Airframe (25 page)

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Ziegler said finally. "Not in the database. Foreign locale?"

"China."

"Oh well. I can't do everything."

The footsteps continued. There was the sound of wind. On the tape, a male voice said, "She's fallen asleep..."

Ziegler said, "American, height five-nine to six-two, mid thirties."

She nodded, impressed again.

He pushed a button, and one of the monitors showed the video image, the man walking up the path. The tape froze. "Okay," Ziegler said. "So what am I doing here?"

Casey said, "The last nine minutes of tape were shot on Flight 545. This camera recorded the whole incident."

"Really," Ziegler said, rubbing his hands together. "That should be interesting."

"I want to know what you can tell me about unusual sounds in the moments just prior to the event. I have a question about—"

"Don't tell me," he said, holding up his hand. "I don't want to know. I want to take a clean look."

"When can you have something?"

'Twenty hours." Ziegler looked at his watch. 'Tomorrow afternoon."

"Okay. And Jay? I'd appreciate if you'd keep this tape to yourself."

Ziegler looked at her blankly. "What tape?" he said.

QA

6:10 P.M.

Casey was back at her desk a little after 6 P.M. There were more telexes waiting for her.

FROM: S. NIETO, FSR VANC TO: C. SINGLETON, QA/IRT

F/O ZAN PING AT VANC GEN HOSPITAL FOLLOWING COMPLICATIONS FROM

SURGERY REPORTED UNCONSCIOUS BUT STABLE. CARRIER REP MIKE LEE WAS AT

THE HOSPITAL TODAY. I WILL TRY TO SEE F/O TOMORROW TO VERIFY HIS CONDITION

AND INTERVIEW HIM IF POSSIBLE.

"Norma," she called, "remind me to call Vancouver tomorrow morning."

"I'll make a note," she said. "By the way, you got this." She handed Casey a fax.

The single sheet appeared to be a page from an in-flight magazine. The top read: "Employee of the Month," followed by an inky, unreadable photograph.

Underneath the photo was a caption: "Captain John Zhen Chang, Senior Pilot for Transpacific Airlines, is our employee of the month. Captain Chang's father was a pilot, and John himself has flown for twenty years, seven of those with Transpacific. When not in the cockpit, Captain 138

Chang enjoys biking and golf. Here he relaxes on the beach at Lantan Island with his wife, Soon, and his children, Erica and Tom."

Casey frowned. "What's this?"

"Beats me," Norrna said.

"Where'd it come from?" There was a phone number at the top of the page, but no name.

"A copy shop on La Tijera," Norma said.

"Near the airport," Casey said.

"Yes. It's a busy place, they had no idea who sent it."

Casey stared at the photo. "It's from an in-flight magazine?'

"TransPacific's. But not this month. They pulled the contents of the seat pockets—you know, passenger announcements, safety cards, barf bags, monthly magazine—and sent it over. But that page isn't in the magazine."

"Can we get back copies?"

"I'm working on it," she said.

"I'd like to get a better look at this picture," Casey said.

"I figured," Norma said.

She went back to the other papers on her desk.

FROM: T. Korman, PROD SUPPORT TO: C. Singleton, QA/IRT

We have finalized the design parameters of the N-22 Virtual Heads-Up Display (VHUD) for use by ground personnel at domestic and foreign repair stations. The CD-ROM player now clips to the belt, and the goggles have been reduced in weight. The VHUD allows maintenance personnel to scroll Maintenance Manuals 12A/102-12 A/406, including diagrams and parts cutaways. Preliminary articles will be distributed for comments tomorrow. Production will begin 5/1.

This Virtual Heads-Up Display was part of Norton's ongoing effort to help the customers improve maintenance. Airframe manufacturers had long recognized that the majority of operational problems were caused by bad maintenance. In general, a properly maintained commercial aircraft would run for decades; some of the old Norton N-5s were sixty years old and still in service. On the other hand, an improperly maintained aircraft could get in trouble —or crash — within minutes.

