Airframe (39 page)

Across the table from her, Reardon turned aside, and Malone whispered in his ear. Reardon nodded turned back to Casey. "Ms. Singleton, if you know now, why wait?"

"Because this was a serious accident, as you yourself said.There's already been a great deal of unwarranted speculation from many sources. Norton Aircraft feels it is important to act 220

responsibly. Before we say anything publicly, we have to confirm our findings at flight Test using the same aircraft that was involved in the accident."

"When will you flight test?'

'Tomorrow morning."

"Ah." Reardon sighed regretfully. "But that's too late for our broadcast. You understand that you're denying your company the opportunity to respond to these serious charges."

Casey had her answer ready. "We've scheduled the flight test for five A.M.," she said. "We'll hold a press conference immediately afterward—tomorrow at noon."

"Noon," Reardon said.

His expression was bland, but she knew he was working it out Noon in LA was 3:00 P.M. in New York. Plenty of time to make the evening news in both New York and Los Angeles.

Norton's preliminary finding would be widely reported on both local and network news. And Newsline, which aired at 10:00 P.M. Saturday night, would be out-of-date. Depending on what emerged from the press conference, the Newsline segment, edited the night before, would be ancient history. It might even be embarrassing.

Reardon sighed. "On the other hand," he said, "we want to be fair to you."

"Naturally," Casey said.

NORTON ADMINISTRATION

4:15P.M.

"I don't know," Richman said. "I think she may be planning something. She's pretty smart, John." "Not smart enough," Marder said.

"Fuck her," Marder said to Richman. "It doesn't make any difference what she does now."

"But if she's scheduling a flight test—"

"Who cares?" Marder said.

"And I think she's going to let the news crews film it"

"So what? Flight Test will only make the story worse. She has no idea what caused the accident And she has no idea what will happen if she takes that Transpacific plane up. They probably can't reproduce the event And there may be problems nobody knows about"

"Like what?"

_ "That aircraft went through very severe G-force loads," Marder said. "It may have undetected structural damage. Anything can happen, when they take that plane up." Marder made a dismissive wave. "This changes nothing. Newsline airs from ten to eleven Saturday night. Early Saturday evening I'll notify the Board that some bad publicity is coming our way, and we have to schedule an emergency meeting Sunday morning. Hal can't get back from Hong Kong in time. And his friends on the Board will drop him when they hear about a sixteen-billion-dollar deal. They've all got stock. They know what the announcement will do to their shares. I'm 221

the next president of this company, and nobody can do a thing to stop it. Not Hal Edgarton.

And certainly not Casey Singleton."

WAR ROOM

4:20 P.M.

The cameras were packed up; the white foam sheets removed from the ceiling, the microphones unclipped; the electrical boxes and camera cases removed. But the negotiations dragged on. Ed Fuller, the lanky head of Legal, was there; so was Teddy Rawley, the pilot; and two engineers who worked on FT, to answer technical questions that arose.

For Newsline, Malone now did all of the talking; Reardon paced in the background, occasionally stopping to whisper in her ear. His commanding presence seemed to have vanished with the bright lights; he now appeared tired, fretful, and impatient.

Malone began by saying that since Newsline was doing an entire segment on the Norton N-22, it was in the interest of the company to allow Newsline to film the flight test.

Casey said that presented no problem. Flight tests were documented with dozens of video cameras, mounted both inside and outside the plane; the Newsline people could watch the entire test on monitors, on the ground. They could have the film afterward, for their broadcast No, Malone said. That wouldn't be sufficient. Newsline's crews had to actually be on the plane.

Casey said mat was impossible, that no airframe manufacturer had ever allowed an outside crew on a flight test. She was, she said, already making a concession to let them see the video on the ground

Not good enough, Malone said.

Ed Fuller broke in to explain it was a question of liability. Norton simply couldn't allow uninsured nonemployees on the test. "You realize, of course, there is inherent danger in flight test. It's simply inescapable."

Malone said that Newsline would accept any risk, and sign waivers of liability.

Ed Fuller said he would have to draw up the waivers, but that Newsline's lawyers would have to approve them, and there wasn't time for that.

Malone said she could get approval from Newsline's lawyers in an hour. Any time of the day or night.

Fuller shifted ground. He said if Norton was going to let Newsline see the flight test, he wanted to be sure that the results of that test were accurately reported. He said he wanted to approve the edited film.

Malone said that journalistic ethics forbade that, and in any case there wasn't time. If the flight test ended around noon, she would have to cut film in the truck and transmit it to New York at once.

Fuller said the problem for the company remained. He wanted the flight test portrayed 222

accurately.

They went back and forth. Finally Malone said she would include thirty seconds of unedited comment on the outcome of the flight by a Norton spokesperson. This would be taken from the press conference.

Fuller demanded a minute.

They compromised on forty seconds.

"We have another problem," Fuller said. "If we let you film the flight test, we don't want you to use the tape you obtained today, showing the actual incident."

No way, Malone said. The tape was going to be aired.

"You characterized the tape as having been obtained from a Norton employee," Fuller said.

"That's incorrect. We want the provenance accurately stated."

"Well, we certainly got it from someone who works for Norton."

"No," Fuller said, "you didn't"

"It's one of your subcontractors."

"No, it's not I can provide you with the IRS definition of a subcontractor, if you like."

"This is a fine point..."

"We have already obtained a sworn statement from the receptionist, Christine Barron. She is not an employee of Norton Aircraft. She is not, in fact, an employee of Video Imaging. She is a temp from an agency."

"What's the point here?"

"We want you to state the facts accurately: that you obtained the tape from sources outside the company."

Malone shrugged. "As I said, this is a fine point."

"Then what's the problem?"

Malone thought for a minute. "Okay," she said.

