Airframe by Michael Crichton

confirm it was pilot error. Fizer in Milan wants information. Fizer in Abu Dhabi wants a week in Milan. Fizer in Bombay heard engine failure. I straightened him out. And your daughter said to tell you she did not need her sweatshirt.”
    “Great.”
    Casey took the faxes back to her office. She found Richman sitting at her desk. He looked up in surprise, and rose quickly from her chair. “Sorry.”
    Casey said, “Didn’t Norma find you an office?”
    “Yes, I have one,” Richman said, walking around the desk. “I was just, ah, just wondering what you wanted me to do with this.” He held up a plastic bag with the video camera they had found on the plane.
    “I’ll take it.”
    He gave it to her. “So. What happens now?”
    She dropped the stack of telexes on her desk. “I’d say you’re through for the day,” she said. “Be here tomorrow at seven.”
    He left, and she sat down in her chair. Everything seemed to be as she had left it. But she noticed that the second drawer on the desk was not quite closed. Had Richman been going through her desk?
    Casey pulled the drawer open, revealing boxes of computer disks, stationery, a pair of scissors, some felt-tip pens in a tray. It all looked undisturbed. But still …
    She heard Richman leave, then went back down the hall to Norma’s desk. “That kid,” she said, “was sitting behind my desk.”
    “Tell me,” Norma said. “The little twerp asked me to get him coffee.”
    “I’m surprised Marketing didn’t straighten him out,” Casey said. “They had him a couple of months.”
    “As a matter of fact,” Norma said, “I was talking to Jean over there, and she says they hardly ever saw him. He was always on the road.”
    “On the road? A new kid, a Norton relative? Marketing would never send him on the road. Where’d he go?”
    Norma shook her head. “Jean didn’t know. You want me to call Travel, and find out?”
    “Yeah,” Casey said. “I do.”
    Back in her office, she turned to the plastic bag on the desk, opened it, and pulled the videotape from the shattered camera. She set the tape to one side. Then she dialed Jim’s number, hoping to talk to Allison, but she got the answering machine. She hung up without leaving a message.
    She thumbed through the telexes. The only one that interested her was from the FSR in Hong Kong. As always, he was way behind the curve.
    FROM: RICK RAKOSKI, FSR HK
    TO: CASEY SINGLETON, QA/IRT NORTON BBK
    TRANSPACIFIC AIRLINES TODAY REPORTS FLIGHT 545, AN N-22, FUSE 271, FOREIGN REGISTRY 098/443/HB09, FLYING FROM HK TO DENVER EXPERIENCED A TURBULENCE UPSET DURING CRUISE FL370 APPROXIMATELY 0524 UTC POSITION 39 NORTH/170 EAST. SOME PASSENGERS AND CREW SUFFERED MINOR INJURIES. AIRCRAFT MADE EMERGENCY LANDING LAX.
    FLIGHT PLAN, PASSENGER AND CREW MANIFEST ATTACHED. PLS ADVISE SOONEST.
    The telex was followed by four pages of passenger manifest and crew list. She glanced at the crew list:
  JOHN ZHEN CHANG, CAPTAIN
5/7/51
  LEU ZAN PING, FIRST OFFICER
3/11/59
  RICHARD YONG, FIRST OFFICER
9/9/61
  GERHARD REIMANN, FIRST OFFICER
7/23/49
  HENRI MARCHAND, ENGINEER
4/25/69
  THOMAS CHANG, ENGINEER
6/29/70
  ROBERT SHENG, ENGINEER
6/13/62
  HARRIET CHANG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
5/12/77
  LINDA CHING, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
5/18/76
  NANCY MORLEY, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
7/19/75
  KAY LIANG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
6/4/67
  JOHN WHITE, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
1/30/70
  M. V. CHANG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
4/1/77
  SHA YAN HAO, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
3/13/73
  YEE JIAO, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
11/18/76
  HARRIET KING, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
10/10/75
  B. CHOI, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
11/18/76
  YEE CHANG, FLIGHT ATTENDANT
1/8/74
     
    It was an international crew, of the kind that often flew for charter companies. Hong Kong crews had often flown for the Royal Air Force and were extremely well trained.
    She counted the names: eighteen in all, including seven flight crew. Such a large flight crew was not strictly necessary. The N-22 was designed to be flown by a