Free Fall

Eighteen

Washington, DC

Tension was etched in the faces of the experts preparing to analyze Flight 4990’s flight data recorder, or FDR.

They had met on the sixth floor of National Transportation Safety Board headquarters at L’Enfant Plaza. The room was devoid of the usual small talk, Jake Hooper thought, taking a sip of black coffee as the chair ran down meeting rules for the people at the table. They were from the FAA, the pilots’ union, the airline, the recorder’s maker, the plane’s manufacturer and the NTSB.

Hooper knew the rules by rote. They were similar to those of the group that had met earlier to listen to twenty-five minutes of crew conversation downloaded from the plane’s CVR, the cockpit voice recorder.

We’re moving pieces into place but this case has twists.

The FBI had just advised the NTSB that a news agency had received an email from a party claiming responsibility for the flight’s loss of control and was threatening to do it again with another plane. The message-whether a hoax or somehow credible-was unnerving.

The stakes had been raised.

There was also the captain’s insistence that there had been no clear-air turbulence, and that the crew did not disable the safety features to make control inputs. And now the release of the dramatic video of the turmoil 4990’s cabin had raised the profile of the incident.

“Shall we get started?” Ivor Carver, the NTSB’s flight data recorder specialist, began by summarizing information on the digital flight data recorder, the model-a Sun-Signaler-and the parameters recorded.

“Data readouts have been circulated, and I want to underscore and remind everyone this is nonvalidated, preliminary data.”

Pages were shuffled and throats cleared as Carver continued.

“As you can see, we’ve overlaid preliminary FDR plots with the characterizations of the text from the cockpit voice recorder, correlating them with radar and other data. Moving forward, we’ll keep an eye to ranges, accuracies and resolutions. Okay, so let’s look at the parameters.”

The FDR recorded the aircraft’s various systems, covering nearly one hundred aspects, from changes in altitude, thrust, control inputs and airspeed. One by one, the investigators read, interpreted and assessed each reading. Hooper took notes, concentrating on several areas he considered key, such as autopilot engagement, the automatic flight control system, the computer failure indicator, cockpit trim and all cockpit flight control input-the control wheel, control column and rudder pedal.

Hours later, as they concluded studying the last areas, Fred McCullers, Sun-Signaler’s expert, offered his observation.

“It’s clear the data recorder was functioning properly.”

“And I don’t see any issues with the fly-by-wire system,” said Erna Valentine, the lead engineer with Richlon-Titan.

“You’re absolutely certain there was no malfunction?” Hooper asked.

“Yes.”

“What about an episodic failure?”

“No evidence of one here. It would’ve been recorded.”

“What about system vulnerabilities?” Hooper said.

“You’re alluding to the claim the FBI is investigating,” Valentine said. “The suggestion that someone seized control of the aircraft from the crew?”

“We can’t ignore it.”

“That scenario is impossible. The claim’s a prank. The system doesn’t talk to the outside world.”

“What about through the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System and the other wireless systems aboard? Perhaps they have vulnerabilities we’re not aware of?”

“Absolutely not. Everyone at this table knows they’re stand-alone systems that cannot be breached. Richlon-Titan designed and pioneered the new state-of-the-art, fly-by-wire systems for all the RTs and other aircraft around the world. They’re absolutely secure.”

“Let’s come back to the pilots, who’ve stated that they encountered a system malfunction.”

“Frankly, I don’t buy it,” Valentine said. “It had to be clear-air turbulence, which does not emerge on radar. It caused the captain to switch off the safety features, take control and overreact. You have to remember, this pilot’s record shows that he’s dealing with serious personal issues. An antidepressant was found in his blood. He was a prime candidate for distraction.”

“For the purposes of this meeting-” Gus Vitalley of the pilots’ union shot an icy glance to the chair “-we’re required to stick to the facts concerning the flight data recorder and not veer into speculation.”

“Those are facts, Gus,” Valentine said. “Facts we need to consider in light of the preliminary evidence before us.”

The meeting continued for another forty-five minutes before it concluded.

Alone in his office, Hooper flipped through his notes while consulting the FDR readout, mentally gnawing on the facts the way Pax went at a bone.

The plane had made two abrupt ninety-degree rolls. It shouldn’t have done that. Something was up. Why had the safety features of the fly-by-wire system been disabled? That was only supposed to happen in an emergency, such as a situation involving severe clear-air turbulence. But Raymond Matson maintained that there had been no turbulence and that he hadn’t disabled the safety system.

But there it was.

The records didn’t lie.

Somehow that system had been turned off.