Dragon Knight Jet Fighter - Chapter 17
Chapter 17: Controlling a Huge Airplane
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
The probability of birds destroying the window of the cockpit was extremely low. But still, at ten thousand meters, it was not surprising to find large birds. Swans, vultures, mallards, and the like had a chance to collide head-on with the airplane, and the impact brought on by such speed would be immense.
“All right!” Lin Mo nodded.
The senior flight attendant pressed on the door of the cockpit. Several flight attendants came up to assist. “Three! Two! One! Charge!”
The cockpit was not a place where people could enter casually. However, the situation was dire, and they had to take special action. A cockpit that was exposed to high air turbulence was not something that ordinary people could stay in. Those with weaker constitutions might die immediately.
As soon as the door of the cockpit opened, a strong airflow swept frantically into the cabin. The human figure flashed in and closed the door again with a bang. The violent airflow stopped as well, allowing the frantic passengers to breathe a sigh of relief.
“Hey! Lin Mo! Can you hear me?” The senior flight attendant flew to the intercom in the cabin and requested communication to the cockpit.
“I can hear you! I’ve done what you said. The glass of the cockpit was broken by more than one bird. The captain is dead, and the co-pilot is barely alive. I’m on the pilot seat, ready to take the orders from the ground to stabilize the plane.” The sound of the wind in the cockpit was still fierce, but Lin Mo’s voice was exceptionally stable and clear, as though it did not affect him at all. There were two large holes in the windshield, and its broken fragments had scattered in the cockpit with unrecognizable bird carcasses.
“Great! That’s great!” The senior flight attendant slumped onto the floor, soaking wet with sweat.
The vibrations of the plane started to lessen, the aircraft gradually stabilized, and the threatening moan of the keel disappeared. The nerves of everyone in the cabin relaxed, and they fell onto the ground like mud. They did not even have the strength to cheer after escaping death.
The low air pressure from the high altitude and the violent airflow sweeping the cockpit had little effect on the Dragon Knight Lin Mo. He had long grown accustomed to wearing armor and being exposed to turbulence during battles while riding the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon Gold Coin. The turbulence from the holes in such a small glass window was nothing to him.
When the plane that Lin Mo was on encountered the accident, chaos and panic grappled the destination airport. When the air traffic control tower finally managed to get through to the plane again, they found that the pilot was no longer the original person. After understanding the situation, they immediately mobilized more than a dozen pilots that piloted the same type of plane to synchronize the flight control. For the safety of the entire aircraft, the commander on the ground made the position of each button very clear—where they were, their shapes, the symbols on them, and the characteristics of the other buttons around them. They made Lin Mo double confirm before allowing him to turn one on or off.
Lin Mo listened very carefully, like he had when he first joined the Dragon Knight Legion of the Sland Empire. He listened and learned the flying techniques by each instructor. The entire plane gradually switched from full autopilot to semi-auto pilot under his control. Moreover, he was constantly adjusting and restoring the state of the aircraft.
“What is the reading on the speedometer now? On the instrument panel on the lower left, on top of the astronomical clock, should be a small window just like a clock to your left,” a senior pilot in a Boeing 737 from the airport emergency team asked Lin Mo. Their conversation was being monitored by the emergency team and the people in the control tower.
Lin Mo glanced at the console and reported the reading once he found it. “I see it. The reading is 190!”
“Adjust the course to 157. Right in front of you, close to the windshield. Pay attention to the autopilot, which is just a little below your eye level. Immediately tell me if there are any abnormalities.” The other party continued to control remotely. There were also two laptops in the aircraft used for simulations that let the control tower remotely monitoring the position of the plane on the radar, its speed, altitude, and other information.
Everyone in the control tower heaved a sigh of relief after seeing the data from the plane returning back to normal.
“Look for the RECALL area. You can see it if you raise your head. It’s next to the Fire Warning button. Press it to check it. The system light should go out. Please tell me if it’s still lit up. Your altitude is too low. Switch the Landing Gear Lever to OFF position, and the Auto Brake Switch to OFF position. Next, listen to my commands…” The other party guided Lin Mo extremely patiently and asked how he was feeling from time to time. The fierce wind from the microphone still had a grip on everyone’s heart. Such a harsh environment was not something that most people could take, and they could only hope that Lin Mo would be able to hold on for as long as possible before landing.
