Michael Crichton - Airframe

Henri Marchand, Engineer 4/25/69 M

Robert Sheng, Engineer 6/13/62 M

Malone glanced at it, pushed it aside. "And this is the crew manifest we got from Transpacific the day after the incident."

JOHN ZHEN CHANG, CAPTAIN 5/7/51

LEU ZAN PING, FIRST OFFICER 3/11/59

RICHARD YONG, FIRST OFFICER 9/9/61

GERHARD REIMANN, FIRST OFFICER 7/23/49

HENRI MARCHAND, ENGINEER 4/25/69

THOMAS CHANG, ENGINEER 6/29/70

ROBERT SHENG, ENGINEER 6/13/62

Malone scanned it, shrugged "It's the same."

"No, it's not. In one, Thomas Chang is listed as a first officer. In the second list, he appears as an engineer."

Malone said, "A clerical error."

Casey shook her head. "No."

She passed another sheet.

"This is a page from the Transpacific in-flight magazine, showing Captain John Chang and his family. It was sent to us by a Transpacific flight attendant, who wanted us to know the real story. You will notice his children are Erica and Thomas Chang. Thomas Chang is the pilot's son. He was among the flight crew of Flight 545."

Malone frowned.

"The Changs are a family of pilots. Thomas Chang is a pilot, qualified on several commuter aircraft. He is not type certified to fly the N-22."

"I don't believe this," Malone said.

"At the time of the incident," Casey continued "the captain, John Chang, had left the cockpit and walked to the back of the plane for coffee. He was aft when the accident occurred, and severely injured. He underwent brain surgery in Vancouver two days ago. The hospital thought it was the first officer, but his identity has now been confirmed as John Zhen Chang."

Malone was shaking her head

Casey handed her a memo:

FROM: S. NIETO, FSR VANC

TO: C. SINGLETON, YUMA TEST FAC

HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL

AUTHORITIES NOW CONFIRM THE POSTMORTEM IDENTIFICATION OF INJURED CREW MEMBER IN VANCOUVER HOSPITAL AS JOHN ZHEN CHANG THE CAPTAIN OF TRANSPACIFIC FLIGHT 545.

"Chang wasn't in the cockpit," Casey said. "He was in the back of the plane. His hat was found mere. So someone else was in the captain's chair, when the incident occurred."

Casey turned on the television, started the tape. "These are the concluding moments of the videotape which you obtained from the receptionist. You see the camera falling toward the front of the plane, and twisting to eventually lodge in the cockpit door. But before it does… here!" She froze the frame. "You can see the flight deck."

"I can't see much," Malone said. "They're both looking away."

"You can see that the pilot has extremely short hair," Casey said. "Look at the picture. Thomas Chang has close-cropped hair."

Malone was shaking her head, strongly now. "I just don't believe this. That visual is not good enough, you have a three-quarter profile, it doesn't identify, it doesn't say anything."

"Thomas Chang has a small stud in his ear. You can see it in this magazine photo. And on the video, you can see the same stud catch the light, right there."

Malone was silent.

Casey pushed another piece of paper across to her.

"This is a translation of the Chinese voice communications in the cockpit as recorded on the tape you have. A great deal of it is unintelligible because of the cockpit alarms. But the relevant passage is marked for you."

0544:59 ALM stall stall stall

0545:00 F/O what (unintelligible) you

0545:01 CPTN am (unintelligible) correct the

0545:02 ALM stall stall stall

0545:03 F/O torn release die (unintelligible)

0545:04 CPTN what do (unintelligible) it

0545:11 F/O tommy (unintelligible) when

(unintelligible) must (unintelligible) the

Casey took the paper back. "That's not for you to keep, or refer to publicly. But it corroborates the videotape in your possession."

Malone said, in a stunned voice, "He let his kid fly the plane?"

"Yes," Casey said. "John Chang permitted a pilot who was not type certified to fly the N-22. As a result, fifty-six people were injured and four people died-including John Chang himself. We believe that the aircraft was on autopilot, and Chang left his son momentarily in charge of the flight. That was when the disagree warning occurred, and the son extended the slats to clear it But the son panicked, overcorrected, and porpoised. Eventually we believe Thomas Chang was knocked unconscious by the severe movements of the airplane, and the autopilot took over."

Malone said, "On a commercial flight, some guy lets his fucking kid fly the plane?"

"Yes," Casey said.

"That's the story?'

"Yes," Casey said. "And you have the tape in your possession that proves it. Therefore you are aware of the facts. Mr. Reardon stated on camera that both he and his colleagues in New York have watched the tape in its entirety. So you have seen this shot of the cockpit. I have now informed you what that shot represents. We have provided you with corroborating evidence-not all the evidence, there's more. We have also demonstrated in flight test that there is nothing wrong with the aircraft itself."

"Not everyone agrees…" she began.

"This is no longer a matter of opinion, Ms. Malone. It is a matter of fact. You are undeniably in possession of the facts. If Newsline does not report these facts, which you are now aware of, and if it makes any suggestion whatsoever that there is anything wrong with the N-22 aircraft based on this incident, we will sue you for reckless disregard and malicious intent. Ed Fuller is very conservative, but he thinks we will certainly win. Because you acquired the tape that proves our case. Now, would you like Mr. Fuller to call Mr. Shenk and explain the situation, or would you prefer to do it yourself?"

Malone said nothing.

"Ms. Malone?"

"Where's a phone?" she said.

"There's one in the corner."

Malone got up, and walked over to the phone. Casey headed for the door.

"Jesus Christ," Malone said, shaking her head. "The guy lets his kid fly a plane full of people? I mean, how can that happen?"

Casey shrugged. "He loves his son. We believe he's allowed him to fly on other occasions. But there's a reason why commercial pilots are required to train extensively on specific equipment, to be type certified. He didn't know what he was doing, and he got caught." Casey closed the door, and thought: And so did you.

"Jesus fucking Christ," Dick Shenk said. "I got a hole in the show the size of Afghanistan and you're telling me you've got a bad parts story? Featuring Yellow Peril Pilots? Is that what you're telling me, Jennifer? Because I'm not going to run with that. I'll get murdered. I'm not going to be the Pat Buchanan of the airwaves. Fuck that noise."

"Dick," she said. "It doesn't really play that way. It's a family tragedy, the guy loves his son, and-"

"But I can't use it," Shenk said. "He's Chinese. I can't even go near it."

"The kid killed four people and injured fifty-six-"

"What difference does that make? I'm very disappointed in you, Jennifer," he said. "Very, very disappointed. Do you realize what this means? This means I have to go with the gimp Little League segment."

"Dick," she said. "I didn't cause the accident, I'm just reporting the story…"

"Wait a minute. What fresh bullshit is this?"

"Dick, I-"

"You're reporting your ineptitude, is what you're reporting," Shenk said. "You fucked up, Jennifer. You had a hot story, a story I wanted, a story about a crappy American product, and two days later you come back with some horseshit about a whack. It's not the airplane, it's the pilot. And maintenance. And bad parts."

"Dick-"

"I warned you, I didn't want bad parts. You fucked this one to death, Jennifer. We'll talk Monday." And he hung up.