Free Fall at Angel Creek, page 13
As they sat at the back of the briefing area waiting for Ronald Moore to start, Dee looked around. “Why are more press people here today?”
“Because there’s more pressure to come up with answers. The families, the FAA, Homeland Security—they all want to know why this airplane fell out of the sky, and they want results now.”
The briefing was starting. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. I’m Ronald Moore, NTSB Chief Investigator, and we have significant progress to report. We recovered a baggage-cargo container, largely intact, with a few suitcases inside, which we are currently processing. We interviewed more persons of interest and have recovered more airframe pieces. We’ve also identified flight training problems with Captain Joe Davis, now that we have his records from his previous employer. Most important, we found the cockpit voice recorder early this morning, and it’s en route here for analysis. We should have preliminary information from the CVR later today.”
Some of the briefing information confused Dee. “Was he saying the captain had flying problems? I don’t remember seeing anything to suggest that when we looked at his training records, do you?”
“No, but a dead captain is an easy target to blame because he’s not here to defend himself. I need to see the records they got on him from that Asian cargo company.”
“Can we check out the luggage they found? There might be something from Naomi.”
River hesitated a moment, then said, “Sure. But it’s unlikely.”
They walked over to the Cargo/Hazardous Material table.
“Have you finished processing the luggage?” River asked.
“Not quite, but we will,” the technician answered.
Dee jumped in. “Have you identified the owners of the suitcases?”
“No. Only three were inside, and the luggage tags were ripped off at some point.”
“Any information from inside the suitcases?”
“Just the usual—clothing, toiletries, shavers, but nothing significant so far. We’re still waiting for chemical analysis of the exterior and interior of the luggage.”
“Thanks,” River said. She turned to Dee. “Sorry.”
“It was a long shot.”
Dee saw movement and turned to see Ronald Moore making a beeline toward her.
“Detective Rawlings, I’d like to speak to you about your interview report of the eyewitness. ATF Agent Paul Marshall said in his report that he didn’t think the eyewitnesses’ report of a missile strike was credible. Yet in yours, you think it is. Why the difference of opinion? Are you new to this?” He looked at River as he said the last part.
Dee squared her shoulders so she stood directly in front of him. “No. I am not new to dealing with extremist hate groups in Oregon. I reported that the subject displayed a strong belief in what he witnessed and that it warranted further investigation. Does the ATF agent know how many rival groups want the McClain family dead? Does he know what kind of weapons they have? Well, I do. I stand by my assessment.”
“Thank you for clarifying. I’ll set these for follow-up investigations.”
Dee heard a commotion on the other side of the hangar, where a crowd of investigators had gathered around something. It was the CVR orange box, the cockpit voice recorder.
* * *
Walking across the hangar to the CVR, River was still nervous that Dee had insisted on looking at the luggage. The small pink suitcase should’ve been with the other found bags, but River didn’t want Dee to learn of its existence just yet.
As they gathered around the CVR, it looked to be in fairly good condition, with only one damaged corner. They hooked it up to a computer to download it, and to a speaker.
“Will we really be able to hear what went on in the cockpit?” Dee asked.
“I hope so, if it’s not too distorted. It’s designed to withstand high G forces, fire, even water, and it records all sound, including, cockpit conversation between the pilots, radio transmissions, engine noise, and any other sounds in the area.”
Everyone stopped talking to listen. A man with a deep voice spoke first.
“This is a crappy ride at three-six. Seat belt sign coming on.”
Ding.
“Michael, let’s request lower.”
Click.
“Relax Air 402, at flight level three-six-zero, in moderate turbulence, requesting descent to flight level three-two-zero.”
“That must be the first officer on the radio, so the captain is flying,” she said to Dee.
Pop.
“Relax Air 402, descend and maintain flight level three-two-zero. Contact Seattle Center on one-two-seven-point-six.”
“Relax Air 402, out of three-six-zero for three-two-zero, Seattle on one-two-seven-point-six.”
Click, click, click, click.
“Three-two-zero, set.”
“Three-two-zero, checked.”
Crackle.
“I see some flashes. I’m turning the weather radar on.”
Hum.
“Damn it, this radar isn’t working again. I think there’s a cell at twelve o’clock. I’m turning right, thirty degrees.”
Click, click, click.
“Tell Center our new heading.”
Crackle.
“Roger.”
BOOM.
Silence.
No one moved. Hearing the last words spoken by people just before they died was sobering. Then someone behind them spoke. It was the ATC representative.
“He turned directly toward a thunderstorm cell. If he’d asked us for a vector to avoid weather, we would have told him to turn the other way. Oh, my God.”
The whole crowd buzzed.
“River, what’s going on? Why are the press people on their phones?”
“Just a second.”
She ran away from the crowd to a quiet corner, took out her notepad, and wrote down every word she could remember from the CVR as fast as she could. Dee followed her.
“Tell me what sounds you heard in the background, Dee.”
