Airframe (28 page)

discovered a slats problem, and an Airworthiness Directive was issued to correct the problem. Domestic carriers are required by law to fix the airplanes, to prevent further occurrences."

He came back with another sheet of paper, which he handed to Malone. "This is a complete list of incidents."

Slats Events of Norton N-22

1. January 4,1992. (DO) Slats deployed at FL350, at .84 Mach. The flap/slat handle moved inadvertently. A/D 44-8 was issued as a result of this incident 2. April 2,1992. (DO) Slats deployed while the airplane was in cruise at .81 Mach. A clipboard reportedly fell on the flap/slat handle. A/D 44-8 was not accomplished but would have prevented this occurrence.

3. July 17,1992. (DO) Initially reported as severe turbulence, it was later learned that the slats had extended as a result of inadvertent flap/slat handle movement. A/D 44-8 was not incorporated and would have prevented this occurrence.

4. December 20,1992. (DO) Slats extended in cruise flight without movement of the flap/slat handle in cockpit. Confirmed slat cable rigging was out of tolerance in three places. A/D 51-29

was issued as a result of this incident.

5. March 12,1993. (FO) Airplane entered a prestall buffet at .82 Mach. The slats were found to be extended and the handle was not in the up and locked position. A/D 51-29 was not incorporated and would have prevented this occurrence.

6. April 4,1993. (FO) First officer rested his arm on the flap/slat handle as he was operating the autopilot and the action moved the handle down, extending the slats. A/D 44-8 was not incorporated and would have prevented this occurrence.

7. July 4,1993. (FO) Pilot reported the flap/slat handle moved and slats extended. Aircraft was in cruise flight at .81 Mach. A/D 44-8 was not incorporated and would have prevented this occurrence.

8. June 10,1994. (FO) The slats extended while the airplane was in cruise flight without movement of the flap/slat handle. Confirmed slat cable rigging was out of tolerance. A/D 51-29

was not incorporated and would have prevented this occurrence.

"The underlined sentences," Marder said, "are what Mr. Barker omitted from the document he gave you. After the first slats incident, the FAA issued an Airworthiness Directive to change cockpit controls. The airlines had a year to comply. Some did it immediately, others didn't. As you can see, the subsequent incidents all occurred in aircraft which had not yet made the change."

"Well, not quite..."

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"Please let me finish. In December of 1992, we discovered a second issue. The cables running to the slats sometimes became slack. Maintenance crews weren't catching the problem.

So we issued a second Service Bulletin, and added a tension measurement device, so ground crews could check more easily whether cable rigging was within spec. That solved it. By December, everything was resolved."

"Clearly not, Mr. Marder," Malone said, pointing to the list "You have more incidents in 1993

and in 1994."

"Only on foreign carriers," Marder said. "You see that notation, DO and FO? That stands for

'domestic operator' or 'foreign operator.' The domestic operators must make the changes called for in the FAA Airworthiness Directives. But foreign operators aren't under FAA jurisdiction. And they don't always make the changes. Since 1992, all incidents have involved foreign carriers that hadn't made the retrofits."

Malone scanned the list. "So you knowingly allow carriers to fly unsafe airplanes? You just sit back and let it happen, is that what you're telling me?"

Marder sucked in his breath. Casey thought he was going to blow, but he didn't. "Ms. Malone, we build airplanes, we don't operate them. If Air Indonesia or Pakistani Air won't follow the Airworthiness Directives, we can't force them to."

"All right. If all you do is build airplanes, let's talk about how well you do that," Malone said.

"Looking at this list here, you had how many design changes on the slats? Eight?"

Casey thought, She doesn't understand. She's not listening. She doesn't get what she's being told.

"No. Two retrofits," Marder said.

"But there are eight incidents here. You'd agree to that..."

"Yes," Marder said irritably, "but we're not talking about incidents, we're talking about ADs, and there are only two ADs." He was getting angry, his face flushed.

