Chapter 89 The plane is missing! Chaos in the northwest! (Thanks to the leader of Pipi Gou Let’s Go!)

After the sudden lightning, without warning, the aircraft's power system suddenly encountered a failure, causing almost all the display lights in the cockpit to go out. In an instant, the interior of the cockpit was plunged into darkness.

I don't know what happened, but at the moment when the lightning flashed, a sharp and harsh sound of electricity suddenly sounded from the radio communication earphones. Even after taking off the earphones, Xu Cang's head was still buzzing.

The captain, who was trying his best to maintain the status of the aircraft, was unexpectedly surprised by the failure of the power system and subconsciously began to look at the panel. However, Xu Cang immediately reminded: "Captain, pay attention to the status of the aircraft."

"What the hell is going on?" The captain quickly looked away, but when his eyes fell on the display unit DU, his expression froze. All six DU screens used to display aircraft data and navigation information were turned off.

, no more information can be obtained.

"Pay attention to the status of the plane?" The captain became a little panicked: "Let me pay attention to the status of the plane. I don't even know the engine speed, aircraft attitude, and speed. How can I pay attention to the status of the plane? Why is there no power? The engine-driven power generator

Are the engine lights off?"

Under normal circumstances, aircraft power is provided by two generators driven by the engine. The other remaining AC power source is the APU. However, the APU will be used except when passing a station, parking, starting or taking off and landing in some special configurations.

, it does not work the rest of the time. Moreover, the operating conditions of the APU are relatively harsh, especially when the air source is provided.

The first officer glanced at the panel and found that it was pitch black with no abnormal display at all. As for the two engine-driven generator lights mentioned by the captain, there was also no display at all.

If these two lights are on, they will not be amber or red, but blue.

"Brother, it's not on, no lights are on." The first co-pilot was a little confused. According to common sense, the power system has collapsed, and there should be a large number of fault lights on the panel. How could there be only one?

No display at all?

Just now he wanted to look at the panel but Xu Cang stopped him. Now he couldn't care so much. He raised his head and saw a large black panel. It was true that even a malfunction light would not light up.

The captain was still somewhat sane, but after a quick glance, he looked away and told the first officer: "Look at the meter to see which part is the problem."

There is an electric meter in the area to the left and right of the windshield heating switch. The knob below can indicate the working conditions of different bus bars or power components. Many times, pilots use this tool to assist in judging the power system when they encounter a power system failure.

As for the fault, after all, the power system of the 737 is quite complex, and it affects the whole body. Sometimes it is difficult to judge just from the phenomenon or the fault light.

To be honest, this is the difference in difficulty between Boeing and Airbus in troubleshooting. Boeing pilots need to rely on experience to judge faults, while Airbus relies on the ECAM system, which makes it much easier to identify faults.

However, the answer given by the first officer made the captain confused again.

"Brother, the electric meter doesn't display anything either!" The first co-pilot turned the knob a few times, but the electric meter window remained black with no movement: "What on earth is going on?"

The power outage of the aircraft is something that most pilots will practice. Even if the AC and DC power are completely lost, the battery will provide emergency power for a period of time, so that all displays will not disappear.

This situation of all displays disappearing has never been encountered in training, and the first officer was immediately at a loss. In fact, not to mention the first officer, even the captain felt incredible.

The only thing that made the captain feel a little relieved was that the two engines were still running, even though the engine data could no longer be seen.

"Is there something wrong with the battery?" the captain murmured.

Failures in the power system are rare but not unheard of. However, the captain has never encountered problems with the battery, whether in training, on actual flights, or from hearing about it. To be honest, he didn't know.

How to deal with it.

The first co-pilot asked carefully: "Brother, should we start the APU?"

The two engine-driven generators are useless, and the emergency power battery cannot provide power, so the only thing left to rely on is the APU.

"The height is too high and it can't be started." Xu Cang said with a heavy face: "But you can try it."