“I heard some pops and clicks. Why?”
“Did you hear a buzz or a crackle sound?”
“Yes, toward the end.”
“That’s what I heard too. I think there was lightning around them.”
“Do you think they got hit by lightning? Is that why the plane blew up?”
“Most big planes can withstand a lightning strike. They’re designed to dissipate the electrical energy across the skin of the airplane. I actually got struck by lightning when I was flying the KC-10 once. It’s quite startling, but the plane had only minor damage. It’s more likely that he accidentally flew into a thunderstorm because his weather radar was out. That could definitely tear an airplane apart.”
They heard an announcement coming from the briefing area.
“Ladies and gentlemen, in light of this most recent evidence from the cockpit voice recorder, we’ll be looking at pilot error as the cause of this accident. For an unknown reason, Captain Joe Davis either intentionally, or inadvertently, flew the aircraft into an area of thunderstorms, causing the aircraft to break up in flight. More information will be released as we get it.”
“That’s bullshit.” River was furious. She turned to Dee. “He’s blaming this crash on the captain.”
Chapter Eighteen
“We need to talk to the weather desk,” River said.
Dee followed her across the hangar, still trying to process everything she’d heard on the CVR.
The weather charts tacked to the bulletin boards looked like nothing but jots and squiggles. River pointed to the aircraft ground track overlaid onto the weather chart.
“This is the SIGMET forecast I’ve already studied. This was given to the flight crew during their preflight planning, and only scattered thunderstorms were supposed to be in this area. It’s possible the thunderstorms built up more quickly than forecast or that there was a wind bust. I need to see more charts.”
River turned to the meteorologist at the desk. “Can you get me the winds aloft forecast for flight levels three-six, three-four, and three-two, any SIGMETs from Oakland Center for southern Oregon, and any pilot reports.”
“How far out do you want the PIREPs?”
“From altitude blocks two-zero-zero through four-zero-zero, two hundred miles south of the crash site, and within one hour of estimated crash time.”
“Sure thing, Dr. Dawson. I’ll have those for you in about ten minutes.”
River took her elbow. “Let’s go over here where it’s quiet.”
They went over to the food area and sat at a plastic table. “All right. What’s going on?”
Dee kept her voice down.
“The fastest way to end an aircraft accident investigation is to blame a dead pilot. Ronald Moore wants to wrap this up because none of the big boys—Relax Air, GE, ATC, McDonnell Douglas—want to be held responsible, but I think he’s wrong.”
“Why’s he wrong?”
“Mainly because he’s a jerk, but he’s also wrong to say the captain caused this accident.”
“Well, it did kind of sound like he was having trouble with the weather.”
“Dee, no pilot would ever intentionally fly into a thunderstorm. It’s madness. If he couldn’t see a storm cell because the weather radar was out, it was an accident, not pilot error.”
What the hell?
Dee’s ears were hot, a clear sign she was getting angry. “Do you mean to tell me that if a pilot is stupid enough to fly into a storm, it’s not a pilot error? It’s just an accident?”
“You don’t understand. I meant to say—”
“I certainly don’t, and I don’t understand why you want to defend him.”
She had to remove herself from this situation before she said something she’d regret later. As she jumped up to leave the table, River put her hand on her wrist. Her hand was warm and her grip, tight.
“Dee, please sit down. I need you to understand. I’m not defending the captain of this flight. I’m trying to get to the truth.”
Dee returned to her seat. She owed River the courtesy to listen. “Go on.”
“If Ronald Moore can blame this accident on a dead pilot, he stops the investigation, and we may never know why the plane really crashed. If it broke up due to a collision, a bomb, a maintenance problem, or airframe metal fatigue, we won’t know. Then other DC-10s will still be flying around the world, filled with people, not knowing there’s a serious problem with their jet.”
River released her wrist. “I can’t let this happen again, Dee. I have to find out what really killed all these people. I think you deserve to know how Naomi died.” She paused. “Unless this is too hard. I don’t mean to push you.”
“No. You’re not pushing me. It is very hard, but I need to know the truth.”
The meteorologist came over to their table with the new weather charts, and River flipped through them with a practiced eye, marking some numbers. “Well, it’s not exactly surprising.”
She turned the charts so Dee could see them, then got out of her seat and stood behind Dee’s shoulder to point to the area she was speaking about.
“This was the SIGMET, that’s short for significant meteorological forecast, issued the night of the crash that showed storm systems in northern California and southern Oregon. They were moving north but not expected to be in this area until after their time of flight. This other chart shows the forecast winds aloft at their flight level, which was from the west at sixty knots. Look at this. It’s a PIREP, a pilot report, over Eugene, Oregon, thirty minutes before we lost contact with flight 402. A pilot reported winds from the southwest at one hundred and ten knots. That’s a wind bust, when the actual wind is way off from the forecast wind. They thought they’d have a sixty-knot headwind, but they really had a tailwind, and the actual wind blew this storm system into the crash area sooner than expected.”
