Airframe (20 page)

When the segment finally aired, the on-camera star would come off as a real reporter: Newsline jealously protected the reputations of its stars. But in fact the producers were the real reporters. The producers picked the stories, researched and shaped them, wrote the scripts and 109

cut the tape. The on-camera talent just did as they were told.

It was a system Jennifer liked. She had considerable power, and she liked working behind the scenes, her name unknown. She found the anonymity useful. Often, when she conducted interviews, she would be treated as a flunky, the interviewees speaking freely, even though tape was rolling. At some point, the interviewee would say, "When will I get to meet Marty Reardon?"

She would solemnly answer that that hadn't been decided yet, and continue with her questions.

And in the process, nail the stupid bozo who thought she was just a dress rehearsal.

The fact was, she made the story. She didn't care if the stars got the credit. "We never say they do the reporting," Shenk would intone. "We never imply they are interviewing someone they didn't actually interview. On this show, the talent is not the star. The star is the story. The talent is just a guide— leading the audience through the story. The talent is someone they trust, someone they're comfortable inviting into their home."

That was true, she thought. And anyway, there wasn't time to do it any other way. A media star like Marty Reardon was more heavily booked than the president, and arguably more famous, more recognizable on the street. You couldn't expect a person like Marty to waste his valuable time doing spade-work, stumbling over false leads, putting together a story.

There just wasn't time.

This was television: there was never enough time.

She looked again at her watch. Dick wouldn't return from lunch until three or three-thirty. Marty Reardon was not going to apologize to Al Pacino. So when Dick came back from lunch, he was going to blow his top, rip Reardon a new one— and then be desperate for a package to fill the hole.

Jennifer had an hour to find him one.

She turned on her TV, and started idly flipping channels. And she looked again at the fax on her desk.

JAA DELAYS CERTIFICATION OF N-22

WIDEBODY JET CITING CONTINUED

AIRWORTHINESS CONCERNS

Wait a minute, she thought. Continued airworthiness concerns? Did that mean an ongoing safety problem? If so, there might be a story here. Not air safety—that had been done a million times. Those endless stories about air traffic control, how they were using 1960s computers, how outdated and risky the system was. Stories like mat just made people anxious. The audience couldn't relate because there was nothing they could do about it. But a specific aircraft with a problem? That was a product safety story. Don't buy this product. Don't fly this airplane.

That might be very, very effective, she thought.

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She picked up the phone and dialed.

HANGAR 5

11:15 A.M.

Casey found Ron Smith with his head in the forward accessory compartment, just back of the nose wheel. All around him, his electrical team was hard at work.

"Ron," she said, "tell me about this fault list." She had brought the list with her, all ten pages.

"What about it?"

"There's four AUX readings here. Lines one, two, three, and COA. What do they service?"

"Is this important?"

"That's what I'm trying to determine."

"Well." Ron sighed. "AUX 1 is the auxiliary power generator, the turbine in the tail. AUX 2 and AUX 3 are redundant lines, in case the system gets an upgrade and needs them later. AUX

COA is an auxiliary line for Customer Optional Additions. That's the line for customer add-ons, like a QAR. Which this plane doesn't have."

Casey said, "These lines are registering a zero value. Does that mean they're being used?"

"Not necessarily. The default is zero, so you'd have to check them."

"Okay." She folded up the data sheets. "And what about the proximity sensor faults?"

"We're doing that now. We may turn up something. But look. The fault readings are snapshots of a moment in time. We'll never figure out what happened to this flight with snapshots. We need the DFDR data. You've got to get it for us, Casey."

"I've been pushing Rob Wong..."

"Push him harder," Smith said. "The flight recorder is the key."

From the back of the airplane, she heard a pained shout "Fuck a hairy duck! I don't believe this!"

It had come from Kenny Burne.

He was standing on a platform behind the left engine, waving his arms angrily. The other engineers around him were shaking their heads.

Casey went over. "You found something?"

"Let me count the ways," Bume said, pointing to the engine. "First off, the coolant seals are installed wrong. Some maintenance idiot put them in backward."

"Affecting flight?'

"Sooner or later, yeah. But that's not all. Take a look at this inboard cowl on the reversers."

Casey climbed the scaffolding to the back of the engine, where the engineers were peering inside the open cowls of the thrust reversers.

"Show her, guys," Burne said.

They shone a work light on the interior surface of one cowl. Casey saw a solid steel surface, 111

precisely curved, covered with fine soot from the engine. They held the light close to the Pratt and Whitney logo, which was embossed near the leading edge of the metal sleeve.

"See it?" Kenny said.

"What? You mean the parts stamp?" Casey said. The Pratt and Whitney logo was a circle with an eagle inside it, and the letters P and W.

"That's right. The stamp."

"What about it?"

Burne shook his head. "Casey," he said. "The eagle is backward. It's facing the wrong way."

"Oh." She hadn't noticed that.

"Now, do you think Pratt and Whitney put their eagle on backward? No way. This is a goddamn counterfeit part, Casey."

"Okay," she said. "But did it affect flight?"

That was the critical point. They'd already found counterfeit parts on the plane. Amos had said there would be more, and he was undoubtedly right. But the question was, Did any of them affect the behavior of the plane during the accident?

"Could have," Kenny said, stomping around. "But I can't tear down this engine, for Chrissakes.

That'd be two weeks right there."

"Then how will we find out?'

"We need that flight recorder, Casey. We've got to have that data."

Richman said, "You want me to go over to Digital? See how Wong is coming?"

"No," Casey said. "It won't do any good." Rob Wong could be temperamental. Putting more pressure on him wouldn't accomplish anything; he was likely to walk out, and not return for two days.

Her cell phone rang. It was Norma.

