Chapter Eighteen: The Shattered Engine

As the wreckage of the plane was hauled away and the acrid stench of burnt wiring still lingered in the air, those who remained could only shake their heads in dismay before slowly departing.

"Yang Hui, let’s go as well. Tonight we’ll have to find a place in the guesthouse. We’ll need to wait for the factory’s notice tomorrow. Who knows when we’ll get to return this time," said Captain Zhang, calling Yang Hui to leave with him.

They climbed into the car and, with the engine roaring, grew farther and farther from the emergency landing site until they finally exited the runway.

"Do you have any idea what might have caused this accident?" Captain Zhang asked again as he drove. Although he didn’t really understand such things, he figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask—after all, it was still related to his work.

"At first glance, it seems to be an engine problem. But the exact cause will have to be determined after people from the Liyang Factory and our Second Institute arrive tomorrow for further investigation," Yang Hui replied.

It was clearly an engine issue—Yang Hui could see that at once. The main task now was to determine what had caused the engine to fail.

Captain Zhang fell silent. After such an incident, there was little more to say. The car stopped at the canteen, and the two of them hastily grabbed a quick meal before heading to the guesthouse.

After parking and heading upstairs, they happened to run into the young man in the Zhongshan suit, surnamed Liu, who was also returning to the guesthouse. Upon seeing Yang Hui and Captain Zhang, he wore an air of arrogance, turning his head and walking straight to his room without a word.

"All right, we’ll go again tomorrow. I’ve called the factory—tomorrow they’ll send people from the factory and your institute. Let’s all get some rest for now," Captain Zhang said, quietly heading into his room.

...

The next day,

"You’re up? Wash up and go eat. We’ll head over together in a bit. The comrades from the factory who came overnight are already there," Captain Zhang said, running into Yang Hui in the corridor.

"Yes, that sounds fine." Yang Hui hadn’t expected to be delayed by such an incident and hadn’t brought any personal items. He simply splashed his face with water and made ready for breakfast.

At half past seven, Yang Hui, Captain Zhang, and the young man in the Zhongshan suit made their way to the workshop where the wreckage was stored. Most people had already arrived, and there were more faces than yesterday, some unfamiliar.

A group of people was dismantling the plane, its remains now unrecognizable, scattered haphazardly. Some were inspecting parts by the side.

Chief Engineer Yu was at the tail of the plane, conferring with another man of similar age—likely someone who had hurried there overnight. Yang Hui walked over to them.

By now, the engine wreckage had also been removed, placed on a stand and pushed aside.

Chief Engineer Yu noticed Yang Hui approaching. He had been impressed by the young man’s composure the previous day and nodded in greeting.

"Director Bai, is this one from your institute? He did quite well yesterday," said Yu.

Hearing this, Director Bai turned to regard Yang Hui, apparently unfamiliar with him. "And you are? I don’t think we’ve met," he said, drawing Yu’s attention—it hadn’t occurred to him that Director Bai might not know Yang Hui. Could Yang Hui have been deceiving him?

Yang Hui simply replied, "I reported in the day before yesterday. Section Chief Tang hasn’t assigned me to a post yet, so I came with a friend to the First Institute. I didn’t expect things to turn out like this."

Suddenly, Director Bai remembered. "Ah, yes, I recall now. Section Chief Tang mentioned you to me just yesterday."

Chief Engineer Yu now understood—Yang Hui was a newcomer. This only increased his fondness for the young man; after all, it was impressive for a newcomer to have performed so well yesterday.

"Indeed, quite impressive. After all, he came with a recommendation letter from Old Wu at Unit 0430. Looks like he’s got real potential," Director Bai said, pleased at Yu’s praise and adding a few kind words of his own.

Having learned the connection, Chief Engineer Yu now found Yang Hui’s performance the previous day explained. He smiled, "So you’re one of Old Wu’s protégés. A pity about his project’s current state—ah, best not to speak of it. Still, Director Bai is lucky to have such promising talent."

Director Bai laughed heartily, "Just so. But don’t go spreading it around." Then he turned to Yang Hui, "Come, let’s go take a look at the accident. Every mishap is a painful lesson and a valuable experience—you must learn from it."

