The big conference room would soon be filled with all the bigwigs on base, and Kathryn checked her presentation slides one last time before they started to file in. She knew her investigation was comprehensive, but she would be leveling some hard facts at the wing commander, and you never knew how he would react. Colonel Johnson was smart, but her report might make his flying wing look bad. Kathryn was nervous, but she stood behind her evidence. She would simply present the information and let the facts speak for themselves.
The base commanding officers came in and took their assigned seats around the big table. Kathryn jumped in with her first slide. It was a picture of Casey’s jet right after the fire department had extinguished the fire from the melted tires with smoke still coming off the hot, molten brakes. It was a stark reminder to everyone of just how close they’d come to a disaster. After she let the image linger, she hefted the broken gearbox shaft onto the table for everyone to see. “This is the cause of that substantial aircraft damage and the near loss of life of a student pilot.”
She had everyone’s undivided attention now. “This is the evidence of severe metal fatigue, which went undetected due to a delayed inspection schedule. The inspection schedule was changed two years ago because of a recommendation from the base budget office to the deputy commander of maintenance.”
“Who in the base budget office advised the DCM to change the inspection schedule?” the wing commander asked.
“Captain Bailey Grant, sir.”
“Captain Grant? He’s a T-37 stan / eval pilot, isn’t he?”
“Yes, sir, he is. He works for me,” the chief of stan / eval said. “He was assigned to the budget office for a short time before he came to stan / eval.”
“The evidence I recovered, with the help of the base computer office, are documents concerning cost savings by reducing the T-38 inspection interval,” Kathryn explained.
“Documents you recovered? Explain this, Captain Hardesty.”
“Sir, these records were deleted from the base mainframe computer on the night of the mishap—from the computer terminal in the chief of stan / eval’s office.”
“What? I wasn’t even in my office on that day. I was at Randolph for a conference.” The chief of stan / eval looked stunned at this information. “Someone must have used my terminal.”
“Someone did use your desk computer terminal, sir,” Kathryn stated.
“Captain Grant?” he asked.
“No sir, on the night of the mishap, the log-in on your computer terminal was from Lieutenant Dave Carter, T-37 IP, under the direction of Captain Grant. Mr. Jefferson, the building custodian, was an eyewitness to this fact and positively identified Lieutenant Carter.”
The situation became obvious to everyone present. Captain Grant had convinced the deputy maintenance commander to change the T-38 inspection schedule for a small cost savings to make himself look good, then he tried to cover it up by using Lieutenant Carter to do the dirty work. He did this when he figured out his inspection change had resulted in the accident. The wing commander got quiet with an ominous look on his face.
“Captain Hardesty, that will be all for now.” He stood and abruptly left the room.
“Yes, sir.”
Everyone shuffled out of the conference room muttering.
Kathryn had accomplished her mission. She’d figured out what caused Casey’s accident and who was responsible. With any luck, the wing commander would destroy Bailey Grant’s career and, hopefully, Dave Carter’s too.
*****
Casey’s flying improved quickly after she successfully handled that big emergency. There was a new confidence and aggressiveness in the way she attacked each mission, and she felt ready for her upcoming check ride.
The next morning, Casey read the base newspaper with great interest. It had a “Welcome to Willie and Farewell” section and mentioned Captain Bailey Grant was leaving immediately for Minot Air Force Base, North Dakota, where he would fly the B-52 bomber. Ha! Serves you right, asshole. The B-52 was the least desirable aircraft to fly in the entire Air Force. He would sit alert in an underground bunker for one-third of his life, then fly an ancient plane. It was like being sentenced to a Gulag in Siberia, and she grinned at the thought of him freezing his nuts off. It also said Lieutenant Dave Carter was reassigned to Laughlin Air Force Base in Del Rio, Texas. “Double bonus!”
Her check ride was with Major Case, the chief of check section and an F-4 fighter pilot. The preflight, engine start, and taxi out went smoothly. Just as Casey was about to lower her canopy for takeoff, she saw the blue flight safety pickup truck parked next to the RSU. Kathryn is watching me. A gentle warmth settled in her belly.
She was flying well, and everything was just like she’d practiced it with Bulldog. She ran through her stalls and acro in the practice area, then requested her return to Willie.
Her descent into the base was uneventful and she was surprised how easy it was to fly a no flap approach when you had trim available and no fuel imbalance or airframe vibration. After she lifted off from her sweet touch-and-go landing, she asked the check pilot if he would like to fly. “Sure. I’ve got the jet,” he said.
“Your jet, sir,” Casey answered. She felt a tiny bit of relief that he hadn’t asked her to repeat any maneuvers. He requested a closed pattern, then yanked the jet into a six-G turn.
After a few basic systems questions, Major Case shook her hand and said, “Good ride, Captain. Overall grade, Excellent. I look forward to flying with you again.”
“Thank you, sir, me too.” She was on cloud nine. Everyone looked at her as she entered the room.
“How’d you do, Tompkins?” the head scheduler asked.
She held up three fingers sideways in the shape of an E.
The room erupted in cheers for her. The flight commander came out of his office to shake her hand. “Good job, Casey.”
“Thanks, sir.”
“God dammit, girl, I knew you could bring home the bacon!” Bulldog gripped her hand in a bone-crunching handshake. “Jack Case doesn’t give out many Excellents. You must’ve dazzled him good, Ace. Don’t rest on your laurels too much. Next week we’re starting formation, and I want you to hit the ground running.”
“I will.”
She wished she could share her triumph with Kathryn, but she knew she couldn’t. It was a little dark cloud on an otherwise great day. She would take Trish and Rhonda out for dinner to celebrate. Maybe Kathryn would call her to congratulate her since she probably already knew about her check ride grade. She had, after all, been watching her from the RSU.