Great Power Fighting Falcon

Chapter 462: Army Aviation prepares for Kongming Lantern flight

No. 007 J-10S rose from the ground, and its takeoff action was the same as the last daytime takeoff. Taking off and landing can very well reflect the pilot's comprehensive flying quality. Taking off and landing may seem simple, but it is usually the most difficult part of the entire flight. Especially now that the flight control systems of civil aviation aircraft are becoming more and more advanced, all the pilots actually need to do is take off and land, and everything else is left to the automatic flight system.

This is not the case for fighter jets. Although the J-10 has the most advanced flight control system so far among the Chinese Air Force's active fighters, due to its extremely obvious statically unstable design, except for high-altitude cruising, the pilot needs to be very alert to control it in other states. , therefore placing high demands on the pilot’s energy, especially for night flights.

The cockpit of the J-10S is not much different from that of the J-10B, while the cockpit of the early J-10 was very simple, and the full cockpit of the early Su-27SK is instantly recognizable. Several years have passed since mass production began. , new cockpit technology was put into use, so the modern cockpit of the J-10 fighter we see now is there.

The colored lights on the cockpit instrument panel are anti-dazzling and are slightly reflected on Li Zhan's face. The visibility outside the cockpit was zero, but both Li Zhan and Zhang Wei wore low-light night vision devices, which allowed them to gain some visibility. The combination of night vision flying and instrument flying gave night flights an extra layer of protection. Instrument flying is a basic skill, and blind cockpit operation is one of the basic skills necessary for Air Force pilots. On the contrary, Zhang Wei has a relatively solid foundation, even though he has been working as a ground crew for many years.

After passing through the front line, Zhang Wei smiled and said, "It doesn't feel as scary as during the day. Lao Li, your skills have improved again."

Li Zhan in the front cabin pointed and said, "You won't feel scared if you can't see the mountains outside. Studies have shown that driving in the dark night is far safer than driving during the day, because the driver's attention is limited to Danger can be detected more quickly within the range of vehicle lights.”

"I know the single-plank bridge theory at night. But I can feel that this time it is smoother than the one during the day. The posture of the fighter plane is proof." Zhang Wei said.

Li Zhan said, "Of course, you will make progress every time you fly. In fact, I plan to make a suggestion to your division headquarters to use the sky route as the main take-off route. This will be very helpful to improve the overall flight level of the troops."

"80% of the division will not adopt it. We are a combat force, not an aerobatic team. There is no need to play these tricks." Zhang Wei said.

Li Zhan said, "What if the battlefield environment requires ultra-low-altitude penetration in mountainous areas such as the Central and Southern Mountains? Lao Zhang, please don't forget the purpose of the Second Division asking me to come here for a temporary post."

"Test flight." Zhang Wei said, suddenly stunned and said, "Oh yes, it's an instructor, an instructor in low-altitude penetration combat tactics."

Li Zhan pulled the fighter plane into a neat roll and turned around, causing Zhang Wei in the back cabin to complain: "You can't make a good U-turn and have to roll. I'm not a professional pilot and I can't withstand a few overloads."

"Most people can withstand three to five overloads, you'll be fine." Li Zhan smiled and called the tower, "Tower, turn around and return, it's over."

Unexpectedly, Tang Guozheng in the tower said, "Three thousand people are circling around the cave. I have received an emergency order from my superiors. Two helicopters of the Army Airlines carrying out disaster relief missions have encountered bad weather and need to make a backup landing. You wait first." complete."

"The hole is clear, it is circling three thousand times, it is over."

Li Zhan quickly climbed to a standard altitude of 3,000 meters and entered the circling route of the field. He couldn't help but look sideways and looked down. He could vaguely see two sets of navigation lights flashing underneath, and the direction they were moving was Zhongnan. Depot. He hesitated for a moment, then turned on the radar and enabled the downward vision search mode. Soon the two targets appeared at the bottom of the radar display, almost outside the range of the downward vision search.

"Lao Li, look to the north, it looks like a big cloud of cumulonimbus." Zhang Wei said suddenly.

Li Zhan quickly looked to the north. In the field of view of the low-light night vision device, there was a large dark thing in the north, and there were some faint lights around him. Looking up, he could see some stars. The working principle of the low-light night vision device is to amplify the weak natural light and is a passive night vision device. In other words, if there is no light where you are looking, the display will be black.

Simply put, the low-light night vision device is like a brightness adjuster for the monitor, but it does not have the function of maintaining the original pixels.

Suddenly, the cumulonimbus clouds in the north began to flash, and irregular lines flickered. Li Zhan felt a chill in his heart and said, "There is high-altitude lightning, and the airflow and crosswind are probably very strong, otherwise the Army Aviation helicopter would not be in such a hurry to land."

"Let's land as soon as possible, it looks scary." Zhang Wei also noticed it and said.

Li Zhan said, "Don't worry, we won't be able to reach us for a while. The pilots of the Army Airlines still have a keen sense of smell, otherwise they will be in trouble when encountering such weather in the mountainous area."

The accident during the 2008 earthquake relief was different. Lu Aviation knew that there were no flying conditions in that mountainous area, and the magnetic field was turbulent and the airflow was complex, but! If not, go ahead! The people's army is the last line of defense. When it must rise, it must rise regardless of conditions.

Not long after, two Mi-171 helicopters of the Army Aviation successfully landed at Zhongnan Field Station. After the runway was cleared, Li Zhan landed in J-10S No. 007. Then they conducted non-stop inspections as planned. After confirming that the aircraft was in normal condition, Li Zhan took off again for the second flight.

The Zhongnan Station seemed lively this night. Two Mi-171 helicopters were parked on the side of the tower, bringing life to this station that has never had permanent fighter jets.

