Airframe by Michael Crichton Page A
Authors: Michael Crichton
Tags: Fiction, General, Suspense, Psychological, Romance, Thrillers, Suspense fiction, Espionage, Aircraft accidents, Aircraft accidents - Investigation, Adventure stories; American
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"Like that."
* * *
Casey continued to make notes, but she no longer really listened. She was trying to put together the sequence of events, trying to decide how the engineers should proceed. There was no question that both witnesses were telling a story consistent with slats deployment. First, rumbling for twelve seconds— exactly the time it took the slats to extend. Then a slight nose up, which would occur next. And then porpoising, as the crew tried to stabilize the aircraft.
What a mess, she thought.
Emily Jansen was saying, "Since the cockpit door was open, I could hear all the alarms. There were warning sounds—and voices in English that sounded recorded."
"Do you remember what they said?"
"It sounded like 'Fall... fall.' Something like that."
It was the stall alarm, Casey thought. And the audio reminder was saying, "Stall, stall."
Damn.
She stayed with Emily Jansen a few minutes more and then went back outside.
In the corridor, Richman said, "Does that rumbling sound mean the slats deployed?"
"It might," she said. She was tense, edgy. She wanted to get back to the aircraft, and talk to the engineers.
From one of the curtained cubicles farther down .the corridor, she saw a stocky gray-haired figure emerge. She was surprised to see it was Mike Lee. She felt a burst of irritation: What the hell was the carrier rep doing talking to passengers? It was very inappropriate. Lee had no business being here.
She remembered what Kay Liang had said: A Chinese man was just here.
Lee came up toward them, shaking his head.
"Mike," she said. "I'm surprised to see you here."
"Why? You should give me a medal," he said "A couple of the passengers were considering lawsuits. I talked them out of it."
"But Mike," she said. "You talked to crew members before we did. That's not right."
"What do you think, I fed them a story? Hell, they gave me the story. And there's not much doubt about what happened." Lee stared at her. "I'm sorry, Casey, but Flight 545 had an uncommanded slats deploy, and that means you've still got problems on the N-22."
Walking back to the van, Richman said, "What did he mean, you've still got problems?"
36
Casey sighed. No point in holding back now. She said, "We've had some incidents of slats deployment on the N-22."
"Wait a minute," Richman said. "You mean this has happened before?"
"Not like this," she said. "We've never had serious injuries. But yes, we've had problems with slats."
EN ROUTE
1:05 P.M.
"The first episode occurred four years ago, on a flight to San Juan," Casey said, as they drove back. "Slats extended in mid-flight. At first, we thought it was an anomaly, but then there were two additional incidents within a couple of months. When we investigated, we found that in every case the slats had deployed during a period of flight deck activity: right after a crew change, or when they punched in coordinates for the next leg of the flight, or something like that. We finally realized the slats lever was getting knocked loose by the crews, banged by clipboards, caught on uniform sleeves—"
"You're kidding," Richman said.
"No," she said. "We'd built a locking slot for the lever, like 'park' on an automobile transmission. But despite the slot, the lever was still being accidentally dislodged."
Richman was staring at her with the skeptical expression of a prosecuting attorney. "So the N-22 does have problems."
"It was a new aircraft," she said, "and all aircraft have problems when they're first introduced.
You can't build a machine with a million parts and not have snags. We do everything we can to avoid them. First we design, then we test the design. Then we build, then we flight test. But there are always going to be problems. The question is how to resolve them."
"How do you resolve them?"
"Whenever we discover a problem, we send the operators a heads-up, called a Service Bulletin, which describes our recommended fix. But we don't have the authority to mandate compliance. Some
* * *
Casey continued to make notes, but she no longer really listened. She was trying to put together the sequence of events, trying to decide how the engineers should proceed. There was no question that both witnesses were telling a story consistent with slats deployment. First, rumbling for twelve seconds— exactly the time it took the slats to extend. Then a slight nose up, which would occur next. And then porpoising, as the crew tried to stabilize the aircraft.
What a mess, she thought.
Emily Jansen was saying, "Since the cockpit door was open, I could hear all the alarms. There were warning sounds—and voices in English that sounded recorded."
"Do you remember what they said?"
"It sounded like 'Fall... fall.' Something like that."
It was the stall alarm, Casey thought. And the audio reminder was saying, "Stall, stall."
Damn.
She stayed with Emily Jansen a few minutes more and then went back outside.
In the corridor, Richman said, "Does that rumbling sound mean the slats deployed?"
"It might," she said. She was tense, edgy. She wanted to get back to the aircraft, and talk to the engineers.
From one of the curtained cubicles farther down .the corridor, she saw a stocky gray-haired figure emerge. She was surprised to see it was Mike Lee. She felt a burst of irritation: What the hell was the carrier rep doing talking to passengers? It was very inappropriate. Lee had no business being here.
She remembered what Kay Liang had said: A Chinese man was just here.
Lee came up toward them, shaking his head.
"Mike," she said. "I'm surprised to see you here."
"Why? You should give me a medal," he said "A couple of the passengers were considering lawsuits. I talked them out of it."
"But Mike," she said. "You talked to crew members before we did. That's not right."
"What do you think, I fed them a story? Hell, they gave me the story. And there's not much doubt about what happened." Lee stared at her. "I'm sorry, Casey, but Flight 545 had an uncommanded slats deploy, and that means you've still got problems on the N-22."
Walking back to the van, Richman said, "What did he mean, you've still got problems?"
36
Casey sighed. No point in holding back now. She said, "We've had some incidents of slats deployment on the N-22."
"Wait a minute," Richman said. "You mean this has happened before?"
"Not like this," she said. "We've never had serious injuries. But yes, we've had problems with slats."
EN ROUTE
1:05 P.M.
"The first episode occurred four years ago, on a flight to San Juan," Casey said, as they drove back. "Slats extended in mid-flight. At first, we thought it was an anomaly, but then there were two additional incidents within a couple of months. When we investigated, we found that in every case the slats had deployed during a period of flight deck activity: right after a crew change, or when they punched in coordinates for the next leg of the flight, or something like that. We finally realized the slats lever was getting knocked loose by the crews, banged by clipboards, caught on uniform sleeves—"
"You're kidding," Richman said.
"No," she said. "We'd built a locking slot for the lever, like 'park' on an automobile transmission. But despite the slot, the lever was still being accidentally dislodged."
Richman was staring at her with the skeptical expression of a prosecuting attorney. "So the N-22 does have problems."
"It was a new aircraft," she said, "and all aircraft have problems when they're first introduced.
You can't build a machine with a million parts and not have snags. We do everything we can to avoid them. First we design, then we test the design. Then we build, then we flight test. But there are always going to be problems. The question is how to resolve them."
"How do you resolve them?"
"Whenever we discover a problem, we send the operators a heads-up, called a Service Bulletin, which describes our recommended fix. But we don't have the authority to mandate compliance. Some
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