

At this moment, he directly pushed the purser away, slammed on the cockpit door, and roared: "Don't fucking descend, you're courting death!"

Xu Cang pushed the chief flight attendant away so loudly that it directly alarmed another male flight attendant in the front cabin workshop.This flight attendant is strong and strong. Seeing Xu Cang hit the cockpit door, he immediately rushed towards Xu Cang.

However, just when he was about to lock Xu Cang, there was a click, as if the cockpit door was opening, and the cockpit door came directly.

Xu Cang was stunned for a moment, then quickly regained consciousness, pulled hard, and opened the cockpit door directly.

However, as he opened the hatch, what caught his eyes was the closed fuel control switch.In such a situation, Xu Cang could hardly stand still.

However, soon a beam of blue light shone on Xu Cang's body.Through the cabin door of the plane, Xu Cang suddenly saw faint blue fire floating above the windshield of the plane's nose, [-] meters above the sky!

As if he had sensed everything, as if he had tasted Xu Cang's shock and despair, Leo walked up to Xu Cang, with a strange blue light reflected on his face, and he said in a daze: "Xu Cang, what should we do?"

(End of this chapter)