After Li Zhan took off for the second time, he checked the aircraft again and found that everything was normal. He took off again to perform the last part of the flight - taking off on a normal route. After leaving the ground, the fighter jet climbed quickly and cut into the side path of the tourist airport, just in time to make a turn above the airport. To be precise, when taking off according to the normal route, the airspace of the formation is just above the tourist airport. That’s why the status of Zhongnan Station is so embarrassing. The tourist airport cannot be relocated. That is very unrealistic.

I thought that the third flight content was the simplest and most relaxing, but when Li Zhan let go of his hands and feet and violently controlled the aircraft at sonic speeds, crossed the last peak and entered the airspace of the tourist airport, he was dumbfounded. There were a lot of densely moving lights in the sky above the tourist airport!

"Damn it! That's a Kongming Lantern, Lao Li avoid it! Avoid it quickly!" Zhang Wei, who had always been gentle and elegant, was shocked and said anxiously.

Li Zhan quickly pulled back the throttle lever to slow down and lowered the flaps, "It's too late, I have to fly over."

The densely packed Kongming lanterns float slowly in the night sky, which is especially poetic in the foggy night. The photographers who participated in the event were obsessed with using up shutter speeds to capture this beautiful scene. Every time they took a photo, they would attach a prayer - I hope the people who died due to the ice and snow disaster will have a safe journey, and I hope there will be no ice and snow in heaven. !

This is a prayer event organized by civil society groups, lighting candles and setting off sky lanterns to pray for the victims.

However, this almost killed Li Zhan and Zhang Wei!

The prayer event was held at a park square seven or eight kilometers north of the tourist airport. The organizer checked the weather forecast and found that the Kongming Lantern would fly south and continue to climb until it exploded and fell over the mountains. In this rainy and snowy weather, the Kongming Lantern would not cause any accidents. fire, so it was approved by the relevant local departments.

However, no one expected that the wind direction would change, and a large number of sky lanterns drifted along the wind direction to the sky above the tourist airport, at exactly the height where the No. 007 J-10S combat trainer aircraft entered the airspace. To be exact, thousands of Kongming lanterns cover multiple airspace layers. For fighter jets flying at high speed, each Kongming lantern is an anti-aircraft gun shell.

Because of the mountain peaks to the south of the airport, Li Zhan, who was climbing, could not see the situation above the airport. When he accelerated to climb over the mountains, the fighter plane had already rushed into the fire net woven by thousands of "anti-aircraft artillery shells" , he had absolutely no time to react.

Lowering the airspeed to gain more reaction time, Li Zhan began to play the cube plane game, constantly maneuvering the stick to dodge the incoming sky lanterns. In the thrilling moment, the sky lanterns almost brushed against their canopies. After the fighter jets roared past, the powerful wake made the Kongming Lanterns that were floating leisurely become messy and wandered like crazy.

"Fuck, it's too much, I'm going to dive down." Li Zhan found that there were more and more sky lanterns in front of him, and he could no longer stay in this fire net. He put down decisively and dived down quickly, until there was no threat. low altitude, but this way the fighter plane will have to fly between the mountain peaks.

Tang Guozheng in the tower asked loudly, "Dongdongguai, what's going on?"

"Tower, there are a large number of sky lanterns covering the airspace above the tourist airport. I went down to avoid it. Your radar may not be able to see me. In addition, I have to return. The plane seems to have hit something, but everything is normal now. It's over. "Li Zhan reported quickly.

Zhang Wei didn't feel anything at all. He was dumbfounded when he saw the sky filled with dense sky lanterns. He could see clearly that when it crossed the mountain, the airspeed of the fighter plane had already reached one thousand kilometers per hour. If it was any slower, it would break the sound barrier. At such a fast speed, let alone the Kongming Lantern, even if it hit a leaf That's quite annoying. So his attention was all on the Kongming Lantern, and he didn't notice that the fighter plane had some slight tremors just now.

"Turn around and return immediately! Report the situation at any time! It's over." Tang Guozheng quickly issued the order, turned to the staff officer beside him with a cold face, "Ask what's going on at the tourist airport, they know we are flying tonight, find out What’s the problem? In addition, notify the local public security organs to intervene!”

"Yes!" The staff officer hurried away.

The personnel on duty at the control tower were all filled with anger. They had finally managed to get the flight started due to the weather, but then there was another commotion at your local airport. If this caused a fighter plane crash, the soldiers would be tempted to eat the relevant personnel alive.

Tang Guozheng immediately called Qi Hong to report the matter. He realized that there were serious flaws in the coordination mechanism between Zhongnan Station and the local government. This problem must be solved as soon as possible, otherwise the restoration of normal use of Zhongnan Station would be empty talk.

This time I was lucky enough to avoid it. What about next time? What about the next time?

The Second Division's headquarters, Xi County Station, and Nangang International Airport are very close to the city. In particular, Nangang International Airport is directly on the edge of the city. The nearest real estate is only more than a thousand meters away, but these two airports have never been there. There have been aircraft intrusions, and the safety record in this area is very good. In the final analysis, the army and relevant local departments in Nangang have a very mature and effective linkage and coordination mechanism, which has ensured the clearance rate of the two airports. When Li Zhan was flying balloons, it was this linkage and coordination mechanism that promptly fed back local intelligence and quickly formed a solution. The hot air balloon was shot down before it even had a chance to approach the five-sided airspace of Nangang International Airport.

Tang Guozheng believes that Zhongnan Station urgently needs to establish such a linkage and coordination mechanism with the local government to ensure the safety of flight training to the greatest extent.

PS: No more today, good night everyone, see you tomorrow.