A Forced Landing With Only One Chance

Pfft~

Right engine failure!

Just as the landing gear was about to touch the runway, a strange noise came from behind Li Zhi. The plane immediately lost all power and flew forward on momentum alone.

Without the engine's thrust, the fighter's nose pitched sharply downward.

This was extremely dangerous. If the front wheel touched down before the rear wheels, the fighter's entire weight would bear down on it, and the tire would burst instantly!

If the front tire blew, the plane's direction would be impossible to control. Sparks from the metal strut scraping against the runway could easily ignite the fighter's fuel tank, instantly detonating the more than a ton of fuel inside.

At this point, nothing Li Zhi did would help. Apart from activating the fire suppression system for the right engine, all he could do was wait.

Li Zhi stared intently at the runway ahead, not daring to look back to see whether the right engine was on fire. But whether or not it was burning, he had to activate its fire suppression system.

"Ah!"

Li Zhi couldn't see what was happening to the right engine, but everyone in the control tower could see it clearly. Just as the fighter was about to touch the runway, the exhaust plume behind its tail suddenly turned into open flame. One of the women couldn't help crying out.

Fortunately, the flames lasted less than a second before the engine's fire suppression system put them out.

Ring, ring, ring~

The base's alarm bell hadn't stopped ringing since Li Zhi first ran into trouble. Everyone was ready to carry out a rescue.

Before anyone had time to worry, the fighter's landing gear touched down on the runway.

The rear wheels had landed first!

Xu Feng saw it clearly through the binoculars in his hands in the control tower.

Almost as soon as the rear wheels touched down, the front wheel hit the runway too. Because the rear wheels had absorbed most of the force in time, the front tire didn't blow.

But because the fighter's landing attitude hadn't been right, it swayed from side to side as it rolled down the runway.

Fortunately, with Li Zhi doing everything he could to control it, the fighter never veered off the runway. But Li Zhi was still in danger.

The runway wasn't particularly long!

At just over two thousand meters, it was considered a relatively short runway. Normally that wasn't a problem, but for Li Zhi now, it didn't seem long enough.

With both engines dead, he had no chance to go around for another attempt.

And since the plane had already landed, even if something went wrong, he was no longer at a safe altitude to eject!

If he ejected now, even if the ejection succeeded, Li Zhi would be injured. He could basically say goodbye to flying for the rest of his life!

Li Zhi was still making one last effort.

The engines had quit, which meant he couldn't use reverse thrust to slow down. But he still had the flaps and drag chute to help him decelerate.

The moment the plane steadied on the runway, Li Zhi tried to deploy the drag chute. Fortunately, the fighter's hydraulics were still working normally, and the chute deployed successfully.

The fast-moving fighter jerked abruptly as the drag chute took effect, greatly reducing its speed.

But it wasn't enough. The fighter was too heavy when it landed, giving it tremendous momentum. At this rate, it would likely run off the runway before it came to a complete stop.

But since the hydraulics were working, that meant the fighter's speed brakes could extend normally. That was undoubtedly good news for Li Zhi.

Li Zhi operated the controls, and the speed brakes extended from the wings, greatly increasing the aerodynamic drag as the plane rolled.

Creak, creak~

Once the speed brakes began to take effect, air pressure forced the entire fighter down toward the ground. The landing gear made strange noises under the enormous pressure, but Li Zhi didn't hear them inside the cockpit.

The enormous pressure also made the landing gear's automatic brakes more effective, slowing the fighter down further.

Finally, thanks to Li Zhi's relentless efforts, the fighter came to a stop about four meters from the edge of the runway.

"Quick, quick, quick!"

The fighter had stopped, and Li Zhi's mission was complete. But the ground crew's work had only just begun.

Two fire trucks that had been waiting for a long time raced up to the fighter and immediately began spraying it with water to put out the fire.

While the firefighters were at work, the medical team arrived as well, but they didn't begin rescuing Li Zhi immediately.

They first had to make sure nothing else would go wrong with the fighter before they could begin the rescue. Otherwise, if something happened during the rescue, the losses would be even greater!

Bang~

While the firefighters were working, the battered front tire finally burst as a result of thermal expansion and contraction!

The blowout made the fighter drop several centimeters and gave the rescue workers nearby a terrible fright. After all, there was still more than a ton of fuel aboard!

After both fire trucks had emptied their water tanks, the fire crew still didn't think it was safe enough. They sprayed large amounts of a special suppressant on the plane's tail and around the wing tanks.

Perhaps the water had affected the circuits, or perhaps it was a fault with the fighter itself, but Li Zhi couldn't open the canopy from inside the cockpit.

That wasn't a major problem, though. The canopy could be forced open from outside!

After Li Zhi signaled to the rescue workers outside, someone came over to help.

They had considered this problem when drawing up the rescue plan, and plenty of ground crew members had come as well.

Once the canopy was open, everyone lifted Li Zhi out. Although he repeatedly insisted that he was fine, his request to climb down on his own was refused.

Li Zhi was placed on a stretcher and carried to the base infirmary, where a full examination awaited him.

Everyone in the control tower could finally breathe easy. Then they spontaneously broke into applause. Although Li Zhi couldn't hear it, that didn't diminish their admiration for him.

Through his own persistence, Li Zhi had reduced what would have been a Class A accident to a Class C accident. He had not only saved the country from losses, but also preserved a valuable asset.

That was the damaged fighter itself. The fact that it had been preserved so intact would be of immeasurable help in the subsequent accident investigation.

The sooner they found the cause of the accident, the sooner they could prevent fighters of the same model from suffering the same problem and avoid pitfalls in future fighter development.

The medal of merit they had owed Li Zhi since last time was surely his now!

Once the fighter's safety hazards had been eliminated, it was towed into a hangar and sealed off to await engineers from the Yuzhou Aircraft Industry Group.

It was no exaggeration to say that this battered Eighth Master was worth far more than a brand-new one.

Once all that was done, Xu Feng had to consider another matter.

The entire base now had only two fighters that could fly normally!