Although landing in bad weather is not easy, it is not as difficult as imagined for modern aircraft. Generally speaking, pilots will fly according to instruments instead of flying below the clouds and observing the surrounding environment.
So Wang Yu is very curious about the meaning of the communication on the transport plane.
"This is our base's fixed procedure for landing in bad weather." Luo Yu answered his question: "The geographical location of the base was chosen in a location that is difficult to be discovered by satellites. It is a narrow valley, and the valley is not a straight valley.
It’s a straight line, so it’s impossible to maintain a straight descent. Look at your navigation information. Are you turning until you reach the final navigation point?”
"Could it be that while flying along the valley, the altitude is lowered?"
What kind of airport is this that challenges pilots’ flying skills...
"That's what you said." Luo Yu replied with a smile: "You will know when you pass through the clouds."
"Do we want to pass through the clouds?" Wang Yu asked in confusion: "The clouds in mountainous areas in bad weather are usually close to the ground, and the visibility is very poor. In the end, we will definitely fly according to the instructions of the navigation radar..."
"Complete radar flights are also possible, and this is the case in more extreme climate conditions." Luo Yu explained: "We have also experienced extreme approaches with a visual distance of no more than fifty meters, relying only on lights and instrument tools, but usually
Generally speaking, it is difficult for clouds to completely cover the valley around the base. The clouds are usually above the valley, so when we pass through the clouds, we can usually clearly see the ground and various indicator lights. In short...
Let me lead the team this time."
Wang Yu readily agreed, so after establishing a certain distance from the transport aircraft, the Polaris Squadron switched flight formations. Luo Yu was at the front, Wang Yu was in the middle, and Murong Lan was at the end. The three fighters lowered their altitude in sequence and got close to the clouds.
When he was close to the clouds, he turned on the terrain tracking and navigation radar built into the fighter plane. In this way, a color display screen in front of Wang Yu would display the terrain scanned by the radar in blue and green colors.
Information, on the screen, blue means that the location scanned by the radar is clear, and green means that the scanning location is blocked by obstacles.
Although it cannot be said that the terrain environment can be accurately scanned, it can at least determine whether the flight direction is clear. It is a very helpful tool for fighters that need to fly at low altitudes in bad weather.
As an aside, on the F-15E that Wang Yu flew before, a pod pylon was specially used to hang the navigation pod of this kind of ground tracking radar, which was used to provide FLIR vision for the fighter aircraft and ensure the low altitude of the fighter aircraft at night.
Flying ability.
The current X-02S's built-in terrain tracking radar is naturally more advanced than the F-15E's.
At this time, Wang Yu needs to look at the altitude information, the terrain tracking radar, and the navigation route map and the most appropriate flight altitudes for each navigation point marked on the route map to ensure the safety of the cloud penetration process. p>
At the same time, he established real-time ranging connections with Luo Yu and Murong Lan respectively to determine the height and speed of the other party as well as the closing rate of both parties in real time to avoid being too close when flying in the valley.
While helping Wang Yu look at various data, Liu Lingxin took the time to look at the dense clouds that were getting closer and closer. She couldn't help but murmur in her heart: "Even for the sake of confidentiality, it would be too... to build the base in a place like this...
”
"I think so too." Wang Yu nodded slightly: "Perhaps with this weird base location, only the most elite pilots can successfully take off and land from here to perform missions."
The thick clouds are like large expanses of cotton, giving people the illusion that they can walk freely on the clouds.
Approaching the clouds from the extremely clear sky, you can clearly see the shadow of the fighter plane cast on the clouds. At the same time, due to the various uneven shapes at the top of the clouds, the fighter planes will continue to pass through various types of clouds as they approach the clouds.
The more imagination you have about the shapes of clouds, the more different meanings you can give to these clouds.
And this kind of beauty of traveling through the sea of clouds is difficult to describe in words.
However, before Wang Yu and Liu Lingxin could praise the beautiful scenery too much, the fighter plane had already sunk into the clouds.
