United Airlines Flight 961 crossed most of the Pacific Ocean and was close to the island country, with less than 2 hours of flight left.
The co-pilot Mike received the latest regular weather report for the island country, "It will be cloudy and rainy, there may be thunderstorms, and the temperature will be 20 degrees."
Captain Jax shrugged, "I'm used to it! It's always like this in this area. I even caught an earthquake once. Can you imagine? Landing during an earthquake, Mike, you must not have had such an experience!"
Mike shook his head, "Frankly speaking, I don't want to have such an experience; if it were me, I would rather stay in heaven for a while..."
Jax smiled, "I thought you wanted to be more exciting...Okay, let's take a look at the weather radar."
The 959 model is equipped with a special weather radar. With this weapon and combined with the weather report from the aviation control, it can avoid all bad weather.
Turning on the weather radar, they immediately saw a huge storm forming nearly a hundred miles in front of the plane.
When flights fly over the Pacific, they will be guided by a series of air traffic control centers. Their current location has entered Tokyo air traffic control.
Tokyo flight control, "961 descends to maintain 31,000 feet, join Jingdong 010 directional orientation, there is a good area to pass through."
Captain Jax had some doubts about the path provided to him. He saw a huge storm cell on the path and did not want to pass there;
"I saw a storm cell in 255. It's too big. I don't want to pass there. I'd rather find a way to go around it!"
"About 30 planes have passed through there, a channel 10 to 12 miles wide, and they are flying smoothly, no problem."
"The storm cell is still expanding and has reached 240..."
"Okay, I will find a way to help you turn to JD.com to 030."
"030, received."
Captain Jax got what he wanted. This is his style. He flew according to his own style. He had never suffered a meteorological disadvantage after flying for decades. His philosophy was that humans should not go against nature, but should
Revere it.
Even if his detour is a bit far, the energy issue has become relatively less urgent in the past few decades. It is conceivable that fossil fuels such as oil will gradually lose its status in the future, at least from now on.
It was much cheaper than a hundred years ago, so he didn't mind taking a long detour and spending more gas.
He obtained permission to bypass the storm. This is not easy for airlines of most countries to get the air traffic controller to give in; but for American airlines, it is commonplace because of history, superiority, and military garrison.
...So, when faced with these American pilots, who at best are good-natured and at worst are domineering, the islanders are very tolerant and don't want to cause trouble.
Due to the change of course, the landing runway will also change accordingly. Flight 961 will be queued together with flights from China and Europe.
"Look, that solves it! I'm glad we don't have to go through that storm. I don't like storms, not at all!"
………………
Bei Haiyang looked at his watch and saw that the time had already reached 5 a.m. They had just entered the sky above the island sea and were less than an hour and a half away from their destination.
The surroundings are as dark as ink and there is no moonlight. Such a flying state is a test for the pilot! Because you cannot judge the attitude of the aircraft through your normal body perception. Is it pitching up slightly or diving? Is it turning left or right?
?
When you are in a silent night, your only reliance is your instrument!
You have to overcome your fear and force yourself to trust the instruments instead of your own body sensations which may not be accurate. This is a paradox for pilots. The better the technology, the harder it is to do it!
Because pilots who can do tricks rely on their own feelings!
This is why even if Pang Lide made the wrong choice, many people still supported him!
Having passed the third checkpoint, the aircraft has now entered the control area of the Okinawa Air Traffic Control Station. Bei Haiyang has just contacted the Okinawa Air Traffic Control Station to request guidance.
"Okinawa Air Traffic Control Center, this is Dragon Air flight 256, altitude 34,000 feet, speed 260, heading 090, please provide guidance."
"The descent altitude is 32,000 feet, Longhang 256 understands."
Bei Haiyang gently pushed the joystick to let the plane fly towards the scheduled route, and exclaimed: "Even at night, this route is very busy!"
Captain Hirata has long been accustomed to it, "Flights from the Chaoshan Peninsula, China, Central Asia, and Europe all fly on this route, so there is never any leisure time!"
For flights flying above the stratosphere, the height ladder is regulated to be one thousand feet, which means that air traffic controllers will layer flights that are closer together to maintain flight safety.
What he didn't know was that before and after Flight 256, there were exactly four 959 passenger planes crowded on this route, and they were very close to each other; of course, this so-called closeness is also relatively safe, and they are uneven.
They are unevenly distributed at different heights, and theoretically there is no chance of collision.
Island Air flight 1306 from London was at the top, followed by United Airlines flight 961, followed by China Eastern Airlines flight 256, and finally Dahan Air cargo flight 7125.
These four planes were relatively crowded together and kept a considerable distance from other planes on the same route. This is also normal in air traffic control.
There is no need for air traffic control to line up planes in the sky at equal distances. It is neither possible nor necessary. Because of the height difference, they appear to be crowded together on radar, but in fact there is no possibility of encountering each other.
Flight 1306 flies at an altitude of 33,000 feet, Flight 961 flies at 31,000 feet, Flight 256 flies at 34,000 feet, Flight 7125 flies at 32,000 feet... The island country’s flight control uses clever height differences to allow everyone to fly.
The height difference between two similar flights is at least 2,000 feet, which is more than double the prescribed height difference of 1,000 feet. This is the meticulousness of the islanders. They always do the little things with perfection and perfection.
"It's so crowded tonight. I can even see the navigation lights of the plane in front of me! Mr. Haiyang, I have to go to the bathroom and I'll be back soon. I'll leave you here."
Captain Hirata stood up. This is the indelible trace left by time on mankind. However, within a few hours, people like Haiyang Bei and Daimitsu Ito generally do not go to the bathroom during the flight. They only need to solve the problem before taking off.
It's good to be clean, but it's difficult for the elderly to do this.
The cockpit door was closed, and the two young pilots were not joking. They could still chat with Hirata around, but if they were just two novices, they had to stay focused.