Chapter Eighty-Seven Unimaginable

  "Today is a fully loaded long-haul flight. In case of any unexpected situation, I hope you will pay attention to the measure, the plane can be rebuilt, but people must survive!"

  Before departure, Wang Zhuo once again assembled the test flight team members of the second project. Today, they will embark on an experimental journey to Chengdu. In many previous flight tests, the test aircraft have performed extremely well and have flown in Nanning, Fangchenggang, Yulin, and even as far as Sanya in Hainan Island within Guangxi.

  The economy of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region has developed relatively well so far. In the event of an accident during a test flight, the pilots would be rescued quickly after parachuting out, but flying inland would require crossing the magnificent Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau. For the two provinces of Yunnan and Guizhou with extremely low population density, it is highly likely that the test pilots would land in uninhabited primeval forests after parachuting out. Although everyone has received some jungle survival training, they are all extremely valuable talents, and Wang Zhenzhi was worried that something unexpected might happen to the flight...

  "In case of an emergency, remember to follow the previous drill and send out a wireless distress signal as soon as possible. The troops stationed in Yunnan, Guizhou, and Sichuan provinces are all on standby today and can launch a search and rescue operation in the area where the distress signal is sent at any time... In short, personnel are the most important thing, whether or not you can fly out with good results is not important."

  "Don't worry, Chief Engineer Wang, we will handle it flexibly!"

  After finishing speaking, Liao Chaodong, the leader of the five-man flight crew, bowed to Wang Zujie and then led the four crew members to board the plane one after another. All this was seen by their relatives behind the iron fence, including Zhang Yu. He didn't take the initiative to come over and say a few words to the test flight crew, which would make him feel like he was saying goodbye. He still hoped that the crew could fly out with good results and, like everyone else, quietly prayed for them on the side, waiting for their return.

  The second aircraft project developed by AVIC is the large aircraft project. The starting point for developing this aircraft was not for military use, but rather a project that AVIC vigorously promoted to realize its commercial value. Therefore, the second item machine is actually a transport plane, and its initial design concept was to achieve the dream of air transportation, which is also the super-monopoly dream of an autonomous region's industry - having cars on land, civil aviation in the air, and ships at sea. However, it wasn't until later that the air force became involved, and this type of aircraft had the potential to be used as a military plane, including transport planes and bombers. Currently, the most important thing is for this type of aircraft to finalize its design, bringing returns to AVIC and hope to the air force.

  The prototype with the development code and flight test code named 201, which is the aircraft that Liao Chaodong's crew will take on a long-haul flight test again, is the second experimental aircraft developed by COMAC. Although it has undergone more than 100 test flights, this time as the first western flight test for civil aviation verification, it carried 28 dummies as future passengers, 2 tons of cargo and some experimental equipment equivalent to the payload weight. It should have only required three crew members, but in order to ensure a smoother journey, one radio navigator and one technician were added.

  The 201 experimental aircraft with a maximum takeoff weight of 14 tons can reach a top speed of 360 km/h under the power of two 14-cylinder, 1200-horsepower Zhongzhou star-shaped engines. At a speed of 260 km/h, the distance between the Liuzhou test flight base of AVIC and the newly built airport in Chengdu Shuangliu is only over 870 kilometers, and everything goes smoothly, it can arrive in Chengdu in about four hours, which will definitely be much faster than taking a steam train for dozens of hours. However, whether an air route can be opened depends on the test flight results.

  At 8:13, the two massive engines began to roar and drive the propellers to slowly accelerate their rotation. Under the guidance of the tower, the plane quickly left the preparation area and arrived at one end of the runway. On a beautiful day with good wind and weather, the crew quickly obtained permission from the tower for takeoff. The powerful engines roared loudly, and the plane accelerated faster and faster on the runway. Slowly, the plane began to lift its nose off the ground, and after the entire plane had left the ground, the landing gear started to retract and fold into the belly of the aircraft.

  The plane circled over the airport once and then flew northwest towards Chengdu. As the plane turned into a small black dot in people's eyes, it slowly disappeared from view. The crowd outside the airport's iron fence dispersed slowly, marking another perfect takeoff, proving that the plane was perfect and this flight was also perfect.