Under financial pressure from deregulation, the airlines were cutting personnel, including maintenance personnel. And they were shortening the turnaround time between cycles; time on the ground had in some cases gone from two hours to less than twenty minutes. All this put intense pressure on maintenance crews. Norton, like Boeing and Douglas, saw it as in their interest to help crews work more effectively. That was why the Virtual Heads-Up Display, which 139

projected the repair manuals on the inside of a set of glasses for maintenance people, was so important.

She went on.

Next she saw the weekly summary of parts failures, compiled to enable the FAA to track parts problems more carefully. None of the failures in the previous week was serious. An engine compressor stalled; an engine EOT indicator failed; an oil filter clog light illuminated incorrectly; a fuel heat indicator went on erroneously.

Then there were more IRT follow-up reports from past incidents. Product Support checked all incident aircraft every two weeks for the next six months, to make sure that the assessment of the Incident Review Team had been accurate, and that the aircraft was not experiencing further trouble. Then they issued a summary report, like the one she now saw on her desk: AIRCRAFT INCIDENT REPORT

PRIVILEGED INFORMATION — FOR INTERNAL USE ONLY

REPORT No: IRT-8-2776 TODAY'S DATE: 08 April

MODEL: N-20 INCIDENT DATE: 04 March

OPERATOR: Jet Atlantic FUSELAGE No: 1280

NFA REPORTED BY: J. Ramones LOCATION: PS Portugal

FSR

REFERENCE: a) AVN-SVC-08774/ADH

Subject: Main Landing Gear Wheel Failure During Takeoff DESCRIPTION OF EVENT:

It was reported that during takeoff roll the "Wheel Not Turning" alert came on and the flight crew aborted the takeoff. The nose landing gear (NLG) tires blew and there was a fire in the wheel well which was extinguished by fire trucks on the ground. Passengers and flight crew exited via evacuation slides. No reported injuries.

ACTION TAKEN:

Inspection of the aircraft revealed the following damage:

1. Both flaps sustained significant damage.

2. The Number 1 engine sustained heavy soot damage.

3. The inboard flap hinge fairing sustained minor damage.

4. The Number 2 wheel was flat spotted with approximately 30 percent missing. There was no damage to NLG axle or piston.

Review of human factors revealed the following:

1. Flight deck procedures require added carrier scrutiny.

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2. Foreign repair procedures require added carrier scrutiny.

The aircraft is in the process of being repaired. Internal procedures are being reviewed by the carrier.

David Levine

Technical Integration

Product Support

Norton Aircraft Company

Burbank,CA

Summary reports were always diplomatic; in this incident, she knew, ground maintenance had been so inept that the nose wheel locked on takeoff, blowing the tires, causing what was very nearly a serious incident. But the report didn't say that; you had to read between the lines. The problem lay with the carrier, but the carrier was also the customer—and it was bad form to knock the customer.

Eventually, Casey knew, Transpacific Flight 545 would end up summarized in an equally diplomatic report. But there was much to do before then.

Norma came back. 'Transpacific's office is closed. I'll have to find that magazine tomorrow."

"Okay."

"Hon?"

"What."

"Go home."

She sighed. "You're right, Norma."

"And get some rest, will you?"

GLENDALE

9:15P.M.

Her daughter had left a message saying she was having a sleep-over at Amy's house, and that Dad said it was all right. Casey wasn't happy about it, she thought her daughter shouldn't have sleep-overs on school nights, but there was nothing she could do now. She got into bed, pulled her daughter's photograph on the bedside table over to look at it, and then turned to her work. She was going through the flight tapes of TPA 545, checking the waypoint coordinates for each leg against the written radio transcripts from Honolulu ARINC and Oakland Center, when the phone rang.

"Casey Singleton."

"Hello, Casey. John Marder here."

She sat up in bed. Marder never called her at home. She looked at the clock; it was after 9

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P.M.

Marder cleared his throat. "I just got a call from Benson in PR. He's had a request from a network news crew to film inside the plant. He turned them down."

"Uh-huh ..." That was standard; news crews were never allowed inside the plant

"Then he got a call from a producer on that program Newsline named Malone. She said Newsline was making the request for plant access, and insisted they be allowed in. Very pushy and full of herself. He told her to forget it."

