Read Online Airframe by Michael Crichton - Free Book Online Page B
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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"if we had the QAR."
"QAR?"
"It's another maintenance item," Casey said. "Maintenance crews need to come on board after the plane lands, and get a fast readout of anything that went wrong on the last leg."
"Don't they ask the pilots?"
"Pilots will report problems, but with a complex aircraft, there may be faults that never come to their attention, particularly since these aircraft are built with redundant systems. For any important system like hydraulics, there's always a backup—and usually a third as well. A fault in the second or third backup may not show in the cockpit So the maintenance crews come on board, and go to the Quick Access Recorder, which spits out data from the previous flight They get a fast profile, and do the repairs on the spot"
"But there's no Quick Access Recorder on this plane?"
"Apparently not" she said. "It's not required. FAA regulations require a CVR and a DFDR. The Quick Access Recorder is optional. Looks like the carrier didn't put one on this plane."
42
"At least I can't find it" Ron said. "But it could be anywhere."
He was down on his hands and knees, bent over a laptopcomputer plugged into the electrical panels. Data scrolled down the screen.
A/S PWR TEST
00000010000
AIL SERVO COMP
00001001000
ADA INV
10200010001
CFDS SENS FAIL
00000010000
CRZ CMD MON INV
10000020100
EL SERVO COMP
00000000010
EPR/N1 TRA-1
00000010000
FMS SPEED INV
00000040000
PRESS ALT INV
00000030000
G/S SPEED ANG
00000010000
SLAT XSIT T/0
00000000000
G/S DEV INV
00100050001
GND SPD INV
00000021000
TAS INV
00001010000
"This looks like data from the flight control computer," Casey said. "Most of the faults occurred on one leg, when the incident occurred."
"But how do you interpret this?" Richman said.
"Not our problem," Ron Smith said. "We just offload it and bring it back to Norton. The kids in Digital feed it to mainframes, and convert it to a video of the flight."
"We hope," Casey said. She straightened. "How much longer, Ron?"
'Ten minutes, max," Smith said.
"Oh sure," Doherty said, from inside the cockpit. 'Ten minutes max, oh sure. Not that it matters. I wanted to beat rush hour traffic but now I guess I can't. It's my kid's birthday, and I won't be home for the party. My wife's going to give me hell."
Ron Smith was starting to laugh. "Can you think of anything else that might go wrong, Doug?"
"Oh sure. Lots of things. Salmonella in the cake. All the kids poisoned," Doherty said.
Casey looked out the door. The maintenance people had all climbed off the wing. Burne was finishing up his inspection of the engines. Trung was loading the DFDR into the van.
It was time to go home.
As she started down the stairs, she noticed three Norton Security vans parked in a corner of the hangar. There were about twenty security guards standing around the plane, and in various parts of the hangar.
43
Richman noticed, too. "What's this about?" he said, gesturing to the guards.
"We always put security on the plane, until it's ferried to the plant," she said.
"That's a lot of security."
"Yeah, well." Casey shrugged. "It's an important plane."
But she noticed that the guards all wore sidearms. Casey couldn't remember seeing armed guards before. A hangar at LAX was a secure facility. There wasn't any need for the guards to be armed.
Was there?
BLDG 64
4:30 P.M.
Casey was walking through the northeast corner of Building 64, past the huge tools on which the wing was built. The tools were crisscrossed blue steel scaffolding, rising twenty feet above the ground. Although they were the size of a small apartment building, the tools were precisely aligned to within a thousandth of an inch. Up on the platform formed by the tools, eighty people were walking around, putting the wing together.
To the right, she saw groups of men packing tools into large wooden crates. "What's all that?"
Richman said.
"Looks like rotables," Casey said.
"Rotables?"
"Spare tooling that we rotate into the line
"QAR?"
"It's another maintenance item," Casey said. "Maintenance crews need to come on board after the plane lands, and get a fast readout of anything that went wrong on the last leg."
"Don't they ask the pilots?"
"Pilots will report problems, but with a complex aircraft, there may be faults that never come to their attention, particularly since these aircraft are built with redundant systems. For any important system like hydraulics, there's always a backup—and usually a third as well. A fault in the second or third backup may not show in the cockpit So the maintenance crews come on board, and go to the Quick Access Recorder, which spits out data from the previous flight They get a fast profile, and do the repairs on the spot"
"But there's no Quick Access Recorder on this plane?"
"Apparently not" she said. "It's not required. FAA regulations require a CVR and a DFDR. The Quick Access Recorder is optional. Looks like the carrier didn't put one on this plane."
42
"At least I can't find it" Ron said. "But it could be anywhere."
He was down on his hands and knees, bent over a laptopcomputer plugged into the electrical panels. Data scrolled down the screen.
A/S PWR TEST
00000010000
AIL SERVO COMP
00001001000
ADA INV
10200010001
CFDS SENS FAIL
00000010000
CRZ CMD MON INV
10000020100
EL SERVO COMP
00000000010
EPR/N1 TRA-1
00000010000
FMS SPEED INV
00000040000
PRESS ALT INV
00000030000
G/S SPEED ANG
00000010000
SLAT XSIT T/0
00000000000
G/S DEV INV
00100050001
GND SPD INV
00000021000
TAS INV
00001010000
"This looks like data from the flight control computer," Casey said. "Most of the faults occurred on one leg, when the incident occurred."
"But how do you interpret this?" Richman said.
"Not our problem," Ron Smith said. "We just offload it and bring it back to Norton. The kids in Digital feed it to mainframes, and convert it to a video of the flight."
"We hope," Casey said. She straightened. "How much longer, Ron?"
'Ten minutes, max," Smith said.
"Oh sure," Doherty said, from inside the cockpit. 'Ten minutes max, oh sure. Not that it matters. I wanted to beat rush hour traffic but now I guess I can't. It's my kid's birthday, and I won't be home for the party. My wife's going to give me hell."
Ron Smith was starting to laugh. "Can you think of anything else that might go wrong, Doug?"
"Oh sure. Lots of things. Salmonella in the cake. All the kids poisoned," Doherty said.
Casey looked out the door. The maintenance people had all climbed off the wing. Burne was finishing up his inspection of the engines. Trung was loading the DFDR into the van.
It was time to go home.
As she started down the stairs, she noticed three Norton Security vans parked in a corner of the hangar. There were about twenty security guards standing around the plane, and in various parts of the hangar.
43
Richman noticed, too. "What's this about?" he said, gesturing to the guards.
"We always put security on the plane, until it's ferried to the plant," she said.
"That's a lot of security."
"Yeah, well." Casey shrugged. "It's an important plane."
But she noticed that the guards all wore sidearms. Casey couldn't remember seeing armed guards before. A hangar at LAX was a secure facility. There wasn't any need for the guards to be armed.
Was there?
BLDG 64
4:30 P.M.
Casey was walking through the northeast corner of Building 64, past the huge tools on which the wing was built. The tools were crisscrossed blue steel scaffolding, rising twenty feet above the ground. Although they were the size of a small apartment building, the tools were precisely aligned to within a thousandth of an inch. Up on the platform formed by the tools, eighty people were walking around, putting the wing together.
To the right, she saw groups of men packing tools into large wooden crates. "What's all that?"
Richman said.
"Looks like rotables," Casey said.
"Rotables?"
"Spare tooling that we rotate into the line
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