Great Power Long Sky

The moment Li Lu brushed past Xue Shuang and began to turn left, his heart sank. He realized that there might be a serious problem with the airborne radio—the radio channel had been silent for far too long, which was obviously very abnormal.

"Tower, tower, Dongsanguai calling, conducting a communication test." Li Lu made his first attempt to call the ground, but after a brief pause, there was no response.

He called a second and a third time, but the communication channel remained completely silent.

At this point, he was completely certain that his airborne radio had malfunctioned and was no longer working.

The J-7E fighter jet he piloted had an onboard radio that was not much different from the equipment used on the J-6 aircraft; both were diode-type radios.

These types of radios typically have a very low fault tolerance rate; if even one of their diodes breaks, the entire radio may become completely unusable.

In actual flight, it is not uncommon for radio malfunctions to temporarily prevent pilots from contacting the ground, but cases that actually cause the aircraft to become lost are extremely rare.

When performing a mission, pilots usually need to rely on ground control and guidance to complete the flight and final landing procedures. For example, during the landing phase, the tower controller will issue specific operational instructions, and the pilot will strictly follow the instructions to execute the actions until the airport runway is visually spotted, the correct landing path is established, and the pilot finally lands safely.

A malfunctioning onboard radio means that the pilot will lose real-time guidance from the control tower, so why do cases of getting lost rarely occur?

The key answer lies in the navigational aids placed on the ground, that is, the ground markers that pilots can identify and refer to.

For example, on a hilltop about 9.3 kilometers southwest of the East China Sea station, the conspicuous radar dome of the Yuanling radar station itself is an important navigational beacon.

As long as the pilot sees the Yuanling radar in the air, he can immediately determine that he is located about 9.3 kilometers southwest of the airfield.

In fact, most navigational aids are set up using local materials and features.

With these clear ground reference points, pilots can find the approximate location of the airport even without radio communication.

The control tower can also use auxiliary means such as signal flags for guidance, which usually ensures that the aircraft lands safely without major problems.

Upon realizing that he might have lost his way, the first thing that flashed through Li Lu's mind was the method of using navigational markers for navigation.

But when he tried to continue descending to penetrate the clouds and find ground references, he found that the clouds had changed significantly, becoming unusually thick and widely distributed—the altimeter clearly showed that he had descended to an altitude of one thousand meters, yet he still could not penetrate the thick cloud layer.

The area where Donghai Station is located is a typical hilly and mountainous terrain with an average elevation of about 200 meters. Most of the surrounding mountains have an elevation of about 300 to 400 meters, and occasionally there are one or two peaks with a height of more than 500 meters.

Therefore, when the flight altitude dropped to nearly 500 meters, Li Lu had to be extra vigilant about the potential risk of crashing into the mountain.

If you can't penetrate the clouds, you can't see the navigation marks on the ground, and you can't figure out your exact location, so it's naturally difficult to find the direction of the airport—isn't this a typical case of being lost?

At this moment, Feng Liang, the commander in the control tower, and his colleagues were as anxious as ants on a hot pan. They knew that if Li Lu continued to descend blindly, he would face extreme danger, but they were unable to send him any warnings via radio.

"How about we try simulating a train with no cars?" Chen Qi couldn't help but suggest.

Xu Hailiang turned around upon hearing the sound and realized that the other pilots in the tactical test team had already arrived at the control tower.

Xu Hailiang immediately glared at Chen Qi and said sternly, "His airborne radio is malfunctioning, what's the point of using it on an empty car?"

Chen Qi immediately realized he had spoken uninformedly and was so embarrassed he almost wanted to scratch his toes.

The so-called air-to-ground vehicle is actually a special vehicle equipped with a high-power radio, mainly used to enhance communication capabilities between the air and the ground.

But right now, Li Lu's airborne radio can't even receive a signal, so no matter how much power it has on an empty train, it's useless.

Xu Hailiang then reported to Feng Liang in a deep voice: "Deputy Feng, I remember that Li Lu has handled similar aerial emergencies before, so he should have some experience in dealing with them."

Upon hearing this, a glimmer of hope flashed in Feng Liang's eyes: "Tell me in detail quickly."

Xu Hailiang further explained, "When he first joined the army, he flew a Y-5 aircraft and encountered a radio malfunction once. He successfully located the airfield by identifying ground navigation marks and completed a successful blind landing without radio guidance."

"This kid can even use Luck-5? Looks like he's a jack-of-all-trades." Feng Liang was quite surprised.

Xu Hailiang added, "Not only that, he also has the qualifications to fly the H-5 bomber."

Feng Liang was even more surprised: "Multi-aircraft flight capability? How come I never knew our division had such a person hidden away?"

