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The dah half a million pounds, fly a third of the way around the world, and they carry passengers in greater comfort and safety than any vehicle in the history ofto stand there and tell us you kno to do the job better? Are you going to pretend you know anything about it at all? &039;Cause it looks tofolks up for your own reasons

Aviation legend Charley Norton, 78, speaking to reporters in 1970 after an airplane crash

The irony of the Inforiven new respectability to uninfor to the American Association of Broadcast Journalists in 1995

MONDAY

ABOARD TPA 545

5:18 AM

E an end Morning sunlight streah the s of the airplane In her lap, little Sarah squinted in the unaccustohtness as she noisily sucked the last of her bottle, and pushed it aith tiny fists "That was good, wasn&039;t it?" Eo"

She raised the infant onto her shoulder, began to pat her back The baby gave a gurgling belch, and her body relaxed

In the next seat, Tih the night, all the way fro E," Ti at his watch "Just a couple of hours n of breakfast?"

"Not yet," E her head They had taken Transpacific Airlines, a charter fro Theat the University of Colorado, where Tiht had been pleasant enough - they were in the front of the plane - but the stewardesses see at odd times Emily had turned down dinner because Ti in her lap

And even now, Emily was surprised by the casual behavior of the crew They left the cockpit door open during the flight She knew Asian crews often did that, but it still struck her as inappropriate; too inforht, kibitzing with the stewardesses One was leaving right noalking to the back of the plane Of course, they were probably stretching their legs Stay alert, all of that And certainly the fact that the creas Chinese didn&039;t trouble her After a year in China, she admired the efficiency and attention to detail of the Chinese But soht just made her nervous

Emily put Sarah back down in her lap The baby stared at Ti in the bag under his seat, he brought out a video caled his free hand to get her attention "Sarah Sar-ah S sound

"How does it feel to be going to America, Sarah? Ready to see where your parents are froain She waved her tiny hands in the air

"She&039;d probably think everybody in Ahter had been boo in Hunan, where Tim had studied Chinese medicine

Emily saw the camera lens pointed at her "And what about you, Mo home?&039;

"Oh, Tiht All those hours

"Co?"

She needed to comb her hair She needed to pee

She said, "Well, what I really want - what I have drea hot bean sauce?" Tier," she said, "with onions and tomatoes and lettuce and pickles and mayonnaise Mayonnaise, God And French&039;s er too, Sarah?&039; Tihter

Sarah was tugging at her toes with one tiny fist She pulled her foot into her ood?" Tihed "Is that breakfast for you, Sarah? Not waiting for the stewardess on this flight?&039;

E sound, al She snapped her head around "What was that?&039;

&039;Take it easy, E delightfully

"We&039;re almost home, honey," Tim said

But even as he spoke, the plane see down Suddenly everything tilted at a crazy angle E forward off her lap She clutched at her daughter, pulling her close Now it felt like the plane was going straight down, and then suddenly it was going up, and her stoht against her

Tim said, "What the hell?&039;

Abruptly she was lifted off the seat, her seat belt cutting into her thighs She felt light and sick to her sto into the luggage co past her face

Fro, insistent alarli swiftly over the controls; they were shouting in Chinese All over the aircraft, people were screalass

The plane went into another steep dive An elderly Chinese woe boy followed, tu head over heels Emily looked at Tim, but her husband wasn&039;t in his seat anyin front of her face, but she could not reach for it because she was clutching her baby

She was pressed back into her seat as the plane descended steeply, an incredibly loud whining dive Shoes and purses ricocheted across the cabin, clanging and banging; bodies thuone E struck her in the head - a sudden jolt, pain, blackness, and stars She felt dizzy and faint The alarers continued to scream The plane was still in a dive

Ehter to her chest, and for the first tian to pray

SOCAL APPROACH CONTROL

5:43 AM

"Socal Approach, this is Transpacific 545 We have an e that housed Southern California Air Traffic Approach Control, senior controller Dave Marshall heard the pilot&039;s call and glanced at his radar screen Trans-Pacific 545 was inbound froht had been handed over to him froht Marshall touched the microphone at his cheek and said, "Go ahead, 545"

"Request priority clearance for eeles"

The pilot sounded calreen data blocks that identified each aircraft in the air TPA 545 was approaching the California coastline Soon it would pass over Marina Del Rey It was still half an hour out of LAX

Marshall said, "Okay, 545, understand you request priority clearance to land Say the nature of your eency," the pilot said "We need around I would say thirty or forty ambulances Maybe ain Are you asking for forty ambulances?"

