Descending from the Skies

Chapter 4 Flight Log

KLM Flight 1237 from Beijing to Amsterdam carried a few dozen Chinese faces, with the majority being European passengers and individuals on business trips to Beijing. There was a moment of surprise on everyone's faces when they saw the captain.

Captain Lang Feng, with a 100% Chinese appearance, was the only Asian captain in KLM and today marked his inaugural flight as captain. Facing a tire issue, he did not panic. The exams and training he had recently reinforced before his promotion to captain came into play. He asked the co-pilot to open the A330's Quick Reference Handbook and check the steps in order. The engine thrust and hydraulic instruments were normal, and there was no fault with the landing gear. He knew they were fortunate. It seemed that only one tire on the left side was damaged. The tower's notification was timely; otherwise, he might have flown across the Eurasian continent with a damaged tire, only to discover the problem upon landing, leaving few options for diversion.

Fang Hao wished he could personally guide KLM in two large circles above Daxing Airport. With evening traffic being busy, planes were constantly taking off and landing, so he kept reminding other aircraft that KLM was dumping fuel and needed them to clear the altitude levels. However, he couldn't focus solely on KLM, as other flights at the airport still required landings despite the emergency. In that half-hour, he had already directed over twenty aircraft for takeoff and landing. Upon learning that KLM had finished dumping fuel, he wasted no time in arranging for them to land on the recently cleared runway, while also directing two fire trucks over. A missing tire wasn't a major incident, but it could mean more weight on the other tires, and any unexpected situation required full preparation.

At that moment, a call from the ground informed him, "Brother Fang, runway 17L has been checked, no debris left behind." After making a call to report and receiving approval, Fang Hao reopened runway 17L. He had encountered tire blowouts and metal fragments falling off in his years at the tower. Don't underestimate a small piece of metal; the Concorde of Air France crashed because it ran over a metal strip that fell from a DC-10's engine cover during high-speed takeoff, leading to tire burst, engine fire, and immediate crash, with all lives lost. Those who have been in the aerospace industry for a long time know that the smaller the issue, the more attention it requires.

After KLM landed steadily, ground staff immediately checked the tire condition, and upon receiving an affirmative response, the crew began to disembark passengers. At this time, a voice from KLM came through the radio waves. Surprisingly, it was in very standard Chinese: "KLM 1237, thank you for your command today, give me your name, I'll treat you to a meal if there's a chance." Even the call sign was said in Chinese, "Yi Er San Wan," clearly someone who knows the trade.

Fang Hao was slightly surprised. He had heard of Lang Feng, so he ruled out the possibility of a foreigner with fluent Chinese, leaving only him, who is somewhat of a minor celebrity in the aviation circle. After all, being handsome and flying for KLM with an Asian face does attract attention.

Fang Hao waited for a while before saying, "Uh... you're too kind, it's all part of our duty." He was never good at accepting praise, and it was rare for someone to sincerely thank him on the radio, so he took a while to respond.

"Well, it's hard to talk on the frequency, I'll come find you another day," the voice from KLM sounded much more relaxed.

Due to this incident, he was delayed by another hour before handing over his shift— today he was covering for another senior controller, Lu Yan. He had been working several night shifts and was not used to the sudden change to a day shift. He tidied up his desk, planning to talk to Wang Zhanbo for a moment, ask him what he had learned, and then head home.

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the argument with Air China 1332 on the radio, so he asked Wang Zhanbo, "Zhanbo, pull up the flight log for Air China 1332."

Wang Zhanbo also remembered, "The one from Guangzhou to Beijing?" He looked it up on the computer and pulled it up— originally these data files were on paper, but now everything is managed electronically.

He leaned over to the computer and immediately understood why the voice sounded familiar.

The flight log clearly stated, CA 1332, Guangzhou—Beijing, Xu Henchuan; Chen Jiayu.

Wang Zhanbo, of course, knew the name Chen Jiayu and couldn't help but exclaim, "A big shot. Master, did you offend him? Will he complain about us in the end?"

Fang Hao sneered, "He won't. Who offended whom is not certain yet." Then he patted his apprentice's shoulder, "Alright, stop looking, it's time to get off work."

He wasn't familiar with Chen Jiayu, but he knew that Lu Yan had a close relationship with Chen Jiayu; they were childhood friends and classmates. In the civil aviation circle, people who are one degree separated can basically be considered friends. Moreover, they all graduated from the Civil Aviation University; Lu Yan and Chen Jiayu were in the same class, a few grades ahead of him. He had met them at school and later at the Capital Airport and Daxing Airport. With all the news reports and interview programs online, who doesn't know that Chen Jiayu is a big star in Air China and the entire civil aviation industry; he was tired of hearing his voice.

About half an hour later, Xu Henchuan taxied the 737 into the parking position.

After all the passengers left, he noticed that Chen Jiayu was in a bad mood, so he said he could stay behind to organize the documents and data, but Chen Jiayu waved his hand and said it was fine. As he stood up, he passed by Yang Feifei and asked her, "What happened earlier?"

His voice was deep and sounded very gentle.

Yang Feifei was flattered and surprised that Chen Jiayu still remembered the incident during takeoff. She quickly said, "Ah, a passenger asked for hot water, then complained it was too hot and wanted ice added. With the delay, he got impatient and started to lose his temper while sitting there. It's okay, Sister Xuan helped me handle it, thank you for your concern, Brother Jia." As soon as she spoke, she realized she had called him wrong; she should have called him Captain Chen.