  "Currently flying at an altitude of 2,526 meters, speed of 315 kilometers per hour, engine rotation normal, temperature normal, fuel pressure normal. Cabin temperature suitable, oxygen content moderate, air pressure normal..."

  One hour after the flight, the crew began to inspect and summarize various flight data. Naturally, they first had to confirm whether the plane's current flight status was good and whether the heading was correct. Only then did they conduct more detailed measurements in the passenger cabin, during which time the two navigators re-confirmed the flight route.

  The aircraft's attitude angles, namely pitch angle, yaw angle and roll angle, are all measured by the mechanical gyroscope installed on the aircraft. The gyroscope has excellent stability, with a floating rotor suspended in ** to reduce mechanical friction and improve its stability. The principle is that the high-speed rotating rotor has the property of maintaining its rotational axis direction unchanged in inertial space, so during flight, according to the direction of the gyroscope's rotor axis remains unchanged, by measuring the angle between the rotor axis and the base can obtain the attitude angles.

  Of course, if there is a better gyrocompass or laser gyroscope, the crew members will not be so worried about whether this gyroscope will deviate. Of course, they also need to use a magnetic compass to measure the actual heading angle of the aircraft. The principle of the magnetic compass is similar to that of a compass, which is an instrument that uses the Earth's magnetic field to measure the heading angle. Because the Earth is a large magnet, the north and south poles of the geomagnetic field do not coincide with the geographic North Pole and South Pole but have a certain magnetic declination angle, so the magnetic declination angles in different parts of the world are different. The actual heading angle of the aircraft is equal to the algebraic sum of the magnetic heading and the magnetic declination angle.

  However, the aircraft has made some maneuvering movements from takeoff to now. When the aircraft is flying steadily, the magnetic compass can accurately indicate the magnetic heading, but the aircraft's acceleration, turns and other maneuvers will produce relatively large errors due to overload, attitude, etc. Of course, it won't work, and there's also the gyrocompass mentioned earlier. By comparing the data from both, you can get a normal heading angle.

  After about five minutes of data summarization, the crew came to the conclusion that the flight was normal, slightly revised the heading and started the next round of testing, which continued to climb altitude and then tested whether it could reach the airworthiness condition in high altitude, of course, the most important thing is to retest the mechanical hydraulic assist system Whether it can help the pilot's driving, especially in such a large load situation of high-altitude flight, the aerodynamic load is getting bigger and bigger, relying solely on the pilot's manpower is very difficult to control normally, especially for future stable flight Civil aircraft, chaotic passenger planes are definitely not dare to sit.

  The plane flew to Chengdu at high speed while continuously testing, and the crew members were focused on using about four hours to complete data collection and recording as much as possible. People in Liuzhou flight test base were also nervously paying attention to the progress of the plane.

  "Ten minutes ago, the plane sent back its sixth safety telegram, flying smoothly and is expected to arrive in Chengdu around 12:30..."

  "It seems that this verification flight will be a success, and it has already been successful. Congratulations to you all!" Zhang Yu arrived at the tower after the plane took off, where he could get the latest progress. The sixth report had already proved that this flight was a great success. He stood up and shook hands with Wang Zhu and Ba Yumo to congratulate them.

  Then Wang Zhuo accompanied Zhang Yu to leave the tower and go to the conference room of the test flight base for further discussion. "Minister, why don't you stay for dinner?"

  "You actually called me Minister, Wang Zonggong. Today you're so proactive, there must be some secret plan! Tell me and let's hear...". The car sped along the runway, Zhang Yu looked at the factories in the distance, believing that in the future, planes would be born one after another from here. Of course, for Wang Zhuo's other invitations at any other time, he could only respond with a smile, but today was different from before.

  "Whatever!"