"Uh-huh."

"He said he was nice about it."

"Uh-huh." She was waiting.

"This Malone said Newsline was doing a story on the N-22, and she wanted to interview the president. He told her Hal was overseas, and unavailable."

"Uh-huh."

"Then she suggested we reconsider her request, because the Newsline story was going to focus on flight safety concerns, two problems in two days, an engine problem and slats deployment, several passengers killed. She said she'd spoken to critics—no names, but I can guess—and she wanted to give the president an opportunity to respond."

Casey sighed.

Marder said, "Benson said he might be able to get her an interview with the president next week, and she said no, that wouldn't work, Newsline was running the story this weekend."

"This weekend?"

"That's right," Marder said. 'Timing couldn't be worse. The day before I leave for China. It's a very popular show. The whole damned country will see it."

"Yes," she said.

"Then the woman said she wanted to be fair, that it always looked bad if the company didn't respond to allegations. So if the president wasn't available to talk to Newsline, maybe some other highly placed spokesman would."

"Uh-huh..."

"So I'm seeing this twit in my office tomorrow at noon," Marder said.

"On camera?" Casey said.

"No, no. Background only, no cameras. But we'll cover the IRT investigation, so I think you'd better be there."

"Of course."

"Apparently they're going to do some terrible story on the N-22," Marder said. "It's that damn CNN tape. That's what's started it all. But we're in it now, Casey. We have to handle this as best we can."

'I'll be there," she said.

142

THURSDAY

AIRPORT MARINA

6:30 A.M.

Jennifer Malone awoke to the soft, insistent buzz of the bedside alarm. She turned it off, and looked over at the tanned shoulder of the man next to her, and felt a burst of annoyance. He was a stuntman on a TV series, she'd met him a few months back. He had a craggy face and a nice muscular body and he knew how to perform ... but Jeez, she hated it when guys stayed over. She had hinted politely, after the second time. But he'd just rolled over and gone to sleep.

And now here he was, snoring away.

Jennifer hated to wake up with some guy in the room. She hated everything about it, the sounds they made breathing, the smell coming off their skin, their greasy hair on the pillow.

Even the catches, the celebrities who made her heart skip over candlelight, looked like soggy beached whales the next day.

It was like the guys didn't know their place. They came over; they got what they wanted; she got what she wanted; everyone was happy. So why didn't they go the fuck home?

She'd called him from the plane: Hi, I'm coming into town, what are you doing tonight? And he said, without hesitation, Doing you. Which was fine with her. It was sort of funny, sitting in an airplane seat next to some accountant bent over his laptop, the voice in her ear saying, I'm doing you tonight, in every room of your suite. Which, to his credit, he did. Not subtle, this guy, but he had lots of energy, that pure California body energy that you never found in New York.

No reason to talk about anything. Just fuck.

But now, sunlight streaming through the windows ...

Damn.

She got up from the bed, feeling the cold air-conditioned air on her naked skin, and went to the closet to choose the clothes she would wear. She was doing pretty straight types, so she picked jeans, a white Agnes B. T-shirt, and a navy Jil Sander jacket. She carried them into the bathroom, ran a shower. While the water was getting warm, she called the cameraman and told him to have the crew ready in the lobby in an hour.

While she took her shower, she reviewed the coming day. Barker first at nine, she'd film him briefly with some aviation background to warm him up, then break to do the rest at his office.

Next the reporter, Rogers. No time to do him at his newsroom in Orange County; she'd start him at Burbank, another airport, different look. He'd talk about Norton with the Norton buildings behind him.

Then at noon, she'd talk to the Norton guy. By then she'd already know the arguments from the other two guys, and she'd try to scare Norton enough that they'd give her access to the president

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And then . . . let's see. The ambulance chaser later in the day, briefly. Someone from the FAA on Friday, for balance. Someone from Norton on Friday, as well. Marty would do a stand-up outside Norton, the script wasn't prepared but all she needed was the intro and the rest was voice-over. B-roll of passengers boarding, going to their doom. Takeoffs and landings, then some good crash shots.