As soon as the fighter plane entered the clouds, the surrounding environment began to turn from bright to dark. As the height of the fighter plane became lower and lower, the surrounding visibility and brightness also became worse and worse. Wang Yu raised his head and looked around through the cockpit, and even
I can't see the wingtips of my fighter plane, I can only vaguely see the flashing navigation lights at the wingtips.
Normally, flying through the clouds is probably very fast, but according to the information from the transport plane, the height of the clouds at this time is about several hundred meters, so based on the current descent rate, it is estimated that it will have to fly in the clouds for a while.
Clouds of this thickness can also effectively block the light of stars in the sky.
——In this case, it should be very dark in the valley.
I don’t know what Luo Yu means by saying that you can see the so-called instructions after passing through the clouds.
"Pay attention to the flight route, the descent rate transmitted by the data link, the platform altitude and the obstacle information fed back by the navigation radar." Luo Yu's voice sounded in the communication. She seemed to be familiar with flying in this kind of terrain: "We need to mark the
The waypoint for entry is into the valley close to the base, so be sure to get out of the clouds before that."
Wang Yu understands what Luo Yu said - before starting to descend, the data link information input by each aircraft has received the synchronized information from the target base. This information will be updated on the navigation interface in real time, including when the descent started and the descent time.
To what height, what is the speed and rate of descent during the descent, the height of the platform at each stage of descent, etc.
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This information will be continuously updated as the fighter plane approaches the base, and eventually the fighter plane will be guided to the base to complete the landing.
In fact, it is a bit like the CASE3 landing in the naval aviation, except that this one is more difficult.
While flying based on the data, you must also pay attention to the surrounding terrain environment.
A moment later, Wang Yu also successfully passed through the clouds from below.
Just as he imagined, the valley below the clouds looked very dim due to insufficient light.
What's even more surprising is that it's actually snowing below the clouds, and the falling snowflakes cover the valley. Although it does have a strange beauty, it makes flying a lot of difficulty.
Fortunately, using the navigation terrain display, flying is not difficult.
At this time, the valley is more like hills, shallow and wide, and the highest mountains on both sides are not able to penetrate into the clouds.
But when Wang Yu looked forward, he could see that the terrain ahead was more rugged.
The valley began to become narrower, and the mountains on both sides began to rise. The tops of the mountains began to disappear into the clouds. The mountains on both sides and the clouds above seemed to turn the valley into a closed space.
"We're going to fly there."
Liu Lingxin murmured to herself: "Of course, you are the one who wants to fly in, I am just a passenger."
"It should be the entrance of the valley that seems obvious." Wang Yu compared the flight route with the terrain ahead, "There is probably still a few nautical miles of flight distance, but I don't know where the visual guidance Luo Yu mentioned before is.
”
At this moment, Wang Yu heard Luo Yu starting to call the base through the channel.
Since she was the team leader at this time, she took over the calling task.
"Polaris 2 called the base, and the three aircraft of the Polaris Squadron arrived at the entry point as scheduled and were ready to start the approach."
"Base, received, no wind, a small amount of snowfall, approach allowed, follow the guidance lights."
Polaris Squadron conducts pre-landing inspections based on information from the base, such as adjusting some modes of the fighter aircraft, such as turning on the radar altitude mode, enlarging the HIS zoom ratio, making the flight trajectory more accurate, turning on the wheel anti-skid, etc...
While the Polaris Squadron was doing these things, Wang Yu suddenly noticed that the outside environment was bright.
At this moment, a dense row of guidance lights lit up at the bottom of the entire valley. These bright but not dazzling lights together formed a flight path that could be clearly seen from the air. In front of the fighter plane's flight direction, you could
I saw the lights extending all the way into the narrow valley, and on the mountains on both sides of the valley, there were also arrows and altitude indicators marked with lights.
Wang Yu blinked in surprise: "No wonder Luo Yu said he could see the directions. It turns out there are such convenient lights."
Looking at the penetrating power of the light, it may also play a certain guiding role in dense fog with extremely poor visibility.
This reminded him of a civil airport that is no longer in use. The plane at that airport needs to make a big turn over the city before landing. In the city, there are a series of guidance lights to guide the plane to turn this turn and finally land.