  Wang Zhuo glanced at Zhang Yu a few times, then turned to look out the window. The distant prosperity outside seemed like a dream, as if everything was not real. In the southwestern border, known as the "barbarian land", there was an industrial power that was not inferior to the strong powers, and even led in some fields by at least ten years or more. Just one elegant sedan, even if the autonomous region handed over all the technical drawings, but without the matching processing equipment, could not reach the corresponding processing technology level, and the manufactured cars would definitely be incomparable. At this time, the autonomous region had already taken off in the aviation industry, and if it continued to develop, the gap would naturally widen. But what Wang Zhuo felt was that even a month's time was not enough to make it feel real.

  "Go on, say whatever you want to say openly, I'm not a bad person, and besides, you're not going to hurt me with your words!" Zhang Yu smiled and looked at Wang Zhuo a few times, patting his shoulder to encourage him to speak up.

  "That..." Wang Zhu furrowed his brow in deep thought for a moment, then turned around to look at Zhang Yu, his eyes not blinking as he said: "Since returning to the country, I've had this feeling of being in a dream. One dream ends and another begins, and these dreams are all better than the last, yet they're all reality. It's hard for me to believe that everything has been so unexpectedly smooth. I've thought about it for a long time, wondering why these dreams are so beautiful and real..."

  "I know what you want to say, stop the car! Alright, you and Yu Ran walk back, I have something to discuss with Wang Gong in the car!" Zhang Yu had used the dedicated car as an office many times before, and it had also been a lucky car that brought about beautiful relationships. After receiving the order, the driver quickly stopped the car in the middle of the runway and soon left with Yu Ran.

  "What I want to ask is very simple, but I firmly believe that the autonomous region has reached its current state because of their existence. The books and materials in the library, the technical drawings and materials you provided us with, I believe that without your help we would not have been able to achieve what we have today, including the many airborne aircraft equipment, even the entire aviation industry as a whole. From large engines to small screws, what metal materials should be used, how the design drawings should be done, what kind of running results should be achieved... all these seem to have happened before, and we are like a group of primary school students..."

  "What do you mean by this?"

  "My point is simple, I feel like we are just a group of students. You and your data are our teachers, guiding us to do absolutely reasonable things step by step according to the technical data. So-called scientific research is just studying those materials, as long as you are willing to study hard, there will definitely be good results. We are like a group of students doing experiments, the teacher has planned everything, the reasons for doing wrong, the reasons for doing right, everything is predictable, the technical data contains all..."

  Zhang Yu was not surprised by Wang Zhuo's sudden questioning, everything has two sides, in the autonomous region where everything is developing vigorously, it's all so good, and there are still people who dare to doubt whether all this is too smooth, as if something should happen. Moreover, these technical talents have expressed doubts about the technical materials they received, what they think and do seems to be done by someone else in some of the materials, how to do or not to do has absolutely detailed explanations or methods, people always have three points of doubt, let alone Wang Zhuo and other geniuses who have been "fooled" for many years.

  Indeed, all of this has been too smooth, but everything has its cause and effect. From the beginning of establishing their automotive foundation in the United States, one car after another not only had reliable quality, but also designs that were beyond people's imagination. Moreover, the group's operation, company management, factory production, and other methods all seemed so scientific and absolutely flawless, making it impossible to find fault with any of them. All this smoothness has been attributed to the greatness of Zhang Yu and Zhang Yusheng.

  After returning to the country, various undertakings were launched, including political expansion, economic construction, military struggle, and industrial layout. Everything began to proceed perfectly again, of course, this was still attributed to the great leadership of the two leaders. Of course, the fact that they did everything right and well also proved that the leaders had excellent abilities, which would not make people feel suspicious, but things in life are hard to predict.

  No matter what policies Zhang Yu-sheng has in politics and economy, these policies are absolutely correct and close to reality, they are the shortcut for the revival of the enterprise to succeed, land revolution, melting into the people, paying attention to rural areas, etc. These policy measures are perfectly combined with the actual situation, which is unimaginable, this can't help but make people produce a sense of inexplicable admiration and follow-up feeling, just like in the stock market who can always make a big profit, he must be the focus of stock investors' attention and follow-up, and it is absolutely followed without hesitation.

