Michael Crichton - Airframe

6:40 a.m.

As Casey came into the QA offices, Norma glanced up at her, then pointed down the hall.

Casey frowned.

Norma jerked her thumb. "He was here when I came in this morning," she said. "Been on the phone for an hour solid. Mr. Sleepyhead's suddenly not so sleepy."

Casey went down the hall. As she came to Richman's office, she heard him say, "Absolutely not. We are very confident of how this will turn out No. No. I'm sure. Hasn't a clue. No idea."

Casey stuck her head in.

Richman was leaning back in his chair, with his feet up on the desk, while he spoke on the phone. He appeared startled when he saw her. He put his hand over the phone. "I'll just be a minute here."

"Fine." She went back to her office, shuffled through papers. She didn't want him around. It was time for another errand, she thought

"Good morning," he said as he came in. He was very cheerful, big smile. "I got those FAA documents you wanted. I left them on your desk."

"Thank you," she said. 'Today I need you to go to Trans-Pacific's main office."

'Transpacific? Isn't that at the airport?'

"Actually, I think they're in downtown LA. Norma will get you the address. I need you to pick up back issues of their inflight magazine. As far back as they go. At least a year."

"Gee," Richman said. "Couldn't we have a messenger do that?"

"This is urgent," Casey said.

"But I'll miss the IRT."

"You're not needed at the IRT. And I want these magazines as soon as possible."

"In-flight magazines? What are they for?" he said.

"Bob," she said. "Just get them."

He gave a crooked smile. "You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?"

"Pick up the magazines, get them to Norma, and call me."

John Marder was late. He came striding into the room with an irritable, distracted look, and dropped into a seat. "All right," he said. "Let's have it Where are we on Flight 545? Flight recorder?"

"Nothing yet," Casey said.

"We need that data-make it happen, Casey. Structure?'

"Well it's very difficult very difficult indeed," Doherty said, dolefully. "I still worry about that bad locking pin. I think we ought to be more cautious-"

"Doug," Marder said. "I already told you. We'll check it at Flight Test. Now what about hydraulics?"

"Hydraulics are fine."

"Cable rigging?"

"Fine. Of course we're at ambient. Have to cold soak to be sure."

"Okay. We'll do that at Right Test. Electrical?"

Ron said, "We've scheduled the Cycle Electrical Test beginning at 6 p.m., running through the night. If there's a problem we'll know in the morning."

"Any suspicions now?"

"Just those proximity sensors, in the right wing."

"Have we functioned them?"

"Yes, and they appear normal. Of course, to really check them we'd have to remove the sensors from the housings, take them out of the wing, and that means-"

"Delaying everything," Marder said. "Forget it. Powerplant?"

"Zip," Kenny Burne said. "Engines are fine. Some seals on the cooling system were installed backward. And we got a counterfeit reverser cowl. But it's nothing that would cause the accident."

"Okay. Powerplant is eliminated. Avionics?"

Trung said, "Avionics check out within normal limits."

"What about the autopilot? The pilot fighting to override?"

"Autopilot is fine."

"I see." Marder looked around the room. "So we have nothing, is that right? Seventy-two hours into this investigation and we have no damned idea what happened to Flight 545? Is that what you're telling me?"

There was silence around the table.

"Christ," Marder said, disgusted. He pounded the table. "Don't you people understand? I want this fucking thing solved?'

Fred Barker was solving all her problems.

To start, Jennifer needed a walk-to-work shot for Marty's voice-over intro ("We talked to Frederick Barker, a former FAA official, now a controversial crusader for aircraft safety"). Barker suggested a location on Sepulveda, with a sweeping view of the south runways of Los Angeles International Airport. It was perfect, and he was careful to mention that no other film crew had used it before.

Next she needed an at-work shot, again for voice-over ("Since leaving the FAA, Barker has worked tirelessly to bring defective aircraft designs to the public's attention- particularly the design of the Norton N-22"). Barker suggested a corner of his office, where he placed himself in front of a bookshelf of thick FAA documents, at a desk heaped nigh with technical-looking pamphlets, which he thumbed through for camera.

Next she needed his basic spiel, in the kind of detail that Reardon wouldn't have time to bother with during the interview. Barker was ready for this, too. He knew where the switches were for the air-conditioning, the refrigerator, the telephones, and all the other noise sources they'd need to turn off for filming. Barker also had a video monitor ready, to replay the CNN tape from Flight 545 while he commented on it. The monitor was a studio-grade Trinitron, placed in a dark corner of the room, so they could get an image off it. There was a V-plug so they could take the feed directly, to sync his audio comments. And Barker was running one-inch tape, so image quality was excellent. He even had a large model of the N-22 aircraft, with moving parts on the wing and tail that he could use to demonstrate what had gone wrong in flight. The model sat on a stand on his desk, so it didn't look like a prop. And Barker was dressed for the part: informal shirtsleeves and tie, reminiscent of an engineer, an authoritative look.

Barker was good on camera, too. He appeared relaxed. He didn't use jargon; his answers were short. He seemed to understand how she would cut the tape together, so he didn't lock her into anything. For example, he didn't reach for the model airplane in the middle of an answer. Instead, he gave his answer, then said, "At this point, I'd like to refer to the model." When she agreed, he repeated the previous answer, picking up the model at the same time. Everything he did was smooth, with no fumbling or awkwardness.

Of course Barker was experienced, not only on television but in the courtroom. The only problem was that he didn't give her strong emotion-no shock, no outrage. On the contrary, his tone, his manner, his body language, suggested profound regret. It was unfortunate that this situation arose. It was unfortunate that steps hadn't been taken to correct the problem. It was unfortunate that authorities hadn't listened to him for all these years.

"There have been eight previous problems with slats on the airplane," he said. He held the model up, near his face, turned it so that it didn't gleam in the crew lights. "These are the slats," he said, pulling out a sliding panel from the front of the wing. He took his hand away, and said, "You get that in close-up?"

"I was late," the cameraman said "Could you do it again?'

"Sure. Are you starting wide?"

'Two Ts," the cameraman said.

Barker nodded. He paused, then began again. "There have been eight previous problems with slats on this airplane." Again he held the model up, this time already correctly turned so it didn't reflect in the light. "These are the slats," he said, and pulled out the panel in front of the wing. Then he paused again.

"Got it that time," the cameraman said.

Barker continued. "The slats are only deployed for takeoff and landing. During flight, they are tucked back in the wing. But on the Norton N-22, the slats have been known to extend by themselves during flight. It's a design error." Another pause. "I'm going to demonstrate what happens now, so you may want to be wide enough to see the whole plane."