If there were other people in the cabin, they would be able to see the calm on Lin Mo’s face instead of suffering from the impact of violent airflow at this high altitude.
After bringing the plane back to the stratosphere ten thousand meters above ground, Lin Mo moved the captain’s corpse and the seriously injured co-pilot back into the cabin. There was an inevitable fearful gush of wind in the cabin again, but the co-pilot would probably not make it out alive if he continued neglecting him.
The plane was back to cruising horizontally. Lin Mo needed only to monitor the attitude indicator and the level indicator and maintain the balance of the flight. The pilot on the ground was not idle at all. He was constantly instilling a large amount of practical flight operation knowledge and various emergency methods into Lin Mo.
At this time, it did not matter if it conformed to the process of routine flight training any longer. The safety factor would only become higher by spoon-feeding Lin Mo and helping him master the control of the aircraft in the shortest amount of time.
The turbulence that filled the cockpit was almost nothing to Lin Mo compared to the time when he was exposed to high-altitude and low-temperature winds as a Dragon Knight. The members of the emergency team in the control tower were very surprised that this stand-in pilot seemed to be rather comfortable in such an environment. Not only was his speech unaffected, but his psyche was so steady that it was scary. He did not exhibit any emotional swings, making them overjoyed and feel that there was a higher chance the plane could land safely. An adaptable and calm operator meant that they had a 50% chance of success in their hands.
An ordinary person might have gone into a coma before long due to the shock of the airflow, low pressure, and low temperature. Even a professional pilot might not have such a good physique. They almost all required an oxygen tank before they could maintain normal activity at this altitude.
“Please keep on course. Modify the destination to Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport!” The temporary emergency team finally sent the revised destination nearer the end. This flight was originally bound for Jilin Changchun Longjia International Airport, and it should have landed in the nearest airport due to the emergency. But the excellent performance of the stand-in allowed the temporary emergency team to adjust the flight course to an airport halfway to the original place of arrival. The airplane itself carried a fair bit of fuel, so there was certain danger as well. Consuming more fuel would potentially reduce the risk of a new accident occurring when landing. They also managed to buy more preparation time for the corresponding airport.
“Received! Repeating the confirmed landing site: Shijiazhuang Zhengding International Airport!” Lin Mo was solemn. He had probably never thought that he would actually pilot a plane carrying more than a hundred people without a license. He could operate this behemoth crazy steadily, mostly thanks to his experience as a Dragon Knight. At least he could almost instinctively deal with the turbulent airflow at high altitude.
To Lin Mo, there were similarities between riding the Metal-Attribute Giant Dragon and piloting the plane. He could easily feel the changes in the airflow on the surface of the plane and could even pilot the plane more smoothly than originally.
From the pilot seat, Lin Mo controlled the plane and marveled at this giant metal alloy combination. In his original world, only royalty and the Dragon Knight Legions had the privilege to ride winged creatures and fly in the sky. There was no way such a large group of people could be transported from one place to another with such ease. Not only were there technical limitations, but no empire could afford the manufacturing cost of such a giant flying aircraft. Otherwise, there would be no need to continue wars, and they could send a group of skilled swordsmen into the enemy camp with ease.
The passengers were overjoyed that the airplane stabilized. Happiness filled their faces as though they had won five million yuan in the lottery, and those with poor psychological qualities even cried with joy and tore the will in their hands into pieces. Order returned to the cabin once again. Everyone was pinning their hopes on Lin Mo in the cockpit. They could hear the calm conversation within the cabin and the ground emergency response team from the loudspeaker from time to time, which undoubtedly gave everyone peace of mind.
Only a handful of people were still secretly worried about Lin Mo. His safety was tied to the safety of everyone on board. The passenger cabin might be calm, but those possessing even a little understanding of flying knew how bad the environment in the cockpit was.
Thirty minutes later, the plane entered the area of the target airport. Nearby aircrafts had been circling around, clearing the way for the plane piloted by Lin Mo to land.
In a normal situation, a professional pilot would queue up in the busy airport and land on the runway in sequence. However, the one landing the plane was no professional but a novice doing it for the first time.
