Descending from the Skies

Chapter 3 Duty Phone

Chen Jiayu clutched the radio. The evening in Beijing was windless, and visibility was not bad, but his mood just wouldn't lift. He had been dialed into the tower's frequency for two minutes, hearing a stream of instructions without a chance to interject. It seemed like there were many planes today, and he was in for a wait.

The air traffic controller at the Beijing tower sounded languid, his proper broadcasting tone laced with a hint of Beijing dialect. Chen Jiayu was taken aback—until now, his classmate from the Civil Aviation University, Lu Yan, had always been on duty at this time. Having flown this route for over a month, he had returned to Beijing around this time on several occasions, always catching Lu Yan on duty. They were well-acquainted, and if he asked, Lu Yan would occasionally bend the rules to let him take off or land first. But today, it seemed like there was a new person on the job.

Sure enough, Fang Hao quickly denied his request: "Air China 1332, there's a situation on the ground, runway 17L is not available, descend and maintain 3500."

Chen Jiayu immediately responded, "Requesting runway 20R, Air China 1332." Eager to land, he chose a new runway based on his knowledge of the airport, unaware that 20R was reserved for KLM.

Fang Hao still said, "Air China 1332, there's activity on 20R as well."

"Please provide a new runway. Air China 1332," Chen Jiayu quickly followed up.

But Fang Hao ignored him, more concerned about the KLM flight climbing to 6000 meters. He hailed them first: "KLM 1327, how is your situation?"

The KLM captain took a few seconds to respond, and Fang Hao's heart raced as he checked the plane's course, altitude, and position, ensuring they were as he had previously instructed and saw the crew signal an emergency code, which slightly eased his tension. Takeoffs and landings were the most accident-prone phases, with 80% of air disasters occurring during these times, so he couldn't afford to be careless with the slightest issue.

After five seconds, the KLM crew confirmed: "We need radar vectors to the fuel-dumping area. KLM 1327."

Fang Hao immediately gave instructions: "KLM 1327, roger. We're going to take you southbound to dump fuel. Climb to 6000 and maintain, fly heading 220. Fly heading 220, KLM 1327."

After a long string of instructions, he still remembered Chen Jiayu's situation and followed up on the channel: "Air China 1332, there's a conflict, you'll have to wait a bit longer."

Chen Jiayu then directly made a request: "Can we use runway 04, we can accept a deviation. Air China 1332." As the captain, he couldn't afford to be modest; his primary concern was for the passengers on board. Therefore, Chen Jiayu was always straightforward and never polite on the radio.

Fang Hao denied again: "04 is also booked with two planes ahead of you..." He glanced at the display, "You're behind Southern and Jinxiu, so just wait where you are, Air China 1332."

Chen Jiayu and his crew had hit traffic control when descending, being led up and down between 9800 and 10100 meters by the regional controller, and he was getting annoyed, protesting, "I only have 45 minutes of fuel left. The routing at Baiyun was longer than necessary, and after arriving at Daxing, we've been circling up there—what's going on today?"

Fang Hao, of course, didn't mince words with him, maintaining a strictly professional tone: "Air China 1332, do you declare a fuel emergency?"

In the cockpit, Xu Henchuan gave Chen Jiayu an embarrassed look.

Chen Jiayu wanted to declare it directly, but considering that Xu Henchuan was the pilot-in-command for this leg, and he clearly didn't want to cause trouble, so he held back: "Not yet. But you..."

Before he could say more, he was interrupted by the tower's concern for KLM. Fang Hao checked in on KLM's situation, then granted landing permission to Southern Airlines, and after watching KLM ascend to 5000 meters, he instructed Jinxiu to continue descending to 3000 meters.

After all that, he returned to Chen Jiayu: "Air China 1332, there was an interruption just now, please repeat."

Radio communication, unlike voice calls, doesn't allow for simultaneous speech; when this happens, one must declare an "interruption" and repeat. But there was no interruption just now; it was the approach controller who had cut in. Before Chen Jiayu could say anything, Jinxiu's captain spoke up: "Jinxiu 3185, um... Air China 1332, if you're low on fuel, you should land first, we can wait. Maintaining at 4000 meters. Jinxiu 3185."

Chen Jiayu finally cracked a smile. He didn't care much about fame, but sometimes it did come in handy, helping him achieve his goal of landing sooner, which was quite satisfying. Whether it was the other captain recognizing him by voice and flight route on the VHF and yielding so graciously, or if they were in no rush to land because they had arrived early, he didn't mind.

Unexpectedly, Fang Hao countered with another denial: "Jinxiu 3185, descend to the lower altitude first, you're ahead in the queue. Runway 10. Descend to 3000, do it now." The Jinxiu captain had no choice but to comply.

Fang Hao resumed his languid tone, as if nothing had happened: "Air China 1332, watch out for the wake turbulence from the 747 ahead, your interval is quite short."

"Damn it," Chen Jiayu cursed silently, waiting for Jinxiu to descend before keying the radio: "Jinxiu is ahead of us in the queue, but we're at a lower altitude. You guys..."

What does this mean?

Fang Hao didn't back down: "Air China 1332, I've explained there's an emergency on the ground, and the area controller has also informed you about the slight delay. Our duty phone is 12349, and if you have any more questions, feel free to complain at any time."

Seeing the other party had said as much, Chen Jiayu could only sulk and continue to wait in the sky as instructed. He wondered, who is this approach controller? Is it a new person trained by Lu Yan, how dare they speak so boldly? Chen Jiayu decided that the first thing to do after landing would be to find out from Lu Yan.