"I see," Malone said. "So. Norton had two design problems on the slats for this aircraft."

"There were two corrections."

"Two corrections of your original erroneous design," Malone said. "And that's just for slats. We haven't gotten to the flaps or the rudder or the fuel tanks and the rest of the airplane. Just in this one tiny system, two corrections. Didn't you test this aircraft, before you sold it to unsuspecting customers?"

"Of course we tested it," Marder said, through clenched teeth. "But you have to realize—"

"What I realize," Malone said, "is that people have died because of your design errors, Mr.

Marder. That plane is a deathtrap. And you don't seem to care about that at all."

"Oh for Christ's fucking sake!" Marder threw up his hands and jumped out of his seat. He stomped around the room. "I can't fucking believe this!"

It was almost too easy, Jennifer thought. In fact, it was too easy. She was suspicious of 156

Marder's histrionic outburst. During the interview, she'd formed a different impression of this man. He wasn't the assistant principal. He was much smarter than that. She realized it from watching his eyes. Most people made an involuntary eye movement when asked a question.

They looked up, down, or sideways. But Marder's gaze was steady, calm. He was completely in control.

And she suspected he was in control now, deliberately losing his temper. Why?

She didn't really care. Her goal from the beginning had been to blow these people out. To make them worried enough to pass her on to the president. Jennifer wanted Marty Reardon to interview the president.

This was vital to her story. It would undermine the segment if Newsline made serious charges against the N-22, and the company fielded a middle-level flunky or a press nerd to respond. But if she could get the president on camera, her whole segment attained a new level of credibility.

She wanted the president.

Things were going well.

Marder said, "You explain it, Casey."

Casey had been appalled by Marder's explosion. Marder was famously bad tempered, but it was a major tactical error to blow up in front of a reporter. And now, still red faced and huffing behind his desk, Marder said, "You explain it, Casey."

She turned to face Malone.

"Ms. Malone," Casey said, "I think everyone here is deeply committed to flight safety." She hoped that would explain Marder's outburst. "We're committed to product safety, and the N-22

has an excellent safety record. And if something does go wrong with one of our planes—"

"Something did go wrong," Malone said, looking evenly at Casey.

"Yes," Casey said. "And we're investigating that incident now. I'm on the team conducting that investigation, and we are working around the clock to understand what happened."

"You mean why the slats extended? But you must know. It's happened so many times before."

Casey said, "At this point—"

"Listen," Marder said, breaking in, "it wasn't the damn slats. Frederick Barker is a hopeless alcoholic and a paid liar who works for a sleazebag lawyer. No one in his right mind would listen to him."

Casey bit her lip. She couldn't contradict Marder in front of the reporter, but—

Malone said, "If it wasn't the slats—"

"It wasn't the slats," Marder said firmly. "We'll issue a preliminary report in the next twenty-four hours that will conclusively demonstrate that."

Casey thought: What? What was he saying? There was no such thing as a preliminary report.

"Really," Malone said, softly.

"That's right," Marder said. "Casey Singleton's the press liaison on the IRT. We'll be getting 157

back to you, Ms. Malone."

Malone seemed to realize that Marder was terminating the interview. She said, "But there's much more, we need to go over, Mr. Marder. There is also the Miami rotor burst. And union opposition to the China sale—"

"Oh, come on," Marder said.

"Given the seriousness of these charges," she continued, "I think that you may want to consider our offer to give your president, Mr. Edgarton, an opportunity to respond."

"That's not going to happen," Marder said.

"It's for your own benefit," Malone said. "If we have to say that the president refused to talk to us, that sounds—"

"Look," Marder said. "Let's cut the crap. Without Trans-Pacific, you have no story. And we are going to issue a preliminary report on Transpacific tomorrow. You'll be informed when. That's all we have for the moment, Ms. Malone. Thank you for coming by."

The interview was over.

NORTON ADMINISTRATION

12:43 P.M.