Yang Hui followed Director Bai over to the engine, where some people were already dismantling it. The casing was opened, and the compressor, combustion chamber, and turbine were extracted. The core engine, now removed, was in even worse shape than it had first appeared. The broken blades from the high-pressure compressor had, as the engine turned, damaged the last two compressor stages. Six out of ten combustion chamber tubes had been destroyed, and both sets of subsequent turbines were shattered. There was scarcely a sound part left in the entire gas generator core.

As the engine was opened, everyone present drew in a sharp breath. The damage was so extensive it could only be compared to engines from crashed aircraft.

"The first three stages of the low-pressure compressor are intact. The broken blade appears to be from the first stage of the high-pressure compressor. It doesn’t look like a design flaw—the WP-7B model hasn’t had any compressor modifications," Director Bai said, breathing a long sigh of relief after assessing the situation.

Hearing this preliminary conclusion, Chief Engineer Yu also relaxed. "As long as it’s not a design problem, that’s good news. If it were, we’d have to fall back on the old engines."

The test pilot came over, crouched to touch the engine wreckage, then stood up.

"Let me explain what happened. About two minutes before the incident, I performed a roll, followed by a steep climb. I leveled off, and just as the test flight was nearly complete, I felt a vibration in the rear fuselage, then an explosion."

After a brief pause, Director Bai asked a critical question, "Did you engage afterburner? What was your top Mach number?"

The test pilot replied without hesitation, "No, there was no afterburner. This was the plane’s maiden flight; no supersonic test items were scheduled. The highest speed reached was Mach 0.87."

Hearing this, Yang Hui seemed to grasp something and immediately asked, "So this plane hadn’t undergone any prior test flights, correct?"

"That’s right," the pilot affirmed, though he was unsure why Yang Hui asked.

"I think we’re closing in on the cause of the engine failure. There’s a high probability it was due to substandard compressor blades," Yang Hui said, drawing the attention of everyone nearby.

The young man in the Zhongshan suit, Liu by surname, immediately strode over. "Are you saying our Liyang Factory’s blades are substandard? That this was our fault?"

Yang Hui wasn’t sure why Liu had such an intense reaction, but he answered firmly,

"Yes, that’s my personal opinion. After all, before the test flight, it only underwent ground engine runs, which can’t compare to in-flight conditions. Once it was in the air, the problem surfaced."

"What difference does that make? Both involve air intake and work output. If anything, ground conditions are harsher due to debris," Liu retorted.

At this, everyone in the workshop lowered their heads in shame—sharing a workspace with someone like this was simply embarrassing.

For a moment, Yang Hui didn’t know how to counter such an utterly misguided statement and was left speechless. The atmosphere grew tense.

"Haha, run out of arguments? Let me tell you, don’t spout nonsense in front of experts just to show off," Liu went on, clearly convinced of his own expertise.

"Liu Pengzhan, get out. Leave this instant!" A deep, resonant voice rang out, loud enough to cause a ringing in the ears—its owner was furious.

"Father, why? I haven’t done anything wrong!" Liu protested.

It turned out the factory director from Liyang had arrived, trembling with anger at his son’s behavior.

"Get out. Right now, I’m the director of Liyang Factory—I have no son like you. Get out!" he thundered.

Now Liu Pengzhan realized the gravity of the situation and hurried out of the hangar with his head lowered.

Director Bai quickly approached and patted the director’s back. "Don’t let it get to you. He’s just a kid—no one here took it to heart."

To call a man of twenty-four or twenty-five a "kid"—that could happen only here.

"Never mind him. Let’s continue discussing the engine," the director said after regaining his composure, eager to steer the focus back to the technical issue.

He slowly walked over to the engine wreckage, crouched down, and turned over the compressor, scrutinizing it closely.

"It is indeed a compressor blade issue. An engine fresh from the factory couldn’t possibly be suffering from fatigue failure," he concluded.

After some thought, he placed a piece of blade debris on the workbench and addressed the person in charge from the base.

"We don’t yet know if this was a one-off or a process issue. We need to inspect all engines of this model—both those at our factory and those here. Once we do that, we’ll be able to deduce the cause," the factory director suggested, awaiting a decision from above.