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 two-man crew, just a captain and first officer. But all the Asian carriers were expanding rapidly, and they generally carried larger crews for extra training hours.
Casey went on. The next telex was from the FSR in Vancouver.
FROM: S. NIETO, FSR VANC TO: C. SINGLETON, QA/IRT
FYI FLIGHT CREW TPA 545 DEADHEAD ON TPA 832, FROM LAX TO VANCOUVER, FIRST OFFICER LU ZAN PING TAKEN OFF THE AIRCRAFT AT VANCOUVER MEDICAL EMERGENCY DUE TO PREVIOUSLY UNRECOGNIZED HEAD INJURY. F/0 COMATOSE IN VANC GEN HOSP, DETAILS TF. REMAINING CREW OF TPA 545 TRANSIT BACK TO HONG KONG TODAY.
So the first officer had been seriously injured, after all. He must have been in the tail when the incident occurred. The man whose cap they had found.
Casey dictated a telex to the FSR in Vancouver, asking him to interview the first officer as soon as possible. She dictated another to the FSR in Hong Kong, suggesting an interview with Captain Chang on his return.
Norma buzzed her. "No luck on the kid," she said.
"Why not?"
"I talked to Maria in Travel. They didn't make Richman's arrangements. His trips were charged to a special company account, a set-aside for foreign, off-budget stuff. But she heard the kid ran up a hell of a big charge."
"How big?" Casey said.
"She didn't know." Norma sighed. "But I'm having lunch tomorrow with Evelyn in Accounting. She'll give me everything."
"Okay. Thanks, Norma."
Casey turned back to the telexes on her desk. They were all other business:
Steve Young, from the FAA's Certification office, asking about fire-retardant test results on seat cushions the previous December.
A query from Mitsubishi about burnouts of then- five-inch displays in the first-class section of American N-22 widebodies.
A list of revisions to the N-20 Aircraft Maintenance Manual (MR 06-62-02).
A revision of the prototype Virtual Heads-Up Display units, to be delivered in the next two days.
A memo from Honeywell advising replacement of die D-2 electrical bus on all FDAU units numbered A-505/9 through A-609/8.