The Beijing Daxing International Airport is home to the Beijing Control Tower and Air Traffic Control Center, with its seven runways and the ability to accommodate up to 700,000 flight movements per year. During peak hours, there are as many as 800 flights per hour, all under the control of a dozen air traffic controllers in a small tower. The air traffic controllers manage more than ten aircraft’s takeoff and landing every minute.
In September, Beijing is not particularly hot, and the air conditioning in the tower is always set to a cool temperature. Despite this, the air traffic controller Wang Zhanbo still breaks into a light sweat. He graduated just two years ago and transferred from a small airport in Jilin to Beijing. He is still adjusting to the heavy passenger flow at Beijing airport. Fridays are the busiest days of the week due to many weekend travelers. The busiest times are when errors are most likely to occur, so Wang Zhanbo keeps his mentor’s teachings in mind and tries to issue every command accurately and swiftly. Fortunately, his mentor is on duty today, which gives him some reassurance. Amidst the tension and excitement, the long day shift passes by surprisingly quickly.
Fang Hao is Wang Zhanbo’s mentor. At first glance, they appear to be about the same age. In fact, initially, some pilots even mistook Wang Zhanbo for Fang Hao’s mentor. This might be due to Fang Hao’s habit of keeping his hair short in recent years, giving him a youthful, college-student-like appearance, despite being twenty-nine years old and a senior controller at Beijing Daxing Airport. He was among the first batch of controllers transferred from the Capital Airport to Daxing.
Today, he is not using the microphone but is closely supervising the work of his apprentice, Wang Zhanbo, without letting his guard down.
As the evening flight traffic increases, Wang Zhanbo feels slightly overwhelmed. While issuing instructions, he gave a pleading look at Fang Hao. Without much discussion, Fang Hao nodded, then slid his chair into Wang Zhanbo’s position and took over the microphone.
“Beijing Approach, White Egret 237, radar contact confirmed. Proceed to ETUDE-10 for departure, continue climbing to 2.400 meters, and maintain, adjust for sea level pressure 998.”
“Eastern 3488, climb and maintain standard pressure altitude at 3.600.”
“Shen Lu 157, frequency switch to Beijing 123,5. Farewell.”
As they managed these two departures, the team also had to handle several incoming aircraft. A plane from Delta Airlines greeted them on the flight path: “Beijing Approach. Good evening. This is Delta 230 with you.”
Fang Hao briefly checked the screen and responded in English: “Delta 230, radar contact confirmed. Turn right, fly heading 090 to JVN, descend, and maintain altitude at 2.400 meters.”
“Turning right, fly heading 090 to JVN, descending, and maintain altitude at 2.400 meters. Delta 230”, replied Delta 230
Wang Zhanbo looked at him with admiration. English had always been his weak point. He was satisfied as long as his accent was understandable and the receiver could repeat the instructions correctly. However, Fang Hao’s pronunciation was impressively standard, almost like how they speak on American TV.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
He wanted to compliment his mentor, but they were extremely busy at the moment. Fang Hao swiftly and efficiently issued over twenty commands in just a single minute.
“Sugfa 237, jrmfcv ab oiluta ifnfi 3.600.”
“Sjrafgc 3488, milwy jcv wjlcajlc ja 5.100, gfqbga ktfc gfjmtfv.”
“Vbeatfgc 898, Dflplcu Cqqgbjmt, gjvjg mbcajma mbcolgwfv. Ugbmffv ab NCB01 obg jqqgbjmt ab geckjs 17O, vfrmfcv ab oiluta ifnfi 3600, jcv wjlcajlc.”
After the busy period ended, Fang Hao handed the microphone back to Wang Zhanbo and gave him some words of encouragement: “Just keep practicing, and you will be fine.” Wang Zhanbo eagerly nodded in agreement.
Mjcu Ljb atfc lcdelgfv, “Cgf sbe jigluta tfgf? P jw ublcu ab ajxf j ragbii jgbecv atf mbcagbi abkfg.”
——
Air traffic control is divided into different jurisdictional areas. At major airports, there are separate sectors for Area, Approach, and Tower Control, each managing different airspaces. The Approach Control covers a radius of approximately 50 to 100 kilometers from the airport. It is responsible for arranging aircraft from their routes to align with the runway for landing or guiding them from departure to their flight paths.
Tower Control, on the other hand, has a jurisdiction of roughly 10 kilometers and is primarily responsible for directing aircraft taxiing, takeoffs, and landings. Tower controllers are stationed at the highest level of the control tower, which provides them with a clear view of all flight operations in good weather. In contrast, Approach controllers are situated on a lower level and rely on radar screens to monitor and direct air traffic.
Among these roles, Tower Control focuses on planar command and coordination, while Area Control covers a broader spatial domain. Approach Control, however, involves intricate three-dimensional command in more confined airspace, often dealing with high traffic, special events, and even emergencies. Therefore, only the most skilled controllers are assigned to approach control duties. Fang Hao prefers the approach position, as he likes having a broader management scope over simply having a distant view.
At the control tower, Chu Yirou is on duty. Her voice is gentle and sweet, and when she first started, many pilots inquired discreetly about the new controller. Currently, she is directing a KLM aircraft on the runway: “KLM 1237, you are cleared for takeoff on runway 17L.”