On the runway.
"These lights will be turned on when an aircraft needs to land, and will be turned off immediately after the landing is completed to maintain concealment." Luo Yu intimately introduced to Wang Yu: "It's just like on an aircraft carrier, plus valleys and camouflage measures.
And due to the obstruction of clouds, even military satellites have a hard time finding the location of our base."
"It is indeed the mysterious ace unit." Wang Yu marveled.
Therefore, based on the information synchronized from the base, the three fighters of the Polaris Squadron began to maintain altitude and speed, widen the distance, follow the instructions of the lights, and fly into increasingly narrow valleys amidst the falling snowflakes.
While Wang Yu was operating the plane to stay in the middle of the canyon, he recalled Luo Yu and Murong Lan's outstanding low-altitude flying skills in the valley when they were performing missions in the Principality of Imran. Now he knew how these two people practiced their flying skills.
It's out.
Fortunately, although the valley is narrow, it is not tortuous. With the help of the guide, it is not difficult to fly. The only difficulty is to keep descending while crossing the valley in order to finally land at the airport. There is a flight distance of about seven nautical miles from the entry point to the final navigation point approaching the base. The fighter plane needs to turn three times in the valley. As Wang Yu turned the last corner, he saw a relatively spacious
Valley, and in the center of the valley, there is a runway with flashing indicator lights - this runway seems to have been forcibly constructed on uneven ground, and part of it is even a suspended structure.
When the fighter plane turned from the valley, it was facing this runway.
Due to the continuous descent in the valley, Wang Yu was already on the most suitable glide path. He opened the landing gear, turned on the landing lights, and then maintained a stable descent rate and quickly approached the runway.
Accompanied by a grinding sound and a shaking that was not violent but definitely not slight, the fighter plane touched the runway somewhat heavily. The hydraulic device on the landing gear vibrated several times, finally allowing the fighter plane to stabilize.
Wang Yu closed the throttle, opened the speed brake, and pulled the lever to raise the nose of the fighter jet to use aerodynamic deceleration.
This time the landing was a little heavier. If it had been heavier, it might have bounced up directly.
But this is also a last resort. After all, there is snowfall at this time. Although the snow has been removed, the runway is still slippery. If the landing is not heavy, it will easily cause the landing gear of the fighter plane to be unable to break through the water film on the runway, resulting in skidding.
Dangerous situation.
Therefore, Wang Yu could only complete the "heavy" landing as "lightly" as possible.
When the nose of the aircraft could not be kept raised and the nose landing gear contacted the runway, Wang Yu stepped on the brakes continuously, causing the fighter's speed to drop to the taxiing speed faster. At the same time, according to the information Luo Yu told him in the communication, along the
An exit left the runway.
After he left the runway, Murong Lan's fighter plane also turned out of the valley and approached the runway.
Wang Yu let the fighter plane slide along the straight taxiway to the parking space while looking at the surrounding environment.
It is indeed unusual for an air force base to be located in such a place. Even the air pirate bases in the mountains that I have bombed in previous missions are mostly located in places where the terrain is not very rugged, and there is no need to fly in the valley to approach when landing.
, it is indeed uncommon to completely place the base in a narrow valley like this.
What a novel place.
Wang Yu could see some fighters on the other side of the tarmac, and this sight opened his eyes.
"Good guys, Su-47, YF-23, F-22..." Wang Yu noticed at a glance many different models of fighter jets that are very rare in the outside world: "Let me go, there is actually a Mig-31 in the distance.
, there are really all types of aircraft here."
"Our base has always advocated that pilots fly the fighter aircraft that best suits them. In addition, with the existence of organic girls and the unification of logistics, pilots will not be forced to fly the same type of aircraft." Luo Yu seemed very happy to see Wang Yu's surprised look:
"So it's not surprising what models you see here. Many times, the pilots from our base are really all kinds of types..."
"I've become more knowledgeable."
Neither Wang Yu nor Liu Lingxin knew what to say: "It seems that our new base can bring us a lot of surprises."