"It's not... Thank you, Captain Chen." The young girl was a bit flustered.

Chen Jiayu smiled and didn't mind, "Oh, it's fine then."

After all this, Yang Feifei actually forgot to ask for a photo, but although she didn't get the picture, having her idol come to comfort her was more satisfying than a photo.

When getting off the plane, the sky was filled with an evening glow. Chen Jiayu looked up and saw the lonely tower of Daxing Airport not far away.

"Our duty phone is 12349, complaints are welcome at any time..." The voice from the approach frequency came back to his mind. He really considered the option of calling to complain, then shook his head by himself—although a bit impersonal, the other party did nothing wrong, so there was no basis for a complaint, and he was too lazy to waste the effort organizing voice records and submitting a bunch of report forms. However, he thought the other party must have guessed this about him, knowing he wouldn't really complain, and dared to be so blunt, directly blocking his mouth with "if you're not satisfied, come and complain," which made Chen Jiayu angry, and his heart rate, which had been trained to be steady for years, was about to soar.

He took out his phone and was about to send a WeChat message to Lu Yan when he saw that someone had already mentioned it in the group chat. This group was for the captains and co-pilots of various airlines based in Beijing. It started mostly with Air China, but then everyone pulled each other in, and many pilots from other companies joined.

A captain from Eastern Airlines spoke first: "Did something happen just now? The approach controller took me around for about eight circles."

Someone who saw it explained that it was because KLM had a tire blowout.

Someone who knew the situation gossiped: "Is it the Chinese pilot from KLM? The handsome one? It's said that today is his first flight as a captain." Everyone agreed that it was really unfortunate. Although a tire blowout is not a top emergency, there were many experienced captains like Chen Jiayu in the group who had been flying for over ten years and had experienced all kinds of mechanical failures, but this situation was indeed enough to make a young pilot sweat.

The situation was clear, but Chen Jiayu was still upset. Normally, when they compete for positions, they would also pull and tug with the tower, everyone wants to fly and land first, and when they are anxious, the emotions are not good. But such a public confrontation was really rare, and Chen Jiayu was not an ordinary young pilot, of course, he would not be bullied by the tower.

Then someone who heard their argument on the radio mentioned: "Brother Jia, you should complain. Did the tower take the wrong medicine today? What's going on?"

Another captain from Air China agreed: "Did we catch an intern controller?"

Another captain, whose avatar and name he didn't recognize, came out and circled him: "@jiayuchen Brother Jia, I wanted you to land first today, I'm sorry, brother."

Chen Jiayu clicked on his profile and found out that he was the captain of Jinxiu, and he understood in his heart - it turned out that the other party recognized him on the VHF. This kind of thing has happened many times, and he has been used to it, so he replied: "I appreciate it," and then sent a gesture of clasping hands.

The captain of Southern Airlines chuckled: "How dare an intern say that, you must have met Brother Xiao Fang, right?"

Chen Jiayu didn't talk much in this group, but he couldn't help but ask a question: "Who?"

The captain of Southern Airlines: "Fang Hao, he is really difficult to deal with, this kind of person can't be solved by giving gifts."

Chen Jiayu looked at this name and felt as if he had heard it somewhere, but he couldn't remember it specifically.

Now it's easy, Chen Jiayu exited the group chat box, opened Lu Yan's avatar, and asked her: "Is it your apprentice who is on duty for you today?"

Lu Yan was confused by the question and sent an expression of a black line on her face: "When did I have an apprentice again?"

Chen Jiayu: "Isn't Fang Hao your apprentice?"

Lu Yan is a very smart person, her mind turns very quickly, and she probably understood what was going on. It must be that Fang Hao made Chen Jiayu and others wait while commanding his flight. Air traffic control is often a thankless job, everyone has different opinions, and no matter how high the level of the controller, there will always be someone who is not satisfied. They are unsung heroes when there is no accident, and they are often the first to take the blame when something goes wrong. This point, no matter how good her relationship with Chen Jiayu has been for so many years, as a captain, he has not been able to understand. She sent Chen Jiayu a message: "No, he is my colleague. We are on an equal footing."

Chen Jiayu thought to himself, it seems that it is indeed not an intern controller, an intern controller would not have such confidence, so it seems to match.

Lu Yan added another sentence: "He is also our junior, you should have seen him."

Chen Jiayu thought to himself, no wonder the name is familiar.

Lu Yan hadn't finished yet, and she added very seriously: "It's Fang Hao." Not the vast Hao, but the bright moon in the sky Hao.

Lu Yan immediately opened Fang Hao's WeChat and asked him: "Did nothing happen on duty today?"

Fang Hao had just walked to his car, and he was simply sighing at the speed of the news spread, and then he made a small calculation, it seems that Chen Jiayu did not complain about the tower, but found an acquaintance to complain about himself? But he didn't want to explain much, just replied: "There was a tire blowout, but the ground safety has been resolved. Everything is good, Sister Yan, don't worry."

He knew that Lu Yan was one of the people who knew his work ability and state best, and she wouldn't think much.

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The Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) for emergency operations in aircraft, such as single-engine failure, provides pilots with a step-by-step checklist of what to do, such as: returning the engine to idle, turning on the APU... To a large extent, it reduces the pressure on pilots and ensures the success rate of landing in emergency situations.