Even if the engine is more difficult to start at high altitudes, APUs with more demanding operating environment requirements will be even more difficult to start.

Of course, the height of the aircraft is not too high now, so there is some room for experimentation.

"Compared to the APU, can you try calling for control?" Xu Cang raised his earphones: "Now my earphones are filled with the sound of electricity."

"There is no sound of electricity in my earphones. Please try it." The captain pointed at the co-pilot.

How dare the co-pilot be negligent? Now the plane has only a water compass that he doesn't know is accurate, and the navigation display does not exist at all. He doesn't know where he is going. He must contact the area control.

There was a power failure and then a radio failure.

I started the APU first, and immediately called Black Market Control, but after calling for a long time, there was no response at all.

"Change a transmitter!" The captain was furious next to him and began to give instructions again.

The first officer then gave up the second VHF transmitter and switched to the first VHF transmitter, VHF1. This transmitter is usually used by the captain and observer.

However, even after switching the transmitter, the call still failed after multiple calls.

At this time, the captain's face began to darken. Controlling the plane's status just by feeling was already quite tiring, and now there was another communication problem. It was truly a blessing and a misfortune.

Although the emergency frequency of 121.5 has not been tried yet, and the high-frequency frequency of HF has not been tried, the captain felt that the situation was not good.

"Try 121.5." Xu Cang held his forehead with his hands, feeling that he could not relax even a little bit. The current situation might be more dangerous than expected.

Even though Xu Cang has the lowest technical level in the cockpit, he has the highest vision. In other words, there are few people in the country who have a higher vision than him in flying.

If the horizon is broad enough, the sense of danger will become more acute. He is sure that the captain can roughly understand the current situation, but he should not understand it so thoroughly.

As expected, it seemed that they still had a way out, but in fact their way out was already a mirror image. After trying the emergency frequency to no avail, they hurriedly pulled out the high-altitude map to check the high-frequency frequencies in the area.

Xu Cang sighed and threw the earphones aside. Obviously, he no longer had any hope in the so-called high-frequency communication. Although high-frequency communication is used as one of the backup methods in the routine treatment of radio failure, but in his impression

I have never seen a case where the radio failed and the connection was finally re-established through high-frequency communication.

Moreover, he had a conjecture in his mind. The piercing scream in the earphones just now was not a problem of radio wave interference, but the previous lightning hit the fuselage, which in turn caused damage to the communication antenna and even the aircraft's power system and

The failure of the display system was also caused by the lightning just now.

As Xu Cang expected, the high-frequency frequency that he had worked so hard to find did not contact anyone at all.

However, when the radio failed, they discovered another problem. After waiting for a long time, the APU startup finally failed. Although the altitude of the aircraft was now at a relatively ambiguous value, the startup failure still made the captain and first officer feel

A little frustrated.

"Brother, what should we do now?" Like most co-pilots, when something goes wrong, the first thought is to find the captain. This has almost become instinct.

The captain was in a state of confusion at the moment. Controlling the plane had consumed most of his energy, and the few remaining brain cells were unable to make optimal solutions to the complicated situation at this moment.

If they had followed the normal radio failure procedure, they should have returned to the 9,800 meters that the controller had previously agreed to, but the downdraft above was simply too strong, and he didn't want to be photographed again. Moreover,

In the call between Xu Cang and the controller just now, the controller said that the artillery fire activity had stopped, and there should be no problem staying at the current altitude.

The altitude is acceptable for the time being, but what about the course? Even if they maintain their current course through the weather, how will they fly later? The navigation display is no longer usable, so how will they return to the planned route?

Now they still know that they are approximately near the P37 waypoint, but if they fly further, they really don't know where they are, how can they return to the expected route?

Regarding the power system failure and radio failure, after a short weighing, the captain still felt that the power system failure was limited and needed to be resolved, that is, starting the APU was a top priority.

