novelraw Chapter 396 - 190: BUFFs Fully Stacked
Chapter 396 - 190: BUFFs Fully Stacked
Just as he was immersed in the excitement brought by the enhancement, a brunette flight attendant in a blue suit with a gold silk scarf came walking quickly from the front of the economy class. She seemed slightly older than the other attendants, and her demeanor was more mature and composed, likely the flight purser.
She quickly walked up to the angry man, smiling apologetically, saying all the basic phrases of airline service.
After much arguing, the man agreed with the airline’s offer to dry clean his clothes and provide compensation of 100 US Dollars as compensation for depreciation.
Gu Ji took the opportunity to sit up slightly, carefully evaluating the cabin layout.
From the ticket that Yasen carried, this is an international long-haul flight departing from Los Angeles, United States, with a transfer in Panama City, and final destination in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The total duration is 18 hours and 51 minutes, departing a little after 11 a.m., and the flight has just taken off, operated by Panama Airlines, on the famous Boeing-7M8.
It’s truly a full stack of buffs.
Panama Airlines already ranks as the tenth most dangerous airline in the world in 2023, having experienced the infamous Flight 201 crash, where the aircraft rolled in the air and disintegrated just 29 minutes after takeoff, ultimately crashing in the Darien Pass, with all 47 people onboard perishing.
As for other emergency landings off the runway, or hard landings splitting the plane in two, those are not uncommon either.
And the Boeing 7M8 is more terrifying.
Its full name is Boeing-737MAX8, yes, the very plane that had two consecutive crashes within six months and was grounded by all major airlines worldwide.
Even though Boeing is the largest manufacturer of military and commercial aircraft in the world by market share, and has sold over ten thousand 737s, much like Tesla and BYD in the electric vehicle market, their significant market share means that the accidents are more noticeable, which doesn’t necessarily imply poor products.
But the 7M8 is different; this plane had significant safety hazards from its initial design.
The 737MAX project was hastily launched by Boeing to compete with the Airbus A320NEO, and due to the haste, there was no time to change the aerodynamics of the plane, but to pursue longer range and fuel efficiency, more powerful and efficient engines were installed.
This is like a high-power sports car; the more powerful engines make it easy to nose up during takeoff.
Therefore, to prevent the aircraft from stalling due to a high angle of attack, Boeing installed a Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, on the 737.
This system’s role is to avoid stalling, using electric trim to exert a moment on the stabilizer, forcing the plane to nose down.
Unfortunately, during those two accidents, the critical sensor providing signals to the MCAS system failed, in which case, the system would repeatedly activate to control the plane’s nose down, leading to a nose-diving into which the pilots could not control, resulting in tragedy.
Although later Boeing modified the MCAS system, and airlines around the world lifted their bans on the 7M8, a few airlines in the Xia Kingdom still have not operated this aircraft.
This is the reason for Gu Ji’s concern.
A high-accident airline combined with a high-accident aircraft, even Lin Zhengying would light an incense first.
The Boeing 7M8 is a medium-sized aircraft, divided into front and rear business and economy cabins, and according to the airport anti-terrorism topics he memorized back then, such aircraft would have about 8 crew members, including a CAP captain, an F/O first officer, an HA purser, a FAT business class attendant, a supervising BAT at the rear cabin, and two AT attendants.
As for the remaining one, domestic flights would place a safety officer, while international flights would commonly use air marshals instead.
Especially on this kind of international flight coming in and out of the United States from South America.
Gu Ji leaned on the headrests of the seats in front and back, surveying the scene.
His seat was in the second half of the plane, generally better for observing the cabin passengers.
The plane had a total of 153 seats, with 16 in business class, and a passenger load factor of about 70%, that means roughly over 100 people.
The man who had earlier argued with the flight attendant just came out of the restroom wearing a checkered shirt, looking not very old, with brown skin, black curly hair merging with a curly beard, and thick eyebrows, resembling Middle Eastern ethnicities, but for some reason, he kept sweating and seemed a bit tense.