"It's starting," she said. "You got calls from Jack Rogers, from Barry Jordan at the LA Times, from somebody named Winslow at the Washington Post. And a request for background material on the N-22, from Newsline."

"Newsline? That TV show?"

"Yeah."

"They doing a story?"

"I don't think so," Norma said. "It sounded like a fishing expedition."

"Okay," Casey said. "I'll call you back." She sat down in a corner of the hangar and took out her notepad. She began to write out a list of documents to be included in a press package.

Summary of FAA certification procedures for new aircraft. Announcement of FAA certification of the N-22; Norma would have to dig that up from five years ago. Last year's FAA report on aircraft safety. The company's internal report on N-22 safety in flight from 1991 to present—the record was outstanding. The annual updated history of die N-22. The list of ADs issued for the 112

aircraft to date—there were very few. The one-sheet features summary on the plane, basic stats on speed and range, size and weight. She didn't want to send too much. But that would cover the bases.

Richman was watching her. "What now?" he said.

She tore off the sheet, gave it to him. "Give this to Norma. Tell her to prepare a press packet, and send it to whoever asks for it."

"Okay." He stared at the list. "I'm not sure I can read—"

"Norma will know. Just give it to her."

"Okay."

Richman walked away, humming cheerfully.

Her phone rang. It was Jack Rogers, calling her directly. "I keep hearing the wing's being offset. I'm told Norton is shipping the tools to Korea, but they're going to be transshipped from there to Shanghai."

"Did Marder talk to you?"

"No. We've traded calls."

'Talk to him," Casey said, "before you do anything."

"Will Marder go on the record?"

"Just talk to him."

"Okay," Rogers said. "But he'll deny it, right?"

'Talk to him."

Rogers sighed. "Look, Casey. I don't want to sit on a story that I've got right—and then read it two days from now in the LA Times. Help me out, here. Is there anything to the wing tooling story, or not?'

"I can't say anything."

'Tell you what," Rogers said. "If I were to write that several high-level Norton sources deny the wing is going to China, I assume you wouldn't have a problem with that?"

"I wouldn't, no." A careful answer, but then it was a careful question.

"Okay, Casey. Thanks. I'll call Marder." He hung up.

NEWSLINE

2:25 P,M.

Jennifer Malone dialed the number on the fax, and asked for the contact: Alan Price. Mr. Price was still at lunch, and she spoke to his assistant, Ms. Weld.

"I understand there's a delay in European certification of the Norton aircraft. What's the problem?'

"You mean the N-22?"

"That's right."

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"Well, this is a contentious issue, so I'd prefer to go off the record."

"How far off?"

"Background."

"Okay."

"In the past, the Europeans accepted FAA certification of a new aircraft, because that certification was thought to be very rigorous. But lately JAA has been questioning the U.S.

certification process. They feel that the American agency, the FAA, is in bed with the American manufacturers, and may have relaxed its standards."

"Really?" Perfect, Jennifer thought. Inept American bureaucracy. Dick Shenk loved those stories. And the FAA had been under attack for years; there must be plenty of skeletons there.

"What" s the evidence?" she asked.

"Well, the Europeans find the whole system unsatisfactory. For example, the FAA doesn't even store certification documents. They allow the aircraft companies to do that It seems entirely too cozy."

"Uh-huh." She wrote:

—FAA in bed with mfrs. Corrupt!

"Anyway," the woman said, "if you want more information, I suggest you call the JAA directly, or maybe Airbus. I can give you the numbers."

She called the FAA instead. She got put through to their public affairs office, a man named Wilson.

"I understand the JAA is refusing to validate certification of the Norton N-22."

"Yes," Wilson said. "They've been dragging their feet for a while now."

"The FAA has already certified the N-22?"

"Oh sure. You can't build an airplane in this country without FAA approval and certification of the design and manufacturing process from start to finish."

"And do you have the certification documents?"

"No. They're kept by the manufacturer. Norton has them."

Ah-ha, she thought. So it was true.

—Norton keeps certification, not FAA.

—Fox guarding chicken coop?

"Does it bother you that Norton holds the documentation?"

"No, not at all."

"And you're satisfied that the certification process was proper?"

"Oh sure. And like I said, the plane was certified five years ago."

"I've been hearing that the Europeans are dissatisfied with the entire process of certification."

"Well, you know," Wilson said, adopting a diplomatic tone, "the JAA's a relatively new organization. Unlike the FAA, they have no statutory authority. So, I think they're still trying to 114

decide how they want to proceed."

She called the information office for Airbus Industries in Washington, and got put through to a marketing guy named Samuelson. He reluctantly confirmed that he had heard of the JAA confirmation delays, though he didn't have any details.

"But Norton's having a lot of problems these days," he said. "For example, I think the China sale is not as firm as they pretend it is."

This was the first she had heard of a China sale. She wrote:

—China sale N-22?

She said, "Uh-huh..."

"I mean, let's face it," Samuelson continued, "The Airbus A-340 is a superior plane in every way. It's newer than the Norton widebody. Better range. It's better in every way. We've been trying to explain this to the Chinese, and they are starting to understand our perspective.

Anyway, if I had to guess, I'd guess the Norton sale to the People's Republic is going to fall apart. And of course safety concerns are part of that decision. Off the record, I think the Chinese are very concerned the plane is unsafe."

—C thinks airplane unsafe.

"Who would I talk to about that?" she said.

"Well, as you know, the Chinese are generally reluctant to discuss negotiations in progress,"

Samuelson said. "But I know a guy over at Commerce who may be able to help you. He's with the Ex-Im Bank, which provides long-term financing for overseas sales."

"What's his name?" she said.

His name was Robert Gordon. It took fifteen minutes for the operator at the Commerce Department to find him. Jennifer doodled. Finally the secretary said, "I'm sorry, Mr. Gordon is in a meeting."