"I can't believe that woman," Marder said, after Malone had gone. "She isn't interested in the facts. She isn't interested in the FAA. She isn't interested in how we build airplanes. She's just doing a hatchet job. Is she working for Airbus? That's what I want to know."

"John," Casey said, "about the preliminary finding—" "Forget it," Marder snapped. "I'll deal with it. You go back to work. I'll talk to the tenth floor, get some input, arrange a few things. We'll talk later today." "But John," Casey said, "you told her it wasn't the slats." "It's my problem," Marder said. "You go back to work."

When Casey was gone, Marder called Edgarton.

"My flight's in an hour," Edgarton said. "I'm going to Hong Kong to show my concern for the families of the deceased by personally visiting them. Talk to the carrier, express my sympathies to the relatives."

"Good idea, Hal," Marder said.

"Where are we on this press thing?"

"Well, it's as I suspected," Marder said. "Newsline is putting together a story that's extremely critical of the N-22."

"Can you stop it?'

"Absolutely. No question," Marder said.

"How?" Edgarton said.

"We'll issue a preliminary report that it wasn't slats. Our preliminary will say the accident was caused by a counterfeit cowl on the thrust reversers."

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"Is there a bad cowl on the plane?"

"Yes. But it didn't cause the accident"

"That's fine," Edgarton said. "A bad part is fine. Just so it's not a Norton problem."

"Right," Marder said.

"And the girl's going to say that?"

"Yes," Marder said.

"She better," Edgarton said. "Because it can be tricky talking to these pricks."

"Reardon," Marder said. "It's Marty Reardon."

"Whatever. She knows what to say?"

"Yes."

"You've briefed her?"

"Yes. And I'll go over it with her again later."

"Okay," Edgarton said. "I also want her to see that media training woman."

"I don't know, Hal, do you really think—"

"Yes, I do," Edgarton said, cutting in. "And so do you. Singleton should be fully prepared for the interview."

"Okay," Marder said.

"Just remember," Edgarton said. "You fuck this up, you're dead."

He hung up.

OUTSIDE NORTON ADMINISTRATION

1:04 P.M.

Outside the Administration building, Jennifer Malone got into her car, more distressed than she cared to admit. She now felt it was unlikely the company would produce the president. And she was worried—she had the feeling—that they might make Singleton their spokesperson.

That could alter the emotional tenor of the segment. The audience wanted to see beefy, arrogant captains of industry get their just deserts. An intelligent, earnest, attractive woman wouldn't play nearly as well. Were they smart enough to know that?

And, of course, Marty would attack her.

That wouldn't look so good, either.

Just imagining the two of them together gave Jennifer the shivers. Singleton was bright, with an appealing, open quality. Marty'd be attacking motherhood and apple pie. And you couldn't hold Marty back. He'd go for the throat.

But beyond that, Jennifer was starting to worry that the entire segment was weak. Barker had been so convincing when she interviewed him; she had felt elated afterward. But if these ADs were for real, then the company was on solid ground. And she worried about Barker's record. If the FAA had the goods on him, then his credibility was shot. They'd look foolish giving him 159

airtime.

The reporter, Jack Whatshisname, was disappointing. He didn't play well on camera, and his material was thin. Because in the end, nobody gave a damn about drugs on the factory floor.

Every company in America had drug problems. That wasn't news. And it didn't prove the airplane was bad—which was what she needed. She needed vivid, persuasive visuals to demonstrate that airplane was a deathtrap.

She didn't have them.

So far, all she had was the CNN tape, which was old news, and the Miami rotor burst, which was not very compelling visually. Smoke coming out from a wing.

Big deal.

Worst of all, if the company really was going to issue a preliminary finding that contradicted Barker—

Her cell phone rang.

"Speak to me," Dick Shenk said.

"Hi, Dick," she said.

"So? Where are we?" Shenk said. "I'm looking at the board right now. Marty finishes with Bill Gates in two hours."

Some part of her wanted to say, Forget it. The story's flaky. It isn't coming together. I was dumb to think I could nail it in two days.