Passing the front, a man in a black shirt, wearing gold-framed sunglasses, took out a bill, handed it to the flight attendant distributing water and meals, with a smirk as if making a private invitation.
Another man in a suit was repeatedly tapping on a laptop, probably rushing a manuscript.
The liveliest were a few young college students in the middle of the cabin, wearing headphones, nodding their heads, looking full of anticipation for the trip.
Unfortunately, he didn’t spot the air marshal. Only one or two men with sturdy builds looked somewhat suspicious, likely temporarily disguised in plain clothes until a safety incident occurs.
"According to the game’s task setting quirk, an incident affecting my and the passengers’ life safety is bound to happen within 30 minutes, and I don’t have much time left..."
He glanced at the bloody countdown in the upper right corner.
This level’s duration was only a little over forty hours, and based on the calculation from the crash accident rescue times, he would have at most three to four retries.
Looks like I need to take initiative.
Gu Ji removed the seatbelt and walked up the central aisle towards the front, stopping halfway, and observed both wings and engines through the side windows.
The 7M8 is a twin-engine jet airliner with engines mounted on both wings.
From the outside, there seemed to be no problem, with clear skies all around, not like encountering thunderstorms and inclement weather, so the remaining possibilities were avionics system failure, or human factors, such as the pilots...
"Hey! What are you doing? Give it to me!"
"Why? This is my phone!"
"Fuck! I saw you secretly filming me, give me the phone!"
...
Just as Gu Ji contemplated which part might pose the greatest risk, bickering erupted nearby once more, and one of the involved parties was again the curly-haired man who had earlier argued with the flight attendant!
This time he was quarreling with one of the young tourists, a girl with golden twin tails, wearing pink headphones, with a few freckles on her face, sporting a pink and white sports bra and blue denim shorts—a total badass look.
She was currently sticking her tongue out at the curly-haired man with her phone in hand.
"Fuck! You bitch!!"
The curly-haired man couldn’t stand such provocation and immediately cursed, releasing his seatbelt and lunging forward, grabbing the freckled girl’s wrist, trying to snatch the phone.
"Ah! Help!"
"Hey! What are you doing!!"
"Hold him down!"
...
Seeing the commotion growing, her male companions immediately got up to intervene, and just as one of them in a baseball cap grabbed the curly-haired man’s arm, the latter swiftly turned his head and punched him.
Bam——!
"Ah!"
"Oh God!!"
"Stewardess! Stewardess! Someone is fighting here!"
The curly-haired man unexpectedly knocked the baseball cap youth down with a single punch in the aisle, causing a stir among the surrounding passengers. As the youth stood up, he felt a warmth in his nose, with blood streaming down from his nostrils onto his pants, quickly staining them red.
"Sir! Please return to your seat immediately!"
"Sir, sorry for disturbing your journey. For your safety, please return to your seat, we will handle everything!"
Upon hearing the commotion, an economy class flight attendant, an air steward, and Betty the purser quickly rushed over, urging everyone, including the wandering Gu Ji, back to their seats.
"Get lost, all of you!"
"Ah!"
"Purser!"
Unexpectedly, just as Gu Ji was about to comply with the flight attendant’s request, the curly-haired man suddenly erupted, refusing to listen to persuasion, and instead, shoved purser Betty to the ground.
The passengers all looked shocked, with a few nearby women and elder ladies immediately unbuckling their seatbelts to shy away, their expressions terrified.
Frankly, the curly-haired man indeed looked a bit like a Middle Eastern terrorist.
Seeing the situation spiraling out of control, Gu Ji was about to step in to help when a bald white middle-aged man came up from behind, showed his ID with his left hand, and held a Glock 17 in his right hand, bellowing, "AMAC Federal Air Marshal! Hands on your head! Crouch down immediately!"