  Unlike the general public with low knowledge level and narrow vision, Wang Zhu and many others who have received higher education are very clear about the goodness of all this. They are also delighted that everything is going smoothly at present, but the excessive smoothness behind it cannot help but make them suspicious. It is impossible for a person to be too smooth to succeed, and not experiencing a struggle after failure is absolutely worthless. What's more, there are so many projects and such a huge undertaking, even Bole's favorite thousand-mile horse has times of stumbling, let alone so many thousand-mile horses galloping together...

  "Are you saying that you and some students at Gongda are not much different, they use textbooks, but you use special materials. Designing excellent quality cars, sturdy and durable ships, of course, as well as other industrial products, one after another are the best and most perfect things, production and manufacturing are extremely scientific, even if you think about it for a long time, you can't think of any flaws, but that's just the way it is. Now, we're going to create an almost perfect aviation industry, you start to envision that after unifying the country in the future, many industries will also be so smooth, but there are some worries in your heart, gradually turning into doubts."

  Zhang Yu was also staring at Wang Zhu, he didn't lie, nor did he need to lie, and they were all familiar people, so it's impossible to exaggerate the facts. If it were him, such a smooth and continuous process would have raised great suspicion, let alone the clever Wang Zhu, not to mention many other equally clever people.

  "Minister, please give me a perfect reason why all of this is so perfect... Add to that, don't tell me that these technical materials were obtained by you or the chairman through some special means from the major powers - America, France, Germany, and all other countries combined couldn't possibly produce such detailed technical materials. Every design, even just a rough sketch, exceeds our imagination. I've spent many years abroad, so I know what they're capable of. I only need a reasonable explanation for where these things come from, including the guidance provided to other industries, why it's all so perfect that it makes people feel inexplicably uneasy..."

  "You must have had such doubts a long time ago, but I couldn't give you a reasonable explanation." As he spoke, Zhang Yu pulled out a pack of cigarettes. Although he carried one every day, he hadn't smoked in a long time. After handing one to Wang Zhuo, the two quickly lit up and started smoking. "I know you're puzzled, but I really can't give you a reasonable explanation. If you must have an answer, why don't you go ask Zhang Yusheng? He'll be able to give you an explanation!"

  Zhang Yu didn't know how to give Wang Zhuo a reasonable explanation, nor did he have an unreasonable one. With no other choice, he could only use the delaying tactic. In the eleven years from 1910 until now, Zhang Yu had been single-mindedly developing and expanding his business, completely forgetting to consider this aspect of things. He was so focused on making his business revival efforts better, faster, and more stable that he totally forgot that he should be considering this side of things. Today, Wang Zhuo suddenly asked him a difficult question, and Zhang Yu really found it hard to answer at the moment.

  If Zhang Yu said that all these things were picked up, then Wang Zhe would obviously ask: Can picking up things also pick up a library of tens of millions of volumes? Can it also pick up countless advanced technical materials? If Zhang Yu said that he came up with it by himself, this explanation is even more absurd. Who can have such great ability to study so many industrial fields and be proficient in everything without any mistakes? Especially in this old China that has just emerged from semi-colonialism and semi-feudalism, how could such an unimaginable genius appear?

  Of course, they couldn't reveal the true origins of Zhang Yu and his brother, or it would be dismissed as an even more absurd explanation. If they told Wang Zhu straightforwardly that the two were from a parallel universe, they'd probably be treated for mental health issues due to overwork. Unable to give Wang Zhu an answer, Zhang Yu could only shift his attention elsewhere, letting his logical-thinking brother provide an explanation instead, as Zhang Yu wasn't mentally prepared for it.

  In the faint cigarette smoke, Zhang Yu silently thought in his heart that there were still many things that had not been exposed to Wang Zhu and others. This made them realize that a small part of the total amount was beyond the times. The results that were only advanced by more than ten years made them feel surprised. If they were given even more terrifying advanced technology materials, such as information age things like lasers, satellites, high-speed computers, composite materials, etc., the problems that would be triggered would be even harder to imagine.

  "If this matter is not handled properly, it will definitely be more troublesome later!" After muttering to himself, Zhang Yu extinguished his cigarette butt, rushed into the driver's room, started the car, and turned around to face Wang Zhuo, saying: "Hold on! I'll take you to find Zhang Yusheng now. He must give you a reasonable explanation."