“So he didn’t expect to have thunderstorms, and his radar didn’t work, so he couldn’t see them. Sounds like this guy had two strikes against him.”
“Exactly, so to suggest that this captain intentionally flew into bad weather is incorrect. He might have made a mistake by turning the wrong way, but he had unforeseen bad weather and inoperative equipment happen first.”
“Do we need to take these charts to Ronald Moore and show him this?”
“Well, there’s one other thing I can’t prove.”
“What?” Dee leaned in to hear better.
“I flew the KC-10 for four years, and it’s a very tough plane. I’ve personally witnessed new pilots prang on landings when they were learning to fly it, landings at maximum weight on short runways, multiple bird strikes, and I’ve even had an aircraft commander fly us directly into a thunderstorm. The aircraft was not damaged, even when we got hit by hail, which sounds like you’re being shot by a machine gun, by the way. I just have a feeling that even if the captain inadvertently flew into a storm, the plane would have survived. I can’t shake the sense that we’re still missing something, the real reason this plane blew up. Until I can prove my hunch, it’s useless to take this to Ronald Moore because he will only dismiss it.”
“Well, you have to trust your gut. I guess we’ll just keep searching until we find the proof.”
“If any metal pieces of the skin or structure have scorch marks, that could indicate a lightning strike. I’d like to see what progress they’ve made on the airplane reconstruction.”
They went to examine the aircraft supported by the scaffolding frame. Overall, Dee could tell it had once been an airplane, even with the mangled parts. River walked to the front of the plane.
“This is where the nose cone goes, when we find it. It’s made of composite fiberglass, and the weather radar antenna is inside it. If lightning strikes a plane, it often hits in this area. The nose cone has special lightning strips designed to burn off the massive electrical charge, and sometimes you can see burn marks from the lightning on the outside of the skin.”
She slowly walked from the nose toward the back of the plane, scanning the skin pieces. Dee followed her, craning her neck back to see the sides of the huge airplane. She couldn’t spot any burn marks.
“This is the cargo container found yesterday. It’s from the forward baggage compartment.”
Dee looked at the twisted silver metal. She would never have known what this was if she came across it in the woods. “Was it damaged from an explosion?”
“Maybe, but we won’t know until the chemical-residue tests come back.”
River turned to face the back of the plane. “What the hell is that?”
Dee couldn’t see what she was referring to, but she followed River to the middle part of the airframe. “What is it?”
“This is a fourth landing gear. What the hell? How did I miss this?”
River looked irritated.
“Explain, please.”
“Most commercial airliners have three landing gears: a nose wheel, and left and right main wheel trucks. They’ve just discovered a fourth landing gear, the center main wheels, located between the left and right main gear. Only the DC-10 freighter aircraft has center main wheels. This plane was originally a cargo plane, then modified at some point to carry passengers.”
“Why does that matter?”
“Because of weight. A DC-10 freighter weighs a lot more than the passenger airliner. The original DC-10 was built for long-range passenger service, but because the plane was huge and the engines were so powerful, they also made a freighter version for international cargo. The DC-10 airline version was modified to carry extra weight because cargo is not only in the forward and aft baggage compartments, but also on the main deck, where the passenger seats were. A plane carrying cargo, even after a long flight across the ocean, usually lands near maximum weight. That’s why it needs a fourth landing gear—to support the increased weight. Max-weight landings put more stress on the airplane, especially the main wing spars, where the wings are attached to the fuselage.”
“River, are you saying that because this plane used to be a freighter, the wings might have broken off?”
“No, not in this case, but it has happened to other aircraft. If a wing had separated from the fuselage, the plane would have gone into a tight spiral and fallen straight down to the ground. All the debris would have been in a single hole, not spread out over miles. We need more data. Let’s get out to the crash site.”
* * *
“Would you mind driving to Angel Creek while I read the aircraft maintenance records?”
“Sure thing. I like driving,” Dee said.
River had to keep her temper in check because she didn’t want to take it out on Dee. She was upset with herself for missing the fact that the plane had previously been a freighter. She hadn’t had time to study the maintenance records when she was incapacitated with her migraine. In the aircraft accident investigation business, knowledge was power, and she hated being caught short.
“Why don’t you tell me what you’re looking for? Maybe I can help.”
“Dee, you don’t know the difference between an A and a C check. I don’t think this would make any sense to you.”
“Humor me. What’s the most important thing you’re looking for?”
“Well, the maintenance records have several parts—the repair history, the deferred items, compliance with airworthiness directives, aircraft modifications, maintenance inspection schedule, weight and balance, plus—”
“What’s the most important thing?”
River was quiet for a moment. “Well, it would be the mechanical condition of the airplane just before the crash. Specifically, what equipment was inoperative at the time of the explosion?”
“So we know the weather radar was broken, because of what they said on the CVR. Was anything else not working?”
