Airplane Roulette

Commercial airplane crashes in Indonesia and Ecuador killed more than 340 innocent people on new airplane models configured with a novel software-driven device, the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), that was supposed to enhance flight control systems but had the opposite effect. The two airlines that flew these fatal flights have sued the manufacturer, ramping up the public's fears and anger about problematic software without simulator training for pilots.

Continuous Quality Improvement, the cornerstone of workplace ethics at Benning Aerospace, is little more than lip service. Airplanes assembled in the factory roll out at record speed, some with defective and discarded parts and subassemblies. Not all airplanes undergo the recommended 2,000-hour flight test before customer delivery. Unsecured parts, landing gear, and tires have fallen off older commercial flights in the United States, alarming the flying public about safety on aging fleets. What was reliable twenty years ago is no longer trustworthy.

When a door plug blew out of an airplane during take-off and landed in a Physics teacher's backyard in Portland, Oregon, FAA Investigator Claudia Martin Richardson was urged to cancel her family leave and return to work four weeks early.

Claudia and her FBI Agent husband, Wyatt Richardson, find themselves in a sprint to determine who did what, when, and why at least one murder occurred. The clock ticks while they struggle to find the truth before more airplanes crash needlessly.

Benning Aerospace files for Bankruptcy protection. Claudia is asked how she would restructure this failing corporation.