After discussions with Zhang Yuan, the day of the solo flight was set for September 3, that is, the day after Lin Haodong told Li Zhan that all the pilots of the Wang Brigade had reached the standard of solo flight.

In addition to the two aspects of pilot and maintenance, whether or not to fly solo has to be agreed by Zhang Yuan. There is no doubt that the take-off and landing of all aircraft at the North Reservoir Station must be approved by him. Flying solo is a big deal, and you have to pick the best weather.

Zhang Yuan signed, and the work of flying solo can be regarded as entering the execution stage.

Early in the morning, when the sky was bright, Xue Xiangdong, Lin Haodong, Liu Xiao, Nie Jianfeng, Tang Leilei and others all arrived at the tower. Whoever led the trainees was in command, and two command groups took turns to fight, and Xue Xiangdong was in control of the situation.

The 24 pilots of the sabotage brigade have been assembled in the flight briefing room to familiarize themselves with the weather, take-off and landing procedures, flight routes, and dangerous situation handling plans. Some people keep their eyes closed and constantly review the theoretical knowledge and operation actions they have mastered in the past month or so, some people stare at a few key operating specifications that need to be paid attention to on the blackboard and continue to familiarize themselves with them repeatedly, and some people whisper and talk about some points that are not very familiar.

They have all achieved simulated cockpit blind exercises, and they are already familiar with all the control panels of the SU-27 cockpit, and the next step is to move towards mastery, which is not something that instructors can teach.

Flying is not an easy task, but it is definitely not a difficult thing, and it can be summed up in eight words in one sentence: control of two bars and two rudders. However, some people can play flowers, and some people can only fly in a decent way all their lives, and the factors that form this difference in imagination are complex and diverse, and need to be explained in millions of words of paper analysis.

The old eighteen mad pilots and the new six pilots are not flying solo for the first time, and some even have many modification experiences, such as Yang Jinshan, Ma Feng and Nan Lianghong, all three of them came from the J-6 era, and Ma Feng even flew over the J-8, which can be described as an old driver.

So the overall atmosphere is relatively relaxed, which is a good sign.

Li Zhan stood on the edge of the command platform in front of the blackboard, his white flight helmet was placed on the table, he held the white labor protection gloves in his hand and paced slowly behind his back, scanning the pilots who were making final preparations from time to time.

At 8:30 a.m., the siren light turned yellow.

Li Zhan immediately walked to the middle position and said, "Okay." ”

The crowd sat up straight and stopped talking.

"Let's talk about the procedure again. Take off and climb to 3,000, keep 600 speed and turn left and circle for a week, the height is down to 2,000 and fly four turns to simulate landing, enter the four turns and pass through the field once, simulate take-off, repeat the above procedures again, and then fly four turns and land, complete within 20 minutes. Very easy route, good luck to everyone. The first group is ready. Li Zhan said.

Every four fighters took off in a group and took off continuously, and at the same time carried out the first solo flight training. Li Zhan originally hoped that all eight fighters would go up, and eight sorties at a time could double the utilization rate of time. But it was decisively vetoed by Xue Xiangdong and Lin Haodong. Flying solo was supposed to be cautious and cautious, everything was premised on safety, eight novices drove eight fighters around it, and the ground couldn't control anything at all. After repeated discussions, each gave way, and the four were carried out at the same time.

The first group is Yang Jinshan, Ma Feng, Nan Lianghong and Lin Fei, which is also the best learning group, and they are all very experienced old Fei. Lin Fei had always been an instructor in the three major teams (teaching teams) before, but he drove the Jianjiao-6 and J-6. Later, he was selected by Li Zhan to join the Mad Demon Brigade to drive the J-7, and his performance was very good, and with his rich flight experience, he became an advanced when modifying the SU-27, and was incorporated into the first group at this time.

Li Zhan pinned his hopes on the old birds of the first group to make a good start to today's solo flight day and encourage other young comrades.

The alarm light turned yellow but no beep.

Li Zhan immediately ordered, "The first group is leaving!" ”

He rushed out with the first group, jumped into the commuter car, and rushed to the tarmac, where eight SU-27SK heavy fighters were ready to go, and the maintenance crew had already completed all the preparations and were waiting in a neat line on the right side of the nose.

The four of them quickly went to their respective landlines and immediately carried out the handover of the fighters with the maintenance crew.

It was 8:45 a.m.

Li Zhan came to the small platform on the slope behind the tarmac, with a telescope hanging around his neck, a flight helmet in one hand and a hand-held radio intercom in the other, but the white labor protection gloves were in his pocket. Unless he is ready to hold the pole, he does not wear the white protective gloves on which he lives.

He won't go back to the flight briefing room, and he can't go to the tower, so he can only observe the flight of his subordinates here.

The four fighters taxied in line to the take-off position, and all the fighters that did not have permission to take off were waiting in the taxiway, just like a civil aviation airport organized to take off and land.

At 9 o'clock in the morning, Yang Jinshan received the take-off order, he increased the engine speed to 60 percent, and then released the brakes, and the huge body of the SU-27 began to slide, after the speed reached 266, he decisively and slowly pulled the rod, the nose of the aircraft was raised, the front and rear landing gear were off the ground one after another, and the attitude was very standard.

Li Zhan's eyes followed the fighter plane to the sky, the clear sky was cloudless, and the temperature, humidity, air pressure, and wind speed were very suitable for flying.

It was not until the fighter plane piloted by Yang Jinshan became a small dot that the second fighter plane piloted by Ma Feng received the order to take off. At large intervals, four fighters took off in succession.

