Landing Carrier

On the drilling platform, a few workers watched the departing carrier-based aircraft with excitement, only lowering their gazes once the plane vanished from sight, their eyes full of envy—what man wouldn't want to fly a fighter jet?

One worker whispered, "Did you get it on video?"

"Got it all, so cool! He's like a sniper, one burst and a whole nest of Monkeys!"

Another worker looked at his Huawei, the screen replaying the J-15's dive attack in a loop, the fluid strikes shredding all the speedboats.

"This..." A young worker who had always held a bias against the country stared incredulously at the distant sea. This wasn't what the internet said—weren't they supposed to just protest?

"I told you, read less of that stuff."

"Yeah! You're right! I won't look at it anymore!" the young man said loudly. The facts were right in front of him; he couldn't just make things up.

"I'll post it on Bilibili later."

The drilling worker looked at the video on his phone, planning to add some stirring background music. He'd use "March of the Steel Torrent"—navy with an army BGM, now that's authentic~

"[Student 189, report your position.]"

"This is 189, altitude 8000, heading 060."

Every so often, Liu Jun reported his position and altitude to the Liaoning. After a minor disturbance, Liu Jun was about to undergo the [Daytime Carrier Qualification Certification].

IFF identification passed, entering the carrier's air defense zone, altitude beginning to drop. After passing through a thin cloud layer, Liu Jun could visually spot the carrier on the distant sea. From the air, the massive ship was just a tiny black dot, while the surrounding waters held the Liaoning's escort ships, her sword-bearing guards.

Continuing to descend, he circled above the Liaoning, waiting for the [Qualification Certification].

"[Proceed with landing as instructed.]"

"Understood!"

After circling twice above the carrier, he received the notice to begin the daytime qualification certification and entered the carrier landing procedure. Circling once more, he adjusted his angle, ready to land on the carrier.

Even with the all-weather electronic landing assist system and the Fresnel lens, landing on a carrier wasn't easy. Carrier-based aircraft landings weren't as simple as on land—the sea wasn't calm, the carrier swayed slightly with the waves, and the ship itself was moving. Landing on this moving airfield was like dancing on a knife's edge; one misstep meant death for both plane and pilot!

Cut throttle, add throttle, repeatedly work the throttle, make slight adjustments to the flight stick, fine-tune the J-15's nose, lower the flaps to increase lift and improve low-speed handling. As altitude and speed continued to drop, he lowered the landing gear and tailhook.

Crossing an invisible line, Liu Jun entered a world of five colors. The Optical Landing System began assisting his landing.

The Optical Landing System, consisting of deck-edge units, a power supply, and a control panel, was mounted on a stabilized platform near the port side of the mid-flight deck, unaffected by the carrier's pitching. It emitted five layers of light beams parallel to the runway, forming five wave surfaces at a fixed angle to the sea level. The key beam was orange, with yellow above and red below, and green reference beams on either side.

Orange meant a perfect landing, yellow meant too high, red meant too low, and green meant left or right, adjusting horizontal position.

Cut throttle, make fine adjustments to the aircraft's angle, nose aligned with the deck landing zone. Almost no correction needed—he entered the orange beam zone directly, like a bridge of light guiding him to the deck.

Closer!

Even closer!

The carrier, once just a tiny black dot, was now the size of a transport truck, growing larger as he approached, like switching from a state-media photo to a foreign-media one, rapidly expanding.

Gently pull up the nose, continue cutting throttle, control landing speed at 300-400 km/h, maintain power for a go-around. If the tailhook missed the arresting gear cable, he could still abort and try again.

At this moment, inside the bridge, the captain and political commissar were watching [189]'s landing through binoculars.

"Oh, it's him? The Coast Guard specifically asked us to commend him?" Senior Colonel Yang Wei, the political commissar, asked with a smile.

At first, when the Coast Guard asked for help, it was just a favor. Who knew he'd nearly wipe out the Pirates in one go? Word was the Pirates were terrified, many wetting themselves, and they spilled everything during Coast Guard interrogation without holding back.

"How is he? Hmph, excellent cannon shooting scores."

This was why Zhang Jun had been interested in Liu Jun earlier. Most other trainees scored just passing on live cannon fire, but Liu Jun scored excellent, with precision that even the flight instructors praised.

Now they knew—he really was excellent. As a captain, Liu Jun made him very happy.

In modern air combat, missiles were getting more advanced and intelligent, making cannons less useful. Cannon shooting wasn't emphasized as much anymore; passing was enough, as seen by the J-20 dropping its cannon.

But! The cannon was a pilot's last honor and last weapon, like a soldier's bayonet—daring to fight at close quarters was a tradition!

"Truly impressive."

Yang Wei spoke honestly. For a soldier, achievements were right in front of them—one was one, two was two!

According to the Coast Guard's report, Liu Jun sank five Pirate speedboats using only 30 cannon rounds, meaning two bursts took out one boat. For a high-speed fighter, the window for ground attack was just an instant; his cannon shooting ability was already at a "sniper" level.

"He's going for the third cable?" Captain Zhang Jun watched the J-15's descent profile and immediately saw that Liu Jun was aiming for the third arresting gear cable.

The arresting gear cable was a key component of the arresting system. To ensure safe landings and improve the tailhook catch rate, the flight deck usually had 4-6 cables.

The first cable was generally placed 36-51 meters from the rear of the flight deck, with about 12-18 meters between each cable. The barrier net was set before the last cable. It wasn't normally deployed, but if needed during landing, deck crew could set it up in two minutes, forcing the plane into the net to stop it.

Catching the second or third cable was the ideal landing scenario. The first and fourth cables had issues—the first was too slow, the fourth too fast.

Zhang Jun watched the J-15 descend steadily. The moment the landing gear hit the deck, the entire airframe sank heavily, slamming onto the deck—the brutal landing aesthetic unique to naval aviation. Then the tailhook precisely caught the third arresting gear cable.

When the cable caught at high speed, the neck and lower back endured massive impact. Due to inertia, the moment the plane was hooked, blood rushed to the head, eyes flooded with pressure, vision narrowed, and everything looked red. For Liu Jun, though, it was just a bit uncomfortable.