Xu Hailiang quickly explained, "His qualifications were directly assessed and issued by the Air Force Headquarters of the Military Region. Due to the special circumstances this year, the relevant materials have not yet been compiled and reported."

That makes sense – because the 7th Air Regiment is far from the division headquarters and undertakes special combat missions, it is often directly commanded by the military region's air force headquarters. At the same time, it is also an important combat readiness duty unit of the military region.

"Activate the light signal system immediately." With no other options, Feng Liang decisively issued the order, requiring the use of aerial searchlights to sweep the sky in an attempt to contact Li Lu through visible light signals.

However, under the current severe weather conditions with dense low clouds, no one really knew how effective the searchlights would be, and could only silently hope that Li Lu would be lucky enough to see these light signals.

However, Li Lu obviously couldn't see it—the clouds were too thick and too low.

When the flight altitude finally dropped to 500 meters, he reduced the speed to the minimum he could maintain, his eyes wide open like copper bells, staring intently at the situation ahead.

Suddenly, a dark shadow flashed through a gap in the clouds ahead. Li Lu didn't have time to think. He instinctively pulled the control stick sharply to lift the nose of the plane and slightly increased the throttle at the same time. This was because a sudden change in the angle of attack would significantly increase air resistance. If the power was not increased accordingly, the speed of the plane might drop sharply, or even face the risk of stalling and crashing.

After a perilous flight over that area, Li Lu quickly turned and looked to the side, and sure enough, he found that it was a high mountain. The vertical distance between the belly of the plane and the trees on the mountaintop was estimated to be only twenty or thirty meters, which was extremely dangerous.

For Li Lu, such situations were commonplace.

Looking back, he suddenly noticed a large gap in the clouds ahead. Overjoyed, he immediately accelerated and flew in that direction.

He swiftly emerged from the gap in the clouds, and then cautiously descended, carefully traversing the mountains while meticulously observing the terrain below, trying his best to find any recognizable ground landmarks.

At this height, he unexpectedly saw the tree that had once made him "hang himself from a tree in the southeast"!

He almost immediately concluded that it was that tree—perhaps it was the pilot's intuition, or perhaps some inexplicable feeling.

The village of Yamauchi is near that tree. Once you find Yamauchi Village, you can accurately determine the exact direction of the departure station.

Soon, Li Lu easily identified the village of Shannei—it was located in an S-shaped valley and was highly recognizable when viewed from the air.

The station is located northeast of Shannei Village, approximately 15 kilometers away as the crow flies.

Li Lu finally breathed a sigh of relief. After confirming his relative position with the airfield again, he steadily adjusted his course and flew northeast, maintaining an altitude of about 600 meters throughout the flight.

He observed carefully as he flew, and because of the low altitude, the loud roar of the jet engine attracted the curiosity of the people on the ground who looked up and stared.

For the locals within a radius of ten to twenty kilometers of the airfield, the sound of fighter jets flying is a common occurrence. The penetrating noise of jet engines is the background music in the daily lives of the locals.

But such a jarring sound as today is rarely encountered.

As Li Lu flew over a mountaintop, he saw several people working on the summit, waving vigorously at him with their heads held high.

Li Lu seemed to see one of them as Niu Jun—although it was blurry, his intuition told him that it was Niu Jun.

Among the people working on the mountaintop, one of them was indeed Niu Jun.

Her eyes widened, her curious gaze following the fighter jet's movement. At a relative altitude of only a few dozen meters, Niu Jun could clearly see the somewhat blurry face under the flight cap, which looked a lot like Old Li, the pilot who had been communicating with him!

Li Lu smiled slightly, swayed the wings, and waved to them, his white work gloves standing out conspicuously.

As if telepathically connected, Niu Jun jumped up and waved vigorously.

"Old Li, Old Li! It's me, Niu Dali!" Niu Jun shouted.

Her father asked, "Who are you calling?"

Niu Jun pointed to the passing fighter jets and said, "The pilot is Old Li, the one I rescued before!"

As J-7E fighter jet No. 037 flew by, Niu Jun followed it with his eyes until the jet made a turn and flew behind a distant mountain.

The runway suddenly appeared to the right in front of the aircraft's nose. Li Lu quickly calculated the location and distance, and it matched up. It was definitely the Donghai Airport.

Li Lu couldn't help but think that this girl always managed to bring him good luck, having encountered danger twice and met Niu Jun twice!

He couldn't help but smile, then glanced at the fuel gauge; there was still plenty left.

He then adjusted his course to align with the runway and flew a low-altitude flyby in order to make himself visible to the control tower and establish signal communication with it.

The people on the control tower breathed a sigh of relief and were greatly encouraged.

As expected of Sixth Brother, he handled this minor danger with ease.

With signal communication established, Li Lu ended the navigation crisis caused by the malfunction of the airborne radio with a perfect blind landing...