The hand-held radio intercom in Li Zhan's hand is connected to the call channel between the tower and the fighter, and can hear the conversation, and can use the emergency call function to intervene in the conversation when necessary. Under normal circumstances, however, a ground commander cannot intervene in a conversation until he is incapacitated.

The command of the fighter is the absolute power of the ground commander, even if the commander is a major, the high-ranking officers standing next to him cannot interfere with the command at will.

Seeing one fighter plane after another take off into the air, Li Zhan's mood was nervous, this was his first time, the first time he led the troops to carry out the modification, and in the end, what kind of answer sheet he could come up with depends on today.

The second group of pilots came, they lined up on the tarmac and waited for Li Zhan to speak, Li Zhan waved his hand from afar to let them prepare, and then they went to their respective warhawks and the maintenance of the aircraft to carry out the pre-flight handover inspection.

"Two hooks, stabilize your posture, don't worry when you turn, it's okay if the radius is larger." Lin Haodong was reminding Han Hongjun that the land-air dialogue was very clear. The tower can obviously see the flight attitude of the first group, otherwise Lin Haodong would not have given such a hint.

"Two hooks received." Han Hongjun's voice was very steady, and he was not in a hurry at all.

The SU-27 is much more sensitive than the J-7 and will react with the slightest movement of the joystick. Secondly, the SU-27 is not only twin-engine, but also has a very large thrust, and a slight movement of the throttle stick directly reflects the thrust change and engine speed.

For Li Zhan and others, who are accustomed to driving the J-7, the first thing to pay attention to is that the manipulation action can no longer be as rough as before, and the style of opening and closing is not suitable for the third-generation aircraft. This point is particularly important for Li Zhan, who can turn on afterburner at every turn, climb and descend on a large slope at every turn, and maneuver with all kinds of large overloads.

The first group successfully completed the solo landing, and they could celebrate, but Li Zhan's heart had to continue to be lifted.

Li Zhan stood there and watched until the last group successfully completed the solo flight, and he breathed a heavy sigh of relief and smiled.

He was the only one left.

Handing the intercom to Miao Yu, Li Zhan climbed onto his No. 01 fighter.

It was Xue Xiangdong's idea to let Li Zhan fly alone, and he was always the factor that Xue Xiangdong couldn't rest assured about, even though he was the captain. He has taught Li Zhan's flying style, including the flight instructor group of the Second Division, especially the former long plane Nie Jianfeng.

Taking over the command from Lin Haodong, Nie Jianfeng picked up the microphone and said, "Dong Yu, you listen to my command, you are ready to take off, pay attention to controlling the speed, over." ”

"Received by the cave, pre-flight inspection is underway." Li Zhan methodically checked the various systems and muttered in a low voice, "Flight control system, atmospheric system, flap position, engine ......"

"The cave asks to slip out." Li Zhan confirmed that all systems were normal and asked the tower.

Nie Jianfeng replied, "You can slide out of the cave and report to the runway." ”

"I understand."

The ground guide put up a red flag, the green flag pointed out of the tarmac, and Li Zhan slid out of the tarmac and walked along the taxiway to the south end of the runway. The northeast wind is blowing today, so you have to take off and land from south to north. He didn't have much of a solo feeling, he flew like this when there was an instructor behind him, and he flew like this when he was driving his own landline alone, how to fly and how to fly.

The first time I flew solo was the first to teach five, and that kind of old-fashioned propeller plane was a baby bump in the eyes of Li Zhan and other recruits at that time, and I thought about being able to drive it into the blue sky every day. Later, when I went to the sixth sect of the annihilation sect, and then the seventh of the sect of annihilation, everyone decisively abandoned the emotions of the fifth sect of the first sect.

Now it's the same, with the SU-27SK, the J-7E is an eyesore old partner in the eyes of Li Zhan and others, and I can't wait to retire it all as soon as possible.

Aiming at the runway, the corners of Li Zhan's mouth couldn't help but hook up a heartfelt chuckle, and the sunshine became even brighter. The so-called shotgun exchange mood is probably like this.

"Cave, you're ready to take off, pay attention to the speed." Nie Jianfeng gave the order.

He went out of his way to remind Li Zhan that there was a reason to control the speed. Li Zhan's flying style is already fierce, and he often climbs with afterburner or something. In the past, it was the J-7, these old aircraft, and it was understandable that the action was larger. It's like driving a purely mechanical broken car, the clutch pedal is heavy, the throttle is heavy, the brake may also be heavy, and the arm strength is small, I'm afraid I can't even hang the gear lever. Now it is a third-generation aircraft, and it is a world-famous aircraft, the flight control system feedback is fast and sensitive, and if the control is not good, it is a big overload.

Li Zhan is the man who drove the J-7E and did a suspected cobra maneuver at a height of only a dozen meters from the ground, and he is absolutely fine.

"Dong Yu received it, I'm going to fly."

Stepping on the brakes, the throttle stick to the end, the two rounds roared, the speed soared to 90 percent, the fuselage was trembling and began to slide slowly, the brakes couldn't be stopped, Li Zhan let go of the brakes, No. 01 SU-27SK ran wildly, sliding but more than 300 meters, the speed has reached 208, Li Zhan lifted the wheel, and the fighter plane soared into the sky.

The most beautiful melody in the world is the roar of an aero engine running at full power, the best day is the flight day, and the most exciting scene is the full ammunition loadout.

As Li Zhan took off, the last take-off and landing of the solo flight day of the Sabotage King Brigade began.