"Affirht We have injuries of passengers and flight crew"

Marshall thought, Why the hell didn&039;t you tell me this before? He spun in his chair, beckoned to his supervisor, Jane Levine, who picked up the extra headset, punched in, and listened

Marshall said, &039;Transpacific, I copy your ground request for forty a a face "Forty?"

The pilot was still caler, Approach Forty"

"Do you need medical personnel, too? What is the nature of the injuries you are bringing in?"

"I aesture: Keep the pilot talking Marshall said, "Can you give us an estimate?"

"I am sorry, no An estimate is not possible"

"Is anyone unconscious?"

"No, I do not think so," the pilot answered "But two are dead"

"Holy shit," Jane Levine said "Nice of hiuy?"

Marshall hit a key on his panel, opening a data block in the upper corner of the screen It listed theSenior pilot for Transpacific"

"Let&039;s not have any ht?"

Marshall said, &039;TPA 545, what is the condition of your aircraft?"

"We have dae only"

"What is the condition of the flight deck?" Marshall said

"Right deck is operational FDAU is noht Data Acquisition Unit, which tracked faults within the aircraft If it said the plane was okay, it probably was

Marshall said, "I copy that, 545 What is the condition of your flight crew?"

"Captain and first officer in good condition"

"Ah, 545, you said there were injuries to the crew"

"Yes Two stewardesses have been hurt"

"Can you specify the nature of the injuries?"

"I am sorry, no One is not conscious The other one, I don&039;t know"

Marshall was shaking his head "He just told us nobody was unconscious"

"I&039; any of this," Levine said She picked up the red phone "Put a fire crew on level one alert Get the ambulances Order neuro and ortho teams to meet the plane and have Medical notify the Westside hospitals" She looked at her watch "I&039;ll call the LA FSDO This&039;ll make his damn day"

LAX

5:57 AM

Daniel Greene was the duty officer at the FAA Flight Standards District Office on Ihway, half a mile from LAX The local FSDOs - or Fizdos, as they were called - supervised the flight operations of co fro Greene had come in early to clear the paper off his desk; his secretary had quit the week before, and the office ton to absorb attrition So now Greene went to work,the the probleer traffic was up four percent a year, and the coer The coround: Of course, the FSDOs weren&039;t the only ones ere strapped Even the NTSB was broke; the Safety Board only got a million dollars a year for aircraft accidents, and -

The red phone on his desk rang, the eency line He picked it up; it was a woman at traffic control

"We&039;ve just been inforn carrier," she said

"Uh-huh" Greene reached for a notepad "Incident" had a specific ht problems that carriers were required to report "Accidents" involved deaths or structural dae to the aircraft and were always serious, but with incidents, you never knew "Go ahead"

"It&039;s Transpacific Flight 545, incoency landing at LAX Says they encountered turbulence during flight"

"Is the plane airworthy?&039;

"They say it is," Levine said "They&039;ve got injuries, and they&039;ve requested forty aot two stiffs"

"Great" Greene got up frohteenthis so late?"

"Hey, the captain just told us, we&039;re telling you I&039;ve notified EMS and alerted the fire crews"

"Fire crews? I thought you said the plane&039;s okay"

"Who knows?" the wo ht be in shock We hand off to the tower in seven rabbed his badge and his cell phone and went out the door As he passed Karen, the receptionist, he said, "Have we got anybody at the international terminal?"

"Kevin&039;s there"

"Beep hiet on TPA 545, inbound Hong Kong, landing in fifteen Tell hiht crew leave"

"Got it," she said, reaching for the phone

Greene roared down Sepulveda Boulevard toward the airport Just before the highway ran beneath the runway, he looked up and saw the big Transpacific Airlines widebody, identifiable by its bright yellow tail insignia, taxiing toward the gate Transpacific was a Hong Kong-based charter carrier Most of the problen airlines occurred with charters Many were low-budget operators that didn&039;t orous safety standards of the scheduled carriers But Transpacific had an excellent reputation

At least the bird was on the ground, Greene thought And he couldn&039;t see any structural dae to the widebody The plane was an N-22, built by Norton Aircraft in Burbank The plane had been in revenue service five years, with an enviable dispatch and safety record

Greene stepped on the gas and rushed into the tunnel, passing beneath the giant aircraft

He sprinted through the international building Through the s, he saw the Transpacific jet pulled up to the gate, and the ambulances lined up on the concrete below The first of the

Greene cae, and ran down the rahtened Many limped, their clothes torn and bloody On each side of die ramp, paramedics clustered around the injured