There was some chaos in the cabin, and the passengers sitting in the front and middle sections stopped to put their luggage, which caused congestion, and the flight attendants kept reminding them to get out of the aisle, and the team slowly moved forward proudly.

Although the atmosphere was a little irritating, it was nothing for those who were finally able to board the flight home for the Chinese New Year, with familiar smiles and chatting and discussing what gifts to bring home and what parties to attend when they got home.

The same scene will appear in any means of transportation during the Spring Festival travel period that lasts for more than a month, and the annual migration of more than 100 million human beings is in full swing. Young and hard-working people are the most dynamic and important component of the country's economic engine, driving China's huge plane forward at high speed.

The Boeing-737 that carried out the flight was out of the parking stand, randomly joined the take-off queue along the taxiway, and slowly headed for the take-off line of the runway.

Through the window, Li Zhan saw a huge all-freighter parked at the remote parking stand, which was a Boeing-747-400 heavy freighter that may have been in service for more than ten years. In the flying light snow, its figure was a little blurry, but it did not affect Li Zhan and remembered his senior sister Zhu Qingying. It's always easier to revisit the valley and remind you of some of the people and events of the past.

I don't know how my sister is doing.

The aircraft takes off with a bang, and with the help of advanced flight control systems, modern airliners can fly safely in low visibility. After leaving the site according to the standard procedure, the climb to cruising altitude was continued, and the course adjustment was completed in the process. Flight attendants began to provide services.

The cold air from the south and the hot air from the western part of the South China Sea meet, and the brave wins, but this confrontation will eventually end in the defeat of the hot air after the arrival of the cold air from the south, and the central and southern atmosphere will inevitably enter a long winter, and at this moment, the front where the cold and hot intersect is forming a turbulent area with a width of more than 50 kilometers for thousands of kilometers, like a wall blocking the front of the south in 1993.

Forty minutes after the flight, Li Zhan was the first to notice the anomaly, and he couldn't see the sun through the hatch - this was at an altitude of 9,800 meters.

The appearance of clouds at an altitude of 10,000 meters is extremely rare, which means that there are super cumulonimbus clouds ahead, and it is almost impossible for planes to leap over them by lifting altitude. The ceiling of a typical passenger aircraft is 12,000 kilometers, and at this altitude the lift obtained by the aircraft will be reduced, and the engine needs to provide more power to maintain the flight.

Combined with the weather data he got from Zhang Yuan along the way, Li Zhan thought that it was impossible to fly in front of him anyway, and he remembered that not far from the right flank was the No. 7 navigation point, and the thousand-meter-high peak of the No. 7 navigation point had been covered by heavy cloud peaks, which meant that it was basically impossible to fly around.

Li Zhan pressed down the service lamp.

The stewardess with a sweet smile hurriedly came over, first extinguished the service lights, and then said to Li Zhan, who was sitting in the last row next to the toilet, "Sir, do you need anything?" ”

Li Zhan took out his ID and said, "I am an Air Force professional, and the weather in front may be relatively bad, so I suggest that the crew ask for the latest weather bulletin, or even make an alternate landing." ”

The words were amazing, anyway, the flight attendant was shocked, and it took a while for the flight attendant to come back to her senses, "Comrade, you said that you can't fly in front?" ”

She looked at Li Zhan's officer ID card very carefully, and the rank of Air Force Major on it was undoubtedly the most convincing, but the code name of the external unit was incomprehensible.

Li Zhan said solemnly, "Judging from my experience, it is dangerous to fly over. I would be grateful if you could convey my comments to the captain immediately. ”

The stewardess handed the documents back to Li Zhan with both hands, and said with a smile, "Comrade, please rest assured, we are professionally trained and have the confidence and ability to ensure your safety." ”

Li Zhan frowned, and was about to say that you are sure that I am not professional, but after suddenly realizing that this was a civil airliner, he could only shake his head helplessly and shut his mouth.

"Is there anything else you need?" The flight attendant asked Li Zhan.

Li Zhan said, "I know that it may not be suitable, but judging from my experience, there is a front of hot and cold air in front of me, the air flow is very chaotic, and the captain can quickly see lightning in the sky, and it will be too late at that time." If possible, I would like you to convey my judgment to the captain. ”

This time the stewardess didn't say anything, turned around and walked towards the front cabin. She had to report to the purser first, and then the purser would decide whether to convey Li Zhan's judgment to the captain. Although the whole process did not take a few minutes, the weather changed much faster than anyone could have imagined.

It seemed that it was dark outside the window in an instant, and many passengers noticed that the plane flew into the clouds, and the large thick clouds were black.

If the captain had made a U-turn at this point, he would have had time to stay away from the bad weather, but the captain had no idea that the weather had changed dramatically in front of him, and the purser was still considering whether to relay the warning of a passenger from the army to the captain.

The captain is the absolute authority on the plane, and the concerns of the purser and flight attendant are normal.

By the time the purser decided to tell the captain, Southern Flight 1993 had already plunged headlong into the "mixer", and almost at the same time the captain received the latest weather forecast from the air traffic control center suggesting a detour, but at this point the captain realized that the steering would put the plane in a more dangerous situation.

