The Final Flight by James Blatch (fastest ebook reader .TXT) 📕

alone in the room, he read Mark Kilton’s missives about the purpose and function of the newly established Royal Air Force Test Flying Unit.

It would be an aircrew led unit, Kilton stated. Industry to be kept at arm’s length. Unlike their neighbours at Boscombe Down who rubbed shoulders with company pilots every day, TFU would be RAF only.

A place where they could assess aircraft and systems unencumbered by the usual politics that surrounded government contracts.

And yet Kilton was the most political animal he’d come across in his thirty-seven years in the RAF.

But the principles were helpful, so he tucked a copy of the paper in his folder and went back to the meeting room.

Just after 8AM the door swung open and in swept Kilton, Rob May, Speedy Johnson, a corporal note-taker and Ewan Stafford.

The Blackton MD’s appearance was a surprise, but not unprecedented. Stafford took his seat, looking tired.

Rob sat next to Millie and looked as if he was about to say something, but Kilton began the meeting still on his feet, rattling at speed through the agenda.

“The equipment’s now installed on one Canberra, one Vulcan and soon to be fitted to a second Vulcan when Blackton can get a new set to Woodford.”

“It’s already there,” said Stafford. “We’ve sent a team up to carry out the installation.”

“Excellent. We’re through the high level, medium-level and now into the low-level phases of the trial. More than half the required hours are logged.” He consulted his notes. “The evaluation is progressing satisfactorily. We must decide how to tackle the remaining hours for the project but I think we can all agree, these are the final stages. The icing on the cake.”

“I’m sorry, boss, can we talk about Tuesday?” said Millie.

Kilton didn’t look up from his notes, but paused long enough for Millie to continue.

“Unfortunately, we experienced a serious failure that almost resulted in the loss of an aircraft and crew.” He looked directly at Stafford; surprisingly the civilian was expressionless.

He already knows.

Millie pressed on. “I’ve completed an initial report. It describes how the system tried to descend a Vulcan into the ground at two hundred and sixty knots. It was only the intervention of Mr May here that saved us.” He paused. “And I’m afraid the only option open to us now is to suspend the trial pending a full investigation.”

Kilton sighed. “Millie, while I appreciate your diligence in this matter, the fact remains, this is anecdotal.”

Millie shifted in his chair. “It’s true that I wasn’t able to capture the data from the incident, but that doesn’t deflect from the fact that it happened and was witnessed.”

“And yet, without evidence, we are left with the possibility that it could have been anything that caused the temporary loss of height. One option I’ve been told of is that a pilot may have inadvertently put pressure on the control column while changing position in his seat.”

Millie laughed at the ludicrous suggestion, before realising that the rest of the room was quiet.

“You’re not serious, Mark?” he asked.

“Unless you have some evidence to the contrary, I must consider testimony from one of my pilots the likely explanation.”

Millie sat back in his chair. “I’m sorry, Mark, but that’s just not credible. Brian Hill said nothing to me whatsoever and he’s no longer here to provide any such testimony—”

“Who said anything about Hill? The pilot who touched the control column is sitting next to you.”

Millie took a moment to register what Kilton had said. He slowly turned his head to see Rob staring down at the table.

“Rob?”

“It’s possible,” Rob said quietly.

Kilton continued, in a chipper voice.

“Speedy, you’re an experienced V-Bomber pilot, is it possible in the Vulcan to move the stick without meaning to?”

“Under normal flight operations I’d say it’s unlikely, but in this scenario, with the pilot covering the controls, while they move independently, I would say it’s an increased risk, certainly. An unintended consequence of this level of automation.”

Millie kept his eyes on Rob. “Either you knocked the stick, or you did not knock the stick.”

“That’s enough, Millie,” said Kilton. “The point is, we don’t know for sure what happened and no-one is going to ground a critically important system without firm evidence.”

Millie looked up at the men around the table. No-one else spoke.

“What if it wasn’t? And what if we have a serious, potentially fatal problem?” He didn’t wait for Kilton to reply before adding, “In which case, we need to look at all the flying data we have with a matter of urgency. As you note, boss, we’ve gathered many hours and the tapes are in the cabinet…” He stopped, suddenly remembering the empty shelves.

Kilton gave a dismissive wave. “The tapes have already been analysed by the mainframe computer in Cambridge. It took place overnight. Mr Stafford, would you care to illuminate us?”

Stafford cleared his throat. “Certainly, Mark. We asked the computer to search for any anomalies in the height data. Such things as sudden changes in the numbers, which if translated into aircraft movement would result in an aircraft loss. Specifically, we were looking for periods of erroneous data, enough to affect flying for a sustained time. We found no such occurrences, I’m pleased to report. So I have to concur with the meeting that whatever you experienced, it wasn’t as a result of Guiding Light.”

“That’s not a conclusion you can draw, Ewan,” said Millie. “You weren’t there.”

Kilton shot him a warning look. “Millie, don’t be foolish. Ewan and his team have had full access to the data, and it showed no issues. That’s it.”

“I don’t believe it,” said Millie.

Kilton sat back in his chair. “You don’t?”

A heavy silence hung in the room.

“What I mean is, I am very surprised. That’s all. Can we have it analysed elsewhere? A second opinion, if you like? With all due respect to Mr Stafford and his team, boss, you set up TFU to be independent of industry.”

“There’s no chance,” Stafford piped up. “We simply don’t have access to another mainframe computer. We have one of the