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- China sale N-22?
She said, "Uh-huh"
"I mean, let&039;s face it," Samuelson continued, "The Airbus A-340 is a superior plane in every way It&039;s newer than the Norton widebody Better range It&039;s better in every way We&039;ve been trying to explain this to the Chinese, and they are starting to understand our perspective Anyway, if I had to guess, I&039;d guess the Norton sale to the People&039;s Republic is going to fall apart And of course safety concerns are part of that decision Off the record, I think the Chinese are very concerned the plane is unsafe"
- C thinks airplane unsafe
"Who would I talk to about that?" she said
"Well, as you know, the Chinese are generally reluctant to discuss negotiations in progress," Sauy over at Commerce who may be able to help you He&039;s with the Ex-I for overseas sales"
"What&039;s his name?" she said
His name was Robert Gordon It took fifteen minutes for the operator at the Commerce Department to find him Jennifer doodled Finally the secretary said, "I&039; from Newsline" she said
"Oh" A pause "Just a minute, please"
She smiled It never failed
Gordon came on, and she asked him about the JAA certification, and the Norton sale to the People&039;s Republic "Is it true the sale is in jeopardy?"
"Every airplane sale is in jeopardy until it&039;s concluded, Ms Malone," Gordon said "But as far as I know, the China sale is in good standing I did hear a ru trouble with JAA certification for Europe"
"What&039;s the trouble there?"
"Well," Gordon said, "I&039;m not really an aircraft expert, but the company&039;s had an awful lot of problems"
- Norton has proble in Miami yesterday And of course you heard about that incident in Dallas"
"What&039;s that?"
"Last year, they had an engine flameout on the runway And everybody ju off the wings"
- Dallas incident - engine/broken legs Tape?
She said, "Uh-huh"
"I don&039;t know about you," Gordon said, "but I don&039;t like to fly veryoff the airplane, that&039;s not a plane I&039;d want to be on"
She wrote:
- ju off plane YOW!
- unsafe aircraft
And beneath it, in large block letters, she wrote:
DEATHTRAP
She called Norton Aircraft for their version of the story She got a PR guy na, half-asleep corporate guys She decided to hit hiht between the eyes "I want to ask you about the Dallas incident"
"Dallas?" His voice sounded startled
Good
"Last year," she said "You had a flaine, and people juht That incident involved a 737," Benson said
- incident w/737
"Uh-huh Well, what can you tell ," Benson said "That wasn&039;t our plane"
"Oh, come on," she said "Look, I already know about the incident"
"That&039;s a Boeing plane"
She sighed "Jesus Give me a break" It was so tedious, the way these PR types stonewalled As if a good investigative reporter would never find out the truth They seemed to think if they didn&039;t tell her, no one would
"I&039;m sorry, Ms Malone, but we don&039;t make that plane"
"Well, if that&039;s really true," she said, her tone openly sarcastic, "I suppose you can tell me how I can confirm it?"
"Yes ma&039;a They&039;ll help you"
Click
Jesus! What a prick! How could these companies treat the et paid back Didn&039;t they understand that?
She called Boeing, asked for the PR depart a fax nuet back to her Unbelievable, Jennifer thought A major American corporation, and they didn&039;t even answer the phone
Irritably, she hung up There was no point in waiting If the Dallas incident involved a Boeing plane, she had no story
No da to decide what to do
She called Norton back, saying she wanted to talk to soh to the president&039;s office, then was transferred to soleton "How can I help you?" the woman said "I understand there&039;s been a delay in European certification of the N-22 What&039;s the probleleton said "We&039;ve been flying the N-22 in this country for five years"
"Well, I&039;ve been hearing from sources that this is an unsafe aircraft," Jennifer said "You had an engine flameout on the runway at Miami yesterday "
"Actually, we had a rotor burst That&039;s being investigated now" The wo s in the world for an engine to blow up
- "rotor burst"!
"Uh-huh," Jennifer said "I see But if it&039;s true your plane has no proble certification?"
The woround on this," she said "Off the record"
She sounded unsettled, tense
Good Getting somewhere
"There is no problem with the aircraft, Ms Malone The issue concerns powerplant In this country, the plane flies with Pratt and Whitney engines But the JAA is telling us that if ant to sell the plane in Europe, we&039;re going to have to equip it with IAE engines"
"IAE?"
"A European consortiuines Like Airbus A consortium"
"Uh-huh," Jennifer said
- IAE = consortiuleton continued, "the JAA wants us to equip the aircraft with the IAE engine to meet European noise and eent than those in the US But the reality is we ine decision should be left up to the custoine the customer asks for If they want an IAE, we put an IAE on If they want a Pratt and Whitney, we put Pratt and Whitney on They want GE, we put GE on That&039;s the way it&039;s always been in this business The custoulatory intrusion by the JAA We&039;re happy to put on IAE engines, if Lufthansa or Sabena tells us to do it But we don&039;t think JAA should dictate the ter to do with airworthiness"
Listening, Jennifer frowned "You&039;re saying it&039;s a regulatory dispute?"
"Exactly This is a trading bloc issue The JAA is trying to force us to use European engines But if that&039;s their goal, we think they should force it on the European airlines, not us"
- regulatory dispute!!!
"And why haven&039;t they forced it on the Europeans?"
"You&039;d have to ask JAA But frankly, I io to hell Aircraft are custom built to the carrier&039;s specs The operators choose the engines, the electronics packages, the interior configuration It&039;s their choice"
Jennifer was now doodling She was listening to the tone of the wo to sense the ehtly bored, like a schoolteacher at the end of the day Jennifer detected no tension, no hesitation, no hidden secrets
Fuck, she thought No story
She made one last try: she called the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington She got put through to aabout the JAA certification of the N-22" Kenner sounded surprised "Well, you know, that&039;s really not our area You probably want to talk to soround?" "Well, FAA aircraft certification is extreulatory bureaucracies As long as I can reencies around the world have accepted FAA certification as sufficient Now the JAA has broken that tradition, and I don&039;t think it&039;s any secret why It&039;s politics, Ms Malone The JAA wants the A to withhold certification And, of course, Norton&039;s about to make a sale of N-22s to China, and Airbus wants that sale"
"So the JAA is trashing the plane?"
"Well They&039;re certainly raising doubts"
"Legitimate doubts?"
"Not as far as I&039;ood plane A proven plane Airbus says they have a brand-new plane; Norton says they have a proven plane The Chinese are probably going to take the proven product It&039;s also somewhat less expensive"
"But is the plane safe?"
"Oh, absolutely"
- NTSB says plane is safe
Jennifer thanked hihed No story
Nothing
Period
The end
"Shit," she said
She punched the interco - "
"Are you watching?" Deborah said, squealing
"Watching what?"
"CNN It&039;s un-fucking-believable"
Jennifer grabbed her remote
EL TORITO RESTAURANT
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