Fang Hao could see the beautiful sky-blue coating of the KLM aircraft, making the Beijing sky look less blue. The Airbus A330, with its large frame, forms a graceful upward curve in the sky as it ascends.
Suddenly, Fang Hao hears a faint popping sound. He instinctively grabbed the binoculars and aimed them at the ascending KLM A330 in the sky. Almost immediately, he spots the issue. The two rear tires appeared to have burst, with the rubber swaying, though it was hard to see clearly.
But Fang Hao doesn’t hesitate. It’s better to be wrong than uncertain about these things. He quickly returns to his station and presses the intercom: “KLM 1237, Daxing Tower, it looks like you had a tire burst. Please confirm.”
After a brief pause, the pilot replied, “Affirmative. We’ve had two tire bursts…em, on the left side. KLM 1237.”
Fang Hao held the microphone and replied with a calm voice: “Roger. Maintain heading 030 at 1.500 height. Please confirm intentions.”
Unfazed, the KLM crew answers, “We’re returning to land in Daxing. Maintaining heading 030 at 1.500 height, KLM 1237.”
Fang Hao immediately notified the ground crew and emergency services: “Runway 17L, KLM 1237 has a tire burst. Prepare emergency vehicles. Close the runway temporarily.”
Chu Yirou had never dealt with such a situation before. She had just been directing other aircraft to land and had not seen the situation with KLM in the air. Therefore, she relied on Fang Hao’s instructions to handle the situation.
Fang Hao instructed her, “They’ll probably have to land. Assign them runway 19R. I’ll go to approach for radar guidance.” Even if an aircraft experiences any malfunctions during takeoff, it cannot turn back immediately for a landing. Rather, it needs to follow a five-sided pattern with the assistance of radar guidance before returning to the runway.
Chu Yirou responds promptly, “Understood.”
As soon as Fang Hao hung up the phone, he rushed downstairs and took the microphone from Wang Zhanbo’s hand: “There’s a situation, KLM had a tire burst, I’ll direct this segment.” Wang Zhanbo quickly makes room for him.
—-
It’s often said that what you fear most will happen. The ground crew was in disarray, and the planes in the sky didn’t wait for anyone. At that moment, two more planes from Hainan Airlines and Shanghai Airlines arrived. Fang Hao quickly adjusted their runways, making sure that both aircraft were directed to different runways than the one where KLM had just experienced a tire burst. The cause of the burst is still unclear; it could be due to tire pressure or debris on the runway. Whatever the reason, it was essential to clear the runway of any obstacles before it could be used again. This incident occurred around 5 p.m. on a busy Friday evening, leaving no room for error.
After completing all this, Fang Hao checked the radar and saw that KLM had climbed to an altitude of 2.100 meters. Without wasting time, he contacted KLM: “KLM 1237, can you climb to 3000? You can use 19R. I have requested emergency vehicles for landing.”
KLM responded quickly: “We are a full flight with 221 passengers and fuel. Climbing slowly, and we need to dump fuel. Confirm climbing to 3000, but give us some time. KLM 1237.”
An A330 aircraft fully loaded with passengers needed to climb to a certain height to discard excess fuel and reduce the aircraft’s weight so that the remaining wheels could withstand the impact forces of landing.
After confirming, Fang Hao quickly directed the aircraft, which still needed to enter the approach pattern, to make room at 3.000 meters for the troubled KLM.
“Jinxiu 3185, turn left to heading 270, descend, and maintain at 4200.”
“Turning left to heading 270, descending and maintaining 4200. Jinxiu 3185,” the captain of Jinxiu Airlines repeated the instruction precisely.
“China Southern 287, reduce speed to 240. You may begin a descent at 2.400. Runway 10, correct sea pressure to 1014 ”
“Copy. Reducing speed to 240, descending to 2400, Runway 10. China Southern 287.”
At this time, another aircraft entered the radar area of the control tower. Fang Hao glanced and saw it was CA 1332. If he remembered correctly, it was a Boeing 737-800 from Air China.
“Beijing Approach, good evening. Air China 1332, altitude 4800, using frequency H. Ground speed 300, requesting ILS approach for runway 17 left.” The captain’s voice was deep and slightly hoarse, making Fang Hao pause for a moment. This voice…it sounded familiar.
Translator comments: Alright! First meeting for our pairing coming up soon! 😀
Air traffic control have a very specific language. It’s actually quite interesting. Some of the original flight commands from the novel were in English, but I edited them a bit to make it sound more natural. I had to google some flight commands and watch a short YouTube vid just to be sure. XD For those interested you can view the video here for ATC communication
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Thanks for reading. ❤️
Hohoho~
Thank You for the chapter ( ˘ ³˘)♥
💜💜💜
Thank you for the translation and for going the extra mile to ensure the terms are correct, it’s much appreciated.
💜
+1
I just fell in love with the characters. This is definitely going to be my new obsession. Help!
working with air traffic control sounds so stressful, I would never be able to handle this kind of pressure 😭
Wow! that’s awesome job.
Woah, translating all these jargons must have been a headache. You’re awesome for doing such a great job. Thank you for the chapter!
Thanks for reading! The ” jargons” are actually easy, once I found a list of ATC communications. I’m more impressed by the people translating those cultivation novels. 🤧
Oh god, I know that. I am currently translating Sparks and it has a little bit of cultivation here and there. It’s such a bother!