Due to the loss of power, Flight 256 entered a long and slow fall. However, its fall trajectory was not a straight line sliding towards the coastline of the island country, but a huge counterclockwise circle right at the site of the crash!
The wind above the island sea is very strong, and the impact on the aircraft is also obvious. If the pilot is skilled in driving, he can get the power he needs by taking advantage of the wind!
Circling is not haphazard!
Whenever the plane goes against the wind, the nose will rise under the control of the pilot. Although it is still falling during this process, the falling momentum is very slow!
When the plane is heading into the wind, the nose of the plane will be pushed down, thus gaining valuable speed!
With such lifting and pressing, although the aircraft is still falling overall, it is falling much slower than when flying in a straight line!
Obviously, this is man-made intentional control with some purpose!
The four flights are located at an altitude of 31,000 feet to 34,000 feet, which is an altitude of 10,000 meters. If they were to slide down normally, they could last about half an hour because the speed dropped and they could slide out.
About 2,300 kilometers away.
This was the confidence for flights 1306 and 961 to make an emergency landing. Of course, there were too many changes along the way, such as wind direction, heavy rain, and whether the aircraft could be controlled freely, all of which were important factors in determining the taxiing distance!
The wind direction was not entirely on their side. It was considered a crosswind at most and had little effect on the length of the sliding distance.
...In the cockpit of Flight 256, the atmosphere was depressing but calm. Two young men were repeating the engine shut-down and start-up procedures over and over again!
This is a procedure that every pilot must master before getting on the plane. He has practiced it countless times in the ground simulator, because a flameout in the air is one of the most dangerous accidents that an aircraft may encounter, and it is a top priority.
But the ground flight simulator is completely different from the real situation in the air. Those exercises are very good and praised, but the actual situation is not so smooth.
During Bei Haiyang's training in the ground simulator, when the simulation input was that all four engines stalled, the autopilot would automatically shut down. However, over the island sea, he found that the autopilot continued to work, which was different from what he had learned during training.
"Perform the engine restart procedure!" Bei Haiyang no longer knows how many times he has repeated it, 10 times or 20 times?
"Turn on!"
No response!
"Do it again, start over!"
"Battery starter..."
"Opened!"
"Handwheel valve..."
"Opened!"
"Ignition Switch……"
"Pressed!"
The standard procedure for restarting the engine ignition takes 3 minutes. They tried to simplify it as much as possible, but it still takes nearly 2 minutes to try to start it once. More than 20 minutes have passed since the four engines stalled. How many more opportunities will they have? 10 times? 15
Second-rate?
Time will soon run out!
After another failure, Ito Damitsu could no longer suppress the doubts in his heart. He knew that he should trust the captain, but on Flight 256, neither of them was actually the captain! His flight time was actually about the same as Bei Haiyang's, but
It was half a year late when I got the 959 model, and that was the difference.
"Captain, why don't we consider an emergency landing? No matter where it is!"
Bei Haiyang was very calm. He needed this guy's cooperation. "So, you just calculated it. Can we fly to Xinxie?"
Ito shook his head. He had calculated it many times. It was impossible for him with solid theoretical knowledge to calculate it wrong!
"No! Even if we are lucky enough to fly to the coastline, we can't cross those mountains!"
In fact, the mountains in the island country are not high, but for them who have lost motivation, they are insurmountable mountains.
"Okay, tell me again, how many successful landings on water have there been in the history of aviation?"
Ito was a little discouraged, "It seems that there is only one case in the Hudson River..."
Bei Haiyang said, "I knew you were talking about the Hudson River! But that's an inland river, as wide and calm as a mirror!"
This is an island sea, the wind force is above level 5 or 6 all year round, and the wave height is at least 4,5 meters or even higher. What do you think we will do if we rush into waves several meters high at a speed of nearly 200 miles?
In the history of aviation, more than 70% of crash landings in the sea failed completely! The rest also suffered heavy casualties, and it would be an eye-opener for God to survive even one!
So, why try this kind of forced landing that is destined to be tragic?"
Ito refused, "But after all, we can't stay in the sky forever! Even if one of us survives, we have to work hard for it!"
Bei Haiyang smiled, "Since it's all hard work and a gamble, why not make a bigger bet and save all the passengers on the plane?"
Pointing to the dial, "Look at our current circling, if we continue like this, we can extend the touchdown time by 10 to 15 minutes!
If we were gliding normally, we would fall into the sea in 10 minutes, but if we were circling up and down, we could last at least 20 to 25 minutes!"
With a wink in his eyes, he said, "In the extra ten minutes, we can try 6 or 7 more ignition procedures, if we move quickly and don't grind!"
Ito understood! The captain was also betting, but the bet was that the four engines were not really damaged! In the airspace where the accident occurred, they still don’t understand what they encountered? But when the engine finally stalled, it was indeed just pulling the flames.
, that is a state of incomplete combustion, indicating that something is blocked in the engine or something else, but it is not completely damaged!
In the same desperate effort, is there any comparison between rescuing a few people and rescuing a whole machine?
Of course, this is a trade-off. They are not sure in doing so, and they are just getting lucky! If they were in the position of Flight 1306, they would also choose to make an emergency landing!
It’s all forced by God!
The news from the steward in the cabin was equally disappointing. Mr. Hirata probably wanted to sleep through this part of the flight to the end.
The only good news is that the smoke has dissipated, which further proves that there is no fire inside the aircraft, and those annoying smoke are pouring in from the outside!
Not knowing the specific cause of the accident was also an important factor affecting their most reasonable judgment. All four flights made what they thought were the right choices. No one knew who was right and who was wrong until they landed!
Tokyo flight control, "Dragon Air 256, please send identification signal A7700!"
What this sentence means is that when the aircraft drops to a certain altitude, the air traffic control radar will not be able to see them because of their ultra-low altitude. At this time, they need to send out their own identification signals to help the air traffic control center determine their location.
To put it bluntly, if it crashes, at least there is a relatively accurate direction for rescue?
Ito gritted his teeth, "Okay, restart the ignition process...battery starter...turn wheel valve..."