Fuller slid a piece of paper across the table. "This brief document conveys that understanding.

Sign it."

Malone looked at Reardon. Reardon shrugged.

Malone signed it. "I don't understand what all the fuss is about." She started to push it back to Fuller, and paused.

'Two crews, on the aircraft, during the flight test. Is that our agreement?"

"No," Fuller said. "That was never the agreement. Your crews will watch the test on the ground."

"That won't work for us."

Casey said that the Newsline crews could come to the test area; they could film the preparations, the takeoff and landing. But they couldn't actually come on the plane during the flight.

223

"Sorry," Malone said.

Teddy Rawley cleared his throat. "I don't think you understand the situation, Ms. Malone," he said. "You can't be walking around filming inside the airplane, during a flight test. Everybody on board has to be strapped in in a four-point harness. You can't even get up to pee. And you can't have lights or batteries, because they generate magnetic fields that might disrupt our readings."

"We don't need lights," she said. "We can shoot available light."

"You don't understand," Rawley said. "It can get pretty hairy up there."

"That's why we have to be mere," Malone said.

Ed Fuller cleared his throat. "Let me be entirely clear, Ms. Malone," he said. "Under no circumstances is this company going to allow your film crew on board that aircraft. It is absolutely out of the question."

Malone's face was rigid, set.

"Ma'am," Rawley said, "you've got to realize, there's a reason we test over the desert. Over large uninhabited spaces?"

"You mean it might crash."

"I mean we don't know what might happen. Trust me on this: you want to be on the ground."

Malone shook her head. "No. We must have our crews on board."

"Ma'am, there's going to be big G-forces—"

Casey said, "There'll be thirty cameras all over the plane. They'll cover every possible angle—cockpit, wings, passenger cabin, everywhere. You're getting exclusive use of the film. No one will know your cameras aren't getting the footage."

Malone glowered, but Casey knew that she had made the point. The woman only cared about the visuals.

"I want to place the cameras," she said.

"Uh-uh," Rawley said.

"I have to be able to say our cameras are on board," Malone said. "I have to be able to say that."

In the end, Casey hammered out a compromise. Newsline would be allowed to position two locked-down cameras, anywhere in the plane, to cover the test flight They would take the feed directly from these cameras. In addition, they would be allowed to use footage from other cameras mounted in the interior. Finally, Newsline would be allowed to shoot a stand-up with Reardon outside Building 64, where the assembly line was located.

Norton would provide transportation for the Newsline crews to the Arizona test facility later in the day; would put them up in a local motel; would transport them to the test facility in the morning; and back to LA in the afternoon.

Malone pushed the paper back to Fuller. "Deal," she said.

Reardon was looking fretfully at his watch as he left with Malone to shoot the stand-up. Casey 224

was alone with Rawley and Fuller in the War Room.

Fuller sighed. "I hope we've made the right decision." He turned to Casey. "I did what you asked, when you called me earlier from the video company."

"Yes, Ed," she said. "You were perfect."

"But I saw the tape," he said. "It's dreadful. I'm afraid that whatever the flight test shows, that tape will be the only thing anybody remembers."

Casey said, "If anybody ever sees that tape."

"My concern," Fuller said, "is that Newsline will run that tape no matter what."

"I think they won't," Casey said. "Not when we get through with them."

Fuller sighed. "I hope you're right. High stakes."

"Yes," she said. "High stakes."

Teddy said, "You better tell them to bring warm clothing. You, too, babe. And another thing: I watched that woman. She thinks she's going to get on the plane tomorrow."

"Yeah, probably."

"And you, too, right?" Teddy said.

"Maybe," Casey said.

"You better think about this real good," Teddy said. "Because you saw the QAR video, Casey.

That airplane exceeded its design G-loads by a hundred and sixty percent. That guy subjected the airframe to forces it was never built to withstand. And tomorrow I'm going to go up and do it again."

She shrugged. "Doherty checked the fuse," she said, "they've X-rayed and—"

"Yeah, he checked," Teddy said. "But not thoroughly. Ordinarily, we'd go over that fuselage for a month, before we put it back in active service. We'd X-ray every join on the plane. That hasn't been done."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying," Teddy said, "that when I put that aircraft through those same G-force loads, there's a chance that the airframe will fail."

"You trying to scare me?" Casey said.

"No, I'm just telling you. This is serious, Casey. Real world. It could happen."

OUTSIDE BLDG 64

4:55 P.M.

"No aircraft company in history," Reardon said, "has ever permitted a television crew on a flight test. But so important is this test to the future of Norton Aircraft, so confident are they of the outcome, that they have agreed to allow our crews to film. So today, for the first time, we will be seeing footage of the actual plane involved in Flight 545, the controversial Norton N-22

aircraft. Critics say it's a deathtrap. The company says it's safe. The flight test will prove who's 225

right"

Reardon paused.

"Done," Jennifer said.

"You need something for the cut?'

"Yeah."

"Where do they do the test, anyway?"

"Yuma."

"Okay," Reardon said.

Standing in afternoon sun, before Building 64, he looked down at his feet and said, in a low, confidential voice, "We are here, at the Norton test facility in Yuma, Arizona. It's five o'clock in the morning, and the Norton team is making final preparations to take Flight 545 into the air." He looked up. "What time's dawn?"

"Damned if I know," Jennifer said. "Cover it."

"All right," Reardon said. He looked down at his feet again, and intoned. "In the early predawn, tension mounts. In the predawn darkness, tension mounts. As dawn breaks, tension mounts."

"That should do it," Jennifer said.

"How do you want to handle the wrap?" he said.

"You've got to cover it both ways, Marty."

"I mean do we win, or what?"

"Cover it both ways to be sure."