49: Ukraine International Airlines M734

At this moment, ten thousand meters above the ground, a Boeing aircraft carrying 230 people was steadily heading towards its destination.

Ukraine International Airlines Flight M734.

This was a passenger line from Wucheng to Jingdu, and one of UIA's few direct ultra-long-distance routes.

During the more than six hours of flight, the pilots needed to be fully concentrated and constantly vigilant. For them, every safe flight was a challenging task.

The plane had already been flying for four hours when it approached Jingdu airspace for cruising.

"Little Zhang, you've been on this route for such a long time. The weather ahead is good. You can handle it from here, right?"

Captain Zhao Long's hands remained on the control stick as he first asked the co-pilot beside him.

Zhang Qiandong's gaze also never left the instrument panel in front of him, and he replied while operating steadily.

"No problem, Brother Long, just leave it to me."

"Then you should first contact the ground Control Tower, and once confirmed, transfer the main pilot's control to me."

Zhao Long hummed in agreement.

For such ultra-long-distance flights, the flight crew usually has multiple captains and pilots.

After all, the danger of long-distance flying also increases with time.

Human attention is limited, and no one can maintain full concentration indefinitely. Therefore, the rotation and exchange of control becomes very necessary at this time.

"Control Tower, Control Tower, this is M734. The aircraft is currently flying in near-Jingdu airspace at an altitude of 11,230 meters. Weather conditions are good. Requesting a captain rotation."

"Control Tower received. Rotation permitted."

The Control Tower's response came through the headset.

Main Captain Zhao Long, after completing a series of standard handover procedures, breathed a sigh of relief and finally took his hands off the control stick.

As an experienced pilot with over thirty thousand hours of safe flying on Boeing series aircraft, he maintained sufficient reverence for every flight.

If it weren't absolutely necessary for him to rest, Zhao Long would not easily transfer control of the aircraft to others.

Zhang Qiandong, as co-pilot, had been following him for over a year. He had sufficient experience in flight procedures, flying techniques, and route selection.

Therefore, Zhao Long felt confident enough to entrust him with the aircraft's control today.

But for some reason,

As Zhao Long looked at the vast and azure sky in front of the cockpit, he felt a constant sense of unease.

And this feeling of unease became increasingly apparent.

Fifteen minutes later.

Zhao Long, who had just fallen into a nap, was suddenly awakened by Zhang Qiandong's anxious and startled cry.

"Brother Long! Wake up! Look what this is?"

Almost instantly, Captain Zhao Long, as the main pilot, opened his eyes, jolting awake from his sleep.

He saw a small red dot, which had appeared on the aircraft radar's detection range at some unknown time.

The weather radar range of Boeing series aircraft is determined by the aircraft's real-time flight altitude. Now that the aircraft was cruising at an altitude of ten thousand meters, the radar could detect a range with a radius of sixty kilometers.

This meant that this suddenly appearing red dot on the radar, whatever it was, was already within sixty kilometers of the aircraft.

At the aircraft's current flight speed, they would collide with that object in less than five minutes.

However, in civil aviation routes, every aircraft's route is fixed, and there should be no conflict between two aircraft's routes.

Therefore, the red dot detected by the radar could not be another aircraft.

But if it wasn't an aircraft, what could it be?!

Not to mention Zhang Qiandong, even Zhao Long had never encountered such a situation before.

"Brother Long, what exactly is this thing?!" Zhang Qiandong asked nervously.

Zhao Long frowned, his mind racing.

If it wasn't an aircraft, what else could fly to such a high altitude?

In an instant, a terrifying thought appeared in Zhao Long's mind. And as this thought emerged, his face grew increasingly grim.

"Control Tower, Control Tower!"

"M734 emergency call to Control Tower!!!"

Moments later, the ground Control Tower received the message and quickly replied.

"This is Control Tower, M734, please speak!"

Zhao Long's hand holding the intercom trembled slightly.

"M734 weather radar has detected an unidentified flying object sixty kilometers away, suspected to be a large bird!"

"Quantity: one. Requesting Control Tower for assistance in monitoring!"

What? Large bird species?!!!

Beside him, Zhang Qiandong's face instantly turned pale after hearing Captain Zhao Long's communication with the Control Tower!

Large bird species.

Ten thousand meters high.

These two terms, for pilots who regularly perform passenger transport missions at high altitudes, were like an invitation from the King of Hell.

In the records of various air accidents, the probability of an aircraft crash caused by bird strike is less than one in a hundred thousand. However, that is because the aircraft did not encounter one in the air.

But if they truly encounter birds, it could be an uncontrollable, devastating blow!

Do not underestimate the flight altitude of birds.

Generally, normal bird flight altitude is only two to three thousand meters above the ground. A small number of ducks or geese can fly to altitudes above six thousand meters.

But there is a type of migratory bird that needs to migrate annually, and its maximum flight altitude can sometimes even reach ten thousand meters! These migratory birds rarely appear domestically and generally only appear in areas with extreme climates.

And those that can fly to this altitude are basically large birds.

If they were to collide with a passenger aircraft, it would cause devastating damage to the plane.

When the ground Control Tower heard the message from the captain, it paused for a moment, then came back to its senses after a while.

Ten seconds later, the tone in the intercom had become exceptionally serious.

"M734! Your request received!"

"Ground Control Tower has begun monitoring!!! Weather radar shows that there may indeed be large birds interfering with the flight path!"

"Pilots, please immediately switch to manual control and take emergency evasive action!"

"I repeat, pilots, please immediately switch to manual control and take emergency evasive action!!!"

Hearing the Control Tower's reply, fine beads of sweat instantly appeared on Zhang Qiandong's forehead in the cockpit.

The aircraft was currently on automatic cruise. If it needed to switch to manual control, it would take one minute to execute the corresponding operational procedures.

But as the red dot on the weather radar got closer and closer, time had entered a race against the clock!

"Quick, don't just stand there, hurry up and transfer control!"

Beside him, Zhao Long was equally anxious.

Zhang Qiandong diligently followed the sequence in his memory to complete the manual operation procedures.

But when the last step was completed, the aircraft suddenly emitted a piercing alarm.

"Manual control switch failed! Please try again!!!"