318 Landed (2/2)

Despite many people throwing up violently, they could hardly conceal their emotions of joy.

The purser, the crew, and safety officers were dumbfounded. It felt like a bizarre dream—first, the captain was incapacitated by the co-pilot, who was determined to bring the aircraft down and everyone along with it, then he set the plane on a course to nowhere, only for an enigmatic young hero by the surname Xiao, to save the day. The entire experience was surreal, and they couldn't believe they were still alive to tell the tale.

Xiao Luo felt a deep sense of relief, he was sweating profusely and leaned back in the pilot's seat. Had it not been for the genius system, they would have become lost souls roaming the clouds for eternity. And had Zhang Dashan been there, he would not have heard the end of it—all the drama on his very first flight!

As he was composing himself, he caught a glimpse of Cui Jihou and felt a sudden urge to murder the man had there been no one else around. Cui Jihou had recovered and was conscious when he realized that the aircraft had already landed at Xiahai airport. What were the chances? His face was ashen, and he kept repeating to himself, ”How could it be? How could it be...”

Precisely, how could it be? How could the aircraft possibly have landed safely on the ground?

The rescue crews had already positioned boarding steps at the open cabin doors, fire trucks surrounded the aircraft, and fire and medical teams were already making their way into the cabin to assist with the evacuation. The airport rescue teams were thoroughly trained in emergency drills and had already anticipated the worst when they observed the forced landing. Noting the Boeing 747's approach speed and the orientation of its glide path, they knew that they would encounter many injured passengers. When the doors were opened, they were quickly on hand to provide immediate medical treatment to many passengers who suffered lacerations and broken bones to various parts of their bodies.

The purser and her crew organized the evacuation from the cabin and ensured orderly disembarkation. ”Follow the instructions of the flight attendant in front of you. Let the injured passengers off the plane first.”

Good order was maintained in the cabin, and everyone kept calm. The evacuation was carried out efficiently as the injured were brought out of the plane first to receive medical care.

Several senior directors of the Airport and Civil Aviation Authorities also rushed over and were briefed on the incident by the purser.

”Cui Jihou really will pay for this!” One of the directors cursed during the brief.

The director then smiled and commended the purser and crew, ”You have all done a good job under tremendous pressure. To have landed the plane in such conditions and preventing the loss of life and injury is commendable. For this, you all deserve recognition and appreciation, and on behalf of the company, I sincerely thank you.”

”We were only doing our job, but if it wasn't for a passenger on board who happened to know how to fly the plane, we wouldn't have been able to land safely,” the purser said.

The other crew members nodded in agreement. Xiao Luo was the hero who saved the day, and they would not take any credit away from him.

The two directors looked at each other and saw the surprise in each other's eyes.

”Passenger? What passenger?”

”Didn't Old Ma that landed the plane?”

”No, it wasn't Old Ma, he had already been incapacitated by Cui Jihou,” the purser said, shaking her head.

As she spoke, the captain was carried down from the plane on a stretcher, which immediately verified what she had just said.

”What was going on here?”

The directors were shocked. How then could the aircraft have landed safely without captain Ma in the flight deck? This was an emergency landing that involved a plane that had experienced catastrophic equipment failure—they had no comms, no navigation, and virtually all the meters had been damaged. The landing was unassisted with no support from ATC, and could only rely on ground visual aids. Even an experienced pilot like Old Ma would have found it extremely challenging. But yet, here it was parked at the end of the runway with barely any structural damage. It was a near-perfect forced landing.

The directors were still in a daze and could not believe that a passenger had landed the aircraft. How could this be? How could a passenger be more skilled than an experienced and thoroughly trained airline captain?

”Where is he?” the directors asked.

”He's still on board with Little Fu, and he should be coming down soon,” the purser replied.

The two directors looked toward the cabin door, they were curious to see who he was. Perhaps one of their own men from the civil aviation services? Whoever he was, kudos to him!

...