As long as the power is connected and their navigation is restored, even if the radio fails, they can pilot autonomously according to the electronic flight plan. After flying to Urumqi Airport, they can approach autonomously according to the wind direction and speed.

Moreover, it is possible that the radio communication problem is also due to a fault in the power system. If power is restored, the communication problem may also be solved.

The captain thought for a moment and said to the first officer: "The APU cannot be started at this altitude. I plan to descend to about 20,000 feet first. Then you can try to start the APU. Let's restore power first."

Although the electronic displays have disappeared, there is still a set of backup mechanical instruments on the aircraft that can display the altitude. The captain can temporarily use this backup instrument to judge the altitude.

An altitude of 20,000 feet is, in most cases, enough for the APU to ensure a relatively high startup success rate.

However, the first officer was a little worried about the captain's decision. The question was whether it was reasonable to descend to altitude without contacting the control. What if it caused a conflict with the aircraft below?

At this time, the captain made a decisive decision: "It's okay. Control can see us on the radar. If there is a conflict, they will ask the aircraft below to avoid it."

When the first officer heard that it made sense, he didn't object anymore. But Xu Cang, who had been silent all this time, suddenly said: "What if the control can't see us?"

The captain was stunned: "What did you say?"

Xu Cang pointed at the answering machine on the central console. At this moment, the number display on the answering machine window disappeared. Xu Cang couldn't help but worry on his face: "The answering machine is not working. Can the control still see us? The machine

long?"

Civil aviation control radar is different from some military radars in that it does not have the ability to actively discover, but rather exchanges data with the transponder on the aircraft.

That is, the civil aviation control radar sends out a beam of interrogation radio waves. After being received by the aircraft transponder, the transponder replies with a radio wave to the control radar. The radio wave also contains some aircraft data. In this way, the controller can read it on the radar screen.

to civil aviation aircraft.

But what if the aircraft's transponder doesn't work? No matter how the civil aviation control radar sends out interrogation waves, if there is no response, it will naturally not be displayed on the radar screen.

Many military radars have active detection capabilities, which use the principle of electromagnetic wave reflection and have no direct relationship with whether the detected body will recover or not.

Xu Cang directly pointed out the question of the transponder, which made it difficult for the captain to answer. From the current point of view, except for the basic rudder control and mechanical instruments, almost all electronic equipment has lost its function, at least from now on.

It looks like this to the naked eye.

If there is a problem with the 737 transponder, a fault warning will pop up on the flight management computer. But now both flight management computers are turned off. Where can I see the fault warning?

Moreover, judging from the black condition of the panel, the captain would naturally have some doubts about whether the transponder was still working.

Although the current automatic descent to altitude deviates from the normal radio failure procedure, it can be handled on a special basis, and the captain is confident that he will explain it clearly afterwards. But the premise of all this is that no other serious problems will occur.

If there was a safety issue with other aircraft during the descent, let alone whether he would survive or not, even if he survived, it would be absolutely unclear afterwards.

In addition, the transponder is the basic component of the TCAS air collision avoidance system. If the transponder is not available, even if there is a traffic conflict with the aircraft below, the other party's TCAS will not give a warning. In today's visual environment, it is impossible to see from the outside.

I don't know. Without TCAS warning, it is impossible for the pilot to notice when two planes collide.

Thinking of this possibility, cold sweat broke out on the captain's forehead, and the decision he had just made began to waver again.

At this moment, Xu Cang let out a long breath and said worriedly: "Besides, is it really good to go down to altitude? Even if there is no traffic conflict, Captain, haven't you thought of another possibility?"

The captain was stunned. Xu Cang said that there was still something wrong? But he couldn't think of anything else that he hadn't considered.

Xu Cang pointed at the engine start switch and said faintly: "It will rain harder below, Captain, what if the engine shuts down? Is the altitude of 20,000 feet enough for us to start the APU and then start the engine?"
To be continued...