Landing, an Accident

The altitude slowly rose to 5,000.

The plane was now directly above Yuzhou City, with the main urban area, home to nearly ten million people, directly below.

What Li Zhi didn't know was how many pairs of "eyes" on the ground were watching the plane he was piloting, or how many missiles were trained on it. With the press of a button, Li Zhi, the plane, and everyone aboard would turn into a ball of fire in the sky.

Li Zhi knew none of this, or perhaps he had guessed but was trying his best not to think about it.

Modern airliners were highly automated, and apart from takeoff and landing, there was rarely much need for manual input.

Taking advantage of the spare time, Wu Lei taught Li Zhi a few things about operating the plane, especially the points he needed to watch out for during landing. He also briefly explained the functions of some important buttons.

Time was limited, and it was obviously unrealistic to cram all the knowledge of flying into such a short period.

But perhaps because he was living a second life, Li Zhi had always had an excellent memory. It wouldn't have been much of an exaggeration to say he had a photographic memory.

The two air force fighters that had come to "escort" him had moved in on either side when Lin Fan climbed again and was temporarily safe.

They no longer needed to carry out their "shoot-down" mission, and the "escort" had become a real escort.

After some time, the airliner successfully crossed Yuzhou's main urban area. People in the ground control tower and quite a few secret bases breathed long sighs of relief, their taut nerves easing a little.

Under Wu Lei's direction, the plane completed another turn, lining up with Yuzhou Airport, where it had originally been scheduled to land.

Now it was time to put Li Zhi to the test.

Takeoff and landing were the hardest times to operate a plane, and also the most dangerous.

Under Li Zhi's control, the plane began a steady descent, and the test officially began!

Everyone knew that takeoff and landing were the two most dangerous stages of a flight, and that the vast majority of accidents occurred during them.

Even experienced veteran captains didn't dare let their guard down in the slightest at this stage, let alone Li Zhi, a rookie who couldn't have been any newer.

So Li Zhi couldn't help feeling a little nervous.

The main runway at Yuzhou Airport had long since been cleared, and a high wall of sandbags had been stacked at its far end.

The sandbag wall had been put there specifically to stop the plane if it reached the end of the runway before it had fully slowed down.

This also made it much harder for the plane to go around, but there was no help for it. For various reasons, the area at the end of the runway wasn't clear: a row of buildings stood there. Without something to stop the plane, the consequences would still be unimaginable if the emergency landing failed.

Buildings like these weren't supposed to be allowed around airports, and they hadn't been built by any shady means either. They were all private homes built in full compliance with the law and regulations.

So the sandbags were essential to prevent the situation from spiraling out of control.

As the plane continued to descend, it soon reached decision height.

After the airliner descended to the decision point, the two Jiaolong 10 fighters that had been "escorting" it finally broke formation and began circling above the airport, leaving Li Zhi to land on his own.

"The main runway has been completely cleared. Do it one step at a time, just as I told you. Whatever you do, don't rush!"

Everyone on the ground was telling Li Zhi not to rush, though they seemed far more anxious than he was.

After descending to the decision point, the plane's nose had to be pulled up to keep it from touching the ground first.

At the same time, to keep the plane from climbing again, its speed also had to be reduced to around 150 knots, or roughly 270 kilometers per hour.

Both the front and rear landing gear had deployed successfully, and Li Zhi was setting the autobrake. Thankfully, the auxiliary braking system was still working normally.

That was only natural, though. Nothing major had gone wrong with the plane, so its systems were unlikely to have problems. If something did happen to go wrong, there would truly be no saving them.

"Fifty meters!"

The control system had begun calling out as well. Li Zhi's English was good enough for him to understand it.

The people in the control tower could already see CM696 clearly. Everyone had stood up, their hands clenched tightly into fists. They were clearly very nervous.

"Have you set the brakes?"

Wu Lei was also very nervous, but he couldn't show it. He was afraid it would affect Li Zhi.

"They're set!"

"The speed is still a little high. Bring it down a bit more. Don't rush, take it slowly. The runway is definitely long enough to land!"

Li Zhi reduced the plane's speed as instructed. An operation this "simple" was no longer much of a challenge for him.

By now, the lift the plane generated was no longer enough to counter its own weight, and it began to descend slowly under that weight.

"Thirty meters!"

"Twenty meters!"

The plane's control system continued calling out to Li Zhi.

"The attitude is very good. Hold it!"

The airliner's attitude really was very good. There would be no problem landing like this. Now they could only hope the heavens would help and not send some freak gust of wind at a time like this.

"Ten meters!"

The plane's rear wheels were almost touching the ground!

As long as the front and rear landing gear touched down successfully and the plane didn't veer too far off course, even if something went wrong with the other landing procedures, they wouldn't all be wiped out.

But the very thing they feared came to pass. The heavens apparently didn't want the plane's landing to go so smoothly.

A force-four crosswind blew in from the plane's left, and the plane naturally began to shake!