A Harrowing Landing

Liu Jin did not wait until the minimum altitude to begin the recovery. He knew his own condition: his body could no longer handle such a reckless maneuver!

"Remember, recovering from a spin is different from recovering from an ordinary stall! With an ordinary stall, as long as you have enough altitude, you can just light the afterburner and power your way out."

Even under these circumstances, Liu Jin did not forget to give Li Zhi a lesson.

"Spin recovery is different. Before the rotation slows down, giving the engine throttle is asking for death!"

"The first thing to do is apply rudder opposite the direction of rotation. It's a bit of a mouthful, but that's the correct procedure!"

As Liu Jin instructed Li Zhi, he kept working the controls with his hands and feet. The plane's rudder was controlled by pedals, so his feet were very busy.

Under Liu Jin's control, the plane's rotation slowed noticeably, and he also tried to restart the engine.

Fortunately, Liu Jin had shut the engine down himself rather than having it fail, and it restarted on the first try!

The trainees on the ground could already see the plane. They did not know what had happened; all they knew was that it was about to fall, and they were all startled.

As they stood there at a loss, they saw a plume of black smoke rise from the plane's tail. Then the plane seemed to hang motionless in the air.

Rumble, rumble, rumble!

In less than a second, a deafening roar reached everyone's ears, and the plane, which had hung in the air for a second, shot back toward the blue sky!

Clap, clap, clap!

All the trainees applauded. They did not know that Liu Jin had deliberately performed the stall recovery exercise, but that did not stop them from applauding in admiration.

"Whew... Well? Did you remember what I just said? Whew..."

Having performed two difficult maneuvers in succession, Liu Jin had expended a great deal of energy and was panting heavily even as he spoke.

"I remember!"

Unlike the panting Liu Jin, Li Zhi seemed perfectly fine, as though those had been just two ordinary basic maneuvers.

"Whew... You fly us back. No problem, right? Whew..."

"No problem!"

Hearing that Li Zhi's voice still had not changed at all, Liu Jin could not help rolling his eyes. Even for a healthy young man, that kind of physique was monstrous!

How could someone go through two difficult maneuvers in succession without even breathing hard?

Li Zhi paid no attention to what Liu Jin thought. He needed to focus on flying the plane now. Though he was confident about landing, he did not dare be careless. After all, it was his first time!

"01, 102 requesting landing!"

The plane had not left the airspace above the academy, so after taking control, Li Zhi immediately requested landing clearance from the tower.

"102, descend along the designated route first. Contact us in ten minutes!"

"Descend and contact you in ten minutes, understood!"

The entire academy had only one airfield, but it had quite a few trainer aircraft. Today was also the day everyone got to experience flying, so the airfield was very busy.

The route and altitude for circling down were clearly prescribed. Li Zhi could not simply fly however he pleased; if his path crossed another plane's, it could easily cause an accident.

Ten minutes passed quickly. Liu Jin had recovered some of his strength during that time, but he did not take control of the plane back from Li Zhi.

"01, 102 requesting landing!"

Li Zhi requested landing clearance again. If he still could not land, he would have to climb again.

"102, cleared to land! Field pressure 989, westerly wind at force 6. The wind is a little strong, so be careful!"

The wind had picked up at the airfield after Li Zhi and Liu Jin went up. According to the weather report, light to moderate rain was expected within the hour.

"Westerly wind at force 6, be careful. 102 understands!"

Li Zhi was not scared off by the wind and calmly acknowledged the tower's warning.

During the descent, Li Zhi felt the wind's effect on the plane. It was blowing from the front left, pushing the plane slightly to the right.

Li Zhi immediately made fine adjustments to keep the plane heading straight toward the runway.

So far, Li Zhi's handling had been flawless, so Liu Jin made no move to intervene.

The landing gear was now less than a meter from the runway. Once the tires touched down, the wind would have much less effect on the fighter.

But heaven loved playing jokes. Just as they were about to land, the force-6 westerly wind stopped abruptly and quickly shifted to a northerly!

The sudden change in wind made the fighter drift sideways in midair. Luckily, Li Zhi reacted quickly, pushing the throttle all the way forward and engaging the afterburner while pulling the plane up with both hands.

Shortly after pulling the stick, Li Zhi felt himself lose control of the plane. Liu Jin had reacted just as quickly and taken control.

"102, pull up!!"

Only then did the tower's warning arrive. The sudden shift in wind direction had given the people in the tower a fright too. It was their first time encountering a wind that changed direction so abruptly.

"Well? Did that scare you?"

Li Zhi's emergency response had impressed Liu Jin. He had overridden Li Zhi's control only because he had acted instinctively.

"A little!"

It would have been a lie to say no. Li Zhi had indeed been frightened, but he had also made the best response he could immediately.

"Do you want to keep going?"

Li Zhi had handled it very well, so Liu Jin decided to give him another chance.

"Yes!"

Liu Jin handed control back to Li Zhi.

"01, 102 requesting another landing!"

"Cleared to land. Field pressure 992, northerly wind at force 3. Watch for changes in wind direction!"

After the sudden shift in direction, the wind had weakened considerably, but the people in the tower were still a little uneasy and specifically told him to watch the wind direction.

"Understood!"

This time, heaven played no tricks, and Li Zhi successfully landed the plane on the runway.

"Not bad!"

After that harrowing moment, Li Zhi had still been able to fly the plane calmly. Such composure was rare, and Liu Jin could not help praising him.

As for the successful landing, Liu Jin valued it less than that composure.

After Li Zhi's flight experience ended, the other trainees did not get a chance to go up, because a notice had come from the academy.

A thundercloud was rapidly forming over the academy, and conditions at the airfield were no longer suitable for takeoff. All flights for the day had been canceled!