After the plane began to jolt violently, the flight attendant came over and said to Li Zhan, "Comrade Major, the captain invites you to come over." ”

Li Zhan got up and left.

The unexpected jolt made all the passengers hold their breath and concentrate, some nervously looked out through the cabin window, the sky was dark and cloudy, and some of them held their hands tightly on the armrests of the seats with straight eyes in front of them. Now no one takes the most common phrase of flight attendants off their ears – please fasten your seatbelts.

Most of the time, passengers who choose an airplane as a means of transportation will only feel that they are on an airplane during the take-off and landing stage, and the process of cruising at high altitude and descending altitude is often very smooth and down-to-earth. And now in the case of shaking up and down, left and right, people really feel the flight, and the strong sense of abandonment will make people panic, and they can't help but worry that the plane will fall to the ground in the next second.

After Li Zhan entered the cockpit, he grabbed the back of the captain and the co-pilot's seat and said the first thing he said: "There is no better way to increase the throttle and rush over." ”

The captain glanced back at Li Zhan, surprised by Li Zhan's youth, but was convinced by Li Zhan's ability to predict the weather changes in the airspace ahead in advance, he said, "I have flown this route hundreds of times, and it is the first time I have encountered such weather, which is too abnormal!" Alternate landing is perhaps the safest. ”

"Nope." Li Zhan said decisively, "The alternate landing needs to descend at a height, and the low air flow is stronger. We are now in a frontal cloud with hot and cold air, and the air flow is very complex and irregular, and it is preferred to continue to accelerate through it at high altitudes. ”

He really wanted to replace it, but this was the next policy, the situation in front of him was still controllable, and the pilots who could be captains were extremely capable of dealing with them.

The images of the weather radar proved that Li Zhan's claim was the safest, and the trajectory of the clouds was chaotic and disorderly, which appeared very strange, and it was generally a large north-south hedging current. The captain noticed that the darkest part of the front was no more than twenty or thirty kilometers wide, and in this case it was clear that there was no better way than to go through it head-on.

Descending altitude will encounter stronger air currents, and steering will encounter strong crosswinds, both of which will put the aircraft in a more dangerous situation.

The captain was capable of handling a crisis, but Tai had never encountered such a situation after all, and the fact that there happened to be an Air Force professional on the flight gave him vital confidence.

The crew may not have lacked skill, but simply were unable to quickly build confidence in the face of sudden weather changes. Li Zhan quickly realized this, and making clear recommendations helped to help the crew build strong confidence.

He said in a deep voice, "You don't need to worry too much, you just need to keep the course altitude and pass through at maximum speed and we will be able to see the sun." In fact, I'm a fighter pilot, and I've encountered many dangers and worse weather in my past flying career, but each time I've landed safely. It turns out that I do have a good fortune constitution that ordinary people don't have, so I don't need to worry about it at all. ”

The co-pilot suddenly said, "Isn't it bad luck Major?" You know, it's the first time we've had bad weather like this in years. ”

Li Zhan retorted, "How can you think like this, if it is a bad luck constitution, I am afraid that I can only bless you in heaven, and now I am by your side, ready to provide any assistance." ”

"Major, will you fly this plane?" The captain asked.

Li Zhan said, "As long as I have a joystick, I can drive it, but you should drive it, I like to fly supersonic and am not used to planes without afterburner." ”

"Hahaha!"

After a few words of conversation, everyone's nervousness was relieved, which was good for coping with the current situation.

"Hold on for another five minutes, five minutes at most and we'll have the sun." Li Zhan said in a deep voice, "But when landing, you need to pay attention to the slight downburst, that thing is very dangerous." ”

The captain gasped slightly, "Will it, it's winter." ”

"Winter in the South. The key is that the sand safflower airport is just in the area where the hot and cold air are transferred, and there are objective conditions for generating micro-downbursts. Li Zhan said.

The captain nodded in agreement, raising his vigilance.

Hot air rises and cold air falls, and the violent downdraft formed at high altitude is a slight downburst, the range is not very large, but the sinking force is very large, and after hitting the ground, it will form a strong gust of wind that spreads out, and the wind force can even be as high as 270 kilometers per hour, which poses an extremely deadly threat to the passing aircraft, especially for the aircraft in the take-off and landing stage.

The intense jolt that lasted for nearly eight minutes was finally over, and the passengers had a sense of the aftermath of the catastrophe, and the experienced captain breathed a sigh of relief.

These eight minutes made many passengers secretly decide that they would never choose an airplane as a means of transportation again. In contrast, they found that the train was so reassuring, although it would be less timely, but at least it was not as fearful as this. However, the Wenzhou bullet train accident in July 2011 made them hesitate......

2011 was an extraordinary year.

Then they finally saw the sun, the weather was relatively good ahead, and after another half an hour of cruising it was time to reach the descent stage, and the destination was ahead.

Li Zhan simply sat down in the cockpit, and he didn't go anywhere if he landed unsafely.